Педагогические науки/2. Проблемы подготовки специалистов
Morgunova S.A.
Kharkiv National Automobile and
Highway University, Ukraine
At
present, the higher education system of Ukraine witnesses a stable tendency to
introduce a competency-based approach to form and organize an educational
process. Educational results and priorities are shifting from achievement of
concrete knowledge and skills towards having a constellation of competencies –
universal (basic, key) and special (professional, subject-based). Therefore,
the issue of the formation of the competence of future specialists is the most
topical problem in modern professional higher education.
Modern
pedagogical science defines competency as general capacity and readiness of
personality to carry out activity that is based on expertise, which is acquired
through training and oriented to independent participation of personality in
training and a cognitive process. Expertise is aimed at successful entering of
personality into professional activity [1]. Competency is a set of professional knowledge and
skills as well as the modes of professional activities where the core contains
activity-oriented capacities – a set of action modes. According to researchers,
competency includes a set of personal interconnected capacities (knowledge,
skills, activity modes) that are specified in relation to a certain list of
academic subjects and processes where the capacities are necessary for
qualitative seminal activity in relation to the academic subjects and processes. A professionally competent specialist is able to use
knowledge to solve practical tasks in accordance with their competence, i.e.
their professional duties and issues that are within the scope of the
capacities and practical experience of a human being when necessary information
is available. Therefore, competencies are integrated modes of actions that
guarantee seminal professional activity. This is a human capacity to put their
competence into practice.
Requirements
to professional competence can be presented as a professional profile of a
future specialist, i.e. a certain set of professional competencies that
guarantee maturation of a personality in general on the basis of intellectual,
personality-based, emotional and social development through gaining knowledge
in all fields.
The
efficiency of the control and competitiveness of an enterprise is determined by
managers’ professional competence, which is defined as an integrated
characteristic and complex evaluation of the correspondence of an employee to
their position in the company, their capacity to carry out any work. As of a
modern manager, the field of their professional activity is social-economic
behavior of a human being. So, a manager’s capacity to perform their duties means
to skillfully run the company, to control behavior of people and establish
links between the company and the community. It is possible to do so when a
manager has certain communicative skills and public relations competency.
Modern
science actively uses the concept of public relations (PR). Most researchers
define PR as practical or professional activity (S. Black, E. Bernas, R. Harlow, D. Doty, І. Artemnikova, G. Pocheptsov etc.). This approach means
that PR is specific professional activity that is aimed at mutual understanding
and well-wishing relationships between social agents, who can be personalities,
groups of people, society in general as well as various organisations and
industrial companies [3]. To illustrate the
approach, one more definition belongs to S. Black, English sociologist, who
states that PR is art and science to analyse tendencies, the prophesy of
consequences, the providing of recommendations to the authorities of company
and the performance of programmes and actions to benefit both the company and
community [2]. Therefore, according
to researchers, PR is practical or professional activity of people who are
involved into implementation of friendly relationships with community and
provide recommendations to various organisations.
According to some researchers
(F. Hesslow, T. Hunt, J. Grunig, А. Zverintsev, V. Zamiatina etc.), PR is
communication between a company and its social environment or a form of the
organisation of communication. PR means understanding through knowledge. The protagonists
of the approach define the gist of the concept of PR as analysis, structure and
control of communication flows of an institution (including a company) as well
as the solution of the tasks of the communication management of society in
general.
The PR phenomenon, which is
defined by American Foundation for Public Relations Research and Education, is of
interest for our research. The result of its analysis is a synthesised
definition that embraces conceptual and operational aspects of relations with
community: “Public relations is a special function of control that is aimed at the
establishing and support of mutual relations, understanding, recognition and
cooperation between the organization and its community; control of problem
solutions or arguments; investigating the public opinion and providing feedback
to help authorities; determining and emphasizing responsibility of authorities
to contribute to social interests; effective changing in accordance with the
demands of the times; timely notification to predict development tendencies; using
scientific methods, which are based on ethical standards of communication as
the basic tools”. [3].
At present, PR activity is
carried out in all the spheres of social life. The major aim of the PR activity
of a company is to create an external and internal
social-political-psychological medium that contributes to company’s success,
guarantees proper behaviour of the medium to benefit the company. Therefore,
the PR activity of company can be divided into several areas that gravitate to
various social groups (communities) or a proper objective (image of company,
crisis negotiation, turnover).
Taking into account the
definitions of PR, professional competency, the requirements to professional
qualification of a modern specialist, we state it that PR competency is an
integral characteristic of the personality-based, professional and behavioural
capacities of individual, an indicator of main psychological and PR concepts, a
capacity to effectively use modern psychological and PR technologies that
enable the specialist to guarantee their self-actualisation in profession to its
maximum extent.
PR competency is especially
important for future managers since professional tasks of a modern specialist
in this field contain the control of company reputation, promotion of products at the market, communication
with customers and media, creating a positive image of the company and its
corporate medium.
PR competency should be a
constituent of the training of a future manager and it is the complex of
individual and professional resources that guarantee a possibility of effective
solution of professional tasks by the manager in the future.
References:
1.
Шишов С. Е., Агапов И.
И. Компетентностный подход к образованию как необходимость // Мир образования –
образование в мире. – 2005. – № 4. – С. 41–43.
2.
Black S. The essentials of public relations // S. Black. – London, 1993.–216 р.
3.
Harlow Rex F. Building a Public Relations
Definition / R. F. Harlow //
Public Relations Review. – 1976, Winter. – Vol. 2, № 4.– P. 36-44.