ea_2017_1-2 UDC: 377.3:352.08 JEL: L26, B52 COBISS.SR-ID: 240675084 SCIENTIFIC REVIEW Attitudes of the Employees on Education in Local-Self- Government Olja Arsenijević18, Faculty of Business Studies and Law, University „Union_Nikola Tesla“, Belgrade, Serbia Edita Kastratović, Faculty for Business Economics and Entrepreneurship, Belgrade, Serbia Sandra Nešić, FEFA, University “Singidunum”, Belgrade, Serbia ABSTRACT – The aim of this research is to study the nature of connections between independent and dependent variables as relations between status features and general life orientations and attitudes on the efficiency of the existing professional training of staff in the sector of public government. The sample of respondents consists of 553 aldermen and employees in the local administration. The instruments for data collection: Questionnaire for examination of special attitudes on the value of the education program for aldermen and employees in local administration. The greatest participation within distrust have the statements that the manner of work in the municipalities is the same before and after and that education will not lead to the changes in this generation of employees – r = 0,70 i r = 0,71. The connections between the affective and value component of the attitude on the efficiency of education is rather intensive, Chi-square is 111,31. There are four times more of those respondents with a positive evaluation than those with an extreme negative statement “in municipalities, the attention is systematically paid to the education of the staff in the sector of public government and self-government“ Chi – square = 155,15. KEY WORDS: attitudes, local government, education, employees Introduction Education is a process that lasts whole life, but that also enables the achievement and development of a potential individual. Olja Arsenijevic (2015) in Serbia, the provision of elementary education is a legal obligation, unlike the secondary and higher education. According to the studies of the World Bank, about 98% of children enroll the elementary school, but 28% of them never finish it. According to the records of the National Employment Service, only 40% of the young have graduated from secondary school. The total of 25% of graduates chooses to enroll the university, but the data from 2014 show that 70% of students give up on the studies. These data clearly show that education system is hardly passable and that only a small number of those who enroll the elementary school 18 Staro sajmište, 29, Beograd, olja.arsenijevic@fpsp.edu.rs 78 Economic Analysis (2017, Vol. 50, No. 1-2, 77-96) manage to acquire higher education in the end. In addition, it is evaluated that even 95% of graduates cannot get a job without an additional training. Having in mind the situation in Serbian economy where a very small number of organizations have defined the obligatory time for advanced training of the employees and the fact is that 6% of work-active population has high or higher qualifications, such data point to the need for the creation of long-term strategy of education, retraining of labor, obligatory promotion of knowledge with the introduction of mechanisms for the verification (different licenses). Concept of lifelong learning can be our shortcut for overcoming the gap between us and the developed world and it can also be the reason for even more deeper gap. Arsenijevic (2012) all of this points to the need of changing the educational institutions as well as erasing the borders between education and economy because today the usable knowledge is the best product, i.e. the greatest possible value created. In the very organization, it is required firstly to transform the personnel function into the function of human resource management and start to observe the employees as a factor crucial for the success. When making business decisions, it is required to include all the relevant facts and factors that can affect the results of business. Making business decisions implies a serious segment of performing activities after which the consequences will reflect directly to the business results in the future. Therefore, it is important while making decisions to observe the problem, activities or offer from several aspects. Precisely this is enabled by the technique of parallel thinking. By this, it is enabled that the decision made is the right one and for the future results to bring positive consequences. Vesna Stojanovic Aleksic (2011) The paper will be based on the observation of lifelong learning in an organization and promotion of employees. This part of business will be observed from different angles and based on that, all opinions will be considered. Lifelong learning represents the promotion of knowledge and skills of the individuals. Whether this individual is an employee or the education is advanced, individual lifelong learning implies the improvement of personality. Lifelong learning at the level of organization implies the advancement of knowledge and skills of the employees. The advancement of employees who are a part of an organization implies that better and more significant results will be achieved in the future. If the employees are educated and additionally trained, it must certainly contribute to better results in the future. Therefore, it can be observed the fact that lifelong learning is an investment that is certainly effective because it will contribute to the achievement of greater gain than costs that are spent for the education. Education is started in the childhood and each form of learning is a part of education. Whether the education refers to the theoretical segment or it is some form of learning through practical elements, it is important to conclude that this form of investments always gives positive effects. Vojin Milic (1996) In order for an organization to decide for the certain funds that it disposes with to be used for investments in learning and education of its employees, it is important to observe certain facts and to get informed in a proper manner. Primarily, an organization needs to observe its position in the market. Before it gets engaged in a certain project or a form of investment, it is required to observe the position in relation to the others. The organization must be aware of its current results and possibilities in order to be sure for the future Arsenijević, O., et al., Education in Local-Self-Government, EA (2017, Vol. 50, No. 1-2, 77-96) 79 investments. When the organization observes its position and determines that the education of employees would be an adequate activity, it is required to observe whether it is required to invest in this where the results can be expected in the future. Whether it is about this project or another form of investment, it is required to observe the facts and possibilities offered by this project. If some of the projects are not profitable, the organization will not make the decision on setting aside certain funds for this project. Having in mind that education is an inexhaustible source and that its effects can be achieved in the