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USING INNOVATION TECHNOLOGY IN RETRAINING OF MUNICIPAL SERVANTS
S.I. Chernomorchenko
When considering the current status of municipal services, we can note significant changes associated with the activities of civil servants. Presently, civil servants not only have to address economic issues, but also implement new projects in a task-oriented and systematic manner. Therefore, regular upgrading of skills is as much an integral part of their work as the fulfillment of daily job duties for every head and employee of a municipal governing body. It is well known that investments in the upgrading of the skills of managers and employees are highly efficient, and in some cases, short-term special purpose programs are more preferable than internal corporate learning. The synergistic effect of education from the participation in short-term courses which involve an intensive exchange of experience between teachers and trainees is much higher than in the case of training of specialists of one organization only. The specific characteristics of those attending short-term training programs for upgrading skills set strict requirements for the quality of training material. No less important are the techniques for solving learning tasks and forms of presentation, i.e. arrangement of the communication process. Setting and solving learning tasks are successful where they are problematic and drive creativity and cognitive activity. A professional learning task simulates the process of creative thinking arising from difficult situations in the course of implementing decisions that are important for employees of municipal authorities, serving as an effective means of formation and development of creative thinking.
One of the most effective ways of formation and development of professional and social competencies of employees of municipal governing bodies is a metaphorical business game [1]. The peculiarity of this type of business game is that it uses various metaphors (fairy tales, parables or legends that convey the problems of a real situation and modern problems faced by municipal servants). As researcher and business coach M. Parkin rightfully put it, metaphors can offer a new perspective on problems and reveal unexpected ways of solving them [2, p. 28]. D. Lakoff and M. Johnson also rightly believe that if “a picture is worth a hundred words, a metaphor is worth a thousand pictures, because it is dynamic and every one interprets it in their own way” [3, p. 38]. Therefore, the use of metaphorical material in courses for upgrading skills of municipal servants by incorporating them in the communication process develops the ability to find different ways of solving a managerial problem and helps to trigger the creativity of business game participants. Equally important for training of municipal servants is that metaphorical games also contribute to mutual understanding between participants, teaching them to value diverse points of view [4, p.167].
A teacher plays a special role in a metaphorical game. During a metaphorical business game, a teacher does not give participants any ready-to-use knowledge, but only helps to look for ways of solving a particular problem, stimulating their creativity. However, the teacher should undertake a proper analysis of the situation and be able to make conclusions without missing a single
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point of view. Here, the teacher should act as a manager and director of training rather than a translator of educational information, while the learner should act as the subject of the story [4, p.163]. The source material used for the metaphorical game is important, too. The plot of the story should be well known to all participants of the metaphorical business game so that they are able to look for new solutions, first for the situation set out in the fairytale, and then for a close managerial case study, without getting too engaged in the plot.
Practical experience shows that metaphorical games based on the communication process significantly increase participants’ creativity, and encourages them to master new knowledge, help solve rather complex problems of modern municipal governance, and help simulate managerial decision-making in organizing efficient operation of the service and develop proposals for improving the mechanism for servicing the public. Moreover, we find it important that this method of training of employees of municipal authorities at courses for upgrading skills contributes to the development of a self-reliant and responsible person who can properly assess and overcome difficulties faced when solving a managerial problem.
References
1. Завьялова Ж. Метафорическая деловая игра: Практическое пособие для бизнес-тренера. - СПб: Речь, 2004.
2. Паркин М. Сказки для тренеров. Как использовать сказки, истории и метафоры в обучении сотрудников. - М.: Изд-во «Добрая книга», 2005.
3. Lakoff, J. and Johnson, M. Metaphors we live by. - University of Chicago Press, 2001.
4. Черноморченко С.И. Использование кейс-метода в преподавании управленческих дисциплин./Инновационные технологии в образовании: сборник статей 3 Международной научно-практической конференции. Пенза: Приволжский Дом знаний, 2010, с.166-172.
This work was funded by the Federal Special Purpose Program "Scientific and Scientific-Pedagogical Staff of Innovative Russia" for 2009-2013, GK 14.740.11.1377.
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