Impact of Deterrents on Effectiveness of Mandatory Continuing Professional Education for Company Secretaries in India
Author: Walawalkar, Rajesh
Date: 2015-00-00
Type: Journal Articles
Subjects: Foreign Countries,Program Effectiveness,Program Evaluation,Office Occupations,Barriers,Gender Differences,Geographic Regions,Work Experience,Cohort Analysis,Focus Groups,Occupational Surveys,Statistical Analysis,Professional Continuing Education,Participation,Mandatory Continuing Education,Multiple Regression Analysis

This study is about the perceptions of Company Secretaries about effectiveness of their formal and mandatory Continuing Professional Education (CPE) programme run by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. The objectives were to ascertain: (1) to what extent do Company Secretaries perceive their CPE as effective, (2) what are the various barriers (deterrents) faced by Company Secretaries to participate effectively in CPE, and (3) whether there exist any significant differences in perceptions of Company Secretaries in terms of gender, regions of India, and groups formed by number of years of experience. A self-completion two-part Survey Instrument was developed by the researcher by using focus group method. Research design was dominated by quantitative statistical methods. Data was collected by personally administered method by the researcher himself and analysis was done by descriptive and parametric inferential statistics. The study resulted in important findings about constituents of CPE effectiveness and relevant deterrents impacting CPE effectiveness. It was for the first time in the Indian scenario that such a study was carried out. Significant group differences were revealed by T test (gender) and ANOVA (number of years of experience). There were no significant differences amongst the participants in terms of region. Multiple regression analysis revealed that deterrents explained variance in CPE effectiveness score to the tune of 68% and it turned out to be substantially high compared to the previous study of similar nature by Wessels. The study presented a model of &quot;High Quality&quot; or &quot;Effective&quot; CPE. Recommendations to the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) at the conclusion of the study were to prioritize strategies to counter significant deterrents to enhance effectiveness of CPE, evaluate CPE periodically, and improve the quality of CPE. The study was empirical in character and subject to certain limitations. Recommendations for future research include extending this study to other professions, conducting formal audit/evaluation, studying the other constituents that could explain the further variance in CPE effectiveness score, and investigating which of the deterrents are related to each of these individual attributes of effectiveness and to determine how the different aspects of effectiveness are related to each other. In developed economies professional boards started CPE programmes with &quot;The Update Model&quot; and moved on to &quot;The Competence Model&quot; and currently they are focusing on &quot;The Performance Model.&quot; The objective of CPE at many places has been to promote what is called &quot;Self-directed Learning&quot; going beyond formal education. The ICSI has to understand its limitations in catering to the learning needs of thousands of Company Secretaries.