1. 02 Review article
Social Responsibility and Governance-Management Process as a Basis of Excellence in Public Administration
UDK: 35:005.6 Nina Tomazevic
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Administration nina.tomazevic@fu.uni-lj.si
ABSTRACT
An increasing number of public administration organisations are already aware of the fact that excellence is not only the domain of private sector organisations. They are looking for up-to-date management tools with which they would like to continuously improve operations and increase stakeholder satisfaction. This confirms the belief that approaches for managing private organisations are the same as for public organisations, the only difference (by now) being in the basic goal(s) of private and public sector organisations. The article presents definitions and descriptions of key fields whose understanding is important for the logical and systematic formation and use of an up-to-date excellence model for public administration. The proposed excellence model was formed and tested with the objective to contribute to the development of Slovenian public administration and a state as a whole.
Key words: governance-management process, public administration, stakeholders, social responsibility, excellence
JEL: M10
1 Introduction
The efficiency and effectiveness of public administration organisations play an important role in success of the public sector and consequently in the competitiveness of a country as a whole. The awareness of this fact is particularly important in the current economic crisis, when many reforms are targeted towards the public sector and its efficiency. The exit from
Tomazevic, N. (2010). Social Responsibility and Governance-Management Process as a Basis of Excellence in Public Administration.
Uprava, VIII(4), pp. 59-78.	59
the crisis and further development of a country are therefore tightly linked to specific actions taken in the public administration in the short and long term.
Unfortunately, many practicians as well theorists working and writing in the field of organisation and management of public administration have very different as well as rather partial views of this subject. This means that there are many models and many trials on how to manage an organisation as efficiently and effectively as possible. If any of these offers significant improvements to public administration during the term-in-office of one political side, it may be ignored and/or forgotten when a new political group comes to power.
The majority of quality/excellence models, used either as management tools or as frameworks for self-assessment alongside national quality/excellence awards assessments, have been designed by managers and quality experts primarily on the basis of experience and best practice of successful organisations. They do not embody the logic of organisation theory and therefore are not always systematic and consistent. They also do not facilitate their own development in the long term. This is mainly due to unclear and incomprehensible basic definitions of terms in different fields, such as management, organisation, social responsibility, excellence, etc. and inappropriate application of individual areas of theory in practice.
The purpose of the paper is to contribute to the development of public administration by a design of an excellence model for public administration and to raise awareness of the fact that managers of public administration organisations have an important influence on the future of Slovenian public administration.
The main objective of the article is therefore to explain the connection between areas such as the governance-management process, social responsibility and excellence, and to present a proposal for an excellence model for public administration. The paper in its final part presents also a description of the research based on the proposed model, which was carried out in Slovenian public administration organisations in 2009.
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2 Connection of governance-management process, social responsibility and excellence
Discovering the connection between the concepts of governance-management process, social responsibility and excellence, first requires a definition of terms. In the most general way the management process consists of the following phases: planning, organising, leading and control. Many plans are well prepared but in reality, the execution fails. Moreover, there is usually insufficient control to identify problems and seek potential solutions.
Management should assure rational (efficient) activities and behaviour of employees as well as rational achievement of organisations' (as social unit) goals. This explains why we later discuss also about effectiveness and efficiency in the context of management process and social responsibility. The term "social unit" is used for any private or public organisation since we would like to emphasise that by organisation we understand a set of relationships, not an institution.
Based on the theory of organisation developed by the Slovenian author Lipovec (1987), Rozman (in Rozman & Sitar, 2007, p. 12) claimed that improvements in the management process must be made in the fields of organisation and leadership and that individual levels must be separated from the level of a social unit as a whole. Rozman therefore set out a governance-management process comprising the following phases (Rozman, 2010, pp. 1 1-13):
1.	planning the business
2.	planning the organisation
3.	actuating the organisation
4.	controlling the organisation and
5.	controlling the business.
Governance-management is mentioned because the activities start by governance (owners) and they continue in management. Since the major part of excellence in public administration is in close connection with management the term "management process" will be used in the following text.
All of the phases have to be performed before (1 to 3) or after (4 and 5) the execution phase, which is deeply dependent on the enumerated phases of the management process. The importance of this arrangement
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of the management process lies in the distinction between the phases that cover the business part of a social unit's function (1 and 5) and those covering the organisational part (2, 3 and 4). Through the first part the organisation ensures the effectiveness and through the second the efficiency.
