Petrozavodsk State Universitys Best practice Report Natalia S

Petrozavodsk State University’s Best practice Report Natalia S. Ruzanova Olga Y. Derbeneva Irina A. Popova

Specific Project Target Management Field • • • Petrozavodsk State University’s specialists conducted studies and analysis of European and Russian universities’ “best practices” in personnel management for university management. Studies revealed that the need for improving performance of a modern university in the context of a more complicated university structure and an increasing scope of tasks solved by all educational process actors caused a critical change in approaches to personnel management. Personnel management is currently deemed as managing the most important resource responsible for higher educational institution’s successful activity.

Implementation Team • The working group included specialists from the Regional Centre of New Information Technologies (RCNIT) of Petrozavodsk State University: – Natalya Ruzanova, Group Leader, Project coordinator at Petr. SU, Director of RCNIT; – Olga Derbeneva, Deputy Director of RCNIT, Head of the Educational Technology Department; – Irina Popova, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Head of the Department of Financial and Managerial Activities Information Systems; – Svetlana Kostyukevich, Leading Specialist of the Department of Financial and Managerial Activities Information Systems.

Methodology of Research Studies were based on: • Materials of European universities and organizations involved in the project implementation on the part of the European Union, that were represented at workshops held at Saarland University and IMC (Saarbruecken, Germany), University of Valencia (Spain). • Various English-language information sources: publications, presentations, sites, information materials of international seminars and conferences dealing with HR development and management: • Materials of “Heads of University Management and Administration Network in Europe” - HUMANE, dealing with the development of university management and effective procedures of higher education and research management. • Description of information systems of HR management in other well known European universities (Oxford and others).

Methodology of Research Studies were based on: • Scientific literature and proceedings of All-Russian research and research-and-practical conferences on applying ICT to university management (held in the Russian Federation in recent decade), information materials available on Russian educational portals, university sites and State Research Institute’s (“Informika”) site; • Petr. SU’s own experience in solving personnel management tasks in the context of development and application of subsystems of the Information-analytical integrated system of university management (“IAIS”). • Requirements of All-Union State Standards – GOST R ISO 9001 -2001, “Quality management systems. Requirements. ”

The Status Quo of the Problem • There are differences in concepts and approaches applied in the field of personnel management in Russian and foreign universities: Key terminology using: – Staff, staff accounting, staff management - are used mainly in the Russian university management system. – Personnel (of Organization), Personnel Management - are typical In English-speaking countries, mostly refers to university’s operational work – Human Resources (HR), Human Resource Management (HRM), HRMS - Large foreign universities use the terms, which comprises strategic aspects of personnel problem solution

The Status Quo of the Problem • • Собранный материал позволил творческому коллективу специалистов Петр. ГУ на основе обзора и сравнения зарубежного и российского опыта выработать рекомендации по возможностям применения методологии зарубежных вузов в российской академической среде, а также возможности улучшения отдельных управленческих процессов. There are differences in concepts and approaches applied in the field of personnel management in Russian and foreign universities: Key terminology using: – Staff, staff accounting, staff management - are used mainly in the Russian university management system. – Personnel (of Organization), Personnel Management - are typical In English-speaking countries, mostly refers to university’s operational work – Human Resources (HR), Human Resource Management (HRM), HRMS - Large foreign universities use the terms, which comprises strategic aspects of personnel problem solution

The Status Quo of the Problem Field of activity Aimed at Typical functions Human resource management (strategic aspect) Solving strategic, long-term, principally new tasks Human resource planning Individual capabilities development and further professional training “Personnel costs” planning within strategy of university’s general costs, etc. Personnel management (operative activity) Solving tactical tasks and everyday problems requiring administrative intervention Staff selection and arrangement Labour motivation management Safety control Conflict settlement

European Universities’ Experience in HRMS in european universities focus on: – – – personnel evaluation and motivation, career promotion, analysis of a worker’s compliance with the position held, planning needs for personnel, permanent professional development of personnel. HRMS are aimed at optimization of personnel costs within the approved personnel policy, development and retention of personnel, planning their careers, planning rewards and promotion, analysis of personnel efficiency, etc.

University of Valencia • Staff Development Service • Department of Health, Safety, and Environmental Quality (Occupational Health and Safety and Environmental Quality) • Analysis and Planning Service (Operation and maintenance of SAPiència: information system for the management of UV) • Education Evaluation and Diagnosis Office (GADE) (Academic performance evaluation, - University extension course evaluation) • Information Systems Department . The information system “Virtual secretary”, for instance, provides information services for various user communities at the University of Valencia, including the field of personnel management: – Services for administrative-maintenance staff - “Work Record Card”, “Salaries”, Data use. – Services for research and academic staff - Teaching load, “Work Record Card” (occupied work places, working load implemented, licenses, positions, academic degrees), and “Salaries” (similar to that for administrative-maintenance staff). – Service administrators: “Work Record Card” administrators.

Saarland University • ERP systems-level software products in management, focused on optimization of personnel costs within the approved staff policy, staff development and retention, their career planning, rewards and promotion planning, analysis of personnel performance and so on • The IMC company introduced CLIX management system including a resource management subsystem as its integral part. The human resource management subsystem is realized in SAP HR system (ERP-level system) • The CLIX system provides management of both traditional and electronic on-line training and also the university’s (campus’s) major business processes management

Russian universities’ practice in HRM • • • All automated personnel management systems available in Russia can be divided into three groups: Foreign companies’ products; these are mostly represented by subsystems of ERP systems; Russian systems that were initially developed as personnel management systems; Domestic software products evolved from “accounting” products whose developers create their products in the field of personnel management. Russian personnel management systems are often of an “accounting” character.

Project outcome-based conclusions • Personnel management is currently deemed as managing the most important resource responsible for higher educational institution’s successful activity. In practice, however, the task of personnel management often comes to nothing more than staff accounting, as before. • It should be noted that effective personnel management in a higher educational institution is by no means a trivial task. This is due to both complex and diverse university staff structure (administrative-managerial, academic, research, support, general-service, medical) and a democratic “format” of university activities. Human resources are highly dynamic. • Current requirement is the development of a Personnel Management System ensuring the work of various structures (with Personnel Management Service as the basic one) and personnel in university’s integrated information environment.

Projecting the experience onto the Petr. SU’s management system Creation of the Personnel Management System at Petr. SU requires further improvement of Petr. SU’s IAIS, namely: • On application level - designing functional applications: – for information support of job responsibilities execution by personnel management specialists; – for analytical support of managerial staff activity; – for satisfying information needs of any university employee. • On system level - development of Petr. SU’s IAIS Portal as a means of unified user authorization and centralized access to IAIS applications and resources.