Original article

Impact of the training of the executives of the Villa Clara provincial prosecutor's office

Yuneysi Cura Ortíz^{1  *} 
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5586-877X

Ezequiel Romero Bello² 
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0250-4574

¹Fiscalía General de la República, Sección Sagua la Grande. Villa Clara. Cuba.

²Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas. Cuba.

ABSTRACTS

The profound changes that are currently taking place force the agencies to rethink and reconsider the training of the executives, in which the General Prosecutor's Office of Cuba is inserted. The objective pursued is to show a methodology for measuring the impact of this on them, in the fulfillment of their functions. The research uses scientific methods for the collection of the necessary information. The application of the proposal favored the development of the professional skills of the executives of the Prosecutor's Office in the daily exercise of their duties as faithful guardians of the legality of the Nation.

Keywords: Human Resources; Training; Prosecutor's Office; Professional Skills

Introduction

The increase in competitiveness, the rapid and growing technological development, the strong trend towards market globalization, the new demographic characteristics and trends, as well as the demands of the workforce, drive organizations to be more innovative and to make efforts in the search for different ways to enhance and convert their human resources into a real competitive advantage, which has been reinforced by the rise, especially since the 1990s, of the Theory of Resources and Capabilities (^{Penrose, 1959}; ^{Barney, 1991}; ^{Mahoney and Pandian, 1992}).

This new and changing situation forces the Human Resources Management of organizations to set as a primary goal to ensure that their staff has a great capacity to adapt to internal and environmental changes. The key lies in the training that they are able to provide, both in the executives and in their reserves, which would greatly help to increase the organization's competitiveness.

It is necessary, then, to look for new ways that allow a greater development of the creativity and capacities of human resources, and in this case, of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic to find solutions to latent problems and that help to materialize the strategies, as well as the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization.

Research conducted by ^{Gutierrez Marrero (1993)} in Cuba, on the management system and the correlation of the technical, managerial and human subsystems, indicates that there is a disproportion between them, giving priority to the technical issues of the process, to the detriment of the human and managerial subsystems, even though it is known that the success of management and quality lies in the human factor.

In the entity that occupies the essence of the article, training is an activity that is enhanced from the learning needs of each worker, whether fiscal or administrative staff, and managers, who have to master the different areas of work to make an effective diagnosis of what each collaborator really needs in the performance of their duties.

On the other hand, these authors consider that for training to have the expected impact, it cannot be seen as a voluntary act, but must be guided, and as such be inserted in a strategic plan, which allows the search for the best suitability of each related worker, to occupy the position for which he/she is conceived.

The diagnosis carried out on the situation of human resources training in the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic in Villa Clara, based on the use of research methods and techniques, yielded the following results:

Insufficiencies in the use of adequate methods to measure the impact of the training of cadres in the different aspects in accordance with the functions they perform.

• Insufficient results in the training actions foreseen in the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Villa Clara that conspire with the quality and efficiency of the fulfillment of the work objectives and measurement criteria.

• The Villa Clara Provincial Prosecutor's Office does not have strategies to measure the impact of the training of executives on the quality and effectiveness of the tasks performed.

• The work presented in this article aims, then, to reveal some edges of this problem and how to contribute, from science and scientific research, how to measure in human resources, the impact that is achieved from the training actions that are are designed in different stages.

Development

The article is derived from the results of the main author's master's thesis. As part of the diagnosis made to the object of the research, the particularities of the current state of the training of the executives are stated, and on this basis, the instruments for the collection of data that allow to appreciate the main problems of the training and the evaluation of its impact are made.

For the actual diagnosis of the preparation of the human resources of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic in Villa Clara, several methods and techniques of scientific research were used, including the following: documentary analysis, observation, survey and interview. Methodological triangulation was used to analyze the results of the above methods.

As partial results, it was obtained that, the main difficulties in the measurement of the impact of the training of the executives that affect the management work of the chief, as well as in the fulfillment of the work objectives and criteria of measures, which prevents an adequate organization of the process. It is important, therefore, to measure the application as part of the training system, which begins with the definition of the learning or training needs of the executives.

Once the analysis of the methods and techniques applied during the initial process of the research is concluded, it is determined that the Prosecutor's Office of Villa Clara has not been able to use a scientific methodology to measure the impact of the training strategy used and, at the same time, to compare its results with the desired ones, to use them in order to improve it and to know its real incidence in the greater or lesser achievement of the work objectives of the organization.

On this basis, a methodology is proposed to facilitate the achievement of the proposed objectives, which is based on the following principles or central axes. The following are proposed as central principles or axes of the methodology to measure the impact of the training of the human resources of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic:

1. Each territory must take into account its socio-political context and geographical characteristics when measuring the impact of the training strategy.

2. Determine the learning needs of the executives and their correspondence with the training actions provided.

3. Establish and define if the lack of knowledge and/or skills are the primary cause of the performance problem.

4. Define whether training will be the solution, since performance problems due to motivational, managerial or environmental issues require different solutions.

5. Evaluate the performance of the OTP executives.

6. Assess the recommendations of the periodic evaluations of the executives to establish the starting point for the process of measuring the impact of training.

