Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 17th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview IV. Working Group on PA Reform in CEE&CA Author(s) Oyunchimeg Dovdoi Open Society Forum Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mongolia Title Public service reform in Mongolia File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Abstract Public service reform in Mongolia was initiated in 1995.In the course of implementation,the reform process has undergone certain stages of evolution and transformations. The public service reform encompasses a number of intricate issues related to human factor, civil society development and level of political culture of public servants. This article examines the implementation of the Law on Public Sector Management and Finance in the four years since its adoption in 2003, the state of human resource management reform in public organizations, as well as its results and lessons. The Law on Public Sector Management and Finance stipulates two main issues concerning human resources management. Firstly, the merit principle to be applied in recruitment and promotion in the public sector, which means only competence, knowledge, and experience should be taken into account. Secondly,implementation of performance management. The policy on public sector reforms is reflected in the Law on Civil service, the Law on Public Sector Management and Finance, and other laws and legal acts. The main concepts include preparation of output reports which incorporates performance indicators, and the general manager playing a central role in both civil service reforms and financial management reforms. Strengthening strategic planning and performance management capacity of budgetary organizations, improving human resources management, ensuring the right size of the civil service, updating remuneration and reward system of civil servants are also the concepts of performance management reflected in these reforms. Several achievements in the first of year of the implementation of the law were mentioned in studies of the Cabinet Secretariat, Academy of Management, as well as during the discussions with the general managers. These include: • a step forward in specifying expected outputs; • possibility to evaluate performance; • a step forward in clarifying the responsibilities; • possibility to evaluate quality and efficiency of public services; • citizens’ support. However, there are some shortages and difficulties. These are: • roles and responsibilities of parties are not clearly defined and not linked; • too much dependence on performance agreement template and lack of creativity when signing agreements; • when evaluating performance agreement, average point is calculated, which hampers objectivity, and subjectivity when putting down scores; • inadequate performance indicators, in other words, lack of capacity to determine performance indicators. This leads to unrealistic evaluations; • Evaluation of performance agreement is not part of the overall reward system, and the principle of performance pay has not been introduced in practice; • Tendency to determine every step or overregulation; • Tendency to omit quality indicators; This paper addresses concisely the dominant mode of thinking about public administration reform in Mongolia and its theoretical roots. The paper's main purpose is to present the outcomes of an investigation of the ambiguities, process and outcomes as well as the difficulties encountered in establishing performance agreements in Mongolia.
