Summary
In the present work, the feasibility and impact of using self-preparation courses in the general training strategy of the organization is proposed and analyzed through practical examples.
introduction
The need for Humanity to increase more and more knowledge about the phenomena and processes that take place, both in Nature and in society, whether to prevent them, use them for their own benefit or exercise modulating actions on them, has forced development of Science throughout History.
On the other hand, man, due to his physical, biological and psychic limitations, has understood that it is necessary to cooperate with others to achieve his ends, for which the coordination of human effort is the essential problem in all group action, which is carried out through institutions of different character, among which are those destined to obtain material goods or provide services, which have undergone transformations, which motivated the development of a new concept: «human capital» as an expression and recognition that in any company the decisive factor is the action of man.
To the aforementioned aspects, it should be added that the environment that companies face today is very changing (dynamic) due to the interdependence relationships that have been established as a result of the globalization process and the accelerated development of communications throughout that should be added the emergence of new forms of work such as virtual work (work activities are not carried out in a place specially dedicated to this purpose, but the subject develops them freely and reports their results periodically to the company) and the systematic changes in the conception of marketing and commercialization, as is the case with electronic commerce, just to mention one.
The foregoing highlights the need for high organizational flexibility and high staff training, both professionally and in the domain of organizational and methodological aspects that govern the company, thereby consolidating the presence of the entity in the market based on the clarity, speed and degree of certainty of the answers they provide to customers to questions about products or services, payment methods and unusual destinations.
Taking into account the aforementioned aspects in this work, the feasibility and impact of using self-preparation courses in the general training strategy of the organization is proposed and analyzed through practical examples.
II. Self-preparation modalities
From the most general point of view, without attempting to exhaust the subject of self-preparation, which goes far beyond the scope and objectives of this work, this learning modality can be divided into two large categories: the "spontaneous", which is the most common variant. universal, in the sense that it groups the actions carried out by the subject according to their preferences and that contribute to raising their cultural heritage in various manifestations of knowledge and the «certified», which corresponds to the activities carried out by an individual, in response to the effect of an external agent.
On the other hand, in practice, each of the aforementioned modalities can be carried out in two ways: "non-oriented", in which the activities with an impact on the knowledge that the subject performs, lack methodological elements or guidelines to facilitate understanding, such as reading printed or electronic materials on various topics (science and technology, literature, etc.), expanding knowledge of information technologies through repeated use, visits to museums, etc. and, the «oriented», in which the individual has a certain level of orientation for its realization, which can be methodological as is the case of language courses that combine printed and audiovisual materials (Spectrum, Interchange, etc.) or of those available on Internet portals (Mailxmail.com; EnPlenitud.com; etc.) or the Corporate Intranet, if it exists in the organization, which provide methodological elements that facilitate the process of assimilation of the contents, orienting the types and moment in which to carry out the actions that contribute to the fundamental objective.
In the case of this work, whose objective is training within the organization, from now on the "certified" modality will be addressed in its "oriented" aspect, as it represents a very profitable way (it only requires email) to train, above all, when you want to prove the knowledge of people who acquired it empirically or self-taught.
However, it is necessary to point out that the "spontaneous" alternative is of great interest to various entities such as publishing houses, museums, etc., where an important component of their income comes from this behavior of society.
III. Procedure for the development of new courses
III.1. General features
In the case of training, one of the components that requires permanent dynamism is the preparation and implementation of new courses, since it requires a certain amount of resources in the preparation stage, with special emphasis on the materials that are delivered to the participants, to which must be added those required for modification according to the results obtained in practice.
Considering this reason, one way to use prototypes in the development of courses is to use the self-preparation modality, understood as a course in which the interested parties receive the classes and the corresponding exercise through electronic platforms (mail, intranet of organization, Internet, etc.); independently (not assisted by teachers) study the materials and solve the proposed exercises, issue their criteria on the course, accrediting their knowledge through an evaluation carried out in the teaching center on a certain date, in which they can include a session to clarify doubts, but never to resolve the proposed exercises.
For this purpose, the procedure described below can be used.
III.2. Needs assessment
The first step is the determination of the training needs of the workers, through various tools such as diagnostics, performance evaluation, etc., it is the evaluation of whether or not a needs diagnosis is required, as well as the impact on time (delay in the implementation of the action) and resources that its realization demands, starting from the principle of minimizing costs and time, maintaining quality, since sometimes it is more practical to put the project into practice in a limited way and carry out the corrections that it advises, waiting for a diagnosis, which in advance will require modifications.
On the other hand, it should be noted that this tool is very useful to establish priorities, when the resources to undertake the actions are scarce, which corresponds to the majority of the occasions.