Social responsibility is the second phenomenon that has to be described and positioned within the management process in order to understand how to achieve excellence. The definitions of social responsibility are numerous and, in general, the majority of them are oriented in some kind of philanthropy (donations, sponsoring, etc.) or care about the environment. The concept of social responsibility is also often connected to or substituted for other similar phenomena such as business ethics, social responsiveness, corporate citizenship, good governance etc.
Traditional authors, e.g. Friedman (1962, p. 113) claim that maximizing profit is the only social responsibility of managers since the interests of owners are thus satisfied in the best way. Efforts towards social responsibility instead of towards the profit would cause the end of capitalism and of free capitalistic society. On the other hand the socioeconomic view of social responsibility advocates social responsibility as more than achieving profit and incorporates the protection and amplification of social welfare since social units are not independent institutions, responsible only to the owners (Robbins & Coulter, 2005, p. 10). This is connected to stakeholder theory in which other indicators taking other stakeholders (besides owners) and their interests into account are important when measuring performance, in addition to financial indicators. The modern approach to performance measurement is based on the hypothesis that satisfying the interests of stakeholders leads to satisfactory financial results (Lahovnik, 2006, p. 20).
A new definition of social responsibility can be designed on the basis of the stakeholder theory of Crane & Matten (2007, p. 60), in which the authors take a wider perspective on who the stakeholders in a social unit are, since stakeholders also have relationships with their own stakeholders who indirectly influence the social unit and vice versa. Social responsibility could be understood as a way of systematic thinking and acting to achieve the mission and the strategic and tactical goals of the social unit where the basic activities are directed towards coordinating and satisfying
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the needs and expectations of all of a social unit's stakeholders. Such an approach is therefore wider than philanthropic activities alone on one hand, and including society as a whole (as an abstract notion) on the other. A systematic approach to considering and satisfying the interests of all stakeholders could be of key importance for both a social unit's financial and non-financial performance and its long-term development.
Public administration organisations are by nature directed towards social responsibility as a basic principle of their operations. In the private sector, the existing socio-economic system still does not allow many people to believe and function in that way but the situation in global and national economies in the last few years indicates that major changes will be needed in order to assure the existence of society and the environment in the long term.
In that stage the management process and social responsibility can be connected in a manner that must be understood in order to create a basis for the excellence model for public administration. This means that care for all stakeholders has to be incorporated into each phase of the management process. Different indicators (objectives) have to be determined in both planning phases (business and organisation). Following the definition of social responsibility above, this should be done for different groups of stakeholders. Indicators therefore measure the satisfaction of each stakeholder group.
The processes for acquiring, motivating, rewarding and communicating with each stakeholder group have to be executed in the actuating the organisation phase. Controlling the business and controlling the organisation phases give opportunities to check whether the objectives have been met and to seek potential discrepancies between the planned goals and actual results. If there are gaps between the planned and actual results, management has to look for causes and solutions. This brings the management process to the planning phases again and a new cycle can be started for the next short or long-term period.
The final area to be discussed is the area of excellence and how it is connected with the management process. Excellence is defined by many authors as "exceeding the average" or "exceeding expected quality" or "something above quality". We will be more precise. Based on the management process as discussed above, excellence can be understood as a function of both efficiency and effectiveness. Effectiveness is meant
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as the social responsibility (as fulfilment of the interests of stakeholders) to different stakeholders and is assured through the part of the management process that relates to the business of social unit as a whole and is planned before and controlled after execution. However, the execution can not be efficient if there is no organisation in the sense of setting up relationships within and outside the social unit, through which the different groups of stakeholders are involved in the social unit's functioning. Efficiency can therefore be assured through planning the organisation, actuating the organisation and controlling the organisation. The specifics of each particular phase of management process will be described within the proposed excellence model for public administration.
3 Critiques of EFQM model and proposal for improved excellence model for public administration
The EFQM model (EFQM, 2010) and CAF 2006 (Ministrstvo za javno upravo RS, 201 0), on the basis of which it was designed, are forms (as a tool for external assessment or for self-assessment) of the most frequently used excellence tools in Slovenian public administration. The 2004 and 2008 period was a time of increasing interest in the rapid development of excellence in Slovenian public administration organisations. They were acquiring new knowledge, sharing best practice, and taking part in different projects and conferences. There was considerable enthusiasm for either the EFQM model (in the framework of PRSPO - Slovenian national business excellence award) or for CAF 2006, mostly as a self-assessment tool.
