The Absorptive Capacity of Court Stenographers with the Reimplemented Continuous Trial System in the City of Makati: A Basis for a More Responsive Support

Abstract

Continuous Trial System’s reimplementation in the Judiciary is seen to be the game-changer for our Philippine criminal justice system as part of its reformation. However, the rebirth of the Continuous Trial System also comes with pressing problems and challenges for the employees behind its execution, most especially for the “Human Recorders of the Judiciary”, the court stenographers. The identification of the problems brought about by the shift from piecemeal trial to continuous trial in the course of work of the court stenographers will be the basis for assessing the level of absorptive capacity of these employees on how well they cope with their existing situations in their workplace.

This study utilized the descriptive method research. As widely accepted, the descriptive method of research is a fact-finding study that involves adequate and accurate interpretation of findings. Major findings of this research showed that court stenographers in the Makati City trial courts often have work-life balance, health-related work hazards, and adequacy of office supplies. In addition, the working accommodation of the respondents is always in good condition. However, there are only seldom training and development being offered to the court stenographers. Oftentimes, the number of court stenographers is sufficient. The respondents often transcribe their stenographic notes on time. On the other hand, the rewards and recognitions the court stenographers are getting are seldom. As a result, many problems were cited by the respondents in their present situations.

This study also revealed that the Potential Absorptive Capacity of the court stenographers in Makati City trial courts is very high since the knowledge acquisition and assimilation capabilities of the respondents on their existing situations in their workplace are very high. The results also showed that the Realized Absorptive Capacity of the court stenographers is high because the respondents’ transformation and exploitation capacities are high. In other words, court stenographers have a very high potential probability to absorb new knowledge, method, or system, but they find these little hard to actually apply.

The development of more responsive personnel support for the court stenographers would help them adapt to the change and lessen the problems they are currently experiencing since the Continuous Trial System was reimplemented.