III.3. Course preparation
The second component is related to the preparation of the course contents, which must comply, as far as possible, with the following aspects:
- The extension of the course must be able to maintain the interest of the students, at the same time that it guarantees to achieve concrete measurable objectives, for which each class must represent a challenge, but can be saved. For example, when developing a course on the Microsoft WORD Word Processor: the simplest objective would be to write a text, complying with format specifications such as margins, index, etc.; save and print it; An intermediate variant of greater complexity would include, in addition to the previous actions, the ability to create graphs and tables and a third, even more demanding, is to add to the previous ones the edition of formulas using the equation editor, incorporate funds and prepare master documents. class, will address a single topic;extension between one or two pages of a Word document written in Arial 12 with a 2.0 cm margin and its format must be Adobe (pdf) to protect it from modifications. Regarding the contents, these will include exercises, both resolved and proposed or allocate the final class of each topic to a recapitulation, where the answers of the proposed exercises are sent.The last class of the course must be a Study Guide that prepares the student. student to successfully complete the sufficiency exam convened in certain periods, which should not coincide with relevant dates in the organization, such as: close of the financial year, periods of high sales in entities whose goods and services exhibit seasonality, etc. assistants, if any, (not recommended in this type of course),they must be part of the mail where the class is sent.
III.4. Test
The third step is to put it into practice, either by placing it for free on an Internet portal with this profile, with which two things are achieved: first, knowing the demand, which although «does not necessarily have to coincide with the existing in the organization ”, constitute a valid thermometer of how it will behave and, secondly, it provides criteria about the contents and its organization, which serves as a feedback element prior to use in the company, at the same time as It has a global social impact, since many people outside the company benefit, while from the point of view of the organization, it contributes to spreading its name and image on a global scale.
Another alternative is to initially place it on the organization's Intranet if it exists and in that case the characteristics of the web page for the administration of the courses, it must have, at least, the three facilities described below.
The first requirement is to satisfy the rule of three clicks, that is, with no more than three clicks the interested party must reach the content of the course of interest. For this purpose, a structure composed of a main page (home page) for the presentation of the courses can be used, where they are shown, to further guide the user in their search for some of those available (an amount between four and five may be sufficient) grouped by categories; a second level where the list of all the courses is presented and a third level where, in addition to the title of the course, the name of the authors and a brief professional review of them, the index of the course contents are included;the opinions of those enrolled with a graphical or numerical rating scale, preferring for quantitative evaluations a scale ranging from one to ten, which serves as a guide for both users and site administrators to assess the quality and impact of the course and access to the subscription form.
As a second aspect, closely related to the previous one, is the registration form, which should be as simple and at the same time provide maximum flexibility to the user to reflect their possibilities, for which in addition to the minimum personal data (name, age and gender, email and password) must allow selecting the days of the week and the amount of materials in each shipment, the latter if it is decided that in practice the student may be able to receive more than one class on the selected days. To the aforementioned, it should be added that the rule is to send a single class in each email, in order to facilitate the automation of this process.
A third element that must be present is the user's profile, where in addition to their general data with the possibility of modification, courses to which they have subscribed, courses to which they are currently enrolled (in process), as well as the possibility of recovering classes of courses received, which for some reason have lost.
III.5. Criteria analysis and modifications
After the predetermined time for sampling the criteria, either on the Internet or the Intranet, the criteria voluntarily expressed by the enrollees are evaluated and the conclusions drawn from their analysis proceed to modify the course in those aspects that were evaluated unfavorably by their recipients.
III.6. Student assessment
The next step is to carry out the evaluation of the fulfillment of the objectives of the course by means of a face-to-face exam, the call of which is planned and communicated well in advance to the students so that they can request their exam and prepare properly.
It is not idle to point out that the evaluations must correspond to the proposed objectives that must be included in the Study Guide that is part of it.
III.7. Impact measurement
The impact measurement has two fundamental aspects: those related to the knowledge acquired by the staff, which can be obtained through indices obtained at the end of the face-to-face evaluation period, such as the relationship between the number of evaluated versus the number of enrolled and qualification average obtained by these, and those associated with the effect on performance in the job or in their career within the company, for which it requires a specific assessment in each case, where performance evaluation plays a leading role.
III.8. Final thoughts
As it has been seen, the proposed procedure is a full cycle, since it begins with the design, continues with the prototype test (criteria of the enrollees), continues with the measurement of results based on efficiency (number of evaluated versus number of enrolled) and average qualification obtained by them, and starting a new cycle making the required modifications, until the agreement between the objectives foreseen in the design and those perceived by the users is achieved, with which the permanent updating and evaluation of the validity of the course.
