Management by quality boosts effectiveness for civil servants in Croatia

Government departments have to constantly take up the challenges of meeting users’ expectations by offering ever more accessible services and by standardising and streamlining procedures to heighten their effectiveness.  

These actions are the cornerstones of any system of management by quality. There are a number of models (1): ISO (originally designed for industry), EFQM and CAF, tailored to the public sector, but these are usually restricted to a given entity.

The government in Zagreb is taking an innovative approach to developing its new reform programme by rolling out a blanket system in the entire public sector. It is a bold strategy in light of the repercussions for management and work organisation.

The project was initiated in early 2020 with backing from the European Union (ESF Operational Programme “Efficient Human Resources”). It is managed and overseen by the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration. A consortium of three service providers is tasked with project ownership and the National School of Public Administration is responsible for the training component.

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Over 130 departments volunteered for the launch stage. The nine that were selected are representative of all bodies (central government, local authorities, agencies and government-funded establishments and institutions).

The various workshops had to be arranged online due to the COVID-19 pandemic and this challenge was soon perceived as an advantage by the participants. They came to understand the extent to which the improvement of processes and digitalisation are vital for their day-to-day activities.

An entire course, using two new methodologies that were approved during the trial stage, will be made available to 600 civil servants. It is broken down into four modules:

• Modelling and optimising occupational processes

• Developing and rolling out a quality management system

• Monitoring, assessing and improving the system

• Training for trainers

Concurrently, the skillset framework for all the targeted positions (supervisors, quality managers, in-house auditors and external assessors) is being updated. The theoretical knowledge and practical experience gained will be validated by means of certification.

¹ ISO: standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization, EFQM: European Foundation for Quality Management (with headquarters in Brussels), CAF: Common Assessment Framework (coordinated by the European Institute of Public Administration based in Maastricht).