long run, investments in education will certainly not be unprofitable. After observing these facts, the organization must consider its options. Education of employees implies the additional amount of the costs. Cost management represents one of the important strategies for successful business and achievement of competitive position. The managers who make such decisions should observe financial aspect and determine whether there is a certain amount of funds that can be set aside for this type of activities. For this investment, it is implied to set aside a sufficient amount of money that will bring the positive results. After all new elements, it is required to find the adequate “teachers”, i.e. lecturers. It is required to find experienced experts from the field where business of an organization takes place. Education is transferred and it is required for the person who implements the training or lecture to be professional, competent and adequate for such a type of an activity. It is not sufficient only to be familiar with certain field or to have only the teaching skills. It is required to observe whether the lecturer possesses all those elements and whether he/she will properly transfer the knowledge and skills to the employees in an organization. An important segment of education of employees in an organization is the employees themselves. It is required that there are employees who have the will and ability to participate in education project. Employees in an organization have different character and commitments. There are the employees who want to progress and improve their knowledge and skills. Opposed to them, in an organizational structure there are the employees who are not willing to advance their knowledge and skills but they are already satisfied with their position and they want to achieve the progress in it. For that reason, it is required to adequately observe the structure of employees and whether they want to keep promoting their knowledge and skills. In relation to them, it is required to determine intentions and plans for the future of employees who should participate in education process. Observing the facts and collecting the information regarding all the relevant segments of an organization represent a complex process. It is not sufficient to observe only one or a part of these facts. If there are workers who don’t want to promote their knowledge and skills, then the organization has needlessly set aside certain funds for that project. In addition, if an organization finds the lecturer who will successfully perform his job and adequately improve both knowledge and skills of the employees, there will not be any positive results in the future. For that reason, it is required to observe all these facts and consider them together as a whole. 80 Economic Analysis (2017, Vol. 50, No. 1-2, 77-96) Theoretical part Education and knowledge management From the aspect of Ikujiro Nonaka and HirotakaTakeuchi whose knowledge is not only a datum or information that can be placed on a computer, but it implies much more and includes emotions, intuition, attitudes and skills. In order to understand the real nature of knowledge, it is important to observe that both components of knowledge, tacit and explicit, are important for knowledge creation. Ikujiro Nonaka, Toyama Ryokoto, Noboru Konno (2000) although it was previously mentioned, explicit knowledge can be expressed in words and numbers and distributed as a datum, report, in a form of a manual, etc, tacit knowledge is directly related to the ideas, attitudes, perception, emotions and experience. Characteristic of subjectiveness and intuitiveness of tacit knowledge makes it difficult for discovering and transfer in a logical and systematic manner. Therefore, explicit knowledge refers to knowledge corpus «know what» (objective knowledge), while tacit knowledge can be presented as knowledge:know how» (subjective knowledge). While the first knowledge type can be adopted by reading the books, listening to lectures or access to knowledge bases, the second type is primarily rooted in practical application and experience that results from that application including different forms of social interaction. Success of an individual or organization directly depends on the required knowledge and skills that they possess. The institutions of higher education have the greatest significance in formation of knowledge and skills of the individuals and in recognition and identification of knowledge and skills that are required. Through education process, the profiles of workers in organizations are created that should meet the needs for knowledge and skills in organizations. On the other hand, faculties possess different disciplines and knowledge that can help the organizations to articulate their own needs and in that manner become aware of what they know, i.e. what they are missing, so that through the process of creation and usage of new knowledge they could improve their business. In this manner, high school institutions get a clear image of a profile that an oragnization needs, and therefore they also have the opportunity to improve traditional education in a positive direction. The most negative characteristic of traditional education is the focus on explicit knowledge that are most frequently, through the form of oral lectures, presented to students and then they are asked to reproduce the same explicit knowledge from the books and other different forms of materials, where they get the subjective grade of the person who grades them for the quality of their reproduction. The negativities that characterize this practice are reflected in the lack of constructing any kind of tacit knowledge with the students and particularly their skills and attitudes, a complete omission of creativity development in order to create and use new knowledge, motivation reduced to the level of meeting the condition of passing the exams and the fact that graduated students have knowledge corpus whose usable value is reduced or equal to zero, having in mind the trend of discovering and acquisition of new knowledge. Traditional education should be replaced with new model that supports and implements the education concept during entire life. Improvements that are brought by this concept are reflected in flexibility, diversity and availability in time and space with the aim for the Arsenijević, O., et al., Education in Local-Self-Government, EA (2017, Vol. 50, No. 1-2, 77-96) 81 education to turn into permanent development of man’s personality, knowledge and skills, abilities of presenting their attitudes and undertaking different activities. The aim of this concept should be that not a single talent that a man has must’t be left unused. The talent includes : memory, ability to think, imagination, physical skills, aesthetic sense, ability to communicate with the others in other words, such a concept should get closer to the „learning society“ i.e. creation of of educational society based on acquisition, activation and application of knowledge. Main terms Knowledge acquisition – learning The acquisition of knowledge in organizations can be achieved in different ways, including the following : purchase of knowledge (through the purchase of organizations, individuals, licenses, procedures,…), merging i.e. fusion (gathering the workers with the same knowledge and experience with the aim to create new knowledge), target separation of resources (target formation of the departments for research and development, planned education of the employees,…), adaptation (adjustment through the creation of crisis before it appears and finding the solutions to resolve it,…), networking (finding the manner to connect the carriers of knowledge in order to communicate as better as possible), and in many different ways. In education sector, i.e. in the process of education, the most frequent form of knowledge acquisition is through learning. Learning is, as psychologists say, main psychological process and it represents the process that includes everything than a man observes, discovers and evaluates. The manner in which he verbally expressed himself, how he solves the problems, man’s skills and knowledge, his feelings, motives and attitudes and all his habits in communication with the other people represent the result of the learning process. Ratko Dundjerovic (2004) Main drivers of learning can be external or internal. External drivers of learning in school practice most frequently refer to the activities and means of external motivation (praises, awards, grades ). Internal motivators represent those motivators that give the individuals the desire to learn his whole life. The most significant internal motivator for learning is certainly the curiosity. Creative curiosity expresses each search for the new facts and ideas. Main indicators of curiosity of the students with an expressed research orientation are primarily: continuous search for new and original answers; frequent repeating of the question: Why?, How?; desire to find out more than it is heard during the class and more than it can be read in a textbook; desire to take part in experiments by which the set hypotheses are verified; the tendency to independently set different problems and to solve in new ways and many others. Of course, there are also other internal motivators, but for this paper it is not required to further analyze them. There are different forms of learning which appear in the process of the change of an individual. Classification of forms (manners) of learning can be made into the three main: 1. Mechanical-associative learning 2. Reproductive-creational learning 3. Heuristic-creative learning 82 Economic Analysis (2017, Vol. 50, No. 1-2, 77-96) Skills Skills can be defined as experience, ability to practically apply and easiness in performance of an activity, skillfulness and tacit. The skills include the combination of experience and practice and improvement of skills leads to the automatization and unconscious performance of certain activities. Skills are much more than a mere following of routines that actions are based on. However, on the other hand, lack of knowledge and developed attitudes, a person who only possesses the developed skills does not have the ability to react to situations that exceed the frame of normal conditions. Without knowledge and developed attitudes that support the competence development, only the skills, for themselves, can be represented as causal factor of the appearance of human error. Ian Glendon, Eugene McKenna (1995) Knowledge and attitudes should support the development of skills and improve competence. Attitudes Attitudes can be defined as «learned tendency to reacting in a consistent manner to a special situation or object». Glendon, McKenna (1995) In addition to motives, man is also driven by his attitudes to take action. „By the very fact that they represent a relatively permanent tendency of emotional, value and action relationship towards people and occurrences, the attitudes have a dynamic effect, i.e. they act as motivators and affect our behaviour.“ Dundjerovic (2004) The attitudes provide standard behaviour and easier coping with different situations in life. There are many reasons for which the attitudes are important in many fields of human activities, but the most significant are: attitude represents the tendency towards action (people are ready to fight for the things that are in accordance with their attitudes), attitudes include a cognitive component (attitudes include not only the things that are perceived, but also the manner in which some behaviour aspects of people towards an occurrence are valued), emotional component (attitudes include human feelings) and willingness component (include the readiness to be engaged, i.e. reaction), than the attitudes can extremely easy be measured (through the attitudes towards work it can be measured the dedication to work). MilanBubulj, Olja Arsenijevic, Jelena Simic(2011) Empirical Study The city of Leskovac – description of government and local self-government The highest legislative act of the City if the Statute which closely defines the manner, conditions and forms of performing rights and duties that are under the jurisdiction of the City. The Statute is adopted by the Assembly with the majority of votes of the total number of aldermen. In executing its jurisdiction, the City adopts the regulations independently, in accordance with its rights and duties determined by the Constitution, law, other regulations and the Statute. The bodies of the City are: City Assembly, Mayor, City Council and City Administration. Arsenijević, O., et al., Education in Local-Self-Government, EA (2017, Vol. 50, No. 1-2, 77-96) 83 City Assembly is the highest body of the City that performs main function of local government defined by the Constitution, Law and Statut. The Assembly has 75 aldermen who are selected by the citizens in direct elections, by secret ballot, in accordance with the Law and this Statute. City Assembly has the President of City Assembly. Research subject In the sphere of local self-government, as it can be seen from the description of local self- government of Leskovac, it is about a very great number of jobs that require experts, different managers (lawyers, economists, engineers, professors…). The concept of a good personnel development strategy in this field also assumes the familiarity with the requirements of the jobs and familiarity with relevant characteristics of their executors. If there is a good evaluation of relevant characteristics (abilities, personality traits, motivation,…) of the individuals who perform that job, then it can be reliably enough determined what they must be trained for, in what time, what are their development ranges, etc. Both practice and science show that training and acquisition of experience in some job will not remove all the differences between the candidates regardless of the harmonization between the job requirements and characteristics of the candidates available it is about. This practically means that not a single municipality can pretend that all the candidates, regardless of