Romania: Abilitati pe timp de criza in administratia publica Calea de urmat
Romania: Skills against crisis within the public administration The way ahead

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses the development of Romanian Public Administration following the abolition of the Communist regime with the focus on Performance Management and Skill Retention. The challenge for the Romanian administrative system lies in the inertia caused by the previous regime and global influences emanating from entering the European Union in 2007. The paper presents proposed research which aims to provide a positive approach by emphasising the challenges and value-adding actions that will lead to the improvement of Public sector quality in Romania. This paper will also show that the recent international economic crisis has provided an opportunity for confronting the classical perception towards skills within the Public sector and the actual standards that should be obtained so as to ensure continuous improvement of professional talent within the administrative apparatus. Public sector management is increasingly seen as more than just modernising state institutions, it is also about fostering dynamic partnerships with civil society and the private sector in order to improve the quality of service delivery, enhance social responsibilities and ensure the broad participation of citizens in decision-making. This calls for increased attention to the issue of decentralised government as a means to support poverty alleviation goals and conflict prevention policies. These trends put increased emphasis on the performance of the civil service and on the need for an effective and efficient public management that is transparent and accountable. In the light of the recent financial crisis, not only in the private sector, which classically is more exposed to adversities, the public sector has had to consider structural changes. Osborne’s approach (2002) to defining Global influences on public administration can be summarised with the following statement: Globalization has the tendency to promote elites. In a shrinking state, professionalization of the public services becomes compulsory. Under these circumstances the fostering of talent and talented professionals becomes a necessity, not a whim. Although Romania is not explicitly tackling performance and performance management issues, it has taken a number of measures. These include the unified pay scheme for the public sector, which the Government has put into law, as well as the principle of contributions as the mainstay of the pension draft law. In addition, the streamlining of state agencies and authorities whose activity can be covered by existing ministries are also preconditions for a harmonization of competitiveness criteria in both the public and private sectors, as well as incentives to professionalization.

• Details
• Contents