Technology for the formation of digital competencies of civil servants

Ovchinnikov Svyatoslav Sergeevich Postgraduate student, Human Resource Management Department, Lomonosov Moscow State University 119991, Russia, Moscow, Lomonosovsky Prospekt, 27, building 4 oss-009@mail.ru Other publications by this author

In conditions of active saturation of the environment with various information products, society, the state, business and the scientific and educational community face the need to coordinate the definition of a unified system of requirements for the formation, continuous improvement and expansion of the competencies of a civil servant necessary for his successful and productive activities ^{[1, p. 1005]}. The use of digital technologies and the development of a mechanism for training civil servants for automated management decision-making by public authorities are important elements of the transformation of digital government and public administration in general ^{[2, p. 1]}. The process of monitoring results, progress, increasing interest and involvement in the field of training and development of a civil servant largely depends on digital technologies ^{[3, c. 48]}. Digital and technical competencies specific to a particular profession involve the analysis, evaluation and management of digital technologies, data, information and digital content in a specific field ^{[4, p. 64]}. Digital competence involves the skillful use, understanding and creative generation of digital information, but a consistent understanding of its essence remains a difficult task ^{[5, p. 2]}. "Possession of digital knowledge, skills and abilities contribute not only to improving the professionalism of civil servants, but also are aimed at personal changes, self-development" ^{[6, p. 191]}. To develop end-to-end artificial intelligence (AI) technology, government managers who possess technical skills and are able to use the technological capabilities of AI to achieve their goals are needed ^{[7, p. 3]}. Currently, in practice and in science, there is no specific technology for the development of digital competencies of public civil servants

Based on the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated July 28, 2017 No. 1632-r, methodological documents aimed at optimizing the competencies of civil servants are being adopted. This document traces the request and focus on the phased creation of technology for the formation of competencies of civil servants, but there are no real applied actions. Meanwhile, the technologization of the process of forming digital competencies of civil servants would significantly increase efficiency, primarily due to increased speed and quality. The presence of a practical task, a goal, an algorithm of actions and standards that ensure the reproduction of this result are the key distinguishing features of the technological approach in management. Technology as the basis of the process is also used in the formation and development of personnel competencies, including the personnel of the civil service. Insufficiently developed regulatory legal acts and laws in the field of digital competencies for civil servants and poorly implemented programs for their formation create obstacles to digital transformation ^{[8, pp. 220-221]}. Scientific research shows incomplete and different assessments of the development of digital competencies in public administration, therefore it is necessary to systematize and analyze the experience accumulated by scientists ^{[9, p. 22]}. The creation of general requirements for digital competencies will allow a civil servant to quickly adapt to new provisions, not waste time on retraining and streamlining processes during their rotation ^{[10, p. 165]}.

There are three main groups of requirements in the methodological tools for establishing qualification requirements for filling positions in the civil service:

1. The level of professional education in comparison with categories and groups of positions.
2. Work experience or work in the specialty, field of study.
3. Basic knowledge and skills.

In our opinion, in modern conditions, digital competencies reasonably belong to the group of basic knowledge and skills. The digital saturation of the system and processes of domestic public administration (interdepartmental electronic interaction, the introduction of paperless document management technologies in government and management bodies, etc.) raises the question of whether civil servants have digital competencies developed at the required level. The emergence of a digital government poses certain tasks that civil servants will perform based on motivation, experience and digital competencies ^{[11, p. 3]}. Many civil servants cannot successfully move up the corporate ladder due to the inability to determine the competencies necessary for public service ^{[12, p. 1]}. "Formation and development of digital competencies in the system of public administration, it is necessary to ensure high management results in a society with growing digital literacy and the introduction of technologies in all spheres of life" ^{[13, p. 79]}.