the programs of training and development they are included in, will be trained to achieve an equal level of success. There is a difference in skills, there are differences in motivation, personal traits (self-confidence, domination, aggressivity…), attitudes etc. which contributes for the differences to appear in the very process of education. Dundjerovic (2004) All of that proves that it is not sufficient to possess the potential possibilities for performing certain jobs that are pointed out to the individual in professional orientation or determined in professional selection. In order for those potential possibilities to be developed and used adequately, it is required that he goes through systematic training, to be aimed towards the acquisition of the required knowledge and skills and acceptance of duties and responsibilities for the proper performance of those jobs. Therefore, development and application of new technologies in performance of those jobs impose that individual a request to go through the additional education. Main starting subject of this empirical study represents the observation of nature, direction and intensity of attitudes on education of the aldermen and employees in local administration. The focus of study includes three main groups of attitudes. The first group includes those special attitudes (opinions, beliefs, evaluations) who talk about general cognitive and value relationship of respondents towards professional training they were included in.it is about the evaluation of overall attention that is paid to the education of staff in public government and self-government sector, evaluation of educational programs, efficiency of organization and conditions in which educational seminars are implemented, evaluations of the quality of attendants; participation, practical applicability of acquired knowledge, etc. this group also includes all those evaluations that the respondents have given for numerous characteristics of lecturers and moderators, such as: expertise, creativity, motivation, social openness, tollerance, etc. 84 Economic Analysis (2017, Vol. 50, No. 1-2, 77-96) The second group of the attitudes observed includes all those through which the respondents could express the affective/emotional relationship towards the things and occurrences in relation to education: to what extent they are satisfied with general attention that is in their municipality attributed to the development and motivation of staff in the sector of public government and self-government, to what extent they are satisfied with the possibility for the acquired knowledge and skills to provide them some real professional improvement, to what extent they are satisfied with lecturers, behavior of colleagues in educational group, etc. The third group of special attitudes includes all those opinions of respondents that point to the cognitive/willingness component of their general attitude towards education: what are the most important areas for which professional training should be organized, in which area and to what extent they have the need for further education and from which professional groups it would be the best to choose lecturers in the future. The aim of the research The aim of the research is to study the nature of relationship between independent and dependent variables, as relations between status features and general life orientations, on one hand, and attitudes on efficiency of the existing professional training of staff in the sector of public government and self-government, on the other hand, as well as that the findings obtained should serve for the suggestion of the improvement of professional training in the sphere of local government and self-government. Research questions and hypotheses Research questions set on the basis of previously expressed theoretical consideration will aim the execution of hypotheses and provide their definition. Several questions are formulated: What kind of attitudes towards current practice of education have the elected aldermen and employees in local administration who have passed some of the forms of professional training and what percent of variance of the attitudes examined can be explained with the help of the first three set latent factors? H1 Two thirds of respondents are characterized by a positive general value relationship towards professional training they have participated in. H2 More than a half of aldermen and officials’ majority have a positive affective relationship towards important things and events related to the current education practice. H3 More than a half of respondents’ majority express their personal needs for additional education. H4 With the help of the factors set, it can be explained more than 60% of the variance of examined attitudes. Arsenijević, O., et al., Education in Local-Self-Government, EA (2017, Vol. 50, No. 1-2, 77-96) 85 Research methodology Sample of respondents consists of 553 aldermen and employees in the bodies of local government (officials, assistants of the mayor, deputy heads). Table 1. Sample of respondents – demographic characteristics Function Frequency Aldermen 75 Deputies and assistants 5 Officials 473 Gender Female 23 Male 57 Education level Elementary and secondary 182 High school 128 Faculty 243 Work experience Up to 10 years 158 11 to 20 years 162 More than 20 years 233 Methods and instruments of research In this research, two fundamental methods for data collection were applied: method of theoretical analysis and survey method. Method of theoretical analysis is used for the study of secondary material. In this research more instruments for data collection have been used: 1. Questionnaire for examination of a series of special attitudes on the value of the education program for aldermen and employees in local administration, then collection of data on their social and experiential characteristics. 2. The scale for examination of a general attitude towards current practice of professional training in the field of local government and self-government. Procedures for data processing In data processing, the statistical procedures that suited best to the nature of the distribution of data obtained are used: mean values measures and deviations from those measures; measures of statistical significances of differences between segments of crossed variables; measures that point to the level of relatedness between variables; measures of latent structure of attitudes towards the education. The overview and analysis of research results Attitudes towards education Satisfaction with the occurrences related to education 86 Economic Analysis (2017, Vol. 50, No. 1-2, 77-96) Based on overall data given in the Table 1, it can be firstly determined that the respondents are more often dissatisfied than satisfied by things and occurrences that unquestionably represent an important precondition of efficient realization of education in the sector of local self-government. It can be seen that officials and aldermen are most frequently dissatisfied with general attention that is attributed to development and motivation