Civil Servants Digital Competencies Formation in the New Economic

Format Context

Matvey S. Oborin

1,2,3 a

Perm branch, Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Gagarina boulevard 57, Perm, Russia

Perm State National Research University, Bukireva st., 15, Perm, Russia

State Agro-Technological University named after Academician D.N. Pryanishnikov, Petropavlovskaia St. 23, Perm, Russia

Keywords: Civil Service, Digitalization, Digital Competencies, Professional Training, Digital Education, Digital

Regulations.

Abstract: The article considers a new personnel professional training format in the a new stage of the economic activity

automation and informatization context in the context of the public administration systems efficiency

improving. The quality and professionalism of management at various levels is influenced by digital

technologies, scientific and technological progress. It determines the manager competence in the dynamically

changing conditions of professional activity. The economy key areas economy are rapidly developing on the

basis of digital solutions, platforms and digital equipment, which present new demands on skills, education

and the competencies universality. Professionalism in various types of socio-economic activities depends on

increasing the labor intellectualization, skills in working with information and communication equipment, the

ability to constantly progress and develop. A specialist in the civil service should receive a high-quality

education that corresponds to the scientific and technological progress realities and the management functions

digitalization.

1 INTRODUCTION

When selecting employees for the civil service, it is

necessary to apply new approaches that provide for

the digital skills availability, the ability to think

broadly, and the availability of professional training

in the field of computer science and communications.

Therefore, in the public administration transition

to the digital model conditioned factors context, it is

important to consider the content aspects of a

competently oriented approach to training personnel

for public administration. This approach supports the

a management recruitment organization

communication almost all over the world. For

effective functioning, it is necessary to develop new

methods and technologies that stimulate and develop

staff.

The professional competencies development

conditions formation consists of certain stages. First

of all it is necessary to assess the current level of

readiness and knowledge of a civil servant in order to

have an idea of what working level he or she will be

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0256-0904

able to cope with in an innovative digital

environment.

It is important to note that at present, in the

Russian practice of civil service management, there is

no single civil servants competence model approved

by law. The professional standards formation is in

constant development. There are no unified standards

and methods for evaluating digital competencies

when there is an obvious need for them in

professional management activities.

2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research is based on the scientific papers and

methods devoted to the civil servants digital

competencies formation and evaluation problems

content analysis, levels matrix design and digital

competencies content.

Oborin, M.

Civil Servants Digital Competencies Formation in the New Economic Format Context.

DOI: 10.5220/0010594405890594

In Proceedings of the International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Sustainable Development of Regional Infrastructure (ISSDRI 2021), pages 589-594

ISBN: 978-989-758-519-7

589

3 RESULTS OF RESEARCH

Domestic and foreign researchers unanimously

confirm the need to gain knowledge of civil servants

in the management system digitalization introduction

framework, starting from the educational process first

courses. There are many training manuals that include

basic computer skills and training programs for

modern innovative technologies (Dawes, 2019).

The competence approach content varies

depending on the author's position of the researchers,

there is no consensus in the scientific literature. The

distinction between the competence concepts is

correlated as the potential and real knowledge, skills

that have been formed in a person in combination

with professional and social qualities (Yudina, 2018).

А. А. Verbitsky distinguished these concepts

from the objective and subjective working conditions

point of view (Kupriyanovsky, Sukhomlin, and

Dobrynin, 2017). Objective conditions are the

employees rights and obligations, and subjective

competencies represent their professional system of

internal incentive elements, individual

characteristics, psychological structure, knowledge,

skills and abilities (Burov, Petrov, Shklyaruk and

Sharov, 2018).

The researchers K. Kramer and A. Northrop,

when predicting the knowledge about modern

technologies level importance during working in

government agencies, was the first to suggest

introducing digital skills programs into the

curriculum.

Sh. Dawes proposed the introduction of

comprehensive didactic guides on IT strategy and

control, while M. Brown and J. Brudney emphasized

the strategic planning strengthening importance.

Russian scientists Danilova, O.V., Yaruskina

E.T.; Bershadskaya, L.A., Chugunov, A.V. proposed

a unified digital literacy methodology for civil

servants, that is practice-oriented in nature (Brown,

and Brudney, 2020). The information level and

communication skills development is necessary for

most civil servants on the basis of continuous self-

education and professional training (Vasilyeva,

2018).

