Recruiting Minorities in Public Administration: Contemporary Approaches and Models

Zapošljavanje društvenih manjina u javnoj upravi predstavlja poseban pristup odabira i zapošljavanja javnih službenika, koji se sve više proučava. Naime, promjene u socio-demografskoj strukturi stanovništva i sve intenzivnije usložnjavanje suvremenih društava dovode do razvoja politika i čitavog niza mjera koje, strukturom ljudskih potencijala u javnoj upravi, nastoje odraziti složenost društvene okoline. Pored toga, posebni oblici zapošljavanja društvenih manjina razvijaju se u okviru međunarodnog antidiskriminacijskog prava još od sredine 1960-ih. Budući da u dostupnoj literaturi ne postoje ujednačena definicija, klasifikacija i nazivlje kojima bi bili obuhvaćeni svi aspekti takvog oblika zapošljavanja, u radu se razmatra mogućnost integracije praktičnih pristupa. Polazeći od dvaju temeljnih pristupa zapošljavanja društvenih manjina, afirmativnog pristupa i pristupa upravljanja različitošću, analiziraju se različiti modeli zapošljavanja u odabranim državama. Na temelju provedene analize, iznosi se prijedlog klasifikacije posebnih mjera zapošljavanja društvenih manjina u javnoj upravi na afirmativne metode i integrativne metode.Recruiting minority group members for public administration positions requires a specific approach to the selection and employment of civil servants. As modern societies undergo socio-demographic changes and grow increasingly complex, this brings about the development of various policies and measures that attempt to reflect social diversity in public administration hiring practices. In addition, special models of recruiting minority group members have been developed within the scope of international anti-discrimination legislation since the 1960s. It is by implementing special hiring policies regarding minority groups in public administration positions that discriminatory practices are sought to be avoided or reduced and diversity is sought to be integrated into the organisation. Opting for a particular hiring model depends on the reasons for this decision as well as the intended goal. Attention should also be paid to the general characteristics of the tradition of public administration in a particular society. Because there is no universally accepted definition in the available literature, nor is there a universally accepted classification or nomenclature that would encompass all aspects of such recruiting models, the paper investigates the possibility of integrating practical approaches. When it comes to minority groups, existing hiring models are divided into two basic approaches – the affirmative approach and the diversity management approach – based on the differences in their origins, their intended goals, the method of measuring their success rate, and the extent to which decision-making is centralised. Building on these two basic approaches to recruiting minority group members, various hiring policies in selected countries are analysed. The analysis serves to develop a proposal for the classification of special policies of recruiting minority group members for public administration positions into affirmative methods and integrative methods, which are often combined in practice