Managerial Competencies And Their Formation In The Prism Of Regional Culture

The Management of Meaning

Here we are talking in general about academic management and managing the symbolic life of academic organizations as an area that allows us to build a complete picture of the formation of managerial competencies in scientific discussions. Researchers note the lack of attention of such institutions to the formation of managerial competencies as part of the organizational culture. Meanwhile, they contribute to the introduction of adequate methods of market business into the academic environment. Dill (1982) believes that academic education in general can be understood as a set of value-rational organizations that have an organizational culture that includes a mission, values, ideology and belief system. On the other hand, it can be understood as part of a system of academic culture management, meaning management, and social integration based on a competence-based approach.

Education and managerial competencies

The development of competencies and management strategies is an ongoing task of the world's educational programs. A report at the world education forum in Incheon (South Korea) in 2015 shows that lack of funding and lack of international partnership on this issue remain the main obstacles to achieving this goal at all levels of education. One of the main recommendations of the forum was to improve the skills and competencies that need to be mastered by the end of each level of training, and choose the priority ones (Andriyanova et al., 2018).

Research of information and communication environment tools in building a picture of the future can clarify the process of competence formation. They are dedicated to the rational explanation of orienting interactions in the socio-technical environment (Shipunova et al., 2019).

• They allow us to take a new look at the formation of managerial competencies from the point of view of an information model for managing interactions in the social environment.

• Their peculiarity lies in the special code character necessary for indirect influence on the consciousness of actors.

• Material needs in the context of market code and background knowledge that transmit patterns of thinking and behavior play a large role here.

The limitation of this model is the potential threat of disorganization of the community and mental structures, which can be overcome by the mechanisms of mental protection of a person in a digital hypernet.

Thus, today and in the future the use of various educational strategies in the formation of managerial competencies is promising in the research plan.

Connectionist Model in Leadership

Psychology has repeatedly emphasized the role of communication and interconnection processes in the perception of leadership, taking into account system constraints, and has proposed various models of communication (Connectionist Model) that are influenced by society (Lord et al., 2001). A comparison of perceptions of leadership, behavior, and influence suggests that managerial competencies play a significant role in shaping group behavior and social dynamics.

Аssessments of competence and worth

Considering interpersonal processes in management competencies, we can note their influence on social inequality in the group, where the main role in its appearance and form is played by social status and remuneration. If in everyday communication an individual has such key characteristics as gender and education, as well as achieved statuses, then his other characteristics: power, privileges and property, create a different perception. If we look at these differences together, we can understand what kind of people they are, what kind of behavior we might encounter, what their contribution to the common cause is, and how much managerial competence they have. Social reality is based on these expectations, and the use of differences in status and privilege helps build a model for assessing the competence and value of individuals. Here you can see such types of managerial competencies as: the influence of leaders on the configuration of valuable resources in social groups; the normative distribution of awards within social groups; awards as a source of creating new status groups; preventing the legitimization of inequality based on differences in status through interventions based on different management decisions (Harkness, 2014).

When researching the effectiveness of leadership, scientists note that this process itself is perceived in the context of general membership in the group, so the leader, as a member of the group, has all the opportunities, powers and competencies to express the opinion of the group of his followers. The existing social identity model of organizational leadership (van Knippenberg & Hogg, 2003) highlights the competence of a leader as a group member – the ability to interact with other group members. The significance of the group with which its members identify themselves determines, among other things, the effectiveness and competence of the management. It, in turn, depends on how much the leader identifies with the group and brings its activities to its benefit. This model, as the authors point out, is a generalization for existing models of charismatic leadership, exchange theory, and leadership categorization.

Management control as competence

In the 1970s, the management of nonprofit organizations was characterized mainly through the prism of the functions and principles of management control, and the management control system itself included programming, measuring production volumes and evaluating efficiency (Anthony & Herzlinger, 1975). In the 1980s, it was believed that a formal system of management control exerts a powerful influence on the actions of middle and senior managers in the organization, so when developing such a system, there should be a design that includes certain necessary characteristics. The format of the normative model allows you to objectively list, identify and describe these characteristics and compare them with the existing practical system of management control in organizations (Kotzé, 1984; Putterill, 1985). However, traditional approaches to management control are not always valid for public and non-profit activities, since the type of control applicable to such activities depends on four criteria: unambiguity of goals, measurable results, predictability of the consequences of intervention, and repetitive nature of the activity. Hofstede (1982) shows the dependence of controls on activities in six categories: routine, expert, trial and error, intuitive, subjective, or political control. While the first three types can be represented by cybernetic models, the other three require more complex and less deterministic models, the key elements of which are the values and culture of managers. This, in turn, allows us to refer management control to the system of organizational adaptation and build a management system that does not interfere with the training of the organizational system.