of the staff in the sector of public government and self-government, then the possibility for the existing educational programs to offer them those skills and knowledge that will provide them with both real professional and expert improvement. In both cases it is about a critically high number of dissatisfied persons – more than 50% of those who are explicit and more than 25% of those who both “are and are not”. On the other hand, municipal officials and aldermen are rarely dissatisfied with the level of overall participation of the attendants in educational programs (each third) and particularly with the behavior of lecturers, i.e. moderators of educational programs (only each tenth).Overall data on satisfaction, i.e. dissatisfaction provide us the execution of the two statements: Level at which the alderman and employees in local administration are dissatisfied by important aspects of previous practice in the sphere of their expert training unequivocally point to the need of starting big changes, particularly those in the line of reconceptualization of the very education system of the staff in bodies of local government and self-government. If the things are observed from the standpoint of the guidelines of education’s success, the finding that the staff in municipal bodies are more frequently dissatisfied with wider social environment (general state in local government and self-government, general relationship towards professional development of staff, then general value of educational programs for professional improvement) than they are dissatisfied with narror social environment (lecturers, engagement of attendants, relationship that the people in a direct work environment have towards participation in education) is practically indicative. Table 2. The extent to which you are satisfied with the following things and occurrences Occurrences (evaluations for occurrences:1- completely satisfied, 2- mainly satisfied, 3- partially, 4- mainly dissatisfied, 5) –completely dissatisfied 1 CS 2 MS 3 PAR 4 MD 5 CD General state on local government and self-government 4,2 18 36,6 26,5 14,7 Attention that is in Your municipality paid to development and motivatin of staff in the sector of public government and self-government 3,7 16,4 26,2 33,1 20,6 Possibility to acquire new knowledge and skills through different educational programs and provide yourself a real professional improvement 7,2 16,9 25,6 30,19 19,9 Lecturers who have taken part in educational programs you attended 13,6 45,7 26,7 8 3,7 Level of overall participation of attendants in different educational programs. 6,5 29,5 31,7 20,4 11,9 Attitude that the environment you work in has towards your participation in different education programs 6,3 33,7 29,8 16,9 13,2 Arsenijević, O., et al., Education in Local-Self-Government, EA (2017, Vol. 50, No. 1-2, 77-96) 87 From the standpoint of the initiation of changes, the data obtained on the affective component of the attitude towards education show that the defining the very scope of dissatisfaction is not much of a problem, as well as the things by which and to what extent are certain groups of people dissatisfied. It is more of a problem how to use the data obtained in this manner in a practical way: what should be changed, where to begin, how should the people be engaged, etc. General attitude towards educational practice Table 3. General attitudes towards education Claims 1 2 3 4 5 Positive experiences of other countries are not used to a sufficient level 39,7 39,6 14,9 4 1,8 Educational programs are bad and they should be changed 7 15,7 35,7 30,5 11,2 Organization of education is good and it should be continued the same way 15,8 34,8 31,6 12,4 5,3 Lecturers in educational projects are bad 3,2 7,9 29 40,6 19,3 I felt comfortable during entire participation in education 25,4 43,5 21,2 6,2 3,6 I would like to be included in all future educational programs for professional training 51,8 31,7 11,4 3,1 2 All the time of the education I have managed to keep a high level of concentration 30,9 44,5 17,1 5,3 2,2 The greatest number of participants had a passive relationship towards the things presented by the lecturers 8,4 21,3 30,6 29,7 10 Education is insufficiently aimed to practical issues, not much things can be used in practice 14,3 27,7 28,5 20,8 8,7 In the end of education, our evaluations on the quality of the program offered can be given 36,6 33,6 14,6 10,5 4,7 After the education, I perform my job much better 15,6 40 31,2 8,6 4,6 Before and during the education process, with the appropriate literature were provided to us 29,8 35,5 17,1 10,7 6,9 It is clear that those who prepare education programs are not familiar with our interests and needs 13,4 21,8 32,1 22,8 10 Implemented education programs contribute to better communication with the citizens 28,9 41,4 20,4 7,3 1,6 During the education, I have acquired important new knowledge and skills 25 42,2 23,9 5,7 3,2 As it can be clearly seen from the table, in case of aldermen and officials in local government there prevail positive attitudes on different aspects of existing practice in education sphere. Most frequently, there are positive attitudes which show that they highly 88 Economic Analysis (2017, Vol. 50, No. 1-2, 77-96) evaluate the need for professional training, more precisely, that they willingly take part in education. The data show that in case of respondents there significantly rarely exists a positive value relationship towards those most direct factors of successful education. It is about a relationship towards the engagement of the attendants themselves, organization of education, education programs, provision of reference books, and attitude towards educators. The opinions of respondents that even more expressive point to the critical evaluation of this practice are their attitudes about practical use of the existing system of professional training in the sector of local self-government. It is difficult to see that system as efficient if 42% of respondents believe that this education is poorely aimed to practical problems and that it cannot be applied in practice. The analysis is continued through the answers to some special questions, firstly those regarding the organization that implements the education and those that refer to the treatment of the acquired knowledge (Table 3) and then, brief analysis of the data on educational needs of the respondents. Table 4. Special attitudes on organizations and human factors of a successful education Statement True Mostly true False Mostly false Difficult to evaluate Organizations that deal with education have a good social treatment 23,8 39 6,1 25,8 5,3 Organizations that deal with education have contemporary, pedagogically suitable and highly motivated lecturers 19,2 49,9 6,6 7,8 16,5 Spatial and other conditions in which numerous organizations perform the education are rather good 20,8 45,4 11,5 8,6 13,7 Knowledge is not evaluated and that is the main reason for which the employees or elected aldermen are not prone to education 41 37,8 10 9,1 2,1 After the education, its attendants have significantly greater chances for greater earnings and faster advancement at work 9,6 20,4 26,1 21,1 22,8 When there would exist the standards for the advancement at work that would involve quality in performance of the jobs and services offered to the citizens, everyone would have a different attitude towards education. 