RAZISKAVE in RAZPRAVE/RESEARCH and DISCUSSION ISSN: 1855-4148 UDK: 3 IZDAJATELJ/Publisher Fakulteta za uporabne družbene študije Faculty of applied social studies ODGOVORNI UREDNIK/Editor-in-chief Matevž Tomši č POMOČNICA UREDNIKA/Managing Editor Urša Šinkovec UREDNIŠKI ODBOR/ Editorial Board Igor BAHOVEC - Univerza v Ljubljani Suzana ŽILIČ FIŠER - Univerza v Mariboru Diana-Camelia IANCU - National School for Political Studies and Public Administration Daniel KLIMOVSKY - Pavol Jozef Šafarik University in Košice Susanne KOLB - University of Siegen Krunoslav NIKODEM - Sveučilište v Zagrebu Rajesh K. PILLANIA - Management Development Institute Matej MAKAROVIČ - Fakulteta za uporabne družbene študije Uroš PINTERIČ - Univerzitetno in raziskovalno središče Novo mesto Janez ŠUŠTERŠIČ - Univerza na Primorskem Beti HOHLER - Višje sodišče v Ljubljani Tamara BESEDNJAK - recenzije/reviews ZALOŽNIŠKE INFORMACIJE Revija R&R izhaja v elektronski obliki trikrat na leto (februar, junij, oktober). Izdaja jo Fakulteta za uporabne družbene študije v Novi Gorici; revija je brezplačno dostopna na: http://www.fuds.si/si/dejavnosti/zaloznistvo/?v=raziskave-in-razprave. Publishing Information Journal R&R is published in electronic form three times annually (February, June, October). Published by Faculty of Applied Social Studies in Nova Gorica and available free of charge at: http://www.fuds.si/si/dejavnosti/zaloznistvo/?v=raziskave-in-razprave. SMERNICE R&R je mednarodna elektronska znanstvena revija, namenjena sociološkim, humanističnim, ekonomskim, pravnim, upravnim, organizacijskim, politološkim, komunikološkim in drugim razpravam, ki dopušča popolno tematsko ter disciplinarno odprtost. R&R spodbuja tako teoretične kot tudi kvalitativna in kvantitativna empirična dognanja ter aplikativne prispevke. Uredništvo revije pozdravlja članke že uveljavljenih znanstvenikov kot tudi mladih perspektivnih avtorjev. Vsi članki, objavljeni v reviji, so dvostransko anonimno recenzirani. Revija R&R si prizadeva za prepoznavanje inovativnih teoretičnih ali empiričnih idej, ki skušajo osvetliti nov ali drugačen zorni kot družboslovnih in humanističnih problematik. Aim &Scope R&R is international electronic scientific journal open to sociological, humanistic, economics, legal, administrative, management, political, communicative and other articles and debates with broad theoretical and disciplinary openness. R&R welcomes theoretical as well as quantitative and qualitative empirical and applicative contributions. R&R welcomes articles of established researches as well as young prospective authors. All articles published in R&R are double-blind pair reviewed. Journal R&R strives for innovative theoretical and empirical articles, which are trying to explain some subject from different (innovative) point of view in the field of social sciences and humanities. Revija izhaja ob podpori Agencije za raziskovalno dejavnost Republike Slovenije ČLANKI SE REFERIRAJO V: COBISS Indexed and abstracted in: COBISS Kazalo/Contents Članki/Articles Human Resources Management (HRM) kot ključni proces pri obvladovanju organizacijskih sprememb Human Resources Management as a Key Process at Managing Organizational Changes Boris Bukovec 3 E-Government challenges in Romania Catalin Vrabie 27 Evropa, islam in moderna paradigma Europe, islam and modern paradigm Aleš Debeljak 51 Politična tveganja na področju igralništva: primer projekta HIT- HARRAH'S na Goriškem Political risks in gambling: The case of HIT-HARRAH'S project in the Goriška region Matevž Tomši č 73 Lea Prijon Human Resources Management (HRM) kot ključni proces pri obvladovanju organizacijskih sprememb Human Resources Management as a Key Process at Managing Organizational Changes Boris Bukovec1 Povzetek Evropska unija zaradi svoje ciljne naravnanosti k povečanju konkurenčnosti zadeva v širok spekter dejavnikov, povezanih tudi z obvladovanjem sprememb, kakovostjo in ustvarjalnostjo. Turbulentno okolje ponuja nove priložnosti, katere lahko izkoristijo ljudje, ki nenehno razvijajo svoje znanje in metode učenja. V članku uvodoma izpostavljamo vidik uspešnosti posameznika, organizacije in civilizacije ter podajamo ključne poglede na spremembe in spreminjanje v organizacijskih sistemih, pri čemer se osredotočamo predvsem na človeka kot posameznika. Osrednji del članka je namenjen pomenu domišljije, ustvarjalnosti in samoaktualizacije človeka ter prepoznavanju očitnega trenda premika od kolektiva k posamezniku. V zaključnem delu članka podajamo tudi koncept modela trirazsežnostnega pojmovanja obvladovanja sprememb (samoobnova - samorazvoj - stanje duha), kjer ugotavljamo, da je za uspešno obvladovanje organizacijskih sprememb ključna internalizacija paradigme samoaktualizacije, ki predstavlja tretjo razsežnost in vzvod za izboljšanje prvih dveh. Dr. Boris Bukovec je docent na Fakulteti za organizacijske študije v Novem mestu. Ključne besede: obvladovanje sprememb, management človeških virov, domišljija, ustvarjalnost, samoaktualizacija Abstract With its focus on increased competition, the European Union touches upon a broad spectrum of factors connected also with change management, quality and creativity. This turbulent environment offers new opportunities that can be seized by those who continuously develop their levels of expertise and learning methods. The article starts with the aspect of success of an individual, organisation and civilisation, continues with key views on changes in organising systems targeting on a human being as an individual. The core part of the text deals with the role of imagination, creativity and self- actualisation of a person and recognising the apparent trend of the movement from a group towards an individual. The article concludes with the model of a three-level concept of managing changes (self- restoration, self-development, state of the mind) where it is found out that internalisation of the paradigm of self-actualisation represents the key factor as well as the third dimension and the lever for the improvement of the first two. Keywords: change management, human resources management, imagination, creativity, self-actualisation Uspešnost in obvladovanje sprememb Gibalo celotnega napredka je tesno povezano s človekom in njegovo željo po boljšem, prijetnejšem, udobnejšem, varnejšem, srečnejšem oziroma uspešnejšem življenju. Posameznik skuša slediti nekakšnemu lastnemu videnju načina in ciljev življenja. Vsakdo si tako hote ali nehote, vede ali nevede izoblikuje določena merila, pristope, načine, vrednote, osebno filozofijo oz. paradigmo, ki ga stalno spremljajo skozi njegovo življenje. Izoblikuje si svojstven pogled na življenje in dogodke, ki se odvijajo v njegovem okolju, prav tako pa tudi svojstveno pojmuje ali celo ocenjuje dogodke, stvari ali pojme. Tako izoblikuje svoj, sebi lasten miselni vzorec oziroma paradigmo o uspešnosti in kakovosti življenja. Uspešno in/ali kakovostno živeti pomeni pravočasno opravljati prave stvari na pravilen način v smislu uresničevanja pričakovanega. Katere stvari so prave, zna presoditi le vsak posameznik avtonomno, s preverjanjem skladnosti svojih predstav in vizij oziroma miselnih vzorcev z dejstvi, ki sovpadajo z aktualnimi dogodki in interakcijo okolja. Izbira pravilnega načina je tudi stvar presoje in izbire posameznika, ki je v spletu okoliščin, znanja, sposobnosti, zmožnosti in lastnih paradigem postavljen v položaj, ko mora ustrezno reagirati, se odločiti ali ukrepati. Kar zadeva pravočasnost, pa obstajata dve možnosti: ali je neka stvar opravljena pravočasno ali ne. Pravilno, a ne pravočasno izvedene prave stvari uspeh v večini primerov »preimenujejo« v neuspeh. Spremembe in spreminjanje postajajo konstanta. Dinamika sprememb skokovito narašča, pojavljajo se nova znanja, nove tehnologije odpirajo nove izzive, novi načini komuniciranja ponujajo skoraj brezmejne možnosti sinergijskih učinkov. Predvsem je kultura inovativnosti tista, ki v želji po boljši kakovosti življenja nenehno generira zahtevo po samopreseganju. Spremembe in spreminjanje s svojo konstantnostjo pomembno vplivajo