IV. Presentation of an illustrative case
As part of this work, five courses were developed, which were published for free on the Internet portals maialxmail.com and enplenitud.com, the main characteristics of which are listed in the following table, the analysis of which is carried out below.
Table 1. Examples of courses.
|
portal |
Course Title |
topic |
date |
amount of: |
||
|
lessons |
students * |
opinions § |
||||
|
Mailxmail. |
Basic Accounting (CB) |
accounting |
Sep / 2004 |
13 |
26575 |
385 |
| Intermediate Accounting (CI) |
accounting |
Apr / 2006 |
22 |
8115 |
- |
|
| Financial Mathematics (MF) |
finance |
Nov / 2004 |
14 |
13666 |
- |
|
| Results Presentation (PR) |
R&D |
Aug / 2007 |
9 |
99 |
- |
|
|
In fullness |
Standards and Procedures Manual |
business management |
Sep / 2005 |
28 |
ND ¨ |
ND ¨ |
*: These data correspond to the date of preparation of the work 5 / Oct / 2007.
•: Not available on the site.
§: They include exchanges via mail with the authors.
As a first aspect of interest, the impact that the four courses whose enrollment data are available have had as a whole should be noted, since 48,356 people have enrolled in them, to which it should be added that 385 of them voluntarily issued their evaluations about CB, in a period of less than two months, when the space available on the site for this purpose was exhausted.
Another result that can be seen is that, the aforementioned criteria (385), correspond to the CB course and were issued in just two months, when the space available on the site for this purpose was exhausted, to which it should be added that in that At the time, enrollment was far from the current figure (26575), which is associated with a historical average of 24 each day.
A third element to highlight is that the unavailability of enrollment data and opinions reduces the possibility of improvements to it and the measurement of its impact, since it is reduced to the contact that students make by email to the teacher of the course, which in practice is uncommon, as can be seen in the following table where the number of contacts made by students through this route is listed.
Table 2. Contacts via email
|
courses |
number of emails |
| Basic accounting |
none |
| Intermediate Accounting |
none |
| Financial mathematics |
none |
| Results presentation |
none |
| Standards and Procedures Manual |
two |
A third result to highlight is the demand associated with each course, which is shown in Figure 1, where the following can be seen:
- Plus half of the total enrollment corresponds to the CB course, which represents practically double that of the second place (MF). The Results Presentation course exhibits a negligible demand regarding the remaining evaluated courses. (CB and CI) represent 70% of the total enrollment. The highest average daily enrollment, with respect to the total, corresponds to the CB course, which exceeds by more than 50% the second place occupied by CI, which in turn time exceeds by 20% the third place, MF.
The four previous behaviors can be summarized in that the greatest demand is found in Accounting issues, specifically in the basic elements, which are the most demanded both in absolute magnitude and in average daily enrollment.
V. Conclusions
As conclusions of this work, the following can be pointed out:
- A viable full-cycle model was proposed for the use of the self-preparation modality oriented in the training strategy in the company. The aspects to be considered in the process of implementing new courses in the self-preparation modality were detailed. The results that can be obtained using this training alternative in the company were illustrated through five courses developed as part of this research, published for free on the Internet.
SAW. Bibliography
- Mesa, J.; Paz, V.: «Basic Accounting», Mailxmail.com, Nov / 2004. Table, J.: «The development of prototypes as a tool for measuring the impact of training in the organization», http: //www.gestiopolis. com / development-prototypes-measure-impact-training-organization /; Mar / 2007.Senn, JA: «Analysis and design of information systems», Editorial McGrawHill, 2nd Edition, Mexico DF, 1989.
