Human Resource Management And Administrative Structures In Albania - Research Paper Example

Human Resource Management And Administrative Structures In Albania Abstract This paper is a case study of Albania, a country in Southeastern Europe. The country has been undergoing a transition from a communist economic system to a capitalist one since the early 1990s. This transition has led to great reforms in its institutional framework. A number of its institutions have undergone a lot of restructuring in light of these new developments. This paper examines how Human Resource Management can be part of this transition process. It tries to investigate how Human Resource Management can still be efficient and effective amid the great restructuring. It highlights the challenges faced by the managers in Albania and indeed other countries undergoing a transition from a communist state to a capitalist one. Introduction The Republic of Albania or simply Albania is a country located in South Eastern part of the European continent. The country shares its border with a number of other countries such as Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Greece. Albania also owns a coast on both the Ionian Sea and the Adriatic Sea. Albania is about 72 kilometers from Italy. Albania is a member of various organizations such as the Mediterranean Union, world Trade Organization, Council of Europe, USCE and the United Nations. It is also set to join NATO and the European Union. The country is expected to join NATO in April 2009 on its 60th birthday. Albania has provided troops as well as support for peacekeeping and security missions in Chad, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Human Resource Management and administrative structures in Albania The Albanian governments, together with the international community have been in serious consideration of urgently reforming the country’s institutional governance since 1992. Albania is among the few countries in Europe undergoing a transition that have consented to a new Civil Service Law aimed at implementing civil service reforms (INSTAT, 2002). The country plans to downsize its civil service and review the functions of ministries. In the year 2000, the government further reduced the number of employees in its civil service. Albania’s new constitution led to the creation of a Supreme Audit Institution, which is an independent body charged with the responsibility of improving efficiency and accountability in the country’s financial management system. This is a very good law for a country in transition such as Albania (INSTAT, 2002). It must therefore be implemented in full and enforcement measures put in place to ensure to ensure its full implementation. This will go a long way in ensuring that public administration and institutions serve the citizens and respond to their needs for them to feel and observe the changes in the country’s new governance system. Public Administration reforms in Albania must ensure that the public engages the government as it endeavors to implement the new reforms. The key principles to ensure accountability in government in the course of the reform process are civil society involvement, transparency and support on tangible results (INSTAT and World Bank, 2006). The process of setting up governance and institutional capacities naturally takes long, and will therefore continue for many years. During the period, the government has put in place the necessary actions aimed at creating a base for constant improvement of governance. This has enabled the approval of the constitution, accelerated creation of government institutions and reform in the public service. The building of institutions and strengthening of governance is a laudable step, in view of the fact that it requires a lot of hard work. It is a good step despite the many challenges facing public institutions such as limited human resource abilities, limited financial abilities general weaknesses of public institutions (Sultana, 2006). The Albanian is min the process of evaluating the role of the state. This entails the evaluation of the natural responsibilities of the state which include provision of the necessary services to citizens, policy making, implementation, supervision and putting in place the necessary legal framework. The government is also in the process of evaluating the various sectors and sub-sectors of the economy keeping in mind the transition (INSTAT, 2002). It therefore needs to identity the type of institutional arrangements that will help it to complete the responsibilities in accordance with the economic and social conditions of Albania. Some of the relevant decisions in Albania’s case are the inclusion of the private sector in the transition process and privatizing some services (INSTAT, 2002). Political, social and economic background Albania signed the SAA agreement with the European Union in June 2006. This document gives a mutual agreement structure on trade, economic and political issues while at the same time encouraging regional corporation. The agreement also indicates that cooperation will continue in order to raise the level of training, vocational education and general education in Albania (Castel-Branco and Huitfeld, 2006). It will also help in enhancing social inclusion and employment policy. According to this agreement, Albania will work hand in hand with the European Union to ensure that its citizens access all levels of training and education without any discrimination in terms of religion, ethnic origin, race, or gender. The community instruments and programs will greatly help to upgrade training and educational structures as well as quality improvement measures (UNICEF, 2009). In July 2006, in order to be in full compliance with the SAA expectations, the Albanian government revised and adopted the National Action Plan. As an aspiring member of the European Union, the country has already started to use funds from the European Union’s IPA program. The IPA program is a European Union initiative that assists countries that wish to join it. Human Resource Development will be one of the beneficiaries of IPA assistance to Albania in order to address a number of issues (ETF, 2008). This assistance will help Albania to advance its vocational training and education system in order to develop the society and the economy (Castel-Branco and Huitfeld, 2006). It will also help in the creation of a link between the labor market and the education system (ETF, 2006). Additionally, it will help in the improvement of the country’s public