tudi na organizacije ter odločilno predvsem na njihove vodje. Drucker ob tem aspektu poudarja naslednje (Drucker in Senge, 2002, str. 9): • Sprejeti moramo dejstvo, da si s spremembami delimo vsakdanjik. • Vodje morajo kreirati dovzetnost za spremembe. • V sistem moramo vgraditi sistem pozabljanja - opuščanja preteklosti. • Inoviranje je težko delo, toda pomeni ključ do uspešnega obvladovanja sprememb. • Vsake tri leta bi morala vodstva pregledati vsak produkt in se vprašati o njegovi usodi. Premislek ob navedenem nas vodi do ugotovitve, da brez kritičnega odnosa do preteklih in sedanjih teorij in pristopov težko pričakujemo uspešnost organizacij. Senge postavlja trditev (Senge, 2002, str. 23), da nova doba ni informacijska doba, temveč doba novih metafor (paradigem) in novih temeljnih predpostavk (gradnikov). Ob prepoznavanju ključnih megatrendov in spoznanj (Naisbitt, 1990, 1995; Capra, 2002), ki odločilno vplivajo na miselno ozadje obvladovanja sprememb, poudarjamo napoved prihodnosti, ki bo zgrajena na človeku kot posamezniku, na premiku z mehanistične paradigme k organski ter na upoštevanju socialnih omrežij, organske organizacije, učenja iz življenja, organizacijskega učenja ter spontanega pojavljanja novega reda in struktur. Pregled literature, raziskav in prakse nas pripelje do zaključka, da ne obstaja enotna teorija razumevanja organizacijskih sprememb in posledično tudi ne enoten pristop. Na podlagi primerjave sovpadanj ugotovitev različnih avtorjev (Beer in Nohria, 2000; Vizjak, 1994; Burke, 2002) prepoznavamo dve bistveno različni naravi sprememb, ki posledično tudi zahtevata bistveno različna pristopa, oba pa temeljita na upoštevanju povratne zanke učenja in ustvarjalnosti. V celotnem članku posplošujemo naš pogled na proces spreminjanja preko delitev sprememb na transakcijske oziroma postopne spremembe, ki predstavljajo nenehno odzivanje na evolucijske spremembe v okolju in dejansko pomenijo nenehno izboljševanje vpeljanih pristopov, ter na transformacijske oziroma radikalne spremembe, ki predstavljajo enkratno odzivanje na revolucionarne spremembe v okolju in dejansko pomenijo temeljito preobrazbo vpeljanih pristopov. Pri obvladovanju transakcijskih sprememb je v središče postavljen motiviran posameznik, ki vsakodnevno preko osebne paradigme zavestno in podzavestno presoja vse svoje večplastne motive za sproščanje svojih ustvarjalnih zmogljivosti. Na sproščanje ustvarjalnosti izredno močno vpliva organizacijska klima, ki je odločilno krojena z vsakodnevnim obnašanjem vodilnega osebja. Posameznik to obnašanje presoja nenehno in v vseh aspektih, tako da je izraženi stil vodenja vodilnega osebja stalno na tehtnici kot protiutež deklariranemu stilu vodenja. Procesni pogled na obvladovanje transformacijskih organizacijskih sprememb prepoznava osrednjo vlogo voditeljstva, ki mora nenehno izvajati tak način monitoringa in analiziranja okolja, da je doseženo uspešno udejanjanje poslanstva preko ustreznih strategij, ki ob upoštevanju želene organizacijske kulture zagotavljajo doseganje planiranih in uravnoteženih organizacijskih rezultatov. Tu je izrazito poudarjena povratna zanka med okoljem in rezultati. Mnogi raziskovalci (Burke, 2002; Caluwe, 2003; Heller in Hindle, 2001) poudarjajo kompleksnost in specifičnost problematike obvladovanja sprememb, kakor tudi njene odvisnosti od stopnje radikalnosti spremembe, faze življenjskega cikla organizacijskega sistema, poznavanja organizacijskega modela, vzročne povezanosti ravni sprememb, pomembnost organizacijske klime in kulture ter predvsem nenehne in pravočasne interakcije z okoljem. Ključno je zavedanje procesnosti, kjer moramo za uspešno in učinkovito obvladovanje organizacijskih sprememb (Burke, 2002, str. 247) izvesti pripravo na izvedbo spremembe, izvesti moramo začetne spremembe, zagotoviti izvedbo nadaljnjih sprememb ter ob kon čanju spreminjanja tudi nuditi ustrezno podporo za vzdrževanje novega stanja. Procesnost obvladovanja sprememb pomeni, da je to iterativen proces, ki nenehno poskuša zagotavljati dinamično ravnotežje, kjer pa se moramo zavedati točke preloma, ko kritičen obseg nekega pojava nastopi nenadoma. Celotna vsebina članka je tako usmerjena v proučevanje pomena sproščanja človekovih ustvarjalnih zmogljivosti kot gibala napredka ter s tem uspešnega obvladovanja sprememb. Članek temelji na predpostavki, da je Human Resources Management (HRM) ključni proces pri obvladovanju sprememb. Domišljija, ustvarjalnost in samoaktualizacija človeka v kontekstu obvladovanja sprememb Za hitro in proaktivno odzivanje na spremembe je ključna skrb za razvoj, sproščanje in uporabo intelektualnega potenciala vseh sodelavcev, s čimer pri managementu človeških virov postavljamo v ospredje razvoj sposobnosti učenja, prilagajanja in spreminjanja. Uspešna in učinkovita uporaba takega pristopa povečuje možnost za izboljšanje uspešnosti in dosežkov zaposlenih, kar posledično zagotavlja dvig njihovega zadovoljstva in samopodobe. V tem zlahka prepoznamo iterativnost tega procesa in vzročno-posledično odvisnost posameznih stanj, pri čemer posebej poudarjamo pomembnost dejstva, da zavedanje osebne uspešnosti in samopotrditve vodi k povečanju samopodobe in identitete, kar zagotavlja priložnost za sproščanje naslednjega cikla samoaktualizacije. Ta naša razmišljanja močno sovpadajo z dosežki J. Ovsenika (2004a, 2004b), od katerih na tem mestu postavljamo v ospredje njegov sinusoidalni algoritem (človeško-akcijske) premišlje/val/nosti (Slika 1). Omenjeni algoritem Ovsenik, kot ga je prikazal in komentiral v kontekstu razlage sedmih stebrov nove doktrine organizacije, managementa in organizacijskega obnašanja (Ovsenik, 1999, str. 31), danes (Ovsenik, 2004a, str. 604) prikazuje nadgrajeno in izrazito v smislu zavestnega človekovega miselnega procesa, ki poteka med slehernima dvema zaporednima človekovima dejanjema oziroma akcijama. Ta miselni proces Ovsenik ponazarja z likom sinusoide, ki ima svoj začetek v točki »Sx«, konec pa v točki »Sx+1«, ki dejansko pomeni začetek naslednjega vala. Človek kot akter in opazovalec v svojem miselnem procesu »potuje« v svoji »premišlje/val/nosti« po tej sinusoidi z odmikanjem svoje ustvarjalne misli od »slepo-objektivnega« učinkovanja naravnih zakonov, pri čemer se na vsaki točki te krivulje srečuje s »bifurkacijsko točko« oziroma točko razcepa. Ta točka razcepa ga sili v odločanje in izbor smeri delovanja oziroma »vznemirjenja«. Sinusoida ima neskončno število takih točk, na sliki pa je podanih in komentiranih le sedem bistvenih (od y:1, do y:7), katerih kratek povzetek je naslednji (Ovsenik, 2004b, str. 4): • (y:1) Kaj in kdo me zadeva oziroma zanima pri vstopu v novo relacijo? • (y:2) Kako je opredeljeno moje mesto v tej novi zadevi? • (y:3) Kaj prispevam k tej novi situaciji? Kaj in kako lahko naredim? Katera znanja potrebujem za svojo vlogo v tej situaciji? • (y:4) Točka premika iz zunanjega sveta prostora v notranji svet duha. • (y:5) Zakaj bi to storil? Kakšen motiv imam za to početje? • (y:6) Kaj mi pravijo moj duh, moje srce in moja vest? • (y:7) Izhajajoč iz svojih vrednot in motivov, ali sem pripravljen prevzeti novo interpretacijo in vstop v novo inter-AKCIJO? Ali naj potrdim ali zavrnem akcijo? Pri opisu slike se nam zdi v kontekstu našega članka potrebno poudariti tudi pomen vzdolžne osi, ki jo Ovsenik imenuje »enotujoča samo- organizacija«, katero odločilno opredeljuje človekov sinusoidalni miselni proces spoznavanja. Ta miselni proces avtor (Ovsenik, 2004b, str. 3) razume kot management, in sicer kot naravni pojav (in ne kot organ upravljanja), ter nadaljuje razlago v smislu »parske povezave« s pojmom organizacije. Ta dva pojma sta nasproti zgolj sociološkemu razumevanju prisotna vsepovsod v živi naravi, torej tudi na ravni človeka, kjer pa kot sinusoida nenehno oscilirata okrog vzdolžne ravne črte samo- organizacije. Ta svoboda sinusoidnega osciliranja človekovega intelekta je edinstvena in odločujoča lastnost človeka, ki je preostali del žive narave nima. V kontekstu razumevanja pojma organizacije navajamo tudi Ovsenikovo (2004a, str. 606) tro-razsežnostno opredelitev pojma organizacije, in sicer kot strukturo v smislu sociološke »organizacijske teorije«, kot proces v smislu procesnega pogleda naravoslovja in avtopoieze ter kot princip/načelo v smislu delovanja kot energija poenotenja. Ob zaključku podaja pomenljiv predlog definicije pojma organizacije: »Organizacija se kaže kot celota vsepovsodnega učinkovanja vseh naravnih (in socialnih) zakonov v našem svetu, hkrati pa pomeni nasprotovanje entropiji.