In modern reality, the problems of creating special educational mechanisms and programs for the formation of professional qualities of civil servants, considered in the process of digital transformation and networking, remain ignored ^{[14, p. 58]}. Certain competencies are developed in the course of educational activities and individually – as part of the performance of official duties ^{[15, p. 17]}. "Vocational training, qualification retraining, internship are very important aspects of public service and professional competence growth" ^{[16, p. 42]}. Successful training and self-realization in the professional activity of a future civil servant are influenced by such learning technologies as project activities, portfolio, visualization, computer technologies, etc. ^{[17, p. 180]}. The digital economy of the Russian Federation poses new challenges to government civil servants, which require a diverse range of applications of digital skills and competencies ^{[18, p. 76]}. Innovative progress affects changes in the list of functions, competencies and requirements for civil servants ^{[19, p. 198]}. The range of requirements for the professional qualification of a civil servant actualizes the issue of the availability of a scientifically sound and practically feasible technology for the formation of digital competencies of civil servants (Figure 1). "The creation of a new model of public administration is impossible without special requirements for the level of professionalism and competence of public civil servants, therefore, one of the urgent issues is the staffing of public authorities with real professionals" ^{[20, p. 48]}.

 Figure 1. Technology for the formation of digital competencies in the public civil service

First, it is necessary to find out the goals by which digital competencies of civil servants are being developed. A goal is primarily a guideline that the subject and the object of research use to achieve certain results. The overall basic goal is to increase the quality and efficiency of the functioning of both the entire public administration system and its constituent elements (government structures and civil servants). The main strategic goal cascades into goals of a narrower or tactical nature – these goals are related to the specifics of the activities of each individual government structure, which forms its own specific request for a set of digital competencies, as well as the level of expression of each of them. In this regard, we can talk about translating goals into specific tasks that take into account the specifics of digital processes and procedures in each element of public administration. Tasks are characterized not only by their content, but also by a number of other defining conditions – financial, time and other resources, which, in turn, determines the range of methods planned for the development of digital competencies.

Monitoring the development of digital competencies in the public civil service can be carried out through the development and implementation of individual training and development plans for public civil servants, indicating in them a certain required number of hours allocated directly to the development of digital competence. The advantage of regular monitoring is that a civil servant can fruitfully and effectively draw up a "picture of the opportunities" that the training plan will provide him with. Fixing the results in an individual training plan will largely determine the further effectiveness of monitoring the formation of digital competencies in the public civil service. It is necessary to determine the forms of training aimed at developing the digital competencies of a modern civil servant. One of the decisive points will be the choice of an effective form of education (full–time, distance, correspondence, mixed), a set of educational tools used: trainings, lectures, group discussions, etc. The specifics of the development of digital competencies require the presence in the forms of training of civil servants, to a significant extent, a pronounced applied component of the process - skills that provide not only theoretical, but also an applied "immersion" in the digital ecosystem.

At the next stage of the technology developed by us, the requirements for the required level of education of a civil servant are investigated - secondary vocational education, higher education, etc. Such information will make it possible to rank programs for improving digital competencies for different initial levels of digital literacy. It is also advisable, in our opinion, to diversify digital competence development programs for people with technical education and people with humanitarian education.

When forming programs and plans for the development of digital competencies, it is necessary to take into account the features of the professional performance of civil servants of different groups and categories of positions. From our point of view, two blocks can be distinguished in the competence model of civil servants: the first is a block of basic digital competencies required by civil servants of all groups and categories of positions; the second is taking into account the nuances of official functions and tasks that form the level of relevance of certain individual digital knowledge and skills.

The existing relationship between the experience (or duration) of working with digital technologies and the level of their development is quite obvious. The technology we have developed contains this component of the process as a kind of signal about the need to adapt digital technology development programs to the current level of digital competence of trainees, and also indicates the possibility of using mentoring as a learning tool. Mentoring involves the transfer of digital skills from a more experienced user to a beginner, with an emphasis on the regular application of the acquired digital competencies in solving current professional tasks.

The requirements for initial knowledge and skills that contribute to the development of digital competencies of civil servants are the last element of the technology we have developed for the development of digital competencies of civil servants. The minimum necessary IT knowledge and skills (computer structure, connected devices to a computer, software, etc.) act as the platform on which it is possible to build a field of more advanced digital competence.

The technology presented above for the formation of digital competencies of civil servants is quite a framework in nature. Its constituent components, arranged in a certain sequence, can be expanded, supplemented or otherwise adapted to the specifics of each specific institution of public administration. The phased use of elements of the author's technology will allow to determine a specific model of training and development of digital literacy of a particular civil servant.