55,2 37,8 3,3 2,7 1 With the exception of the respondents who choose the answer “difficult to evaluate”, it can be seen that participants of educational seminars in a very big percentage have a positive attitude towards the organizations that implement the education: they think that they have a good social treatment, that they have professionally competent and motivated lecturers and Arsenijević, O., et al., Education in Local-Self-Government, EA (2017, Vol. 50, No. 1-2, 77-96) 89 that they provide spatial and other conditions for content implementation at a rather satisfactory level. Answers to the items regarding the treatment of knowledge unequivocally point out that in our environment the knowledge is still not seen, not even close, as a precondition for the success at work. It appears that in our organizational culture still strongly exists the tendency to underestimate the significance of a genuine education. The data on expressed needs for professional improvement in different thematic fields are given in Table 4. It is obvious that it is about the data that are in accordance with previously presented finding on the stressed orientation on inclusion into education programs – more than 60% of respondents think it is significant to have additional education in the fields mentioned. It is interesting that personal needs for professional improvement as rather significant mostly appear in the following fields: information technologies, management, strategic planning and public relations. Table 5. Importance of additional education in the mentioned thematic fields Field name It isn’t important at all Not important Both is and isn’t important Important Very important Menagement 11,7 7,8 20 17,8 42,8 Leadership 33,6 17,3 24 13,9 11,3 Administration 8,2 10,5 24,6 22,4 34,3 Strategic planning 6,8 6,8 19 25,1 42,2 Budget 9 8,8 20,1 22,8 39,2 Financial management 10,9 9,5 18,5 23,8 37,3 Information technologies 4,9 5,8 18,5 27,6 43,2 Public relations 5,1 7,1 20,3 27,5 40,1 Decision-making process 5,4 8,2 20,3 26,7 39,4 Communication with community members 7,9 7,6 18,9 27,7 38 Negotiation skills 6,8 8,2 17,9 28,7 38,4 Human resource management 7,6 8,9 21,9 26,9 34,7 Partnership creation in community 6,8 8 20,7 28 36,5 When they have given them the possibility to mention within open answers of the main field the desired education, there were four main fields set aside: 1. Strategic planning in the community, 2. Economy, economy and finances, 3. Information technologies and 4. Efficiency of administration. Factor analysis of attitudes on education value By factor analysis in latent space eight relatively independent factors that explain 54,65% of the total system variance are set aside. Factor 1 EDUCATION AS A FACTOR OF SUCCESS IN WORK 90 Economic Analysis (2017, Vol. 50, No. 1-2, 77-96) This factor explains 18,53% of the total variance and it consists of the following variables – attitudes: Table 6.Factor 1 Statement r Organization of education is good and it should be kept in the same way 0,37 I felt comfortable during the entire participation in education 0,45 I wish to be included in all future education programs for professional training 0,39 All the time during education, I managed to maintain high level of concentration 0,37 In the end of education, our evaluations on the quality of the program offered can be given 0,36 After the education, I perform my job significantly better 1,79 Implemented education programs contribute to better communication with citizens 0,74 During the education I have acquired important new knowledge and skills 0,82 Implemented education programs truly help the attendants of education in better and more efficient performance of jobs 0,46 This factor also includes the greatest number of the items observed and explains the greatest percentage of system variance. It is interesting that all the items express a positive value attitude towards education. It tells us that latent in the basis of numerous viewpoints that respondents have on education, they largely stand in belief that within the education observed new knowledge and skills are acquired, that implemented education programs contribute to better communication with citizens and better performance of the job, that it would be pleasant to participate in education, etc. Factor 2 DISBELIEF IN PRACTICAL USE OF EDUCATION This factor explains 9,65% of variance and it consists of the following variables: Table 7. Factor 2 Statement r Knowledge is not evaluated and that is the main reason for which the employees or selected aldermen are not prone to education 0,57 Education? Everyone talks about it but we know that everything is the same in municipalities before and after each education. 0,7 Education is important, but the reform of administration and local self-government, which will primarily promote professionalism and efficiency, is more important to us. 0,5 Integration processes significantly affect the changes, as well as changes in municipalities, but it will mot affect this generation of employees and that is one of the reasons why the education is not attributed any special significance. 0,71 Beliefs that express the lack of confidence in practical use, in relation to previously observed positive beliefs, significantly less participate in latent structure of overall attitudes on the value of implemented education programs in local self-government. However, it is practically indicative that the highest share within distrust have the claims that the work in municipalities is the same before and after the education and that education will not bring to the changes of this generation of employees – r = 0,70 andr = 0,71. Arsenijević, O., et al., Education in Local-Self-Government, EA (2017, Vol. 50, No. 1-2, 77-96) 91 Factor 3 EDUCATION AS A FACTOR OF PROFESSIONAL PROMOTION This factor explains 6,54% of the total variance and it is built by the following variables: Table 8. Factor 3 Statement r In municipalities, the attention is systemically paid to the education of staff in the sector of public government and self-government 0,61 After the education, its attendants have significantly greater chances for higher eranings and more rapid progress in service and professional career 0,58 Although it includes only two claims and has a relatively small share in explaining latent structure of the observed attitudes, this factor points out that the people who have gone through some forms of education positively evaluate the practice in those municipalities that systematically pay attention to education and that provide professional promotion to the attendants after the education. Factor 4 COMPETENCE AND STATUS OF ORGANIZATIONS THAT DEAL WITH EDUCATION This factor explains 5,17% of the total variance and it consists