The global economic crisis shifted the focus of the new government to short-term measures, focused particularly on cost cutting. There are also some long-term reforms being prepared but none of them is directed towards the excellence of public administration or other kind of improvements in the field of managing the public administration or public sector organisations. This is mainly due to the thinking that excellence is something that has to be dealt with in addition to the "normal" functioning of organisations. In that sense the use of excellence models is often perceived as an additional "burden/load" on the managers and other employees.
This is how the majority of organisations view the EFQM model or CAF 2006. Frequently, some of the excellence tools/approaches are prescribed by senior organisations to others, which is worse from an
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internal decision of the organisation's management to introduce them. It is also not unusual that one management team introduces a tool, only for the next management team to completely ignore its predecessors' efforts.
The EFQM model was designed by practitioners on the basis of experience in real-case business situations but has revealed a need for some theoretical ground in order to be useful and fruitful in the long term. The need for a scientifically founded model resulted in the proposal of a new excellence model for public administration (EMPA). The main idea behind that was to overcome partially inadequate understandings of management, quality/excellence and social responsibility, and to enable further development in the fields of management and organisation.
The "classical" management process, consisting of planning, organising, leading and control was and still is a basis of existing management/excellence models. This represents a main barrier to a more scientific approach. A proposed excellence model for public administration is based on governance-management process with 5 phases (as proposed by Rozman) and its detailed and sound elaboration offer an important contribution to the organisational science. The model (see Figure 1) is divided into two main parts.
The first (upper) part comprises management functions which relate to the operations of a social unit as a whole (planning and controlling the business) and are connected with effectiveness through socially responsible business. The second (lower) part represents the individual level (employees and other stakeholder groups) and comprises the functions of planning the organisation, actuating the organisation and controlling the organisation.
Each of the five phases of the management process within EMPA is broken up into a number of approaches. These approaches represent the basic steps each manager should carry out in order to implement systematic, professional and transparent management and consequently to assure efficient achievement of the social unit's goals. The examples of the first three approaches within the model are:
•	periodical analysis of business,
•	periodical analysis of mission and vision,
•	periodical analysis of strategic and yearly goals, etc.
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There are 74 approaches defined in the initial model. This does not rule out more detailed or additional approaches being determined for an organisation or organisations of a specific type from the public or private sector. At the same time, it is anticipated that all functions and therefore all approaches are implemented within the framework of social responsibility (i.e. taking all stakeholders into account).
Figure 1 : The Excellence Model for Public Administration (EMPA)
Source: Author - based on Rozman & Sitar, 2007, p. 1 2
Although not denoted separately in the figure, the proposed model also includes 51 indicators that constitute the third part. These should be used by social units to periodically measure the satisfaction of specific stakeholder groups (e.g. employees, customers, owners - the state for public sector organisations and others) on one side, and the efficiency
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of key processes on the other. The indicators and their expected values should be set in the planning socially responsible business and planning the organisation phases. Their attainability should be checked in the controlling the business and controlling the organisation phases so that potential deviations could be identified and then abolished in subsequent periods, some in the short term and others in the long term.
The list of approaches (74) and indicators (51) is comprehensive and took quite an effort in order to connect the organisational theory with the best management practices and to assure the coverage of all the basic fields but still make the list not too long. The main intention was to make a model simple and transparent. Some approaches can further be decomposed in specific activities and some indicators could be upgraded, depending on purpose of use of the model and the needs and maturity of organisation.
Table 1 presents the distribution of weighting given to specific phases of the management process and execution (column 1 and 3) as well as to the groups of specific indicators (column 4 and 6), connected with the types of stakeholder in the case of a public administration organisation. Since the major emphasis is given to the organisational aspect, the weights are higher in the case of phases, connected with organisation. The managers of public organisations have also more influence on them compared to planning the business part where the majority of goals and directions are given by superior organisations. The second column indicates the number of approaches defined for each phase of the EMPA model. The fifth column gives the number of indicators defined for each stakeholder group (employees, customers, state/owners and other stakeholders) and for two additional important areas: measuring the efficiency of processes for actuating the organisation and efficiency of processes in execution.
