Complex assessment of state and municipal employees

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In modern realities, the technology of personnel assessment plays a strategic role in managing the modern organizations’ effectiveness; it allows to use available resources in the most rational way. It can also be a tool of monitoring the level of employees professionalism. Such a control is a necessity in state and municipal organizations’ personnel management system considering their specific activities.

A complex assessment of staff is an approach that allows to assess the results and effectiveness of an employee by a complex of indicators and criteria formulated basing on the characteristics of the external and internal conditions of the organization, socio-psychological characteristics of the employee [1].

The relevance of the chosen topic is determined by the lack of specific criteria, parameters for assessing state and municipal employees.

The main contradiction is the fact that despite of the complex assessment methodology, which was developed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Russian Federation, there are still difficulties considering the practical implementation of the described procedures.

The purpose of the study is to develop practical recommendations for improving the system of state and municipal employees complex assessment using the example of the guardianship department of the Krasnoglinsky district of the Samara city.

The current state of the methodology for assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of labor is characterized by a variety of approaches, each of which is represented by a specific set of tools, which makes it difficult to choose the most suitable ways for assessing state and municipal employees.

The object of the research is a system of complex assessment of state and municipal employees.

The subject of the study are the approaches, principles, methods for state and municipal employees assessment.

Scientific novelty contains such points as:

1. The concept of “assessment system for state and municipal employees” has been clarified.
2. A graphical chart of personnel assessment in relation to the municipal service was simulated, it allowed to visualize an employee assessment system.
3. A competency model for municipal employees has been developed for the practical application by the guardianship bodies in the assessment or certification of employees.

The main interest in this study is focused on the complex approach. The advantages of which are:

• assessment of the general professional condition of the employee, and not just one, professional activity;
• assessment of both the results of work and the psychological aspects of the employee. The employee understands better what he or she is doing and what qualities he or she needs;
• the employee can learn through feedback about his strengths and weaknesses and the general potential for self-development; and the personnel manager can find out specific strengths and weaknesses of each assessment participant and use this information for career development [2].

The assessment of municipal employees has its own specific features. Therefore, we created a graphical model that visually allows us to present an integrated system for complex assessing municipal employees (fig. 1).

 

Fig. 1. The graphical model of state and municipal employees assessing system

 

The existing differences in the activities of state and commercial structures do not allow us to use the accumulated experience of personnel assessment for business entities in state and municipal institutions. If we were to consider the assessment of personnel in a commercial organization, then we would certainly include such factors as the state of the market, the competitive environment. However, completely different processes influence the public service. For example, a significant impact from outside the public service is provided by a change in legal acts related to the assessment.

The subject of the assessment may be the head of the department, the subject of the assessment is employees. The assessment process consists of a set of principles, methods, criteria and procedures. After processing the assessment results, one of the management decisions presented on the bottom of the figure are taken. The complex assessment is carried out in three areas: the qualification level, the level of competences and labor efficiency and effectiveness.

Conditions and methods of research

We examined the issues of assessing municipal employees using the example of the guardianship department of the Krasnoglinsky district of Samara. It is one of the regional divisions of the Department of Guardianship and Social Support of the Samara city Administration. The department deals with issues related to custody of minors, incapacitated, post-boarding support of orphans, their housing problems, protection of such citizens’ rights.

In general, the organizational structure of the department can be characterized as a structure of a linear-functional type; it is characterized by a strict formalization of relations, a high degree of centralization.

One of the most significant part of the research is the analysis of the educational structure of the guardianship department. Most employees have higher education in the profile of professional activity (fig. 2): state and municipal management, law. In addition, it is important to mention that there are no employees with pedagogical and psychological education. Moreover, this is also no less important, due to the fact that employees face children in difficult life situations and they are supposed to be able working with such category of clients and to help them to cope with their psychological and other problems [3].

 

Fig. 2. The results of the personnel analysis

 

The analysis showed that for most of the core competencies, employees demonstrate a high level of knowledge (fig. 3). The results were obtained by using the system of arbitrary characteristics method [3].

 

Fig. 3. The analysis of the competencies level

 

The main difference between the real assessment system of municipal employees of the guardianship department and the ideal assessment model is the lack of a complex assessment and the evaluation based on the results of the trial period. The assessment is carried out only in the form of certification.

Certification is a narrower concept of an assessment and it represents the final stage of personnel assessment. As practice shows, the complexity of implementing a complex assessment system lies in its optional nature.

In relation to the department, the indicated problem is deeper and more acute. The analysis of personal files of employees, archival documents, a direct survey of employees have revealed the problem of the absence of any assessment of this department for 8 years. The reason why the certification was not carried out is due to the fact that the legislation provides the certification of an employee who has worked in a replaced position for at least one year. An analysis of the structure of the department showed that in 2015, the Department of Family and Guardianship and the Department of Social Support and Public Protection merged into the Department of Guardianship and Social Support [4]. Consequently, the employees did not have time to work out the required period for the certification at the moment when the research was carried out.

Results of the research

In view of the identified problems, we offer the following recommendations for improving the assessment system of municipal employees.

Firstly, we recommended to conduct certification of employees, and secondly, to introduce a current assessment system between certification, which will become a logical continuation of the existing certification institution.

A complex personnel assessment system may consist of several stages:

1. Assessment on formal grounds: education, length of service;
2. 360 degree method - as a way of current assessment;
3. Certification - as a way to identify employee compliance with the requirements, which are specified in the law;
4. Tests and group cases will help assess the professional knowledge and managerial abilities of employees.

The certification process should be left in view of the normative consolidation of this procedure. Method 360, testing and group cases solving can be conducted by the Samara Regional Resource Center.

However, the recommendations proposed above will not be completed unless the labor functions of employees are specified, taking into account the most important knowledge, skills, and competency models. Moreover, these models should be the main element of an improved assessment system [5].

Figure 4 shows a fragment of the competency model for a leading specialist of the guardianship department. It was designed with professional standards in mind [6, 7].

The model was built by comparing the rank identified in the pairwise comparison with the results of a survey of employees. When compiling a rating of knowledge and skills in controversial situations, preference was given to the opinion of department employees.

To implement the proposed recommendations, we propose an action plan, which consists of three stages (fig. 5).

 

Fig. 4. A fragment of the competency model

 

Fig. 5. The implementation plan of recommendations

 

Conclusion

The result of the study is the recommendations developed based on the analysis of the existing assessment system for department employees. A competency model was developed and solutions to identified problems were proposed. The proposed recommendations take into account the current laws of the Russian Federation and local laws of the guardianship body. The results of the research will contribute to the implementation of the complex approach in assessing personnel.

About the authors

Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Panchenkova

Samara University

Author for correspondence.
Email: panchenkova.ek@gmail.com

student III course of the Institute of Economics and Management

Russian Federation, 443086, Samara, Moskovskoye Shosse, 34

Olga Borisovna Salmanova

Samara University

Email: olga_salmanova@mail.ru

senior lecture of the Department of Foreign Languages and Russian as a Foreign Language

Russian Federation, 443086, Samara, Moskovskoye Shosse, 34

Elena Petrovna Solodova

Samara University

Email: Se-11.83@mail.ru

senior lecture of the Department of Human Recourses Management of the Samara University

Russian Federation, 443086, Samara, Moskovskoye Shosse, 34

References

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