Public Administration Reform Monitoring in BiH: Analysis of Results in the Area of Human Resources Management in the Period 2013-2014

The main problem of human resources management (HRM) reforms is weak political support, insufficiently effective coordination system, politicization of civil service and lack of general managerial skills among the existing managerial personnel.

In individual areas of HRM, especially if we look at the 2004-2014 period, there has been some progress, but when this progress is put in the context of time and money, the results simply had to be better. Progress is also visible in the area of analysis and classification of jobs, where there is a continuity of activities since 2008. However, activities undertaken thus far have been more of a test character and the practice remains legally unregulated. Therefore, the general impression is that the current job descriptions, in terms of their content and structure, do not meet the needs of a modern administration.

Being a relatively modern managerial function, HRM is still struggling for its place in the internal organization of institutions. This effectively means that the term ‘personnel affairs’ continues to be in much more common use than the term ‘human resources management’. Also, in terms of location, HRM is very rarely positioned as a separate organizational unit within the internal structure of the administrative bodies. HR planning system is generally underdeveloped, focused on the quantitative side, while profiles of the necessary human resources are given very little attention.

Recruitment continues to generate most public controversy because citizens have lost confidence in the objectivity and impartiality of those who make decisions about who is the best or who are successful candidates. The testing system needs to be updated so that it is more streamlined, more objective and, what is very important, less expensive. The discretion of the heads of institutions to select one from among a number of successful candidates cannot be unfettered.

The practice of performance monitoring and evaluation has never been properly understood and embraced by managers in the public administration structures, clearly showing the lack of managerial and leadership skills among holders of managerial positions

The pay system in the public administration structures is designed to operate on the principle of ‘equal pay for equal work’. In nominal terms that is the case, but the fact that there is no methodologically founded analysis of the content of jobs, as well as their objective evaluation, throws a shadow on the credibility of the above principle.

Progress achieved in the HRM reform would not have been possible without continuous training, study visits and other forms of acquiring new knowledge. Unfortunately, like with the evaluation system, when deciding about who will go to training, managers were generally guided by the desire to maintain ‘peace at home’. The process of professional development of civil servants continues to be driven more by supply than demand.

The area of quality management in civil service was included in the reform process as late as 2011, through the process of revising the Action Plan 1 for the Implementation of the Public Administration Reform Strategy. Previous activities were mainly focused on raising awareness about the need to introduce quality standards into public administration.

Overall, the area of human resources management has seen some progress, but this progress is not at all proportionate to the amount of resources expended.

Human Resources Management in 2015