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Table 1 : Number of approaches/indicators and weights within the excellence model for public administration
Phases of (governance)-management process and execution	No of approaches in EMPA	Weight (%)	Indicators	No of indicators in EMPA	Weight (%)
Planning the business	18	8	Employees	10	8
Planning the organisation	19	10	Customers	7	8
Actuating the organisation	24	16	State (owners)	10	5
Controlling the organisation	3	10	Other stakeholders	6	6
Controlling the business	4	8	Efficiency of processes of actuating the organisation	11	7
Execution-operations	6	8	Efficiency of processes in execution	7	6
Total	74	60	Total	51	40
Source: Author, 2009
The logic of the proposed model of excellence for public administration (EMPA) is based on the management fundamentals that are systematically set up within a model based on theory and prepared for practical application. The major improvements in comparison to the EFQM model are made in the following fields:
•	EMPA is designed on the basis of theoretical knowledge and practical experience in management of private organisations and assessments of public administration organisations with CAF and
EFQM
•	EMPA is suitable for any type of organisation (private or public), regardless of its maturity
•	EMPA systematically covers all (five) successive phases of the governance-management process
•	each phase of EMPA is based on social responsibility
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•	the indicators in planning/controlling business (upper part of the model) direct and measure the satisfaction of stakeholders whereas indicators in planning/controlling organisation (lower part o the model) measure the efficiency of processes within the phases of actuating the organisation and execution of tasks
•	there is a clear connection between stakeholders (their satisfaction) and effectiveness on one hand and organisation and efficiency on the other
•	EMPA can be used either as a general management tool or (only) as a tool for the analysis of the current situation with the aim to find the ideas for specific improvements or even to stimulate the generation of innovative ideas and their implementation. When using EFQM and CAF, many organisations have concluded that they need different models, more relevant to their specific needs. In that sense, the proposed model is also useful if the organisation wishes to use it only as a framework which could be adjusted in details if required by the individual organisation (taking into account a type and maturity of the specific social unit in public administration).
4 Empirical study of assessing business excellence in Slovenian public administration
The main purpose of the research was to gain insight into the use of excellence tools, awards, events, approaches and indicators in Slovenian public administration. The data was collected for 2008 and the addressees were asked to give the estimations for the same data for 201 1 as well. The objective of the research was to thoroughly analyse the studied area and to look for eventual differences between the specific sectors of Slovenian public administration as well as to form the guidelines for improvements in the field of management and the development of excellence in our public administration.
The proposed excellence model for public administration (EMPA) formed a basis for a comprehensive questionnaire, which was sent to selected Slovenian public administration organisations in May 2009. In order to ensure integrity and a systematic approach during verification of the situation and of plans in the field of excellence in Slovenian public administration organisations, the entire model was transferred to the questionnaire. There was, of course, the risk that there would be fewer
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responses and a lower quality of answers than would be the case with a shorter questionnaire, but the results have shown the opposite.
The 8-page questionnaire on social responsibility and excellence in the Slovenian public administration was divided into sections:
•	Section A: basic data on the organisation and the respondent
•	Section B: evaluation of the use of quality/excellence tools, participation in different awards and events in the field of quality/excellence
•	Section C: evaluation of use of approaches
•	Section D: evaluation of use of indicators
•	Section E: questions on plans for specific parameters in 201 1.
The decision to choose 201 1 estimates for comparison with 2008 data was made on the basis of EFQM, which suggests these time intervals for similar analyses. Furthermore, it was estimated that at that time 201 0 was too close for planning significant changes in the studied fields since they are not of an operative nature, but require longer time periods for gaining the support, making decisions and their introduction into practice.
Table 2: The number and the share of organisations included in research
Type of organisation	Sent	Responded	Responded (%)
Ministries	15	7	46.7
Bodies within ministries	40	19	47.5
Government offices	13	6	46.2
Administrative units	58	50	86.2
Social work centres	62	17	27.4
Municipalities	11	3	27.3
Other	4	2	50.0
Total	203	104	51.2
Source: Author, June 2009
The questionnaire was sent for completion to the representatives (senior managers) of 203 organisations in Slovenian public administration. The distribution of invited and responding organisations is presented in Table 2.
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The response rate was above expected. The questionnaire was sent to the senior managers, while the question on the respondent offered three answers. Table 3 shows who were the real respondents (senior managers, quality managers, other).