employment service, in order to make it relevant to Albania’s context (MoLSAEO, 2007). Moreover, it will help in the creation of appropriate measure with regard to the labor market to curb the rising cases of unemployment (ETF, 2006). The Albanian government has developed a national strategy aimed at developing and integrating its economy. This strategy has involved all the stakeholders including the various actors and interest groups (SIDA, 2008). The adoption of an integrated approach to social and economic development in Albania and the country’s prospects of joining the EU have increased the need of strengthening its Human Resource Development (SEDA, 2005). Challenges and issues in Human Resource Management in Albania To address the challenges of the human resource development in Albania, the country has abandoned the demand-based policy approach and instead adopted supply-driven policy measures. This has led to a situation whereby there is a serious shortage of skilled employees and at the same time a huge number of unemployed young people who have the necessary education and skills that are not utilized in the existing demand situation (Agenda Institute, 2007). Albania faces numerous challenges with regard to its human resource management. The country’s education system focuses on the learning of inputs (World Bank, 2006). Moreover, its teaching and learning process is greatly influenced by the same philosophy. This is despite the fact that the philosophy hinders the growth of logical learning path. Numerous steps aimed at developing a Qualification Framework for Albania reflecting European Qualification Framework requirements have been taken. However, these steps face numerous challenges, particularly with regard to course selection flexibility and limited choice of curriculum. Moreover, the education system excessively focuses on facts and content, thereby encouraging a teacher centered model (World Bank, 2006). This kind of model does little to motivate learners and help in the development of analytical skills, generic competencies. It also fails to motivate the learners to become actively involved in the learning process. In general, teachers view their work as teaching and not the facilitation of the learning process of the students. Consequently, the learners do little to develop their critical thinking skills, problem solving skills and initiative. Opportunities to engage the learners’ interest in the improvement of their key skills and competencies are, in most cases, lost. This is mainly due to limited access to quality education, differences in reputation and quality in the current education institutions, and rigidity in progressing from one qualification level to another (World Bank, 2006). In spite of substantial efforts having been made to improve certain aspects vocational training and education, their reputation continues to be low from a qualitative and social view point (Castel-Branco and Huitfeld, 2006. Very few people, both youngsters and adults, involve themselves with this essential part of human resource development (Agenda Institute, 2007). The existing Albanian vocational training and education system is very weak, both qualitatively and quantitatively (World Bank, 2006). Generally, there are setbacks such as lack of appropriate infrastructure, outdated training methods, lack of policy to link vocational education with the life-long learning concept (Castel-Branco and Huitfeld, 2006). This makes it very difficult for the employees to adapt to new knowledge and skill requirements with the evolvement of technology and the economy. Encouraging employment has proved to be a very complex challenge for governments since the creation of jobs is essentially a phenomenon that involves numerous sectors (MoLSAEO, 2007). It involves mutually supporting policies in numerous areas. The business environment needs to be favorable and the macroeconomic policies sound in order to attain the economic growth necessary for employment creation (World Bank, 2007). There also needs to be an effective framework for social protection and a sound education policy to allow for an adaptable and skilled labor supply (ETF, 2006). In the course of the transition, Albania must design and implement a number of structural changes and interrelated initiatives, which will give support to government and encourage employment. In that regard, there is urgent need for adult learning in Albania in order to attain these goals. Albania’s demand for adult education is as a result of the need to train and retrain these adults to enable them cope with the increasingly changing work environment (OECD, 2005). This is normally described with regard to such factors as job characteristics, employment status, educational attainment, gender, and age. Good knowledge of adult learning patterns is very vital to policy development in the future in this area (OECD, 2005). As Albania goes through a transition, the big question becomes whether or not the country should develop its human resource development sector to match its labor market and economy needs. The country should however keep in mind that proliferation of degrees and diplomas by itself does not improve the productivity of employees or the economy’s competitiveness. It is also not a warranty to a competitive edge on a long term basis for the economy. The attainment of education and level of skills only have a slight correlation. Additionally, high skills seem to have a very minor effect on growth although a high portion of people who have low skills tends to have a great contribution towards growth retardation. In effect, low skills have been known to inhibit innovation and technological advancement rates (European Union, 2008). Albania needs to adopt a policy focusing on those who have the lowest skills since they tend hold back economic development (HDPC, 2007). Additionally, people tend to lose their skills with time. This is mainly due to organizational, technological and societal changes. However, the rate at which it is taking place is so high that it offsets the general rise in the quality of education over the years. There is likelihood that this situation would have been a lot worse if the quality of education in Albania had not risen. Formal education, at whatever level, is not enough for life (Castel-Branco and Huitfeld, 2006). This seems to be the greatest human resource development concern in Albania. It is important for Albania to continuously redevelop its human resource development policies to ensure the supply of skills and knowledge