« Organizacija torej pomeni življenje in v takšni perspektivi se organizacija kot struktura in kot proces pojavljata in spreminjata le v kontekstu delovanja sil poenotenja. Po našem mnenju avtor za opis sinusoide miselnega procesa namenoma uporablja konstrukt »premišlje/val/nosti«, saj so cikličnost, samoobnova in samopreseganje karakteristike življenja in v celoti sovpadajo z razmišljanji Capre (2002, str. 10), ki ravno v življenju, kot omrežju nenehnega ustvarjanja ali preurejanja samega sebe s transformacijo ali premeščanjem svojih sestavin, prepoznava sovpadanje procesa spoznavanja, torej procesa učenja s procesom življenja. Metaforično bi se lahko izrazili, da tako kot je v reki nešteto valov, je tudi v »reki življenja« nešteto »valov premišljevanja«. Slika 1: Sinusoidalni algoritem (človeško-akcijske) premišlje/val/nosti (Vir: Ovsenik, J., 2004a, str. 604) (Avtor: dr. J. Ovsenik, 15. januar2000) ----(( S P O ) ZNANJE )-----I SLIKA 1: ALGORITEM (ČLOVEŠKO - AKCIJSKE) REFLEKSIVNOSTI ("SINUSOIDA" 3. APLIKACIJE - VIR: J.OVSENIK, STEBRI... 1999, str.30-31 in 311-312) Trend premika od kolektiva k posamezniku Pri proučevanju managementa človeških virov v kontekstu obvladovanja sprememb moramo tako prepoznati odločilen pomen in moč domišljije, ustvarjalnosti in samoaktualizacije človeka kot posameznika. Upoštevati moramo vsakega posameznika, saj vsak nastopa v sebi lastni vlogi izvajalca in opazovalca ter si tako nenehno v iterativnem procesu uresničevanja lastne identitete s sproščanjem svojih ustvarjalnih zmožnosti kot odziv na impulze iz okolja obnavlja in nadgrajuje sebi lasten proces spoznavanja oziroma (po Capri) življenja. Pri tem se nam zdi odločilno pomembno zavedanje (Prigogine in Stengers, 1984, str. 311) obstoja specifičnega in z osebno paradigmo pogojevanega pogleda na okolje, po katerem je percepcija stvarnosti odvisna od naše sposobnosti gledanja skozi osebne izkušnje in miselne koncepte. Ne smemo torej smatrati okolja takšnega, kot bi si ga želeli videti, ampak se moramo zavedati omejenosti našega percipiranja stvarnosti in s tem posledično tudi omejenega zavedanja realnosti. Prepoznavamo tudi očitne trende premika od kolektiva k posamezniku, kar potrjuje pomen ključnosti HRM pri obvladovanju organizacijskih sprememb. Na ravni posameznika se nam zdi pomenljivo poudariti tudi trditev Viktorja Frankla (v Covey, 1994, str. 61), ki je dejal, da temeljno načelo človekove narave izhaja iz dejstva, da človek svobodno izbira svoj odziv na spodbudo. Med odzivom in spodbudo prepoznava svobodno izbiro, v tej svobodi izbire pa je ključno človekovo samozavedanje, domišljija, vest in neodvisna volja. Ta ugotovitev sovpada tudi z razlago sinusoidalnega algoritma (slika1), saj le-ta poteka v tej tako imenovani svobodni izbiri, kjer je nešteto točk premišljevanja in razcepa. Drucker (2001, str. 156) v razmišljanjih o vlogah, vsebinah in načinih dela managerjev v današnjem turbulentnem okolju postavlja v ospredje potrebo po učenju vodenja samega sebe (managing onself). Še več, ugotavlja, da take sposobnosti, kot so jih imeli veliki geniji v zgodovini ( Napoleon, Leonardo da Vinci, Mozart ...) v smislu vodenja samega sebe, nove zahteve 21. stoletja postavljajo pred vsakega posameznika. Vsak posameznik je pri svojem umskem procesu v smislu obvladovanja vodenja samega sebe soočen s popolnoma novimi zahtevami (Drucker, 2001, str. 157): • Morajo se nenehno spraševati: Kdo sem jaz? Kakšne prednosti imam? Kako delam? • Morajo se nenehno spraševati: Kam spadam? • Morajo se nenehno spraševati: Kakšen je moj prispevek? • Morajo prevzeti odgovornost za odnose s svojimi sodelavci. • Morajo načrtovati drugo polovico svojega življenja. Očitna so sovpadanja ključnih Druckerjevih in Ovsenikovih vprašanj v tem procesu vodenja samega sebe kakor tudi njunega pogleda na management. Zanimiv je predvsem vidik priznavanja potrebe po obstoju uspešnega in učinkovitega vodenja samega sebe kot predhodnega pogoja za uspešno in učinkovito vodenje sodelavcev. Pri iskanju osebne odličnosti pa je poleg predhodnega pomembno (Ali, 2001, str. 19) prepoznavati, razvijati in sproščati tudi množico svojih ključnih osebnih lastnosti, kot so ambicije, vizija, samozavest, pripravljenost sprejemanja tveganja, racionalno usmerjanje lastne energije, tekmovalni duh, samokritičnost, voditeljske sposobnosti. V začetku članka nakazani megatrend, po katerem prihodnost pripada človeku kot posamezniku (Naisbitt, 1990), zahteva zavedanje, da je za obvladovanje čedalje kompleksnejših in večplastnih problemov oziroma sprememb celotne civilizacije potreben vsak »um« vsakega posameznika. Znanje je last posameznika, njegova ustvarjalnost in inovativnost pa sta pogoj za njegov osebni in s tem tudi organizacijski kakor tudi civilizacijski razvoj. Neizbežno osredotočenost na ustvarjalnega in inovativnega posameznika prepoznavata tudi Johansen in Swigart (1994, str. 172.), ki trdita, da je potrebno povečati pomen posameznikov ob istočasnem zmanjšanju pomena organizacije kot strukture. Dodajata, da prihodnost pripada posamezniku, saj le prilagodljiv posameznik lahko odkriva niše in ustvarja nove priložnosti s svojo sposobnostjo prilagodljivega pogleda in zaznave realnosti. Sorodno ugotovitev podaja tudi Ambrož (2002, str. 244), ko trdi, da se v organizacijah krepi vloga posameznika, ki je sposoben prilagodljivo uresničevati cilje organizacije, presojati njihovo družbeno koristnost in pri tem vrednotiti lastno uspešnost. V smislu doseganja organizacijske ustvarjalnosti in inovativnosti Clark (2003, str. 172) navaja, da morajo podjetja oblikovati taka notranja omrežja kompetentnih sodelavcev in ustrezne mehanizme finančne stimulacije, ki bodo zagotavljali sproščanje zmogljivosti vzajemnega delovanja srca in možganov vsakega in vseh. Jasno prepoznavamo priznavanje odločilne pomembnosti sproščanja ustvarjalnih zmogljivosti vsakega in vseh sodelavcev, kjer posameznik s svojim znanjem in sposobnostjo učenja postaja nosilec razvoja, saj je v njem specifična ustvarjalnost, ki ob ciljni naravnanosti in sistemski aplikaciji timskega dela ustvarja nova znanja in z njimi moč. Nenehne spremembe v okolju ponujajo nove priložnosti, katere pa lahko izkoristijo le ljudje, ki nenehno skrbijo za razvoj svojega znanja in metod učenja. Če hočemo postati usmerjevalci sprememb, moramo sprejeti učenje kot vseživljenjski proces. V kontekstu obvladovanja sprememb opažamo tudi velika sovpadanja med pristopi obvladovanja sprememb in pristopi celovitega obvladovanja kakovosti, kjer se priznava odločilna pomembnost človeškega dejavnika. Po analogiji analize splošnih stališč do kakovosti, ki so se razvijale v zgodovini, kjer so bile prepoznane tri razsežnosti kakovosti (Alexander v Bukovec, 1996, str. 514), in sicer kakovost kot ustreznost zahtevanim specifikacijam, zadovoljstvo kupca z uporabnostjo in kakovost kot stanje duha, podajamo okvirni poskus definiranja treh razsežnosti pri obvladovanju sprememb (Slika 2). 1. RAZSEŽNOST je pojmovanje obvladovanja sprememb za doseganje uresničevanja pričakovanega oziroma doseganje reprodukcije, torej obnove oziroma samoobnove. 2. RAZSEŽNOST je pojmovanje obvladovanja sprememb za preseganje uresničevanja pričakovanega oziroma doseganje izboljšane reprodukcije, torej razvoja oziroma samorazvoja. 