Table 3: The number and the share of respondents
Role in an organisation	Number	%
Senior management	69	66.3
Quality Manager	23	22.2
Other	12	11.5
Total	104	100.0
Source: Author, June 2009
The statistical methods with which the data was processed, included frequencies, arithmetic mean, ANOVA (F-test) and Pearson Correlation Coefficient. After completing the basic data, the organisations were asked about their use of quality/excellence tools in 2008 and plans for 201 1. They could reply on a scale of 0 to 5, as follows:
0	- we do not know the tool
1	- we do not use the tool
2	- we use the tool every 4 years or more
3	- we use the tool every 3 years
4	- we use the tool every 2 years
5	- we use the tool every year.
In all of the following tables the marks given by respondents were turned into value 1 if they were marked as 0. The data about the number of organisations and the arithmetic means are presented in Table 4.
Although the tools are not quite comparable (ISO standards are on quality, EFQM and CAF on excellence, benchmarking is suggested within EFQM or CAF etc.), the listed ones are those, which are most commonly used by organisations in Slovenian public administration. They were put under a term "tool" because in practice all of them are called "tools".
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Table 4: Use of quality/ excellence tools
Year	2008		2011 estimate		Difference 2008-2011
TOOL	No of org.	Arith. mean	No of org.	Arith. mean	
ISO standards	97	2.41	88	2.98	0.57
EFQM self-assessment	92	1.25	86	1.78	0.53
CAF self-assessment	100	2.95	95	3.33	0.38
CAF external assessment	94	1.39	91	2.21	0.82
Investors in people	93	1.18	88	1.62	0.44
Balanced Scorecard	93	1.18	88	1.66	0.48
Benchmarking	91	1.77	85	2.15	0.38
Source: Author, June 2009
The data shows that the most frequently used tools are the CAF model for self-assessment and the ISO standards, and that the use of EFQM model is very rare. In future, the organisations would like to increase the use of the CAF model for external assessment as well as the use of the EFQM model and ISO standards.
The core part of the questionnaire was dedicated to 74 approaches and 51 indicators. The respondents marked the frequency of use for each of them for 2008 and 201 1. The average marks for tools, approaches and indicators are presented in Table 5.
The overall average mark regarding the use of excellence/quality tools is relatively low. A major increase in the use of tools is planned by 201 1. The average marks for approaches and indicators are much higher. Positive changes are also planned in all areas by 201 1 compared to 2008. As a rule the increases are higher where the mark in 2008 is lower and vice versa, they are lower where the mark in 2008 is higher. This indicates that the organisations are ready to improve their operations in any area for which there were deficiencies in 2008. Since the concept of excellence is based on awareness of deficiencies and the active efforts to reduce or even eliminate them, it is positive to note that representatives
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of Slovenian public administration organisations are thinking in this manner.
Table 5: Summarized average marks
Year	2008		201 1 estimate		Difference 2008-2011
	No of org.	Arith. mean	No of org.	Arith. mean	
TOOLS	104	1.89	100	2.44	0.55
EXCELLENCE - Total -APPROACHES AND INDICATORS	104	3.78	104	4.19	0.41
APPROACHES - TOTAL	104	3.82	104	4.26	0.45
PLANNING THE BUSINESS	104	3.85	104	4.25	0.39
PLANNING THE ORGANISATION	104	3.78	104	4.21	0.42
ACTUATING THE ORGANISATION	104	3.88	103	4.29	0.41
CONTROLLING THE ORGANISATION	103	3.87	102	4.37	0.50
CONTROLLING THE BUSINESS	102	3.73	101	4.33	0.60
EXECUTION	104	3.84	104	4.40	0.56
INDICATORS - TOTAL	104	3.74	104	4.09	0.36
INDICATORS - EMPLOYEES	103	3.82	102	4.30	0.48
INDICATORS - CUSTOMERS	102	4.29	101	4.55	0.26
INDICATORS - STATE	104	4.13	103	4.38	0.25
INDICATORS - OTHER STAKEHOLDERS	103	3.16	102	3.64	0.47
INDICATORS - EFFICIENCY OF PROCESSES IN ACTUATING THE ORGANISATION	103	3.77	101	4.20	0.43
INDICATORS - EFFICIENCY OF PROCESSES IN EXECUTION	103	3.35	101	3.92	0.58
Source: Author, June 2009
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The organisations were asked about their plans for 201 1, since the author was interested in the motives that would be the drivers of future change. There were nine possible answers and the option "other1 and the organisations could choose a maximum of three answers. The results are presented in the Table 6.