necessary in coping with the labor market’s unpredictable future. Human resource development strategies Albania must adopt a number of strategies in order to better prepare itself for labor force shifts. First and foremost, Albania must help in the development of individual personalities to allow learners fit into the society (OECD, 2007). All training and education levels have different roles in the system of education although they may be interdependent. Their approach to developing fundamental competencies correspondingly varies. Whereas the initial stages of any education system should focus on motivating the learners. They should also focus on the development of the skills necessary for the advancement of the learning process as well as other vital competencies. The later stages of the learning process must narrow down their focus to specific competencies and skills of field or discipline. However, skill needs are rapidly changing as a result of global competition, knowledge and organization development and technological advancement. Consequently, the learning-to-learn competencies as well as other fundamental skills are increasingly becoming important in vocational education and training, and also in higher education (European Union, 2008). This will call for a double direction of the leaning and teaching practices and the curriculum any time the focus of human resource development strategies is aimed at the individual learners. First and foremost, the curriculum of vocational education needs to be generalized (Castel-Branco and Huitfeld, 2006). It should strengthen the secondary vocational education component in order to provide the necessary knowledge in sciences and humanities. This will go a long way in preparing the learners to work in a variety of occupations. It will also teach them how to solve various problems and encourage them to enter the cycle of learning at numerous life stages. Furthermore, Albania needs to ‘vocationalise’ its curriculum of general education, especially at higher education and post-secondary education levels (Hatakenaka and Thompson, 2006). It also needs to provide the learners with the skills and knowledge in order to deal with the school to work transition more easily. It is important that Albania ensures that its vocational education does not serve as a dead end (Castel-Branco and Huitfeld, 2006). This is a very important human resource development policy for a country undergoing a transition such as Albania. The country must allow high-performing learners during secondary vocational education to carry on to higher education (Hatakenaka and Thompson, 2006). This will go a long way in ensuring that prospective students do not view vocational stream as the last resort (Castel-Branco and Huitfeld, 2006). The policy of life-long learning places high value on learning in all the settings. Consequently, it must make sure that there is a broad base of skills and a well-functioning market for training. Vocational Education and Training, VET, forms an essential part of the process (Castel-Branco and Huitfeld, 2006). As a result it also forms an integral part lifelong learning strategies in the nation. It is built on the deep-rooted systems of basic education, and occurs in all training systems and education levels. The challenges with regard to policy in Albania are two-fold. Firstly, these policies must engage the young people in higher education or vocational education training. This will ensure that they acquire the appropriate skills necessary to meet the requirements of the labor market (Agenda Institute, 2007). Secondly, these policies must also serve the people who are already in the workplace. This can be done by offering opportunities to develop their careers even further (Sultana, 2005). Vocational education and training systems, as an integral part of a flexible educational path, must more than ever before provide progression to further training and education hence increase the esteem parity between the two; that is the VET streams and general education streams. Any esteem parity between these two will go a long way in providing for an improved social cohesion in the Albanian society (OECD, 2007). Moreover, this must help in the improvement of quality, especially in vocational education and training. Developing a complete system of adult learning for Albania is very urgent. Adult learning should be aimed at promoting social inclusion and employment (MoLSAEO, 2007). There is no dispute about the economic and social importance of encouraging adults to take up continuous learning all through their lives of work (Myers and Broucker, 2006). This is because individuals with better education are capable of earning higher wages, undergo less unemployment, and have higher growth in earnings over their lifetime. Countries with high levels of education experience higher living standards and higher economic growth in the long run (World Bank, 2007). However, more often than not, lifelong education means that the already highly educated individuals get even more training and education. This is similar to the case of the rich people getting even richer. According to new evidence, raising literacy skills and adult learning are two factors capable of improving the economic well-being of people who have low initial skills and education (Myers and Broucker, 2006). Diffusion of learning throughout the workforce members who have little or no education greatly enhances national prosperity (Myers and Broucker, 2006). This should be a very good approach for a country in transition such as Albania. All adults in Albania must therefore have opportunities of maintaining, enhancing, or transforming their skills. They should also be in a position to information about opportunities of learning. Moreover, counseling should be made available for everyone, whether unemployed job-seekers or the employed. Conclusion Albania is undergoing a transition from a communist economic system to a capitalist economic system since the early 1990s. This has made it necessary for the restructuring of its institutional framework, among other necessary reforms. A number of public service institutions have resorted to down-sizing in order to improve their performance. Albania has also had to change its approach to human resource development in view of this transition. It has had to change many of its human resource management and development practices. Human resource training is one of the areas that have called for urgent attention. 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