3. RAZSEŽNOST pa je pojmovanje obvladovanja sprememb kot stanje duha in jo tesno povezujemo z osmišljanjem dela. V luči nove paradigme obvladovanja sprememb je jasno, da so odločilni dejavnik ljudje in da človeška razsežnost obvladovanja sprememb dopolnjuje prvi dve razsežnosti. Zgoditi se mora internalizacija paradigme samoaktualizacije. Slika 2: Tri razsežnosti obvladovanja sprememb Ravno ta tretja razsežnost je pomembna, če hočemo napraviti odločnejši preskok z ene ravni na drugo, višjo raven. Med kakovostjo življenja ljudi na splošno, zlasti med kakovostjo našega poklicnega življenja in med kakovostjo izdelkov, ki jih proizvajamo, ter storitev, ki jih opravljamo, vlada soodnos. Resnično izboljšanje prve in druge razsežnosti je namreč mogoče le, če se izboljša tudi tretja, človeška razsežnost, ki pa je povezana z internalizacijo paradigme. Odločilno pomembnost osmišljanju dela pripisujejo tudi drugi (Ovsenik, J., Ovsenik, M., 2001, str. 670), ki navajajo, da je osmišljenost tista osrednja os, okoli katere posameznik razumno obvladuje svoja dejanja. Če te tri razsežnosti pogledamo na praktičnem primeru iz vsakdanjega življenja, potem obvladovanje spremembe oziroma naš odziv na impulze iz okolja v prvi razsežnosti pomeni našo prilagoditev oziroma adaptacijo na nove razmere. To je običajen odziv pri večini posameznikov. Gre za samoobnovo, torej restavracijo stanja na ravni, kot je bila pred izzivom sprememb. Obstaja pa tudi proaktivna manjšina posameznikov, ki v impulzih oziroma izzivih v okolju prepoznavajo priložnosti. Ta skupina ljudi se odziva na tak način, da prilagajanje izzivom sprememb ne izkoristi samo za restavracijo preteklega stanja, temveč v ta proces prilagajanja vgradi nove vidike kakovosti. Gre za samorazvoj, torej izboljšanje stanja glede na stanje, kot je bilo pred izzivom spremembe. Tretja razsežnost v tem diagramu nam sporoča, da se prehod iz prve razsežnosti obvladovanja sprememb v drugo razsežnost ne more zgoditi, če predhodno posameznik na podlagi samozavedanja, domišljije, ustvarjalnosti in samoakualizacije ne prepozna in udejanji svoje priložnosti svobodne izbire. Gre za udejanjanje proaktivnosti, ki se lahko zgodi kot slučajnost, lahko pa je to posledica naših navad oziroma našega »miselnega vzorca« oziroma osebne paradigme. V tem zadnjem primeru govorimo o internalizaciji paradigme samoaktualizacije oziroma doseganju novega stanja duha. Human Resources Management (HRM) kot ključni proces pri obvladovanju organizacijskih sprememb V zadnjih letih se izrazito stopnjuje zavedanje (Conti, 1998, str. 272) o zastarelosti in neplodnosti pogleda, ki se osredotoča izključno na finančne rezultate in interese lastnikov. Uspeh in odličnost poslovanja ter tudi dolgoročnost preživetja prinaša le nov pristop, ki je usmerjen v zadovoljstvo in zvestobo kupcev in temelji na spoznanju, da organizacijske sisteme sestavljajo ljudje z vedno večjimi pričakovanji. Ta vedno večja pričakovanja zaposlenih pa niso vezana le na plačo, temveč predvsem na možnost samouresničitve in povečevanja zadovoljevanja potreb. Jacou in Lucas (1995, str. 127) v tem kontekstu navajata velikokrat citirano, a tudi velikokrat spregledano trditev, da so pri obvladovanju virov podjetja ljudje pomembnejši od vseh drugih virov. V ospredje se tako postavlja potreba po (Nault, 2000, str. 2) razvoju karier posameznikov, pri čemer se moramo v današnjem času transformacijskih sprememb osredotočiti predvsem na nenehno učenje, razvoj sposobnosti prilagajanja in mrežno delo. V povezavi z doseganjem ključnih kompetenc, ki pogojujejo doseganje konkurenčne prednosti (Sioli, 2000, str. 2), moramo HRM-ju priznati ključno vlogo. Sioli na podlagi raziskave ugotavlja, da se v podjetjih, ki v izrazito spreminjajočih okoljih nenehno dosegajo visoko poslovno uspešnost, funkcija HRM-ja osredotoča predvsem na strateško raven, kjer nastopa kot strateški partner in agent spreminjanja. HR osebje se v takih organizacijah upošteva predvsem in samo kot specialiste za zaposlovanje, organizacijski razvoj, podajanje usmeritev spreminjanja, obvladovanje organizacijske kulture in kot skrbnike za prepoznavanje zahtev v okolju ter njihovo izkoriščanje za izboljšanje poslovne uspešnosti. Sorodne trditve opazimo tudi pri drugih avtorjih (Milkovich, 1994, str. 13), ki vlogo HR osebja kot agenta spreminjanja pripisuje kot nadgradnjo vloge HR-ja kot strateškega partnerja. Agenti spreminjanja morajo tako obvladovati veščine voditeljstva, spodbujanja različnosti in učinkovitih medosebnih razmerij. Ko stremimo k uspešnosti poslovnega sistema, moramo upoštevati tudi dejstvo, da je človek ključni dejavnik vseh aktivnosti. Tako človek načrtuje organizacijski sistem, ga postavi in je tudi njegov izvajalec. Postavi cilje, za njihovo dosego opredeli politiko, strategijo in razdela taktiko - konkretne naloge. Na izvajalskem nivoju pa se kot realizator aktivnosti, naravnanih k dosegu opredeljenih ciljev, zopet pojavi človek. Zelo pomembna se nam pri tem zdi navedba (Florjančič, J. in Florjančič, M., 1999, str. 206), da zaposleni niso nekaj statičnega, saj se njihovo znanje neprekinjeno spreminja in dopolnjuje kot posledica delovanja tehnološkega razvoja in sprememb v družbi. Delovanje človeka v organizaciji je odvisno od njegove motiviranosti. S svojim delovanjem želi človek zadovoljiti svoje potrebe. Vsaka aktivnost je tako inicirana z nekim motivom, ki dejansko predstavlja vzrok za določeno dejanje oziroma ravnanje. Motiv lahko enačimo tudi z nagibom oziroma s spodbudo za aktivnost. Pod motivacijo razumemo torej vse tisto, kar človeka vzpodbudi k neki aktivnosti, oziroma vse tisto, kar odreja smer, intenzivnost in trajanje neke aktivnosti. Pri tem je smer aktivnosti opredeljena s cilji in potrebami, ki jih človek želi realizirati, intenzivnost motivacije pa se v glavnem manifestira kot sposobnost premagovanja ovir in kot vztrajanje pri odločitvi za izvedbo določene aktivnosti. Motivacija je torej tisti motor, ki pogojuje realizacijo aktivnosti in dosego uspešnosti oziroma organizacijskega razvoja. Tudi ko si poskušamo predstaviti v inženirski praksi pogostokrat uporabljen Ishikawa diagram (diagram vzrok-posledica oz. ribja kost diagram), ki nakazuje interakcijo med osebjem, materiali, stroji, metodami in okoljem, lahko ugotovimo, da je najpomembnejši zagotovo človek, ki pa na prvi pogled predstavlja le enega od petih vzročnih faktorjev. Toda če pogledamo malo širše, vidimo, da je za opazovani proces človek izbral tudi stroj, material, opredelil metodo dela, delovne pogoje in nenavsezadnje tudi usposobil delavca za kakovostno obvladovanje procesa. Ponovno je očitno, da smo ljudje kreatorji in realizatorji procesov, pri čemer se nam zdi pomembno poudariti trditev (Winter in Taylor, 2001, str. 29), da struktura procesov ni posledica dosedanjih sprememb v tehnologiji, temveč je tehnologija posledica socialnih, ekonomskih, političnih in kulturnih aspektov organizacijskih sprememb. S to navedbo želimo poudariti vzročno-posledično odvisnost posameznih fenomenov in vlogo človeka akterja oziroma opazovalca. Pri obravnavi vidika motiviranja (Florjančič, J., in Novak, V., 2002, str. 109) je poudarjeno, da je glavni cilj motiviranja v spodbujanju sodelavcev k različnemu razmišljanju in njihovemu prispevanju k ustvarjanju večje konkurenčnosti. To različnost razmišljanja lahko pojmujemo tudi kot ustvarjalnost, ki vodi do inovativnosti. Potrebno pa je tudi poudariti (Donaldson, 2001, str. 58), da je inovativnost sodelavcev potrebna že zaradi samega odzivanja in sledenja tehnološkim spremembam in spremembam na trgu. Menimo, da brez inovativnosti ne moremo pričakovati prehoda iz prve v drugo razsežnost obvladovanja sprememb, saj nismo sposobni dosegati izboljšanja reprodukcije oziroma razvoja posameznika ali organizacije. Pri tem je pomembno tudi zavedanje (Lipičnik, 2001, str. 13) potrebe po preusmeritvi od znanja k učenju, torej k izobraževanju, ki bo ljudi naučilo pristopa k učenju, reševanja problemov in združevanja starega z novim, saj znanje v novem smislu ne pomeni kopičenja podatkov, temveč postaja zmožnost kombiniranja podatkov v novo spoznanje ali rešitev. Podobno trdi tudi Haddad (2002, str. 117), ki navaja, da moramo s stimuliranjem radovednosti in bodrenjem analitičnega razmišljanja ter reševanja problemov v organizacijah vzpodbujati klimo organizacijskega učenja. Kritičen faktor uspešnega obvladovanja sprememb je prepoznan ravno v razvoju močne sposobnosti učenja (Burke in