Developing Conflict Management Skills in Municipal Employees: a Sociological Study

The article introduces a sociological survey that featured the development of conflict management skills in municipal employees of the Belgorod region. The methods involved a questionnaire survey and a semi-structured interview of Belgorod municipal authorities, teaching staff of the Higher School of Management of the Belgorod State University, and employees of the Institute of Regional Personnel Policy of Belgorod. The reasons behind the conflicts were divided into those caused by the specifics of the municipal service, the peculiarities of team relations, and the individual characteristics of a municipal employee. The results of the study can improve the practical work of municipal personnel departments or be used in teaching sociological disciplines. Further study is required to develop diagnostic methods to identify the conflict management skills in municipal officials, collect information, define conditions and patterns of development, draft resolution procedures, etc.

Improving the Methodology for Assessing the Effectiveness of Economic Entities in Modern Conditions

Modern conditions impose special requirements to the assessment of economic entities. Efficiency is an important parameter of the activity of any business. The present research involved a critical analysis of standard methods for assessing the effectiveness of both domestic and foreign practices. The analysis revealed a need to apply new approaches to business efficiency assessment because the standard approach is not systematic and its indicators repeat themselves. The article offers a new conceptual methodological approach to understanding the term efficiency. The new methodological concept is hybrid in nature and includes classical economic, financial, and institutional methods. It also adopts some methods and approaches from management and natural sciences. The authors built a comprehensive model for assessing the effectiveness of an economic entity in modern conditions. It is based on the idea that the optimal methods are those that do not use relative indicators. This model includes three levels of indicators: standard, qualitative, and synergistic. The new approach is systemic and corresponds to modern economic environment, which resolves the issue of relative performance indicators.

Economic Accessibility of Food: a Regional Aspect

The general level of socio-economic development and the quality of life depend on the economic availability of food, i.e. the ability of the local population to buy products recommended by the Ministry of Health. Each family has the right to afford quality food for all household members. The local economic availability of food depends, first of all, on the income per capita in a particular region. The present research assessed the economic availability of food in the Republic of Buryatia using such indicators as food supplies, cash income per capita, household budget structure, and self-sufficiency in basic foodstuffs. The results were compared with the food situation in other regions of the Far Eastern Federal District and the average Russian data.

Career and Professional Development of the Head of the Organization

The present research featured the career and professional development of the head of a modern organization. The status and career development of specialists and managers often come into dissonance. Managerialism, corruption, and other deformations create contradictions that require targeted and large-scale efforts, e.g. innovative career management technologies. The research objective was to analyze modern problems of managing the career and professional development of CEO personnel. The career and professional path of a CEO is a cultural phenomenon. They are closely related to one's development as a personality, a partner, and a specialist, which forms a system of competencies. These competencies also reflect and generate changes in the area of intrapersonal and interpersonal improvement. Personal development depends on the accumulation and processing of life and career experience. As a rule, this experience is neither purposeful nor reflexive. As a result, it gives little large-scale effect. The study and reflection should prevent and correct violations of professional-labor and social-career development, including careerograms, customized work trajectories, psychotechnologies of career management, etc. Performance of a manager is a multilevel system of interconnected individual components. Managerial performance can be improved as a systemic correlation of the existing and emerging qualities of a manager with the peculiarities of the organization, i.e. corporate culture, socio-psychological climate, internal education and mutual assistance, a system of selection and support, a system of professionally important qualities of an effective leader, ergo design of staff, psychophysiological harmony, etc.

Effect of Strategic Planning on the Sustainable Development of Regional Economy

The present research featured the issue of regional strategic planning as part of Russian economic system. The research objective was to study the role of strategic planning in improving the sustainable development of local economy. The study was based on the methods of analysis, synthesis, and grouping. The Strategy of Economic Development of Kuzbass through 2035 turned out to be more relevant in its content than previous strategies. The analysis of regional typology helped to identify a wider range of problems that aggravated or appeared over time. The problems were formulated as key priorities aimed at improving the life of local population and boosting the economic growth. The author believes that the main goal of the state regional policy is to reach and maintain a high level of economic development of the region. Regional policy is a set of legislative, administrative, and economic measures aimed at improving the quality of life and productive in the region. The state regional policy has the same economic orientation for all regions, which should be regulated by strategic planning, thus increasing the level of sustainable economic development.

