Top Management Service in Central Government: Introducing a System for the OECD Higher Civil Service in Central and Eastern European Countries
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SIGMA Papers No. 1 Top Management Service in Central Government: Introducing a System for the OECD Higher Civil Service in Central and Eastern European Countries https://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5kml6gln4cbq-en GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OCDE/GD(95)45 SUPPORT FOR IMPROVEMENT IN GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES (SIGMA) A JOINT INITIATIVE OF THE OECD/CCET AND EC/PHARE FINANCED MAINLY BY EC/PHARE SIGMA PAPERS: NO. 1 TOP MANAGEMENT SERVICE IN CENTRAL GOVERNMENT: INTRODUCING A SYSTEM FOR THE HIGHER CIVIL SERVICE IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT Paris 1995 COMPLETE DOCUMENT AVAILABLE ON OLIS IN ITS ORIGINAL FORMAT SIGMA -- Support for Improvement in Governance and Management in Central and Eastern European Countries -- is a joint initiative of the OECD Centre for Co-operation with the Economies in Transition (CCET) and the European Union’s Phare Programme. SIGMA assists public administration reform efforts in Central and Eastern Europe. It is 75 per cent funded by Phare; several OECD Member countries also provide resources. The OECD -- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development -- is an intergovernmental organisation of 25 democracies with advanced market economies. The CCET channels OECD advice and assistance over a wide range of economic issues to reforming countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The Phare Programme is a European Union initiative which provides know-how and investment support to Central and Eastern Europe to foster the development of market economies and democratic societies. Established in 1992, SIGMA operates within the OECD’s Public Management Service (PUMA). PUMA provides information and expert analysis on public management to policy-makers in OECD Member countries, and facilitates contact and exchange of experience amongst public sector managers. Through PUMA, SIGMA offers eleven central and eastern European states a wealth of technical knowledge accumulated over many years of study and action. Participating governments and the SIGMA Secretariat collaborate in a flexible manner to establish work programmes designed to strengthen capacities for improving governance in line with each government’s priorities and SIGMA’s mission. The initiative relies on an international network of experienced public administrators to provide counselling services and comparative analysis among different management systems. SIGMA also works closely with other international donors promoting administrative reform and democratic development in Central and Eastern Europe. Throughout its work, SIGMA places a high priority on facilitating co-operation among the governments of economies in transition. This includes providing logistical support to the formation of networks of public administration practitioners in Central and Eastern Europe, and between these practitioners and their counterparts in OECD Member countries. SIGMA’s activities are divided into six areas: Reform of Public Institutions, Management of Policy-making, Expenditure Management, Management of the Public Service, Administrative Oversight, and Information Services. Copyright OECD, 1995 Applications for permission to reproduce or translate all or part of this material should be made to: Head of Publications Service, OECD, 2 rue André-Pascal, 75775 Paris Cédex 16, France. Views expressed in this publication do not represent official views of the Commission, OECD Member countries, or the central and eastern European countries participating in the Programme. 3 4 FOREWORD The SIGMA Papers series is a new series of specialised reports prepared as a contribution to SIGMA’s work in Central and Eastern Europe and focused on particular issues in public management, such as expenditure control, administrative oversight, inter-ministerial co-ordination, and public service management. Top Management Service in Central Government: Introducing a System for the Higher Civil Service in Central and Eastern European Countries deals with a topical subject in the last of these issue areas. SIGMA has prepared this document for countries to use in analysing the feasibility of establishing some kind of commonly structured management of top public servants in government. In central and eastern European countries, as in OECD Member countries, officials at the top levels of government are crucial for raising professionalism in the administration, as well as for reforming the administration as a whole. Most central and eastern European countries have not adopted civil service laws. Yet, agreed policies for recruitment, selection, career management and transfers of top officials can limit the scope for politicization of the administration’s work force at levels that should be professionally staffed. In a context without civil service legislation defining duties and rights of public servants, the establishment of a Top Management Service (TMS) can be a stabilising factor. In many countries in transition, changes in governments mean changes of staff to an extent that is too significant to be motivated even by political reasons. The shifts seem to be random in a way that differs from OECD Member countries, where changes of staff certainly take place when governments change, but in ways that are usually predictable and recognisable. The paper does not aim to define a concept for a TMS suitable everywhere. Indeed, development of a TMS is a task which must be undertaken in countries choosing to adopt such a service, taking into account national objectives and preconditions. Rather, this publication aims to provide practical input to countries which are conducting the necessary analyses and preparing decisions. A TMS would probably be useful in most SIGMA countries, especially in those lacking public service legislation; in such circumstance, a TMS could be a useful short-cut to a more stable administration. Professor Jacques Ziller, Director of Research, French International Institute for Public Administration (IIPA), wrote this document for presentation at the October 1994 meeting of the SIGMA Liaison Group. With its production as a SIGMA Paper, Top Management Service in Central Government becomes available to a wider audience. This document is also available in French, under the title Un corps de cadres supérieurs de l’administration centrale : la mise en place d’un système de gestion pour la haute fonction publique dans les pays d’Europe centrale et orientale. Derry Ormond Head Public Management Service, OECD 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD ................................................................... 5 INTRODUCTION ................................................................ 7 0. Background Observations ........................................................ 8 1. The Concept of Top Management Service (TMS) ...................................... 9 1.1 Definition of the concept .................................................... 9 1.2 Experiences in establishing Top Management Services (TMSs) ........................ 9 i) The German "Higher Service" ........................................... 9 ii) The French "Upper Corps" .............................................10 iii) Recent experiences in Senior Executive Services ...............................11 1.3 The possible contribution of a TMS to core management functions of central government in CEECs ..............................................11 i) Inter-ministerial communication and co-ordination ............................12 ii) A common set of standards, procedures and routines for different government departments ......................................13 iii) Leadership in the central government civil service .............................13 1.4 Some advantages of a TMS ..................................................14 i) Providing neutral but politically sensitive advice to ministers .....................14 ii) Providing stability at the highest administrative levels of government ...............14 iii) Centralise in order to decentralise .........................................15 iv) Enabling an increase of higher civil servants’ pay without expansion of budgetary costs .............................................16 2. The Components Needed in Order to Establish a TMS ..................................16 2.1 A minimum legal framework ................................................16 i) Act of parliament or secondary legislation? ..................................16 ii) Main principles and rules ...............................................16 iii) Links with a general legal framework for the civil service .......................18 2.2 A system for admission and career management ..................................19 i) Size of the TMS ......................................................19 ii) Criteria for admission .................................................20 iii) Principles for displacement ..............................................21 iv) Career principles .....................................................22 v) Institutions for admission, displacement and career management ..................23 vi) Transparency in filling vacancies .........................................23 vii) A clear system of accountability ..........................................23 2.3 Specific training ..........................................................24 i) Taking technical constraints into account ...................................24 ii) Adapting development curricula to areas where leadership