Assessing communication competencies of public servants in Kazakhstan: Current status and approaches for enhancement

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Political crises, socio-economic issues, and industrial shocks in Kazakhstan highlight the need for prompt and proficient government responses to mitigate their consequences. Public managers must possess the capability to assume responsibility and communicate effectively. This study aims to analyze the level of communication competencies among civil servants in Kazakhstan to assess their status and propose approaches for enhancement. The study utilized a mixed-method approach, combining quantitative survey and qualitative interviews. The quantitative phase involved the distribution of structured questionnaires to civil servants across diverse departments (n = 4,790), aiming to evaluate existing communication competencies, identify strengths and weaknesses, and comprehend prevailing communication issues. The qualitative component included in-depth interviews with selected participants to better understand their experiences and views on communication in the public service sector (n = 27 experts). Research findings define the existing problems and barriers that hinder the development of the communicative competencies of civil servants. Most respondents (25%) believe that problems stem from a lack of understanding of information and citizens’ reluctance or inability to interact with government agencies, while 16% attribute issues to civil servants’ behavioral barriers. Smaller percentages point to language barriers (11%), emotional barriers (9%), cultural barriers (6%), and gender barriers (3%) as contributing factors. Additionally, the study revealed a lack of systematic training and support for developing effective communication skills among government employees. The study suggests several approaches to improve communication competencies, such as targeted training programs, cross-departmental collaboration, and organizational culture promotion.

Acknowledgment
The study was carried out within the framework of grant funding from the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan (IRN AP14872210).

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    • Figure 1. Assessment of professional communication skills
    • Figure 2. Barriers to communication between government agencies and the public
    • Figure 3. Difficulties in developing professional communication skills of civil servants
    • Table 1. Descriptive statistics
    • Question 1: What is your gender?
    • Question 2: What is your marital status?
    • Question 3: How many children do you have?
    • Question 4: What is your age?
    • Question 5: In which region do you live?
    • Question 6: How long have you worked in the civil service?
    • Question 7: Indicate which languages you speak and at what level.
    • Question 8: Which governmental body do you represent?
    • Question 9: How do you understand “professional communications of a civil servant or a government body”?
    • Question 10: Evaluate the overall level of professional communicative competencies of civil servants where 1 – low level, 5 – high level
    • Question 11: Evaluate the professional communicative competencies of yourself and your colleagues where 1 – low level, 5 – high level
    • Question 12: Evaluate the level of professional communication competencies of civil servants of central government bodies where 1 – low level, 5 – high level, 0 – I cannot evaluate due to lack of direct interaction
    • Question 13: Evaluate the level of professional communication competencies of civil servants of local executive bodies where 1 – low level, 5 – high level, 0 – I cannot evaluate due to lack of direct interaction
    • Question 14: In your opinion, how important are NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS when interacting with citizens (not written or spoken speech, but gestures, appearance, intonation, facial expressions)? (0 – I am neutral, 1 – absolutely not important, 5 – very im
    • Question 15: In your opinion, how important are VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS when interacting with citizens (written or spoken speech)? (0 – I am neutral, 1 – not important, 5 – very important)
    • Question 16: What percentage of your working time do you spend on communications (information exchange, including interaction, communication, with colleagues, higher government bodies, management, citizens, service recipients, etc.)?
    • Question 17: In your opinion, what qualities should civil servants primarily possess? (Choose the three most important qualities)?
    • Question 18: In your opinion, what barriers exist in the communication of government bodies with the population? (Choose no more than three answers)
    • Question 19: Evaluate the effectiveness of the personal communication channel of your government body where 1 – low level, 5 – high level
    • Conceptualization
      Baurzhan Bokayev
    • Data curation
      Baurzhan Bokayev, Zhuldyz Davletbayeva, Kuralay Sadykova, Guldana Baktiyarova
    • Formal Analysis
      Baurzhan Bokayev, Zhuldyz Davletbayeva, Kuralay Sadykova, Guldana Baktiyarova
    • Funding acquisition
      Baurzhan Bokayev, Zhuldyz Davletbayeva, Kuralay Sadykova, Guldana Baktiyarova
    • Investigation
      Baurzhan Bokayev, Zhuldyz Davletbayeva, Kuralay Sadykova, Assel Balmanova
    • Methodology
      Baurzhan Bokayev, Zhuldyz Davletbayeva, Kuralay Sadykova, Assel Balmanova
    • Project administration
      Baurzhan Bokayev, Zhuldyz Davletbayeva, Kuralay Sadykova
    • Resources
      Baurzhan Bokayev, Zhuldyz Davletbayeva, Assel Balmanova
    • Software
      Baurzhan Bokayev, Zhuldyz Davletbayeva
    • Supervision
      Baurzhan Bokayev, Zhuldyz Davletbayeva
    • Validation
      Baurzhan Bokayev, Zhuldyz Davletbayeva, Kuralay Sadykova
    • Visualization
      Baurzhan Bokayev, Zhuldyz Davletbayeva, Kuralay Sadykova
    • Writing – original draft
      Baurzhan Bokayev, Zhuldyz Davletbayeva, Kuralay Sadykova, Assel Balmanova, Guldana Baktiyarova
    • Writing – review & editing
      Baurzhan Bokayev, Zhuldyz Davletbayeva, Kuralay Sadykova, Assel Balmanova, Guldana Baktiyarova