Saudi Arabia National Cyber Security System: Specificity and Development Risks

The research featured the national cybersecurity system of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The cybersecurity standards developed by the International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations made it possible to reveal the institutional and legal foundations of the digital security system, as well as the degree of involvement in international cybersecurity cooperation. The analysis demonstrated the key risks of the development of the Saudi cyber model. The assessment by the International Telecommunication Union standards gave quite positive results. However, Saudi Arabia proved to adhere to a catching-up development model and still experiences some problems with national cyberspace security. Some are of global nature, e.g. legislation gaps, while others result from the specifics of the national model of state governance. The most obvious risks include the imbalance between the civil and military sectors, the disagreements between various regions, and the poor integration of the local hacker community into the overall structure of national cybersecurity. Saudi Arabia plans to eliminate these imbalances in the medium term in order to build an integrated cybersecurity system by expanding its international cooperation.

Intelligent Contracts in Engineering Enterprise Supply Management

Intellectual contracts based on blockchain technology improve the efficiency of supply management of an automobile enterprise by optimizing the transactional costs of supply logistics. The present research featured KAMAZ PTC. The goal was to develop an interaction mechanism for all participants of an intellectual contract in supply activities. The article includes a review of Russian and foreign publications about intellectual contracts in various business spheres, supply management efficiency, optimization of transactional costs, and blockchain technology. The study made it possible to build an interaction mechanism of the parties involved in a blockchain intellectual contract. It also revealed a pattern of changes introduced to the intellectual contract at different stages of interaction between the initiator and suppliers. The authors also highlighted the difference between smart contract and intellectual contract. An intellectual contract appears as a logical development of a smart contract and allows the sides to change the terms. The party interaction mechanism can improve the supply efficiency as it optimizes the magnitude of transactional costs.

State Cultural Policy during the Great Patriotic War

The article describes the content and features of the state cultural policy during the Great Patriotic War. In the pre-war period and in the first years of the war, the state budget cut on cultural expenditures, and all Soviet cultural institutions aimed their activities at achieving the main strategic goal, i.e. victory. The research was based on an institutional approach, as well as methods of analysis, synthesis, and comparison. The author studied various regulatory documents and defined the main features of cultural activities in wartime conditions. Advantages of the socio-political system made it possible to mobilize all types of resources in the shortest time possible. Institutions of culture were responsible for propaganda and recruiting campaign, thus performing the function of ideological and political inspirer of Soviet citizens.

Regional Economic Growth and R&D Costs

Innovations can help Russia to achieve economic growth. However, the R&D sector that produces these innovations totally depends on funding. The article introduces an analysis of the trends in R&D funding in Russia. Regional funds for financial support of research, technical, and innovative activities seem to be an effective tool that will eventually contribute to the economic growth. The research objective was to identify the relationship between R&D funding and economic growth. A review of scientific publications revealed some theoretical aspects behind the effect of R&D costs on other indicators of economic growth. A cluster analysis made it possible to identify some regions where the relationship between R&D expenditures and indicators of economic growth are most pronounced. The study can help regional authorities to plan local budgets and achieve economic growth for their regions.

Career Guidance as a Factor of Professional Identity Development at the Transbaikal State University

Contemporary university education develops professional identity and builds customized academic trajectories. Career guidance technologies provide professional self-awareness and personality professionalization. At university, career guidance work is an integral part of continuous professional development of a future specialist. It covers pre-university education, higher professional education, and employment assistance. The present research featured the career guidance work conducted at the Transbaikal State University. The analysis showed that the current system lacks innovations, cannot solve the employment problem, and does not provide conditions for successful professional identity. The article introduces a set of project conditions of customized career guidance work with 1) applicants, in order to promote a conscious career choice; 2) students, to support their professional competencies and identity; 3) graduates, to facilitate their employment. The proposed comprehensive approach to career guidance will allow the university to improve the academic process and to work with the community from secondary school to the onset of professional activity.