of the following variables: Table 9. Factor 4 Statement r Organizations that deal with education have a good social treatment 0,68 Spatial and other conditions where numerous organizations execute education are quite good 0,65 Participants of educational seminars show an exceptional personal interest and engagement 0,42 Organizations that deal with education have contemporary educated, pedagogical and highly motivated lecturers 0,6 The claims structured within this factor show that the following factors of successful education are mutually significantly related: 1. Qualifications of the lecturer, 2. Social treatment of organizations that deal with education, 3. Conditions in which education takes place and 4. Interest and engagement of attendants. Factor 5 NEED FOR CHANGES This factor explains 3,99% of the total variance and contains the following variables: 92 Economic Analysis (2017, Vol. 50, No. 1-2, 77-96) Table 10. Factor 5 Statement r Education that is organized in our municipality has had the most direct positive effect on performance of the jobs in municipality -0,39 Education affects the changes in attendance, but that is not enough. It takes changes that will affect the evaluation of the acquired knowledge and experiences in the workplace or municipal council -0,78 When there were standards for the progress in service that would respect the quality in performance of the jobs and provided services to the citizens, everyone would have a different attitude towards the education. -0,58 This factor points to the need for changes, primarily in the aspect of belief that it has come to a more positive relationship towards the education if there would be created the standards for the evaluation of jobs and progress in service. Factor 6 LACK OF MOTIVATION OF PARTICIPANTS IN EDUCATION This factor explains 3,72% of the total variance and it consists of the following variables: Table 11. Factor 6 Statement r Educational programs are bad and they should be changed 0,55 Lecturers in educational projects are bad 0,60 The greatest number of participants had the passive relationship towards the things that lecturers have said 0,71 Education is not sufficiently oriented on the practical problem solving, there are very few things that can be transformed to practice 0,72 Before and after the education process, we were provided with the appropriate reference books -0,35 It is clear that those who prepare education programs are not familiar about our interests and needs 0,72 Here, as it can be seen from the table, it is about those negative statements that latently determine the overall given system of attitudes regarding the value of education – when the programs are evaluated as inappropriate, lecturers as bad, attendants as uninterested, references provided as inappropriate. Factor 7 ORIENTATION ON THE EXPERIENCE OF OTHER COUNTRIES The factor explains 3,58% of the total variance and includes only one variable: Table 12. Factor 7 Statements r Positive experiences of other countries are not used to the sufficient extent -0,78 Arsenijević, O., et al., Education in Local-Self-Government, EA (2017, Vol. 50, No. 1-2, 77-96) 93 Here it is about the negative claim and it negatively high correlates with the system, which tells us that positive evaluation of using experience of other people is a required and relatively important latent factor of attitudes on the value of education. Factor 8 INCOMPREHENSION OF EDUCATION AS FACTOR OF CHANGES This factor explains 3,44% of total variance and consists of one variable: Table 13. Factor 8 Statement r People usually think that education does not affect the change in behavior of participants at the workplace or performance of election function of the aldermen 0,47 Perceived characteristics of lecturers Table 14. Attitudes on lecturers Characteristics Less present Moderately present Extremely present Interested 18,4 25,9 55,7 Professional 15,4 20,2 64,3 Creative 17,6 22,7 59,7 Tolerant 14,1 21,2 64,7 Motivated 12,3 16,2 71,5 Real perception of the problems in local self- government 25,1 22,3 52,6 Conscientious 13,4 18,1 68,5 Open towards each other 14 18,6 67,5 Encourage participants to activity 17,2 13,96 68,8 Agree with participants on the operation pace 18,3 16,9 64,8 Apply modern methods of education 17,3 19 63,8 Respondents have a positive attitude towards the lecturers in a very high percentage. Four characteristics are however set aside as the most intensive: motivation for work, initiative, conscientiousness and extraversion. When the group were asked from which group it is best to choose the lecturers, they most frequently believe (35,7%) that they should be chosen from the group of the staff in public administration that have gone through a special training for lecturers. There comes the criterion for the education for management in public administration (23,7%) and criterion of experience in public administration (21,6%). It is clear that the majority thinks that the solution is not in the very level of education of lecturers, if they do not have the experiences and specific knowledge in this field, even if they are university teachers or exceptional experts. This says that there is a need for special education profile, for education of staff that will deal with management in local administration and self-government. 94 Economic Analysis (2017, Vol. 50, No. 1-2, 77-96) Mutual correlation between components of the attitudes on education In this part, it can be considered in what aspect are the value, affective and conative component of attitudes on education harmonized, whether and to what extent they are positive or negative, whether positive opinions are related to positive feelings and expressed disposition for action. Firstly, attention will be paied to the nature of correlation between general attitude on efficiency of educational programs and general image that respondents have on moderators of those programs. From the data given in Table 15 it is seen that between these two dimensions exists statistically significant and symmetrically positive correlation, in the aspect that more positive attitude is followed by a more negative perception of lecturers. Table 15. General attitude on education and image on personality of lecturers General attitude Image on personality of lecturers Total % Less positive Positive More positive Extremely positive 21 26,7 52,3 100 Positive 28,6 40,1 31,3 100 Negative 45,6 37,8 16,6 100 Chi-Square = 111,31; C Coeff = 31. df = 4, p = .000 The totality of the observed characteristics of lecturers is extremely positively evaluated by every second person and negatively only each fifth from the group of those who have an extremely positive general attitude towards on education. On the other hand, within those characterized by a negative general attitude, positive image on lecturers have only 16,6% of respondents and 45,6% of them have the negative. As it can be seen from the Table 16, correlation between the affective and value component of the attitude on education efficiency goes in the same direction, with even more intensive