Table 6: Motives for the introduction of changes, 2008 to 2011
MOTIVES	No of organisations	Share (%)
Rational use of resources	79	77.5
Requirements of senior bodies, e.g. EU	10	9.8
Demographic changes	0	0
Introduction of regions	4	3.9
Increasing customer satisfaction	81	79.4
Increasing employee satisfaction	75	73.5
Impacts of global economic crisis	7	6.9
Environmental issues	4	3.9
Trends in public and private sector (e.g. 'coaching', competency models, CAF, etc.)	35	34.3
Other	2	2.0
Source: Author, June 2009
The data shows that the main three motives are increase of customer satisfaction, rational use of resources and increasing employee satisfaction. No organisation chose demographic changes. Two chose "other1 and explained it with:
•	image (1 x)
•	efficiency (1x).
One question was aimed at discovering what organisations would need in order to bring their plans into fruition and use the tools, approaches and indicators more frequently. The respondents could choose a maximum of three answers (see Table 7).
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Table 7: Infrastructure needed to realise plans for innovations by 2011
INFRASTRUCTURE	No of organisations	Share (%)
Finance	73	71.6
People	75	73.5
Information	13	12.7
Time	47	46.1
Knowledge about tools/approaches/indicators	30	29.4
Systemic initiatives - which?	15	14.7
Support of senior organisations - which?	18	17.6
Other	4	3.9
Source: Author, June 2009
The majority of respondents (73.5%) answered that they would need additional employees; 71.6% selected the answer "finance" and 46.1% stated they would need more time. Less frequently used answers were "information" (12.7%) and "other1 (3.9%).
The results of the research confirmed most of the hypotheses. These were:
•	modern tools, approaches and management indicators can be used in an excellence model for public administration
•	there are differences between public administration organisations in terms of activity in the field of excellence
•	all organisations studied want to develop the field of excellence further in future but require additional funds, time and knowledge, and the support of senior institutions.
There was also more data collected on differences between the types of organisation and on the connections between the studied areas. The data shows that organisations are more active in some areas and less in others. The latter is true mainly for those tools and awards that have not been promoted and supported by senior organisations, e.g. ministries. For approaches and indicators, lower marks were given to the involvement of stakeholders, which is connected to social responsibility. This was expected since the concept is relatively new. The areas that are more
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developed and used more frequently are those with a longer tradition or for which organisations have a statutory obligation to implement and report on. The data also shows that all organisations plan to make improvements in all studied areas by 201 1.
The research opened many new areas of discovery, such as testing the importance of specific parts of the model, designing and testing indicator values, testing the model in other parts of the public sector, in the private sector and in other countries and in 2012 verifying what has been realised in 201 1 against what was estimated.
5 Conclusions
The model of excellence for public administration (EMPA) was developed with a desire to offer a simple, logical, transparent, systematic and adaptable management tool, based on theory and praxis. It has been primarily designed for use in public administration but with some modifications it can be applied to any type of organisation, regardless of its maturity. In all of its elements (phases) social responsibility plays an important role in the sense of taking into account all stakeholders connected with the operations of an organisation. On the basis of EMPA, research work was carried out in Slovenian public administration in 2009.
Results have shown that Slovenian public administration organisations are aware of the importance of excellence and that they are eager to develop in this direction in future (comparison of the data for 2008 and plans for 2011). In that sense they expect senior institutions to support them (financially, with knowledge, etc.) and lead by example. The first research using EMPA showed that the parts of the model (approaches and indicators) are feasible for use in Slovenian public administration. Further research should be made in future in order to gain estimations from those who are familiar with the existing models and to acquire comparisons of EMPA with EFQM/CAF and their impact on excellence in public administration organisations.
The theoretical and empirical study also revealed that there are still several opportunities for further research and other scientific and practical work in the area of excellence and social responsibility in Slovenian public administration. However, the research was carried out before the main actors started to indicate that the crisis was coming and that it would heavily influence the public sector. A few months later long-term
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development plans were forgotten and since autumn 2009 priority has been given to short-sighted cost cutting and other short-term measures. This has caused a slowdown in the constructive development of the Slovenian public administration. In case the crisis was used to spur radical reforms to ensure the long-term excellence (effectiveness and efficiency) of public administration and consequently of the whole public sector, this could have an important positive effect on the competitiveness of a country as a whole. The fact is that such steps are hard to measure in the short term and are not of sufficient interest to the governing powers that demand unequivocal data to put before the public before the next elections. Hopefully the research described in the paper will motivate the responsible institutions and individuals to act in time and in the right way to the benefit of all and of future generations.
