This
WG was announced in 2009. Our wish was to start cross-country discussions and encourage
people from different countries, with different backgrounds, to present and discuss
various models of Human Resources (HR), commonalities and differences amongst
CEE states compared to Western countries.
In
addition to this scientific approach, our goal was also to start practical
input and experience exchange for the implementation of selected precise HR
Instruments in different countries and a critical analysis of their impact, as
well as new strategies in the civil service. The WG has met already 4 times (the
last time in Ohrid, Macedonia), always with excellent presentations and vital
discussions.
Background
and justification
In the 21stcentury, demographic developments, but also the global crisis, growing expectations
from citizens, together with cuts made by governments, the introduction of new
technologies and PA resistance for changes, individualisation, delegation and
decentralisation, together with centralisation new waves, financial pressures
and internationalisation trends have become the determining factors of
challenges and changes in the public service.
The reforms of public administration (also in the
civil service area) in the countries that are new members of the EU were
strongly provoked and caused by this future membership. Nowadays, on the other
hand, there is a lack of a strong, outer "reform driver”. After joining the EU,
ex-ante controls carried out by the Committee was substituted by considerably
weaker instruments of ex-post control, and only in cases of a lack of
implementation or delayed implementation.
Moreover, there are authors who
plainly point out that from the moment when full membership in the European
Union became a fact, CEE countries have not had any stimulus, not only regarding
reforms, but also to undertake actions compatible with pre-accession
requirements. Consequently, it can affect an incorrect implementation or even
reversal of post-accession reforms, which these countries processed, thanks to the
requirements of the Union prior to accession (Bouckaert, Nakrošis and Nemec
2011; Goetz 2005; Hughes, Sasse and Gordon 2004); for the EU it can be "Eastern
problem” (Sedelmeier, 2008).
In all CEE countries, changes in
the law in the area of the civil service were numerous, although not always
very important. In other words, the formal rules governing civil services in
Central and Eastern Europe are very unstable and, as a consequence, the
predictability of civil service management is seriously undermined and
arbitrary management may develop” (J.H. Mayer-Sahling, 2009:20). Meyer-Sahling,
whilst analysing the situation of the civil service (and its professionalisation)
in CEE after accession to the EU, plainly emphasises three paths of changes, which
in his opinion, proves a lack of a single acting pattern. The first path is a
continuation of civil service reforms. The second is constituted by these
countries in which changes depart from pre-accession assumptions (reform
backsliding). Authors of the World Bank Report
(2007) evaluating the administrative capacity of CEE countries two years after
accession to the EU, came to similar conclusions. In the scope of performance management in government,
policy coordination and HRM, Lithuania and Latvia were classified as the leading
countries, whilst Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia were classified as being
weak with regard to the above mentioned criteria. Hungary is highlighted by
Meyer-Sahling as an ambiguous case which represents a combination of civil
service reforms and simultaneous departure from them (Meyer-Sahling 2011).
In
2009, we began with a discussion and carried out a general overview of civil
services in CEE countries. Year by year we try to find new approaches that will
show us the most obvious challenges and changes that CEE countries are facing
in the area of the civil service. We decided to focus in 2013 on the topic of
practical solutions in human resources development in the civil service. This
includes questions about gender, demographic development, staff satisfaction and
motivation.
In
addition to previous conferences, we would like to keep one of the sessions for
training and experience exchanges about one precise instrument. For 2013, we have
selected the following priority topics: gender, solutions for demographic
development and staff satisfaction (motivation). In these selected sessions we
will have an introduction to the topic, different approaches discussed and
success factors identified. At the end we would like to have documentation of
this topic with the following chapters:
- Introduction, concepts.
- Design, Instruments.
- Implementation/evaluation.
- Appendix: solutions in different CEE Countries.
This
type of documentation will be the start of a handbook about the concepts and
implementation of HR Instruments, which will be followed after 2013 with other
HR topics. The handbook will serve the interests of practitioners and applied
scientists.
An
exchange of material can be organised on an e-platform.