Management of no-profit organizations and competences in the socio-cultural sphere

Research on the management of nonprofit cultural organizations developed mainly in the United States after World war II (Baumol & Bowen, 1966). In the 1980s, there was a broad discussion about how to manage nonprofit organizations, including in the cultural sector, and the authors offered practical guides and step-by-step instructions for managers (Ellman, 1982; Espy, 1986; Hansmann, 1980). They reflect the strategic planning itself, the main planning and implementation tools necessary for the success of the organization, but the formation of special competencies has not yet been discussed. Reflecting on the role of a nonprofit enterprise in the production and distribution of works of art, DiMaggio (2006) analyzes data on the scale of noprofit activity in a number of cultural industries and provides theoretical explanations for the prevalence of nonprofit organizations in the cultural industries, taking into account the theory of behavioral differences between nonprofit and commercial cultural organizations. The author identifies the main trends in managing the development of the cultural sector in modern society, where there are demographic changes, the weakening of the cultural hierarchy and the emergence of new production and distribution technologies (DiMaggio, 2006). An important method of research of noncommercial organizations is to identify the possibilities of a hidden mechanism of management through background knowledge and stereotypes of mass consciousness. It is caused by the transformation of socio-cultural semantic space (Shipunova et al., 2017). The use of this method is based on the fact that code control is performed anonymously, a certain limit is set for the perception of events and their evaluation, and the predicted stereotypical reaction is catalyzed. The formed knowledge of reality is based on stereotypical practices of understanding and action that are not reflected in everyday life, but ensure the transfer of socially significant meaning necessary for human interaction and social control. Socio-cultural, semiotic and communicative aspects of studying the properties of the cultural code can expand the prospects for applying managerial competencies in practice.

Study of nonprofit organizations

The approach proposed by DiMaggio (2003) in recent years reflects a rapidly developing interest in nonprofit organizations and sectors and clearly expresses a sociological view of nonprofit organizations. It is rooted in the difference in approaches to this type of organization in the field of economics and sociology, namely: why (and where) do nonprofit organizations exist and what is the significance of nonprofit activities at the level of the industry and organization?

Analysis managerial competencies in the stages of work on the project

The works of Matassa (2014) provide a direct basis for the formation of managerial competencies in the field of planning and organizing work in a cooperative environment, established communication and careful work with documentation. If you divide the entire process of organizing the team's work on a project into two stages, the first will be associated with the implementation of a project from the initial concept to completion, and the second-with the analysis of the result. A well-thought-out and well-developed concept naturally leads to making the right management decisions (project name, scale, subjects and objects). This initial phase of applying managerial competencies is crucial. It leads to the development of realistic proposals that can lay the foundation for the project planning stage. Here, goals and objectives are highlighted, results are predicted, an overall strategy is defined, and possible risks are assessed. Once the overall vision of the project has taken place, the planning stage begins, and it is at this time that project management becomes a key competence. It is important to assemble a qualified, cohesive project team led by a competent manager, regardless of the size or duration of the project. At this stage, management competencies represent the project manager delegating responsibility between team members, ensuring that all areas of project planning are given due attention. This involves coordinated planning of team meetings, monitoring a comprehensive schedule and establishing clear and direct lines of interaction, as well as establishing uninterrupted communication. This well-planned organization and communication of the workflow will continue until the project is completed. The project implementation stage begins after the implementation of the planning competencies and commissioning of the project team. The last stage of Matassa (2014) is called «the importance of legacy», that is, the memory of the project, which has a certain impact on society and this influence can last for many years, so the creation of a lasting legacy should take a prominent place at all stages of the project, including the storage of all documentation. Reports on all aspects of project implementation should be stored and archived, including printed materials, statistics, photos, and feedback from participants. They will be important factors in evaluating the project, determining its achievements, and summarizing experience.

In this way we were able to structure the existing managerial competencies of managers and discover new opportunities for their growth.

Competence formation as part of the academic program

Here we found out how the academic education received by managers allows them to put into practice the knowledge, skills and abilities that are indicators of competence formation.

Managerial competencies in the process of implementing socio-cultural projects: assessment and opportunities

Here there is an assessment of the managerial competence of the heads of cultural institutions as leaders in the implementation of social projects of various directions and identification of growth points. The integral indicator of competence formation includes certain clusters and their assessment.

• The direction and names of projects, their goals, scale, and choice of subjects and objects formed the first cluster of managerial competencies.

• Project management as a key competence, including team selection, forecasting results, developing a common strategy, and risk assessment is the second cluster.

• Delegating responsibility between team members is the third cluster.

• Forming «the importance of legacy» is the fourth cluster.