Nina Tomazevic Ph.D. is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Administration in organisation, management, social responsibility, human resources management and administrative operations. After studying management and organisation at the University of Ljubljana's Faculty of Economics from 1991 until !996, where she has also finished her master's degree in 1997, she first encountered management and quality management in the private sector, as a Human Resource Manager in two major Slovenian IT services providers. In 2004 she joined the Faculty of Administration and in 2006 completed training as a European Assessor for the EFQM model. Since 2007she has been an assessor for the PRSPO procedure and was a team member of the 2007 project "Development and Establishment of Excellence Assessment in Public Administration". She is active in domestic and international projects as an author of scientific and professional articles as well as an active participant at domestic and international conferences.
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POVZETEK
DRUŽBENA ODGOVORNOST IN UPRAVLJALNO-RAVNALNI PROCES KOT PODLAGA ZA ODLIČNOST V JAVNI UPRAVI
Družbena odgovornost in odličnost sta aktualni temi tako v strokovnih kot v laičnih krogih. Avtorji ju obravnavajo v številnih teoretičnih prispevkih, v praksi pa ju mnoge združbe poskušajo uvesti v svoje delovanje. Gre za pojma, ki se tako v teoriji kot v praksi uporabljata (včasih celo zlorabljata) na zelo različne načine, v zelo različnih obsegih in z zelo različnimi posledicami. Podobno kot pri pojmih s področij ravnanja (ang. management), organizacije in kakovosti, se tudi vsebina družbene odgovornosti in odličnosti pogosto obravnava s premalo dognanimi logičnimi osnovami v teoriji ter premalo sistematično in dosledno interpretacijo ter uporabo v praksi, tako v zasebnem kot v javnem sektorju.
Nejasne in nerazumljene osnovne opredelitve ter neustrezna uvedba posameznih področij v praksi ne morejo zagotoviti dolgoročne uspešnosti posameznih subjektov znotraj gospodarstva ali države kot celote. Podrobno proučevanje omenjenih področij kaže na to, da niti avtorji teoretičnih prispevkov niti praktiki v zvezi z družbeno odgovornostjo in odličnostjo še niso prišli do enotnih pogledov oz. opredelitev, ki bi bili zastavljeni dosledno ob temeljitem razumevanju ozadij, dejavnikov in posledic, ki se nanašajo na omenjeni področji. Predvsem razmere svetovne gospodarske krize bi morale biti spodbuda za to, da se dosedanje načine razmišljanja in delovanja v prihodnje korenito spremeni.
Razumevanje ter sistematično in dosledno uvajanje v prispevku obravnavanih področij v prakso bosta ključnega pomena za prihodnji razvoj združb in drugih družbenih sistemov. Prvi del prispevka je ravno iz tega razloga namenjen opredelitvam posameznih pojmov. Tako so med pomembnejšimi cilji prispevka prav predstavitev obstoječih opredelitev in predlogi "novih" - z namenom, pojasniti vsebine posameznih pojmov za potrebe čim bolj enotnega razumevanja obravnavanih področij in zagotoviti čistost jezika, tako v teoriji kot v praksi.
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V prispevku so torej podrobno obravnavani in pojasnjeni pojmi upravljalno-ravnalni proces, družbena odgovornost in odličnost. Opredelitev upravljalno-ravnalnega procesa v okviru faz planiranja poslovanja, planiranja organizacije, uveljavljanja organizacije, kontrole organizacije in kontrole poslovanja je podlaga za opredelitve družbene odgovornosti in odličnosti ter predlaganega modela odličnosti, ki so ključne novosti v okviru obstoječih znanosti.
Družbena odgovornost je razumljena, opredeljena in kasneje v modelu odličnosti upoštevana kot način sistematičnega strateškega razmišljanja in ravnanja v smeri doseganja poslanstva ter strateških in taktičnih (delnih) ciljev združbe, vključujoč usmeritev na usklajevanje ter zadovoljevanje potreb in pričakovanj vseh udeležencev (ang. sfakeho/c/ers). Tako je razumevanje družbene odgovornosti z družbenoekonomskega vidika (kot temeljni cilj v jutrišnjem družbenem sistemu), medtem ko učinkovitost, zagotovljena z organizacijo, ni družbenoekonomsko dana.