VII. Annexes
VII.1. Annex A. Basic Accounting Course Program
Class # 1: Brief history of the development of Accounting
Class # 2: Qualities required by accounting information
Class # 3: Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
Class # 4: Theory of Charge and Credit or Double Entry (I)
Class # 5: Theory of Charge and Credit or Double Item (II)
Class # 6: Fundamental Record Books
Class # 7: Financial Statements (I)
Class # 8: Financial Statements (II)
Class # 9: Banking Operations
Class # 10: Pledges
Class # 11: Valuation of assets
Class # 12: Inventories
Class # 13: Provision in bad or uncollectible accounts
VI.2. Annex B. Intermediate Accounting Course Program
Class # 1: Commissions
Class # 2: Goods on Consignment
Class # 3: Installment sales
Class # 4: Taxes and Contributions. Generalities (I)
Class # 5: Taxes and Contributions. Value Added Tax (II)
Class # 6: Taxes and Contributions. Tax Analysis Methods (III)
Class # 7: Provision for Bad or Uncollectible Accounts. Generalities (I)
Class # 8: Provision in Bad or Uncollectible Accounts. Methods to estimate the provision (II)
Class # 9: Commercial Documents. Generalities (I)
Class # 10: Commercial Documents. Classification of Credit Documents (II)
Class # 11: Commercial Documents. Bill of Exchange and Promissory Note (III)
Class # 12: Commercial Documents. Letter of Credit and Certificate of Deposit (IV)
Class # 13: Bank and Cash Operations. Generalities (I)
Class # 14: Bank and Cash Operations. Bank Accounts (II)
Class # 15: Bank and Cash Operations. Bank Vouchers (III)
Class # 16: Bank and Cash Operations. Bank Reconciliation (IV)
Class # 17: Bank and Cash Operations. Fixed Funds (
Petty Cash Fund) (V) Class # 18: Pledges. Generalities (I)
Class # 19: Pledges. Accounting (II)
Class # 20: Inventories. Generalities (I)
Class # 21: Inventories. Methods to record the cost of inventories (II)
Class # 22: Inventories. Methods for estimating inventories (III)
VI.3. Annex C. Financial Mathematics Course Program
Class # 1: General information on finances
Class # 2: General concepts
Class # 3: Financial Principles and their impact
Class # 4: Financial Resources
Class # 5: Interest (I)
Class # 6: Simple Interest (II)
Class # 7: Compound Interest (III)
Class # 8: Continuous Interest (IV)
Class # 9: Present Value and Discount
Class # 10: Income and taxes (I)
Class # 11: Income and taxes (II)
Class # 12: Income and taxes (III)
Class # 13: Amortization (I)
Class # 14: Amortization (II)
VI.4. Annex D. Course Program Manual of Standards and Procedures
Class # 1: The Manual of Internal Regulations: General
Class # 2: The Department of Systems and Organization: work strategy and scope
Class # 3: Principles for the elaboration of the Manual of Organization and Internal Regulations
Class # 4: Contents of the Manual Organization and Internal Regulations (I). Fundamental divisions
Class # 5: Contents of the Manual of Organization and Internal Regulations (II). Generalities and Organization
Class # 6: Contents of the Manual of Organization and Internal Regulations (III). Internal Control and Human Resources
Class # 7: Contents of the Manual of Organization and Internal Regulations (III). Quality and IT
Class # 8: Contents of the Manual of Organization and Internal Regulations (IV). Communication and Negotiation and Contracting
Class # 9: Contents of the Manual of Organization and Internal Regulations (V). Marketing and Marketing, Sales and Operations Network
Class # 10: Contents of the Organization Manual and Internal Regulations (VI). Accounting and Finance
Class # 11: Contents of the Manual of Organization and Internal Regulations (VII). Costs and Prices
Class # 12: Contents of the Manual of Organization and Internal Regulations (VII). Exceptional or Contingency Situations
Class # 13: Documents that make up the Manual of Organization and Internal Regulations
Class # 14: Requirements of the documents that make up the Manual of Organization and Internal Regulations (I). Presentation and Writing
Class # 15: Requirements of the documents that make up the Manual of Organization and Internal Regulations (II). Bibliography consulted
Class # 16: Requirements of the documents that make up the Manual of Organization and Internal Regulations (III). Preparation of diagrams
Class # 17: Structure of the Folios of Standards, Procedures, Models and Recommendations (I).
Class # 18 Heading: Structure of the Norms, Procedures, Models and Recommendations pages (II).
Class Body # 19: Content of the Norms, Procedures, Models and Recommendations that make up the Manual of Organization and Internal Regulations
Class # 20: Structure and Content of the Directives
Class # 21: Structure and Content of the Modifications
Class # 22: Content and Structure of the Repeals
Class # 23: Process of creation or modification of Internal Regulations (I). General Process.
Class # 24: Process of creation or modification of Internal Regulations (II). Process of request of elaboration
Class # 25: Process of creation or modification of Internal Regulations (II). Preparation process
Class # 26: Process of creation or modification of Internal Regulations (III).
Class # 27 approval process: Process of creation or modification of Internal Regulations (IV). Original Custody Process
Class # 28: Final Considerations
VI.5. Annex E. Course Program Presentation of Results
Class # 1: Generalities
Class # 2: The Communication Process
Class # 3: Strategic Information System
Class # 4: The Results Presentation process
Class # 5.
Class # 6 content dissemination. Oral presentations
Class # 7. Written presentations (I)
Class # 8. Written presentations (II)
Class # 9. Written presentations (III)
