Modelo de formación por competencias para jefes y directivos de la Administración Pública Española

Abstract

This study has a threefold purpose. On the one hand, to find out and analyse the degree of importance civil servants within the Spanish Public Administration attach to a set of twenty professional competencies, as well as to compare the self-assessed level of competency of middle and senior managers with that of a reference population of senior managers. For this purpose, we worked with a sample of 613 public servants in the Administration, made up of lower-ranking officials, middle managers, and senior managers, and a survey method was applied for data collection and analysis. On the other hand, to design and validate a questionnaire entitled “Training in Positions of Responsibility in the Spanish Public Administration” (FRAPE for its acronym in Spanish), through a panel of experts and by means of the use of the Delphi method. This questionnaire will serve to achieve the third purpose, which consists of finding out and analysing the opinion of career civil servants in leadership or management positions, and of political appointees in governing bodies with respect to the training needs of these groups; besides, we aim to describe the most important tasks and problems they face on a daily basis within the framework of their duties. Finally, we aim to identify the main factors in order to design a competency-based training model addressed to the aforementioned positions of responsibility. The main results indicate that the degree of relevance that civil servants attach to professional competencies in order to hold positions of responsibility is very high; in the top rankings we find the competencies of “self-confidence and self-assurance”, “communication”, and “teamwork”; although the self-assessed level of competency among middle and senior managers is medium in all cases of leadership and management – also showing a self-assessed competency level that is statistically below the level exhibited by the reference population of managers. Both middle and senior managers have a greater preference for training in technical matters than for management training; therefore the traditional approach still persists in management functions, where the lack of motivation of public servants and the lack of performance evaluation systems are the main problems to be faced on a daily basis. As regards the training received by middle and senior managers, this is not linked to competency-based comprehensive human resources integrated management models. The overall assessment of the quality of the training received in the last two years is that of evident dissatisfaction; and the actors that hinder their daily work are, in order, the governing body and the senior political appointees; whereas the actors that support it are the respective subordinates and the immediate superior. Finally, this research offers results and conclusions that may enable the improvement of the acquirement and development of competencies in training in positions of responsibility in the Spanish Public Administration.