Chi-square, for 4 levels of freedom that is 111,31). Among the respondents with extremely positive attitude, there is the majority (54,9%) of those who are extremely satisfied, while 16,9% are dissatisfied, among the respondents with negative attitudes, extremely satisfied are only 18,4%, while the half are dissatisfied. General level of satisfaction with significant factors of efficient education is even more strongly related with one number of rather relative value judges on the existing practice. For example, within the group of extremely satisfied respondents there is four times more those who are extremely positively than those who are extremely negatively evaluating the statement “in municipalities the attention is systematically piad to education of the staff in the sector of public government and self-government” – for 4 levels of freedom, Chi-square = 155,15. The same direction of correlation with a general level of satisfaction is in question also when it is talked about: 1. „organizations that deal with education have contemporary educated, pedagogical and highly motivated staff” and 2. „after the education, their attendants have significantly higher chances for greater earnings and faster progress in service and professional career“. Arsenijević, O., et al., Education in Local-Self-Government, EA (2017, Vol. 50, No. 1-2, 77-96) 95 Table 16. Relationship between affective and value component of the attitude on education General attitude Satisfaction Total % Less positive Positive Extremely positive Extremely positive 54,9 28,2 16,9 100 Positive 33,4 37,5 29,1 100 Negative 18,4 31,8 49,7 100 Chi-Square = 155,15; C Coeff = 31. df = 4, p = .000 Unlike the previous type of correlation, relationship between affective and conative component between satisfaction and action orientation to additional professional training is negative. Table 17. Relationship between affective and conative component of the attitude on education General attitude Educational needs Total % Less positive Positive Extremely positive Extremely positive 39,3 25,8 35 100 Positive 20,5 38,5 41 100 Negative 19,7 35,6 44,8 100 Chi-Square = 51,80; C Coeff = 20. df = 4, p = .000 The mentioned standpoint is confirmed by the findings, that dissatisfaction is the most secure indicator of the need for changes. It appears the the employees in the sector of public government realize that through education, through changing themselves, they can advance their job, change the things they are not satisfied with. Conclusion Within the consideration of the problem of this empirical study, it can be started from the fact that development of local self-government and self-government also depends on both social and personal factors. Within social factors there were all those international integration activities on the plan of establishing the unique standards of behavior in this field, then those most general social circumstances of ours that enable this activity and those social circumstances that at the municipality level have a more direct impact on state of things in local government and self-government. The starting point was the fact that a good education system is one of the most secure paths of efficient development of local government and self-government. In order for individuals and groups to be developed and used for the possession of potentials of certain jobs, it is required that they go through systematic training in order to be aimed towards the acquisition of special knowledge and skills, which means in order to be prepared to assume the duties and responsibilities for the application of new technologies in job execution. The identification of the needs for studying certain aspects of activities and actions in this field from the aspect of the two main views of its value: firstly, when the education was observed primarily as an instrument of development and meeting of the needs of society, etc, 96 Economic Analysis (2017, Vol. 50, No. 1-2, 77-96) when the education was primarily observed as an instrument of development and satisfaction of the needs of the attendants, i.e. those who are educated have been accessed. The level to which the aldermen and employees in local administration are dissatisfied with important aspects of previous practice in the sphere of their professional training unequivocally points to the need of starting big changes, particularly those on the line of reconceptualization of the very educational system of staff in the bodies of local government and self-government. All set of hypotheses at the beginning of the research have been confirmed. From the aspect of initiation of changes, the data obtained on affective component of the attitude towards education show that it is not much of a problem to determine the very range of dissatisfaction: by which and to what extent are certain people dissatisfied. It is a greater problem to practically use the data obtained in this way. The first step which was taken – it was examined, shown and interpreted all the attitudes of the aldermen and employees in municipal administration regarding the efficiency of the existing education programs. The second step should include the feedback information on relevant phenomena and problems that the research pointed to. Therefore, the data obtained should serve as an incentive to all those people who are within this occurrence on daily basis, to observe that it only seems to them that they are sufficiently familiar with everything that goes on around them every day, to perceive how they can in a different manner observe the occurrences in the sphere of education, to point to many other things that were not included in the research during the discussion. The third step would be the introduction of changes by the exchange of information and it could be performed through three stages of the prevention of the resistance to specific changes. The first stage should create the awareness of the respondents on the existing dissatisfaction by things and occurrences important for the implementation of professional training, the fields within which the individuals and groups mostly want to be educated. Then, there would come to the introduction of change. In the first stage it is required to patiently talk to the employees, obtain the support of the most influential individuals, observe the moments that could lead to conflicts, etc. In the end, within the third phase it should be worked on the implementation of new solutions, to make the newly established attitudes and way of thinking becomes a permanent aspect of behavior in public administration. References Arsenijevic, Olja, Bulatovic, Lj. Ljiljana, Bulatovic, Goran. 2012. „Lifelong education – paradigm of the age of knowledge.“ In Proceedings 6th International Technology, Education and Development Conference, INTED2012, 5-7 March, 1269-1275., Valencia, Spain: IATED. Arsenijevic, Olja, Lilic, Vladana, Zdravkovic, Bojan. 2015. „Impact of e-mentoring on inventivity in companies.” International Journal of Economics and Law, 5(14): 7-17. 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