The formation of managerial competences can be represented as integral index, which includes the basic variables: assessment of the level of development (low, medium, high); its quality (knowledge and skills); the degree of mastering the competences (from 1 to 5, where 1 is the lowest and 5 the highest).

It was held in the form of a «blind» assessment by experts from among the leading employees of the сommittee on culture of the Kursk region, the regional methodological center, and municipal authorities (N=15). The number of experts reflects the proportional distribution of levels of government in the territories. The project evaluation procedure included several stages: the first stage was to select projects implemented by the heads of rural cultural institutions of socio-cultural orientation in 2017-2018 (one project from one cultural organization); the second stage was to evaluate the project according to the scheme shown in Table 1 ; at the third stage, experts ' opinions were reduced to average values and general indicators were determined.

Education and competencies

In interviews with managers, we received information that the vast majority of respondents (98%) do not have a basic/managerial first education, so all managerial competencies were formed during their practical work (the average experience of managers is 15 years). Taking into account the fact that almost none of the heads of cultural organizations in the Kursk region has a managerial education, it turned out that about half of them (51%) have a higher education, 48% of the respondents received secondary special education, and 1% of the managers have only a general secondary education. It turned out that most of them received education related to their field of activity (59%), but 38% of the surveyed managers had no education related to cultural and leisure activities. Among the professions listed (by frequency of mention): accountant, economist, teacher, educator, seamstress, social worker, cook, etc. At the same time, the majority of managers believe that an appropriate education is necessary for managing an organization (88%) and only 9% say that there is no need for management education. In general, managers believe that the initiator of retraining should be the employee himself (41%), 25% of them say that the initiator should be the head of the institution, 16% – the founder and 14% – the middle manager. However, it should be noted that all respondents are in favor of getting special education for managers as a refresher, since the current level of competence seems very serious to them.

Integral indicator of competence formation

• The first cluster «Orientation and names of projects, their goals, scale, choice of subjects and objects» – a high level; knowledge, skills and abilities are formed at a sufficient level; the degree of mastery of competencies is 4.5 points.

Selected aspects of the projects: «Local history» («Тhe Pages of history the rural House of culture», «History of my village»); «Ecology» («Summer on the planet "Childhood"», «Pure village», «Spruce up your village», «Ecology of native land through the eyes of the younger generation»); «Family tradition» («Family lineage», « Family celebrations and traditions»); «For a healthy lifestyle» («Smoking is not fashionable», «Sport for all»); «Children and childhood» («Children – the future of the country», «Тhe Organization of a platform for the youth leisure», «Тo remember», «Glow Trinity soul», «Folk traditions and way of life», «Vivat, Russian flag», «National holidays of Russia», «Musical-rhythmic and dance activities as a means of development of creative abilities of children»); «Theater and cinema in the village» («Theatre accessible to everyone», «Video-drive in village»).

• The second cluster «Рroject мanagement» – the average level; knowledge, skills and abilities are formed at a sufficient level; the degree of mastery of competencies is 3.7 points.

All social projects are focused on different goals, but their common quality is to meet the needs of different groups of the population and improve the quality of services provided.

• The third cluster «Delegation of responsibility between team members» – the average level; knowledge, skills and abilities are formed at a sufficient level; the degree of mastery of competencies is 3.3 points.

Implemented only in projects of reconstruction of folklore rites and holidays with the participation of young people.

• The fourth cluster «Тhe importance of legacy» – a high level; knowledge, skills and abilities are formed at a sufficient level; the degree of mastery of competencies is 4.8 points.

Was undertaken: the creation of a virtual tour of the village to attract attention to the problem of preservation of cultural and historical heritage of the native land and strengthen the citizenship of young people; formation and systematization of ideas about his homeland and on the website of the house of culture presentation «Тhe History of our village»; the creation of mini-museums of the history of the village and the «Russian house» at the club; the creation of an electronic «Village Chronicle» preserving the best of club events.

In general, managerial competencies of managers are formed at a sufficient level against the background of practical implementation of activities and the process of retraining.

Growth of culture in rural settlements

The formation of a new level of competence will allow us to comprehensively solve existing management tasks in the field of culture in rural settlements, such as organizing summer holidays for children, including those from low-income families, disadvantaged families and children in difficult situations, attracting the attention of different groups of the population to the problem of rural pollution, forming an environmental culture, creating social advertising and organizing social events, etc.

Nonprofit оrganizations in sphere of culture: new trends of menegement

For nonprofit organizations in the field of culture, the formation of managerial competencies has the following research implications:

• reflection of institutional factors and public policy in their appearance and functioning, in the processes of social choice of activities and utility functions;

• understanding the origin of regional specifics of organizations of this type requires a competence-based approach at the industry level (Andriyanova, 2019).