It is fair to define the direct relationship between

the administrative management professional skills in

the digital technologies field and the E-government

platform development. The analysis identified the

main reason for the low level of civil servants digital

skills. It is the lack of nationally approved methods

for determining the digital competencies composition

and level, which affects the E-government platform

work efficiency. The higher the civil servants

competencies professional digital level is, the more

effective the management activity is fulfilled, since

the database of the E-Government platform is

presented in an electronic format.

Thus, there is a contradictory situation where, on

the one hand, high demands are placed on public

officials to increase the level of digital competencies,

and on the other hand, they are not provided with an

elementary list of necessary competencies to work in

government agencies in the new digital space (Brown

and Brudney, 2020).

To determine the officials most relevant skills in

working with digital technologies, scientific and

theoretical approaches and international practice of

employee competencies methodological assessment,

qualification requirements for the work of civil

servants at the legislative level were studied, and

foreign and domestic practice of advanced training

courses in digital technologies was considered

(Figure 1).

Figure 1: Sources of the formation of a competency model.

Competencies were classified into the digital

competence matrix model as follows: technical level,

communication level, and management level (Table

1).

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590

Table 1: Civil servants digital competencies matrix model.

Level

Competencies

nature

Job cate

ories

Managers

Assistants

Experts

Supporting

specialists

Basic

to use ICTs (e-mail, social networks, and mobile media) to

communicate and exchan

e information

communication

to work in a team through information communication

channels

communication

to work in interdisci

linar

rou

s and

ects communication

to follow the rules for filling out documents when working on

rojects with ICT

technical

to apply data analysis in public administration, including

lar

e amounts of information anal

sis

technical

to apply general knowledge of working with a personal

com

uter

(

office software

)

technical

to use antivirus programs technical

to act in accordance with the transparency and accountability

rinciples

technical

to use different sources to find the necessary information for

solvin

rofessional tasks

technical

to understand the state bodies informatization specifics in

accordance with industr

characteristics

technical

to assume responsibility for the management of public

resources, including information and technology assets

technical

to understand the social networks use legal and regulatory

ects

technical

to be able to apply the legislation on the protection of

ersonal data durin

workin

rocess

management

to perform universal functions for the EP services provision

to interested citizens and commercial organizations

management

to have skills in workin

with securit

rotocols mana

ement

Advanced

to monitor changes in information systems and adapt to them

rofessionally

management

to be able to establish communication with various categories

of citizens and le

al entities

communication

to create processes based on information and communication

technolo

ies

technical

to activel

use ICT to solve com

lex a

lied

roblems technical

to coordinate the employees actions with the help of special

software

management

to be able to systematize and verify the received data using

ICT tools

management

to apply digital technologies in working with the public

rocurement and contracts s

stem

management

to plan and control key processes based on information and

communication technolo

ies

management

managing risks and organizational changes associated with

the use of ICT

management

to consistently manage all e-government components

development, i.e. data, processes, regulatory framework,

technical infrastructure and

ersonnel

management

to work as a team in a multi-disciplinary data group

empowered to develop new technologies

management

Civil Servants Digital Competencies Formation in the New Economic Format Context

591

Continuation of table 1.

to participate in the feasibility of introducing new

technologies and initiatives assessment in the service in the

field of ICT

to realize the need for continuous professional development

in the information and communication technolo

ies fiel

management

to implement ICT in the personnel management system management

Special

To understand cloud technologies and their advantages management

to participate in the public administration new technologies

develo

ment

technical

to have professional computer skills (to work with

ecialized software

)

technical

to mana

e the ICT

ects im

lementation technical

to know modeling on the IT technologies basis management

to optimize business models in the e-government system management

to simulate key administrative processes for the information

anal

sis

ose

management

to solve the ICT implementation problems in various ways,

includin

creative ones

management

to adapt digital innovations to their work functions and the

service delivery technologies development

management

to identify the public administration systems innovative

development reserves and design the strategic development

directions

management

to formulate the information technology challenges faced by

organizations and their impact on results

management

to understand how to hire, select, and manage IT consultants

and staff

management

The qualification requirements of the Ministry of

Labor formed the matrix basis; they include the main

qualification requirements in the field of information

and communication skills for all employees. An

additional set of increased requirements is allocated

separately for senior personnel (Altukhova, 2018).

The officials responsible for the digital technologies

implementation in the relevant state bodies activities

have a certain qualification level in the information

technology field.

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

For the public sector effective work in the new digital

environment, highly qualified personnel is required.