Odličnost kot je opredeljena v prispevku ne pomeni le nadgradnje kakovosti ali preseganja povprečja, ampak pomeni koncept razmišljanja in delovanja vseh udeležencev v smeri doseganja ciljev združbe - tako uspešnega poslovanja na ravni celotne združbe kot zagotavljanja smotrnosti pri usklajevanju interesov posameznih vrst udeležencev, kar je hkrati tudi družbeno odgovorni vidik ravnanja.
Na podlagi ugotovitev v teoriji in izkušenj avtorice iz prakse je kot osrednji del prispevka predstavljen model odličnosti javne uprave. Razdeljen je na dva dela, in sicer na funkcije ravnanja, ki se nanašajo na poslovanje združbe kot celote (planiranje poslovanja in kontrola poslovanja) ter na raven posameznikov (zaposlenih in drugih skupin udeležencev), ki vključuje funkcije planiranja organizacije, uveljavljanja organizacije ter kontrole organizacije. Za vsako od posameznih funkcij so v okviru modela opredeljeni pristopi (ang. approaches), ki naj bi bili izvedeni, če želi združba biti odlična. Obenem je za vse funkcije predvideno, da se izvajajo družbeno odgovorno, torej ob upoštevanju interesov vseh udeležencev. S kazalniki (ang. indicators), ki predstavljajo tretji del modela, družbe obdobno merijo zadovoljstvo konkretnih skupin udeležencev na eni strani, na drugi strani pa učinkovitost nekaterih ključih procesov.
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Model odličnosti lahko služi ravnateljem pri njihovem delovanju v vsakdanjem življenju v dejanskih poslovnih okoljih ali pa kot orodje za ocenjevanje odličnosti poslovanja konkretnih združb. V osnovi je zastavljen dovolj široko, da ga je mogoče uporabiti tako v zasebnem kot javnem sektorju, obenem pa so na vseh njegovih delih mogoče nadaljnje razgradnje in dodelave v podrobnosti, odvisno od potreb in zrelosti posamezne združbe. Ključnega pomena je predvsem to, da ne gre za še za eno formalistično orodje za potrebe kakršnegakoli certificiranja, ampak za praktičen "ključ" za sistematično, profesionalno in pregledno ravnanje v katerikoli združbi.
Na podlagi predlaganega modela odličnosti v javni upravi je bil za potrebe empiričnega raziskovanja oblikovan obsežen vprašalnik, ki je bil poslan v izpolnitev predstavnikom vodstev 203 organizacij slovenske javne uprave. Rezultati raziskave so potrdili večino postavljenih hipotez, predvsem v smeri, da je v okviru modela odličnosti javne uprave mogoče uporabljati sodobna orodja, pristope in kazalnike ravnanja, da glede aktivnosti na področju odličnosti obstajajo razlike med raznovrstnimi organizacijami javne uprave in se vse proučevane organizacije na področju odličnosti želijo razvijati tudi v prihodnje, vendar v ta namen potrebujejo dodatna finančna sredstva, čas, znanje in podporo krovnih institucij.
Glede na to, da v slovenskem prostoru kljub že zastavljenim strategijam in programom na področju kakovosti/odličnosti ni bilo narejenih še nobenih konkretnih in podrobnih raziskav, lahko rezultati raziskovanja neposredno služijo takoj kot podlaga za odločitve vseh, ki so odgovorni za razvoj tega področja, posredno pa je potencialnih uporabnikov izsledkov raziskave kot tudi modela odličnosti še več. Model je mogoče prenesti tako v druge dele javnega sektorja kot v zasebni sektor. Koncept razmišljanja o družbeni odgovornosti in odličnosti je mogoče uporabiti pri vsakodnevnih aktivnosti tistih ravnateljev, ki želijo dosegati odlične rezultate z dolgotrajnimi koristnimi posledicami za celotno družbo. Ugotovitve tako teoretičnega kot empiričnega raziskovanja so namreč pokazale, da bo odličnost posameznih združb in drugih družbenih sistemov mogoče doseči le s sistematičnim, profesionalnim, preglednim in družbeno odgovornim ravnanjem.
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