Skill Needs Assessment and Development of a Professional Development Program: A Case Study of the Association of Justice Lawyers of Kurdistan Province

Educational needs assessment and professional development of human resources play a very important role in the performance and increasing the expertise and flexibility of the employees of an organization. Considering the prominent role of lawyers in society, this becomes doubly important. Therefore, developing a comprehensive program for the professional development of lawyers will also be of great importance. The aim of the current research was to first assess the educational needs (with a merit-based model) and then develop a suitable and desirable five-year program for the professional development of lawyers in Kurdistan Province. The research approach used in the current study was exploratory (qualitative-quantitative). In the qualitative part, descriptive phenomenological approach was used. The field of research was Kurdistan Province Bar Association. Purposive sampling with maximum diversity was used to select the participants. In order to collect the required data in the first phase, a semi-structured interview protocol was used with the participation of 12 people, which continued until the stage of theoretical data saturation. Three-stage theoretical coding was used to analyze the qualitative data. In total, 273 open codes, 52 core codes and 4 optional codes were extracted. In the second phase of the research and a quantitative part, the descriptive-survey strategy was used. The statistical community consisted of all lawyers who were members of the Kurdistan Province Bar Association, totaling 400. The sample size was 122 people determined by using the Karjesi-Morgan Table and stratified random sampling method. To answer the quantitative questions of the research, a self-report questionnaire containing closed-ended questions on a Likert scale was used. From the results of data analysis, four general categories of professional development needs were identified. Based on this, the organizers of 10 short-term and long-term operational programs, including a workshop to familiarize with unanimous opinions, insistence and high authorities, a workshop on professional ethics, a special annual professional growth award, a workshop to familiarize with the concepts of professional development, a workshop to familiarize with the concepts of lifelong learning, a workshop to familiarize with new laws, suggested a workshop on defense techniques and speaking techniques, preparation of electronic pamphlets by the center, a memorandum of understanding and an exchange of experiences with the country's universities and educational and research centers, and the institutionalization of the professional development unit. In a proposed package, content components of the programs were presented in 4 cases, professional development strategies in 10 cases, and tools and mechanisms for providing professional development programs in 12 cases. Findings indicated that unless bar association members engage in a serious and voluntary self-improvement process, any proposed programs will have little success.