Support for Effective Management of a Public Administration Institution through Management System Standards

The implementation of modern quality management approaches, such as ISO standards, CAF and others, has clear potential to contribute to improved results through enhancing the quality of services provided by public administration. A correctly understood and well-implemented management system helps an organization focus on the effective fulfilment of stakeholder requirements, which in the case of public administration organizations primarily means an orientation towards achieving positive results in the management of the entrusted area, effective management of their activities and economical use of resources.

The ISO 9000 series of standards and CAF represent the most widely used systematic approaches to quality through a set of recommendations formulated in the form of requirements, guidelines or the identification of areas to be reviewed through self-assessment. Quality requirements in management system standards represent those areas of organizational management on which it is necessary to focus when striving to prevent problems and to manage quality-related difficulties. Guides and guidelines offer good practice that can be applied in meeting quality requirements.

The Slovak Office of Standards, Metrology and Testing has prepared an expert study entitled Support for Effective Management of a Public Administration Institution through Management System Standards, the aim of which is to determine the level of maturity of implemented management systems in public administration organizations and to demonstrate whether their implementation can contribute within public administration institutions to:

• building trust that public affairs are managed in a transparent manner and effectively directed towards achieving objectives that meet the needs/requirements/expectations in the administered area,
• responsible behaviour of the management of public administration organizations, requiring accountability for their decisions and the subsequent impacts on the administered area,
• prioritising a preventive approach (problem prevention) in management over established operational practices,
• improving the quality of services provided by public administration,
• meeting the requirements of stakeholders.