Trahant, 2000, str. 118), ki ga v organizacijskih sistemih lahko dosežemo le z vključevanjem celotnega osebja v izobraževalne programe, zastavljene v doseganje organizacijskih usmeritev in strategij. S takim pristopom sodelavce vzgajamo v učinkovite »usmerjevalce sprememb«, pri čemer se moramo zavedati tudi dejstva, da dolgoročne uspešnosti organizacije in obvladovanja sprememb ni mogoče doseči brez kakovostnega usmerjanja ustvarjalnosti procesnih timov. Pri tem moramo (Wheelan, 1999, str. 14) pri sodelavcih poleg razvoja tehničnih znanj zagotoviti razvoj tudi njihovih sposobnosti za učinkovito sodelovanje v skupinah. Te njihove nove kompetence pa morajo povečevati verjetnost, da bodo skupine postale učinkoviti timi. Sklepne misli Celotna razmišljanja o managementu človeških virov so v članku oblikovna na izhodiščni predpostavki, da ko govorimo o uspešnosti organizacijskega sistema, govorimo o njegovi kakovosti, in da le-te ni možno doseči brez stalnega organizacijskega razvoja in celostnega osrediščenja na usmerjanje ustvarjalnih zmogljivosti zaposlenih. Pri proučevanju managementa človeških virov v kontekstu obvladovanja sprememb prepoznavamo odločilen pomen in moč domišljije, ustvarjalnosti in samoaktualizacije človeka kot posameznika. Vsak posameznik nastopa v vlogi izvajalca in opazovalca ter si tako nenehno v iterativnem procesu uresničevanja lastne identitete s sproščanjem svojih ustvarjalnih zmogljivosti kot odziv na impulze iz okolja obnavlja in nadgrajuje sebi lasten proces spoznavanja oziroma življenja. Naše sklepne ugotovitve so: • Nenehno obvladovanje sprememb in z njo tudi izboljševanje uspešnosti organizacije lahko dosegamo le s kakovostnim usmerjanjem človekovih ustvarjalnih zmogljivosti ter s tem priznavanjem Human Resources Managementa (HRM) kot enega najpomembnejših ključnih procesov. • Odločilno pomembnost pripisujemo pomenu organizacijske kulture, ki mora omogočati tako komuniciranje, ki bo dajalo toliko motivacijskega naboja, da bosta inovativnost in ustvarjalnost sestavni del vsakega opravila. • S konceptom modela trirazsežnostnega pojmovanja obvladovanja sprememb (samoobnova - samorazvoj - stanje duha) ugotavljamo, da je za uspešno obvladovanje organizacijskih sprememb ključna internalizacija paradigme samoaktualizacije, ki predstavlja tretjo razsežnost in vzvod za izboljšanje prvih dveh. • Z zagotavljanjem visoke stopnje medsebojnega zaupanja in svobode dosegamo uspešnejše obvladovanje sprememb v organizaciji. • Kakovostno obvladovanje organizacijskih sprememb dosegamo z vključevanjem in pooblaščanjem vseh zaposlenih. • Pristopi na področju nagrajevanja, priznavanja in skrbi za zaposlene morajo temeljiti na vrednotah organizacijske kulture in upoštevanju pomembnosti uspešnega obvladovanja sprememb. 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(2001): The Role of Information Technology in the Transformation of Work: Acompariso of Post-Industrial, Industrial, and Proto- Industrial Organization, Information Tehnology and Organizational Transformation. Uredila: Yates, J. & Maanen, J.V. London: Založba Sage Publications Inc E-Government challenges in Romania 1 Catalin Vrabie Abstract This article attempts to present the main challenges of e-government in a reforming country as Romania and the related barriers which comes when trying to implement it. E-government is not a tool limited to richer countries, even if some of the most innovative uses of the Internet in governance are appearing in the developing world. I will examine here the reasons for citizens to still pay tribute to the old traditional methods of service delivery instead of these new electronic ways like e-Tax, e- Vote, e-Market, e-Procurement, etc. Existing studies of e-government concentrate on the supply-side by focusing on the availability and level of sophistication of online services and usage. But there may be also a problem of citizens acceptance, of citizens level of knowledge when comes to ITC, focusing in the evolution of ITC in Romania and how this may affect the absorption of the new electronic services delivered to citizens by the government. Keywords: barriers, education, trust, failure Professor Assistant at Faculty of Public Administration and National School of Political Studies and Public Administration Introduction In Romania only 30% of population have internet access (this is almost 80% of the urban areas population, which is like 22 million people in total), here there is a very reduce computer endowment, so, knowing those facts we ask ourselves if the ambitious e-Government programs have a real chances to be implemented and to be a success at the end of all. Of course that computer endowment and internet access may grow very quickly, this fact is a matter of resource allocation. If we look at the data presented at the Statistical Yearbook 2007 we may see that from the year 2003 the IT sector in Romania has increased annually by more than 20% and it is still growing (in 2007, probably because of Romanian integration in the EU, the growth was by 25%). But even if the population is not so connected, 74% of the Romanian companies have internet access and make use of it (In May 2009 there were 1.320.604 companies registered at the National Trade Register Office). There are no official statistics about the situation now, in the year 2009, but some specialists say that before the year 2010 more than 90% of the Romanian companies will have Internet connection. Knowing those data and making use of the ITC resources in order to develop e-Gov platforms depends by the education level and also by changing mentalities. The e-Government applications may have a very important act in changing mentalities, an efficient and transparent e- Procurement will raise the population trust in internet applications and the will to use it. A system for paying taxes and contributions, easy to use, will convince many companies and even citizens to use those new technologies instead of loosing time and energy sitting in line at a city hall office. Professor Vasile Baltac, President Elect of CEPIS (Council of European Professional Informatics Societies), Dragos Dinca, General Director of Romanian National Institute of Administration. Another way of making those new technologies to be more close to citizens is to invest in their ICT educations. The ECDL Foundation (European Computer Driving Licence) have some programs designed to help citizens for equalize their skills in computer usage (one of the programs is called, not by chance, equalskills) and to reduce as much as possible the digital divide (probably the term of digital divide is to extreme and a more appropriate word is gap) between various layers within our society: rich vs. poor, young vs. old, normal vs. disabled, etc. Theoretical framework "Public organizations are social unities (or human groups) made for realization of specific objectives"3 and, according to Romanian legislation those social entities are financed by public money. Public service is "the activity which a public employee is obliged to make in the interest of those that are governed" or "a general interest activity, made by a private person with the prerogatives of public power, under the administration control".4 Having those concepts we may ask if there is any link between them. And the answer is yes, the public service is the reason for public organization to exist and for that, the electronic governance comes to help citizens (the public services beneficiaries) to get in touch with it. As discussed by Ignace Snellen, e-government at the informative level provides basic information about government operations and services. 