Approaches to the formation of intercultural competence of public administration specialists

Statement of the problem. At the present stage of development of a globalised society, the importance of intercultural competence, which should be possessed by specialists in those fields that are directly related to the communication process with partners in the international arena, is increasing. The public sphere is no exception, as it is the place where a layer of specialists is formed to perform important tasks assigned to them by the state. Therefore, the relevance of possessing an adequate level of intercultural competence of public administration professionals is growing, especially in recent years, when Ukraine has declared the European integration vector of its development.

Analysis of recent research and publications. The formation of intercultural competence of public administration professionals is studied by such scholars as Y. Vyshnevska, L. Gren, O. Hrybko, H. Kyrychenko, N. Kovalska, V. Marchenko, S. Medvedenko, O. Sytko and many others. They study the peculiarities of forming the communicative competence of public administration specialists, consider ways of forming the communicative component of the leadership potential of government officials, raise the issue of the nature of information and communication mechanisms for shaping the image of public authorities, and analyse communicative tolerance in public administration.

Identification of previously unresolved parts of the overall problem. The issue of raising the level of intercultural competence of public administration professionals remains an urgent problem that needs to be addressed in the context of Ukraine's European integration.

Summary of the basic research material. The intercultural competence of public administration professionals is seen as a set of skills that form a sufficient and effective dialogue between partners and relevant groups of professionals  representing different economic, political, religious, ethnic or national groups.

The article highlights the main structural components of intercultural competence of future public administration professionals. Angovernment official must be able to interact with partners who may be representatives of different cultures and ethnicities. Close to this is the ability to conduct a mutually beneficial dialogue and the readiness of specialists to make the most effective decision for the communicators. A high level of dialogue is considered to be the ability of its participants to hear and perceive the position of their opponents. Specialists should have the ability to conduct business negotiations at the highest level, as well as a wide range of techniques and methods of comparison and generalisation. Finally, a public sector professional must be an effective conflict resolution specialist and be able to manage conflict situations.

Conclusions. Thanks to developed intercultural communication, dialogue in a modern multicultural society becomes possible, and intercultural competence serves as an effective tool for it. It is able to form an environment that provides for a basic and higher level based on such factors as motivation, skills and knowledge, moral autonomy, creativity and criticism.