7. Evaluate the reports of the fulfillment of the work objectives of each organization.

8. Define if there is a correspondence between the insufficiencies of the actors and the problems identified in each of the specialties.

Taking into account what has been evaluated so far, a methodology is presented that is based on the systemic relationship of impact measurement with all the organization's training-development activities. It was designed based on three phases and these were subdivided into stages. These are considered below:

• Phase 1: Pre-training (Before)

• The following stages are included in this phase:

• Stage Nº 1: organization of the measurement.

• Stage Nº 2: strategic alignment.

• Stage Nº 3: structuring the measurement.

• Phase 2: Measurement of immediate impact (During)

• The following stages are proposed as part of this phase:

• Stage Nº 4: application of instruments.

• Stage 5: triangulation of results.

• Stage Nº 6: communication of information.

• Phase 3: Measurement of medium and long-term impact (After)

• The following stages are considered in this phase:

• Stage Nº 7: corroboration of assumptions.

• Stage Nº 8: application of instruments according to periodization.

• Stage Nº 9: triangulation of results.

• Stage Nº 10: communication of information.

For a better understanding of the projection of the methodology, a synthesized analysis of the phases and stages is proposed:

Phase 1: Pre-training (before): bearing in mind that impact cannot be measured in the abstract, but rather in its dialectical relationship with the training action, this phase provides for putting impact into perspective from the planning of the training. To this end, three stages are enunciated, with a fundamentally organizational and projective function.

Stage 1. Measurement organization

Objective. Define the organizational basis for applying impact measurement.

Activities:

1. Define the work team: it must be clearly established who are the people responsible for and executing the impact assessment. The roles of each stakeholder in the impact evaluation must be defined.

2. Delimit the actions to be evaluated: not all training actions require impact measurement to the same extent. It is necessary to define which ones and how often to measure their impact.

3. Prepare the team: this action may be more or less in-depth to the extent that the team is performing these functions for the first time (in this case, the conceptual premises for developing the work must be well established and the roles and responsibilities delimited).

Result: a team formed, prepared for the task and oriented towards the actions to be evaluated.

Stage 2: Strategic alignment

Objective: Aligning impact measurement with other established strategic functions and decisions

Activities:

To delimit and recognize the importance of the training action to be evaluated and its role in the Human Resources development strategy, as well as the weight it presupposes for the fulfillment of the National Strategy for the preparation and improvement of executives. Result: evaluation axes aligned with the defined strategic perspectives.

Stage 3: Structuring the measurement

Objective: Project impact measurement

Activities:

1. Establish the relationship between impact - training - DNA in the tables: it is necessary to verify which gaps in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes that must be learned, developed or modified to improve the quality of work and the integral preparation of the executive (DNA) have been contemplated as aspects that can be influenced by the specific training to be evaluated, and what impact is expected.

2. Define the impact levels to be evaluated : training can have immediate direct impact, direct mediate impact and indirect mediate impact.

3. Establish indicators to measure the impact at different levels and the periodization of their measurement. That is, what is to be measured in particular?

4. Establish sources of verification for each indicator : that is, from whom to request the information to evaluate the indicators. It is recommended to cross-reference or triangulate sources for the most relevant indicators.

5. Establish ways to measure the indicator : Different techniques can be used to measure impact, such as: test situations, brainstorming, questionnaire, interview, written examination, direct observation or others, according to the characteristics of the training, the source to which it is applied and the level of impact to be evaluated.

Result: Properly planned impact measurement.

Phase 2: Measurement of immediate impact (during)

The immediate impact should be evaluated in all training, since it provides important information not only on the change it can bring about in the workforce, but also on the acceptance or even the quality with which the planned training action is being carried out, leading, to some extent, to the adoption of corrections where necessary.

Stage 4: Application of instruments

Objective: To collect information for the verification of immediate impact indicators.

Activities:

1. Apply the measurement instruments previously selected for this period. To do so, it should be taken into account that:

• The researcher (who applies the instrument) is only a facilitator of the process; he/she should not interfere or offer opinions about what the applied instrument deals with.

• The voluntary and honest participation of the executive should be sought (they should respond seriously to the application of the instrument).

• The application should not interfere with the teaching and learning process; therefore, it is not advisable to apply more than one instrument at a time.

• The process is differentiated for the non-complex and short-term actions and the complex and long-term actions identified below:

Less complex training actions:

Workshops, seminars, technical meetings, preparation day, working meeting, videoconference, scientific day, regional scientific event, national scientific event, etc..

Complex and long-term training actions:

Diplomas, courses, trainings, distance training, practical command exercise, on-the-job training, controlled self-preparation, on-the-job mentoring, and academic studies.

Result: Information available

Stage 5: Triangulation of results

Objective: To develop the information obtained into identifiable parameters.

Activities:

1. List the results, which will make it possible to know the inadequacies of the different orders (for example, they can be of assurance, material, subjective, of use, etc.).

2. Compare the information from the different methods and sources, obtaining the fundamental regularities.

3. Group the regularities and compare with the expected indicators (identifiable parameters).

4. Consider the possibility of the emergence of a new indicator, according to the information gathered.

Result: Indicators described

Step 6: Communication of information

Objective: To inform the interested parties of the results of the immediate impact measurement.