3 Rosenbloom D. H. in Lucica Matei, Management Public, Editura Economica, Bucharest, 2006 4 Parlagi, A. in Ani Matei, Economie Publica, Editura Economica, Bucharest, 2003 Beyond this basic level, government can seek higher levels of e- government by allowing citizens to interact and communicate with government, conduct online transactions with government, and gain access to other aligned websites of public and even private nature. E- government is defined as "... the use of information and communications technologies (ICT) to transform government by making it more accessible, effective and accountable (...) the benefits from it may be a low level of corruption, transparency, more comfort and reducing costs"5 in order to "transform the processes of the Public Administration as a whole and of its interaction with people; this process, through information and communication technologies (ICTs), aims at optimizing the provision of services, at increasing participation by citizens and enterprises." (Snellen 2005). The issue of e-government implementation phases is rather interesting debated in the relevant literature. The United Nations E-Government Readiness Knowledge Base6 have defined accordingly five phases, namely Emerging Presence, Enhanced presence, Interactive presence, Transactional presence, Networked presence, while Professor Vasile Baltac7 applying the latter to the Romanian case speaks of only four Information, Interaction, Processing, Web transactions, giving however the specific nature of the implementation of e-government in Romania the first two in the United Nations article was implemented together and the last two from the professor and also from UN web page are complex enough for not being implemented yet. So for the purpose of this paper I will assume only three phases. As such, I will argue on the following stages of the e-government implementation: one is the most simple and common use at the every level and this is information. This first phase, is 5The e-government handbook for developing countries, World Bank-Center for Democracy and Technology, November 2002. 6 http://www2.unpan.org/egovkb/egovernment_overview/webmeasure.htm#web 7 Vasile Baltac, Course notes, 2008 (unpublished) for departments and agencies which are using the World Wide Web for posting information's on behalf of external users. The second one, interaction, allows a bidirectional communication, users may upload and update information's (like changing postal address) by different methods (the most use is by dropping an e-mail to the responsible person inside the agency). Processing is much more complex and requires more responsibility from the public institutions. Here the users may change values using a web site (like paying a tax for example) - in almost any cases it is needed a third part to guarantee the security of transaction. We may say that Romania has successfully passed the first two phases of e-Government with a big success in implementing the second one, the possibility to download forms necessary in interaction with public authorities, forms that needs to be completed, printed and send it (at least at the present stage of e-Government development) by classical methods using postal services or handed personally to the public servant (rarely the citizens may use the e-mail systems). Much more rarely is used the third phase, completing the forms on-line and making other transactions, like paying a tax for public authorities, also on-line. The population trust is, and will always be a barrier in implementing e-government platforms. The number of frauds presented by the mass-media (even if there are not so many and not that big as they present it) induces somehow the fear to use the on-line methods for paying taxes. I will come later on this article with explanations on this topic. Since I've mentioned the word barrier I'll explain it a little bit. In this case a barrier is something immaterial that obstructs or impedes the implementation of e-Government, practically it prevents progress. Either we accept those new technologies or not, it is becoming clearly that this is the future, so the only things that is come in discussions is the cost of it, the cost of shifting. As long as we fight against, we spend more money for doing it, so why not accepting and fight against these barriers? According to the European Commission the e-Government barriers are characteristics - either real or perceived - of legal, social, technological or institutional context which work against developing e-Government, either: because they impede demand, by acting as a is incentive or obstacle for users to engage with e-Government services; or because they impede supply, by acting as a disincentive or obstacle for public sector organizations to provide e-Government services.8 The number of those barriers varies by the region, the mentalities and the state culture. If we speak about European Countries practically every study made, comes with other number or other barrier9. Following an extensive review of existing e-Government research - including the legal foundations to e-Government - and analysis of the results of the online survey Braking Barriers to eGovernment - Overcoming Obstacles to Improving European Public Services, there are seven main categories of barriers that can block or constrain e- Government progress. Leadership failures. This can be translated by an inadequate leadership during any of those three stages mentioned earlier. Financial inhibitors. It is all about the costs of implementing and developing e-Government; an inappropriate cost/benefit analysis can "Braking Barriers to eGovernment - Overcoming Obstacles to Improving European Public Services" on-line survey made by European Commission in 2007 "Barriers and benefits in the adoption of e-government" David Gilbert and Pierre Balestrini University of Surrey, Guildford, UK, 2004 constrain or block the investment. Digital divides and choices. Inequalities in skills and access to ICTs can limit and fragment take-up of e-Government. Poor coordination. Lack of coordination and harmonization between strategies can put a brake on establishing appropriate e-Government networks and services. Workplace and organizational inflexibility. The mentalities are tributary to the old practices to the more bureaucratic methods of administration, also the average age of the public servants make those new techniques very hard to be accepted. This is like a mammoth organization which has to deal very quickly to a complete new business environment. Lack of trust. Heightened fears about inadequate security and privacy safeguards in electronic networks and a general distrust of government can undermine confidence and take up of e-Government. Poor technical design. Interoperability issues and difficult-to-use interfaces of some e-Government platforms exemplify this kind of barrier. Every one of it has their specific factors which contribute to the failure of the e-Government implementation or adoption. In this article I will present the most important barriers and the related factors in case of Romania, so I will not be able to develop a very large study that includes all of these barriers mentioned before and of course that I will try to find solution for breaking the barriers that I found to be most imported for implementing e-Government in my country. Romania study case The last phase that I mentioned before as being the most complex in e- Government implementation, Processing, actually reduce the public organization at the dimensions of a computer (when comes to citizen interaction) and is the one in which the citizen does not interact physically with the organization, everything from completing a form, paying a bill and also to receive the public service (receiving a new identity card, or a construction approval, etc.) is made without the need of paper, without the citizen obligation to sit in line at the office building for hours. This phase in Romania is just a pilot program, the only web portal which has as a unique purpose bringing together citizens and companies on one hand and public administration on the another hand is the portal e-guvernare.ro10. This is marking the beginning of "digital reform", a very big plan of Romanian Government which has as a mission to promote transparency, to make administration more efficient by reducing costs and bureaucracy, to assure accessibility to information and public services not depending by time and place, and to prevent and fight against corruption using electronically ways. In the table 1, I will show the maturity level of public services in Romania according to IDABC (scale 1 to 5)11. 