The state programs "Digital Economy of the Russian

Federation", the Strategy of Scientific and

Technological Development of the Russian

Federation, the Strategy for the Development of the

Information Society emphasize the need for human

resources specialists with a number of relevant

competencies (Anderson, Potočnik and Zhou, 2018;

Kraemer and Northrop, 2019).

A civil servant must differentiate the incoming

information and convey reliable information to the

public. Official activities should be fully focused on

the results related to the public good. In addition to

the competencies necessary for effective activity in

the digital management environment, it is also

necessary to have the target settings that determine

the civil servant value orientations (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Hierarchical system of concepts "mental model" -

"competencies".

Values, along with the acquired competencies,

will influence the state manager mental model

formation, will shape his or her worldview

(Trostinskaya, Safonova, 2017). The key values that

will help reduce the risk of decision making when

managing a digital government platform are as

follows:

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1. The values of a public servant should

promote the public needs.

2. Technologies can not empathize and express

feelings, so the manager task is to assess the strategic

consequences and risks of using automated systems

in making decisions, whether they are applicable to a

person from a moral point of view.

3. The use of digital technologies in public

administration should be considered as the basis for

the state harmonious development, people well-being

and the creation of opportunities for each citizen

potential realization, in order not to restrict the

individual freedom, strengthening control over the

information data confidentiality.

Higher education institutions should produce

professionally trained specialists with the necessary

competencies that will allow them to cope with work

at the highest level in the new digital environment.

Civil servants operating within the framework of E-

government also need to constantly improve their

skills and adapt to external transformations, including

a set of competencies that also need to be transformed

and changed, taking into account the state structure

innovative technologies that differ from traditional

domestic educational standards (Alkadry, Blessett

and Patterson, 2019).

It is also worth noting that during the students

survey, it turned out that the main motivation of

students is to obtain a document on graduation from

a higher educational institution and a high-paying job.

Therefore, it is necessary to motivate students to

constantly improve their knowledge and continue to

learn. The development of creative thinking and

analytical approaches to solving applied problems at

various levels is facilitated by the training model, in

which the manager organizes independent search

activities, workshops, design, scientific conferences,

business meetings, and so on.

In the educational process the future employer

participating is also desirable because, having

experience in the new digital environment, the current

digital processes of economic transformation, the

manager will be able to share a number of necessary

knowledge that can be applied in practice. In this way,

students will gain practical skills and up-to-date

knowledge that will be useful in the future. The

employer can participate in the curricula

development, conduct seminars and master classes

for students, partially conduct classroom classes,

engage in design with students, and so on.

The most effective format of working with

students is project activity, because during the project

implementation students acquire invaluable

knowledge and skills, as they independently find

ways to solve problematic tasks. To teach students the

ability to use big data and specialized programs, it is

necessary to introduce specialized disciplines into the

educational process, to organize electives and

additional advanced training courses (Anderson,

Potočnik, and Zhou, 2018).

5 CONCLUSIONS

Public administration should be competitive, ensure

the progressive strategic development of country,

regions and industries in various directions. The

forming digital competencies concept in the civil

servants training should be reflected in the system of

higher and professional education. In this regard, the

digital competence basic elements definition is of

scientific, theoretical and practical interest.

Digitalization of the public administrative

environment is due to the country development

strategic goals and objectives, global industry and

services high growth rates, non-standard

macroeconomic challenges and threats. Russia's

transition to the digital economy under the federal

program requires new professional qualities and

competencies for the employees for the civil service

selection. The analysis of scientific works shows that

the digital competencies model is based on such

elements as potential – knowledge – transformation

into digital competencies mechanisms and conditions

– digital competencies actualization in various

spheres of public administration.

The digital competencies in the public

administration system formation and development is

necessary to ensure high management results in a

society with growing digital literacy and the

technologies introduction in all spheres of life. It is

advisable to regulate different levels of digital

competencies, depending on the position held: basic,

advanced, special.

In order to improve the employees in the public

administration system education, the following is

necessary:

 The methodological support development with

digital competencies list and description

required for public positions, indicators of their

assessment and impact on the certification

results and career;

 Amendments to higher education programs

related to the civil servants training in the

digitalization areas in various fields of science

and practice;

Civil Servants Digital Competencies Formation in the New Economic Format Context

593

 Amendments to the legislation on public

service in terms of requirements for the level of

education and qualifications.

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