A Decision-making Model for Public Management. The Existence of a Policy Framework for Performance in Romania

Abstract

Abstract This article aims to assess the public management reform in Romania against a set of management measures that set a framework for performance in public administration. The article is looking at the bulk of reforms that were implemented in the last years and analyses the progress based against a theoretical framework made of four key elements: strategic planning – managerial planning – public policy analysis – transparency and quality of services. In its theoretical section, the article reviews the literature on performance management by highlighting its main characteristic. The case study reviews the state of affairs in Romanian public management reform, aiming to offer the reader a picture of the reform process. It tries to test the hypothesis that, for the reform process to be successful, the Governments will have to adopt a full decision-making framework of strategic planning, managerial planning, transparency and quality, based on a very clear roles and responsibilities of the key actors in the process and considering the experience and administrative background of the Romanian public administration which is a legalistic administrative tradition. A conclusion is that a performance framework is not yet functional in Romania, due to the resistance of public administration to adopt key elements of the performance reform process, to the fact that the reforms so far were only partially implemented, and in correlation with a normative and legalistic administration with limited openness for adoption of new public management elements.