10 http://www.e-guvernare.ro/ 11 eGovernment in Romania. IDABC eGovernment Observatory. European Communities September 2006. Table 1: Maturity levels of on-line services in Romania Public services major categories Maturity level Public services for citizens Tax payment 3 e-jobs 2 Social services help: unemployment, social assurance, 1, 1, 2, 1 medical assurance, scholarships ID's: passports, driving license cards 1, 3 Car enrolment 2 Construction approvals 1 Police complains 1 Public library access (on-line libraries) 1 Birth certificates 1 University enrolment 3 Residence changing notification 1 Health care services 1 Public services for business Social assurance payment 3 Tax payment 3 VTA payment 3 New company registration 1 Data delivery (for statistics) 2 Custom services 3 Environmental approvals 1 Public acquisition 4 Source: IDABC e-Government Observatory. European Communities September 2006 When we see this dataset we ask our self "why there are so many "1"?" The answer is also written above and it resides in the barriers that are staying against a good implementation of e-Government in Romania. First barrier and the most important one (from those described in this article) is Workplace and organizational inflexibility. And why is that? Because, and here I will also touch another barrier - Digital divides and choices, the lack of IT knowledge and education. In Romania, according to the National Institute of Statistics12 - Statistical yearbook 2007 in the 2006/2007 university year there were 780.925 pupils enrolled in high schools and 785.506 students enrolled in higher education programs (the difference is coming from the fact that some students are enrolled in more then one university program). In every high school and university here is at least one course related to IT&C. So knowing those facts, we may hope that the implementation of e-government will be a success very soon. The question that is rising just after is "what about the elder population?" public servant or not, most of them are not familiar in working with computers. I will focus first on the IT&C education problems of the public servant. Romania at the end of 2006 has a total number of 183.000 civil employees in the field of Public administration and defense (source: National Institute of Statistics - Statistical yearbook 2007) and in the same year there were enrolled 41.139 students in political and administrative sciences, which means that in approximately 5 years the new generations are able to replace the oldest one. Of course this is not possible by a number of reasons that are not the subject of this paper, so I will not enter in to this, but just for having an idea, one of the reasons and probably the most important one is the age which of course is strictly related to the experience at the workplace. In Romania, according the same National Institute of Statistics 65.5 % of civil servant employees have more then 35 years (half of them more then 45 years). Seeing these data it is easy to understand the reality here. In 2001 the Romanian Government provided a new set of regulations by the Government Decision no. 1007/200113 where was mentioned that every civil servant must have computer competencies according to the 12 http://www.insse.ro/cms/rw/pages/index.en.do 13 Published in: OFFICIAL JOURNAL no. 705 from November 6 year 2001 ECDL syllabus. Lack of motivation of the PA employees with more than 40 years old, contributes to the difficulty of e-Government implementation. They have worked a lot for passing the exams, but they don't see the opportunities that a computer opens to them, they are still paying tribute to the old and bureaucratic methods. Very few of them are able to pass those mental barriers and to start using computers at the level needed for a good e-Gov implementation. What I was talking about is changing mentalities which are, of course, related to the age and education, of course not only the IT&C education. For a good e-Government implementation the basics of IT must be known by everybody, public servant or no. In Romania ECDL Foundation have the same educational programs as in the rest of Europe, starting with equalskills (the basics in computers and internet learned in a fun and informal way - practically designed to reduce the digital divide) up to more advanced programs (CAD, Web starter, ECDL Advanced - dedicated to those who want to learn more advanced task and to deal with more extensive functionality). ECDL / ICDL is a test of practical skills and competencies and consists of seven separate modules covering computer theory and practice. To achieve an ECDL / ICDL certification, the Candidate must successfully pass a test in all seven modules. ECDL / ICDL Module 1 is a theoretical test of computing knowledge at a general level and modules 2-7 are practical skills tests, as follows: Table 2: ECDL Modules Module 1 - Concepts of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Module 2 - Using the Computer and Managing Files Module 3 - Word Processing Module 4 - Spreadsheets Module 5 - Using Databases Module 6 - Presentation Module 7 - Web Browsing and Communication Source: ECDL Foundation web site I present in the chart below, the evolution of people who engaged on ECDL courses or at list attempting to pass one test modules in Romania, starting with the year 2002 (this is done by achieving a skills card from one of the authorized training and examination center - and here I must say that NSPSPA is the first accredited center in Romania, even before the existence of ECDL Romania and this was possible by the collaboration with the Danish foundation EUCNord - so we have quite a good experience in working with those programs). Chart 1: The evolution of people engaged on the ECDL programs. Dealing E-Government here Educations The data presented in the chart before refers to the total number of people engaged on ECDL courses, but effectively people that are completed the course and pass the exams are at the end of 2007 approximately 45.000, in 2008 another 17.000 have ended and from the beginning of 2009 till now another 3.000. From those 65.000 people certified as ECDL course graduate, only 4.310 are civil servant employees. This is not an accurate number, because many of them did not complete the course through their institutions, so they have not been included on statistics. Anyway it seems that the real number is at least triple14 from the number presented. The rest of them are students, enrolled especially at public administration university programs, or other programs related to PA, like political sciences or administrative low15 - and we may call them "the next civil servants". After graduating they will definitely work somewhere, in the public or private sector, and just by saying that it is obviously that they will use the electronic features that right now we are just talking about. Nowadays in Romanian schools, computer skills are starting to be developed since the first class, there are computer laboratories in which the pupils have classes once or twice a week (not enough, but still), they practice their computer skills from the basics (using games to improve their dexterity - at the earlier ages) up to computer programming (in colleges). This is a very important step, not late from now every pupil in college (at least) will have his own laptop, as they have now their own mobile phone. Even so there still are enough problems that need to be 14 According to the discussions made with officials from Romanian National Institute of Administration. 