Challenges in recruitment procedures in the Georgian civil service.

• Author: Abashidze, Archil
• Position: Report

Georgia was one of the fifteen Soviet republics that began building their statehood anew after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Unlike other post-Soviet republics, Georgia lost more than a decade because of the civil war, ethnic conflicts, and tensions with its neighbours. Unable to launch reforms in the 1990s, Georgia stepped into the twenty-first century labelled as a "failing state" and claimed as an example of how small, poor countries are not able to survive without a strong protector. Accustomed to fraudulent elections and blatant corruption of the ruling elites, the population of Georgia led a hand-to-mouth existence without expecting the state to provide even basic services, such as protection from criminals, healthcare, gas and electricity supply (Schultz, Abashidze, 2007).

The turning point came with the winter of 2003 when, following the "Rose Revolution," (3) a group of young and ambitious politicians came to power and launched reforms that turned the dying country into the "top reformer." (4) Impressive success in several directions, such as law enforcement, education system, tax collection etc., gave Georgians and other people of the post-Soviet countries, plagued by corruption and inefficient administrations, the hope that a breakthrough was still possible.

Cleansing the state bureaucracy of corrupt networks and practices, the government instituted a flexible model of civil service with minimal procedures for skilled, mostly young people to enter the service, and wide opportunities to move and change positions within the system. This approach allowed moving necessary human resources from one institution to another, according to the needs of the reform process. The agenda of the "revolutionary government" was fast economic development at any stake, and this approach did bring quick results. Nevertheless, there was much criticism from the local and international non-governmental institutions, concerning the "draconic" labour code and negligence of the rights of the employed. (5)

After the war with Russia in August 2008, the reforms have seriously faltered. In 2012, the ruling party lost the elections, and a coalition of parties came into power. Criticizing and openly denying almost all the successes and achievements of the previous government, often observed in other post-Socialist countries as well (Gajdushek, 2015), the new government presented its own plan of reforms, including that the system of public administration. An ambitious part of the reform plan is the reform of the civil service with an aim of the creation of a career-based system, based on professionalism, integrity and transparency (see the Annual Report of the Georgian Civil Service Bureau 2013/2014).

Attracting people with the right preparation and values is probably the basic and very first goal of the public sector. Soft skills, education in the relevant field and "fitness of character," as Abraham Lincoln once put it, are criteria that open the doors of the civil service to the willing. However, the everyday reality of many post-Soviet republics is quite different, where networks and kinship are of much more importance.

'Transparency International--Georgia' closely monitored the recruitment policy of the Georgian Dream government during the first months in power. In its report, TI stated that "after the parliamentary elections in 2012, a total of at least 5,149 employees have been dismissed from public institutions (ministries and their subordinate legal entities of public law, municipalities, boards and councils), 2,330 (45%) of which have resigned by submitting their own application, which raises the question whether public employees did not voluntarily leave their positions. From 6,557 of newly hired/appointed public service employees, only 257 (4%) went through a competitive hiring process."

While numbers demonstrate that the new government did not conduct large-scale bureaucratic cleansing, the recruitment practice shows that, in most cases the government chooses to avoid the procedure of an open competition, which raises concerns about possible nepotisms and corruption in the civil service.

Three main approaches toward current human resources management in civil service are described in literature (Barabashev, Prokofiev, 2014):

1. Recruitment and promotions based on the principles of professional competences. The professional-competences approach is connected with development of functional understanding of competencies, professional standards, elaboration of competency-oriented training programs etc. Developing professional standards applicable for most positions in civil service makes this approach easy to implement. Though, in the post-Soviet countries, standards are usually not clearly defined, or non-existent.

2. Recruitment of personnel and staff on the basis of evaluation of their professional motivation and its relevance to the needs of organization. The benefits of attracting individuals with a high-level public service motivation are widely discussed over decades (Perry, Hondeghem, Wise, 2010). Professional motivation assessment involves evaluation of motivation regarding a particular position, as well as evaluation of the professional development potential. Oftentimes, missions of the organizations are employed now as a prospective to evaluate the motivation of individuals (Wright, 2007).

3. Recruitment of personnel and staff management on the basis of the principles "to be part of the team" (team membership, affiliation). Loyalty to the leaders and the team are more valued in this (personal-relations) approach, in comparison to qualification and motivation. This approach is said to be popular in civil service in the post-Soviet countries (Barabashev, Prokofiev, 2014).

   The purpose of this article is to examine the character of recent developments in the recruitment process of the Georgian civil service in light of the wave of dismissals after the 2012 parliamentary elections. By collecting and analysing the results of competitions for vacant positions conducted by the institutions of the central government of Georgia, our research aimed at studying the selection process and identifying preferred approaches at Georgian state institutions on the example of vacant positions soon after parliamentary elections and change of government in 2012. The aim was to answer several questions: Is there is a preferred approach in the human resource management in Georgian civil service? How transparent and fair are selection procedures for future civil servants? What are the characteristic weaknesses of the procedures, and what are their causes?

   In order to clarify the findings of the conducted survey, the article is structured as follows: Firstly, a short overview of the widespread characteristics inherited from the Soviet period illustrates the challenge faced by the state. Secondly, reforms implemented after the Rose revolution will be discussed, since most changes in the civil service system took place in that period. Thirdly, the current reform effort of the government will be briefly discussed in order to explain the context of the research questions. Finally, the article discusses results of the survey conducted.

   The Soviet legacy of a red tape bureaucracy

   Reforming the civil service has remained one of the hardest challenges of the Georgian independent republic since the downfall of the Soviet Union. Granting public employees freedom from political pressure and preparing a new generation of public servants turned out to be a task that none of the governments of the independent Georgian state could achieve. The Soviet legacy of corrupt and politically independent state bureaucracy is typical for all post-Soviet or even post-socialist states (Beblavy, 2002).

   The Soviet legacy is a considerable burden for civil service reform in the South Caucasus in general. Old habits and forms of communication are not consistent with democratic values. Several aspects of the Soviet civil service that are most apparent include the following: "Employees being responsive to political pressure and vulnerable as individuals"--a common characteristic for all Soviet republics, which is still widespread; "the bureaucracy as a whole has very little political accountability toward the people" overcoming this through bringing the public administration closer to the citizens, applying e-government tools and creating more transparency is still a reason for international donors and local NGOs to spend considerable time and financial resources; "public administration as a whole lacked the skills and information needed to participate in policymaking in a new world of market democracy"--a lack of skills and knowledge of the civil service remains a problem even after salaries were raised, which attracted more talented and better educated staff; "due to the state control of all organizations, a lack of public ethos as the distinction between civil service and other government employees was blurred"--considering civil service as a way of personal enrichment rather than "serving the country"--typical for non-democratic systems with patrimonial civil services, can still be observed in many post-Soviet republics (Beblavy, 2002).

   To add to this list, Georgia was considered to be one of the most corrupt republics of the Soviet Union (Karklins, 2005). The Caucasus's kinship networks were known to historians and ethnographers as the dominant social structure existent in the region well before the inclusion of the Transcaucasus into the Russian Empire. (Alyiev, 2014). These bonds were believed to be unbreakable, and have often been attributed to the "local culture," which cannot be changed by outside pressure. Therefore, the reform of civil service here implies, together with other components, a serious reshuffle of human resources. Hardly anything changed in Georgia during the 1990s. On the contrary, the...