Human resources management in public administration and the new law on civil servants

Uprvom dijelu teksta raspravlja se o pojmu ljudskih potencijala i posebnostima upravljanja ljudskim potencijalima u javnoj upravi. Prikazuju se razlike između personalne funkcije koja je karakteristična za tradicionalni upravni koncept te funkcije upravljanja ljudskim potencijalima koji proizlazi iz doktrine novog javnog menadžmenta. U drugom se dijelu analiziraju odredbe novog Zakona o državnim službenicima s obzirom na njihovu prilagođenost standardima EU i ciljevima programa CARDS te se uspoređuju sa službeničkim zakonodavstvom nekih postsocijalističkih zemalja koje su postale članice EU. Traže se odgovori na dva temeljna pitanja. Prvo, je li Zakon o državnim službenicima pridonio jačanju i modernizaciji službeničkog zakonodavstva, a prije svega profesionalizaciji i depolitizaciji službeničkog sustava? Drugo, je li u organizacijskom i institucionalnom smislu usmjeren prema novom pristup upravljanja ljudskim potencijalima ili je zadržao stari pristup klasične personalne administracije?The concept of human resources management has evolved from a relatively narrow economic term for describing workforce towards a more complex meaning. Human resources management is a product of the managerial doctrine that has been transferred from the private sector to public administrationvia the new public management. HRM advocates a new approach to the people in an organisation and a new perspective on the relations betweenthe employees and organisations; different from the one advocated by the traditional, Weberian administrative model. The concept of human resources management is different and wider from the old concept of personnel-oriented administration. Personnel-oriented administration is characterised by partiality, relatively short-term character, standardised procedures, centralisation, and rigidity. Human resources management is integral, long-term and strategically oriented, individualised, and flexible. Its approach is dynamic and active, as well as oriented towards the upgrading of overall organisational efficiency. The EU has set the standards for the establishment of modern civil servants’ systems in post socialist countries. Some of the basic standards are the merit principle and depoliticisation. Hungary, Lithuania, Slovenia, and other post socialist countries that joined the EU in 2004 had been adjusting their legislation to those standards before the accession. Croatia set off in the same direction by passing the Law on State Civil Servants in 2005. However, the Law has not achieved the intended objectives. It has touched many issues rather superficially, but it has not set a realistic foundation for a quality, professional civil servants’ system. Most new solutions are unfinished, the existing institutes have been disturbed and the new institutes are not there to replace them. There are numerous stipulations that open space for further politicisation of the system. The basic provisions that are the core of the whole civil servants’ system – those concerning classification system, remuneration system, and career advancement system – have been left out. Their regulation has been left to the Government decrees. Many provisions contain the elements of the traditional model of public administration and the congruent concept of personnel-oriented administration. The new approach of human resources management may be noticed in the provisions that deal with the strengthening of the Central State Office for Administration and with establishment of organisational units in charge of human resources management in state administrative bodies. Further development largely depends on the Government decrees, which is not satisfying since it allows political interests to meddle into the principal issues that are usually decided at the level of law and national strategies. International pressure and the rush of »modern« managerial methods and techniques of human resources management, whose implementation is not always in accordance with the rule of law, merit system, and the basic democratic principles, could become dangerous under such circumstances