Activities:

1. Produce a detailed but concise impact measurement report (based on the indicators studied) and become a source of information distribution 2.

2. Distribute the information needed by each interested party. This does not mean sending the full report to everyone, but defining what information is needed by whom to make the relevant decisions to ensure that they have that information.

3. Provide for assurance actions, psychological or other evaluations, or other training, in the short, medium or long term, that will respond to the needs that were not covered by the training carried out.

4. Define the joint assessment of the evaluated action, that is, formalize communication.

Result: Information distributed and communication formalized

Phase 3: Measurement of medium and long-term impact (after)

The medium and long-term impact must be measured for complex training actions, of longer duration and that pursue important transformations for the trainee, but also for his or her environment of relationships and action.

Stage 7: Corroboration of assumptions

Objective: To ratify the appropriateness of the measurement.

Activities:

1. Evaluate whether it is appropriate to carry out the measurement as planned. It should be taken into account that this action occurs later than the training action itself; therefore, the assumptions on which the measurement was planned may have undergone variations.

2. Define the changes to be made to the measurement if necessary Result: Adjusted measurement assumptions.

Stage 8: Application of instruments according to periodization

Objective: Collect information for the verification of medium and long-term impact indicators.

Activities:

1. Apply the previously selected measurement instruments and according to the planned periodization.

2. Evaluate aspects of collective impact; that is, how the development of a program has contributed to transform a certain reality.

Result: Available information

Stage 9: Triangulation of results

Objective: To develop the information obtained into identifiable parameters.

Activities:

1. List the results.

2. Compare the information from the different methods and sources, obtaining the fundamental regularities.

3. Group the regularities and compare with the expected indicators (identifiable parameters).

4. To consider the possibility of the emergence of a new indicator, according to the information gathered.

5. Review the immediate impact report to compare variations in performance (if the learning was not adequate, it could show good results in the immediate impact and then abandon these practices and return to previous behaviors).

Outcome: Indicators described

Step 10: Communication of information

Objective: To inform stakeholders of the results of the medium and long-term impact measurement.

Activities:

1. Develop a detailed but concise impact measurement report that becomes a source of information distribution.

2. Distribute the information needed by each stakeholder.

3. Define corrective actions in case of behavioral setbacks (causes should be investigated and acted upon).

4. Define the joint assessment of the evaluated action, i.e. formalize communication.

Result: Information distributed and communication formalized

To evaluate the reaction and learning of the trainees in less complex actions of short duration, a survey is proposed that can be applied at the end of the training action. The traditional PNI can be applied randomly as a technique. In actions of this nature, the psychologist and the training and development specialist can also apply the observation guide during the first week of the activity. In order to obtain the criteria of the superior level on the impact of the training actions received by the executives on the quantitative and qualitative results of the organization and the real benefits that the training brings to its improvement, the interview can be applied to the Chief of the trainee.

The application of the methodology allowed, as a result, to determine the main needs, for example: the need to search for alternatives that allow objectively measuring the impact of the training of the executives of the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Villa Clara is corroborated, the circumstances and conditions of the current training of the executives, has its practical foundations in the existing general indicators, without any analysis of the results.

In addition, there are no specific indicators to evaluate the impact of management training, and management training is carried out in a general way without taking into account the individual needs of the managers. There is little knowledge about how to measure the impact of management training and it is not used as an objective management tool; the usefulness of the process and its necessity are not clearly defined.

The advantages of the process are known, but they do not know how to materialize it. The current means used to evaluate the impact of training provide much generalized results, are not adjusted to the contents of each job and do not allow measuring suitability. It is not used as a means for the preparation of the staff's personal development plan.

As results we can also mention the effectiveness of the proposed methodology to evaluate the impact of training, which is characterized by having a coherent design and easy execution, allowing the evaluation of training based on specific indicators that guarantee the relationship between the setting of objectives and the measurement of concrete results; establishing a cycle. To make training more dynamic by involving all the factors of the Prosecutor's Office. To be feasible to apply to municipal executives. The methodology developed responds to the need to improve training through the improvement of executive’s evaluation. Its application is pertinent due to the existence of objective and subjective conditions in the context of the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Villa Clara.

Conclusions

In the bibliography consulted, there is a variety of references to know the impact of training actions; however, no procedure or methodological tool adapted to the real conditions of Cuban prosecutor organizations could be found in the review carried out.

The diagnosis carried out allowed clarifying the limitations that entail the non-existence of a methodology to measure the impact of training for the Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Villa Clara, as well as the perception of its necessity by the interested parties.

A methodology is proposed that allows relating the measurement of training impact with the training system as a whole, evaluating both aspects of personal performance of the staff as well as the results related to the objectives of the institution and the social impact in the cases where it is contemplated to measure it.

The proposed methodology was positively evaluated by specialists and in the analysis of the results, the usefulness of the procedure to improve the evaluation of Villa Clara's cadres is recognized, so it is an important way for their development and contributes to a greater improvement of the evaluation of executives.

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Received: March 10, 2022; Accepted: July 06, 2022

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