15 According to the statistics made by ECDL Center from NSPSPA. solved: most colleges do not plan for 1:1 computing; many have policies that prohibit or deter laptop use in the classroom; most colleges are not equipped to support campus-wide use of technology; most faculties do not require a minimum level of ICT skills; few faculties' members are willing to record their lectures; plagiarism is a real and increasing problem and liability; and one of the most annoying thing is that there is a gap between students and the faculty that teach them when comes to computer usage. But resolving this is just a matter of time and we may say that we've found a way to deal the e- revolution on the youngest population, born after 1990, but what about the older population that doesn't have time or energy to start learning computer usage? This is the real challenge. In Romania there are many distance learning institutions focused on e- learning which come with learning programs dedicated for the civil servant, and especially for those who are already employees. If we speak only about the costs, these are 50% less then in case of classical programs16 so being more affordable and easier for the civil servants to attend will increase the level of education in the field of ICT (and not only) even for those employees who didn't have the luck to work with computers from the beginning. I am presenting below a matrix named Computer Skills for Information Problem-Solving: Learning and Teaching Technology in Context17 which was developed in 1996 by Michael B. Eisenberg and Doug Johnson, from Syracuse University in New York have after the set of aptitudes Big6 in 16 Dragos Dinca, General Director of Romanian National Institute of Administration; speech about the civil servant education on the opening of Center of Advanced Studies on Electronic Services eCAESAR in Romania [on-line: http://www.e-caesar.ro! Eisenberg, Michael B. & Doug Johnson. Computer Skills for Information Problem- Solving: Learning and Teaching Technology in Context. ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Technology. 1996. [online] http://www.big6.com/what-is-the-big6/ which is included the set of competencies in working with computer needed for the Information Society. Table 3: Computer Skills for Information Problem-Solving Stages Competencies Task Definition Define the information problem Identify information needed Information Seeking Strategies The public servant must know how to use e-mails, blogs and groups over the internet and how to use efficiently e-documents applications inside the organization network. Determine all possible sources Select the best sources Location and Access The public servant must know which is the hardware solutions for collecting and keeping data like hard drives or CD-ROMs, as long as software solutions, on line or off line data bases, and of course how to work with it. Locate sources (intellectually and physically) Find information within sources Use of Information The public servant must know how to search and find information in the organization network along with other databases outside the network, in which he has access, and to relate information that he find to the references. Engage (e.g., read, hear, view, touch) Extract relevant information Synthesis The public servant must know to download, read, print burn CDs, to use word processors and spreadsheets, to analyze and filter the information that he needs for the task that he must complete. Organize from multiple sources Present the information Evaluation They must organize and distribute the results of their work. This is done by using tables, charts, presentations and web pages. Judge the product (effectiveness) Judge the process (efficiency) They must be able to auto evaluate their work along with evaluating others work. This is done by understanding and acceptance of netiquette when posting information on the web or sending them by email, to use the spelling and also to pay attention to the final form. Source: the Big6 web portal online at http://www.big6.com/what-is-the-big6/ Mentalities Knowing this, we must answer to the question "How to implement quickly and efficient e-Government in Romania?" During the first semester of the university year 2008/2009 I have collected data from ECDL course participants enrolled at that time in our centre, a total number of 166 persons. It was amazing to find that even if the respondents are very experienced in working with computers and also very young (90% of them less then 25 years old - being students at the Faculty of Public Administration), they don't use the e-Government platforms already implemented (many of them don't even know the features inside of a governmental web portal). Every one of them have used at list one time the facilities for finding a place on the city map using the interactive maps from the municipality web site. Only 23 of them (14%) have send an e-mail to the authorities trying to solve or report a problem (the public entities to witch they have send e-mails was the National Authority for Consumers Rights and the Police Department). None of them have ever tried to pay a tax by using the electronic money (using an ATM machine or the Internet). When they were asked about the web portals implemented in Romania: 64% accessed at least one time the e-guvernare.ro web portal, 42% the e-licitatie.ro web portal and 26% autorizatiiauto.ro web portal. None of them have used the feature inside the portal because the reason for accessing was strictly didactic (related to the questions that they should answer later on school). Anyway, we may find that as a good answer, because the students from today are the employees from tomorrow (either on public or private institutions) and they will know about the existence of those web portals. They have also assimilated much knowledge about ICT and have developed enough skills for a good implementation of e-Government in Romania. * * * Bureaucracy is the word that shows us the Romanian method of making administration in nowadays. This concept represent practically the organization way of administrating resources on a high scale using specialized stuff placed into hierarchical structure, with attributions, responsibilities and procedures strictly defined. About bureaucracy it is said that it is as old as civilization is (a good motive for passing to a new efficient system). The rigid, bureaucratic, hierarchical way that public administration was dominated in the XX century is changing with a new more flexible form, also known as public management (H.E. Owen, 2003). This change it is not a simple change of management, but a change in governance, in society and a new kind of relation between government and citizen. Because of the average age in the area of public administration it is very difficult to shift from a system that used to work some years ago to another one that have just the premises to work, but nobody "known" tested it yet. Every one of my students have agreed with the idea that e-government will reduce bureaucracy, of course that it is true, we didn't need another study to say that, but the funny thing about that is that few of them are using the facilities on the web sites that actually reduce bureaucracy. Even if the municipalities (but not only the public institution - it is the same with private companies) have posted documents ready to be downloaded and completed just 38% of my students have actually use this, the rest preferred to complete the forms by hand at the office. So nowadays in Romania, not bureaucracy is the main problem for an ineffective implementation of e-Government, but mentalities. Those mentalities must be changed starting from school, college and the faculties. But here we find, as I've all ready mentioned before, the gap between students and the faculty that teach them. Excluding the IT teachers, not to many from the university teaching staff use computers for anything else, except research, which is good, but not enough. They don't even see the possibility to use it on other purpose. Of course that, this will reflect on the students attitude in dealing with public authorities. Chart 2. Brief summary to the answers at the ECDL course participants survey. 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 166 90% 100% 14% 0% 64% 42% 26% 100% 38% *8> A / / A® J* ®