Measuring efficiency in the Croatian customs service: a data envelopment analysis approach

The concept of efficiency in the public services is more complex than the concept of efficiency in the private, profit-oriented sector. Consequently, the measurement of efficiency in the public services is very complex and implies more effort in the identification of relevant outputs and inputs. One of the segments of the public service system in the Republic of Croatia is the Customs Administration, which is an important regulator of Croatian international trade and freight traffic, and also a significant tax authority. This research is focused on determining the relative efficiency of regional organizational units of the Customs Administration on the basis of its most relevant inputs and outputs. Conclusions were made by the processing of data obtained directly from the Customs Administration by using the method of data envelopment analysis. The results obtained, in the end, indicate the need to establish new and different territorial organizational structure for the Customs Administration

Influence of business process transformation on the efficiency of the croatian customs service

Provedena znanstvena istraživanja upozorila su na visoke troškove ispunjavanja carinske obveze u Republici Hrvatskoj. Oni su, između ostalog, uzrokovani problemima vezanim uz carinsko osoblje te vrijeme trajanja carinskih postupaka. Kako je Carinska uprava bitan čimbenik u reguliranju odnosa u međunarodnoj trgovini i prometu robom između Republike Hrvatske i inozemstva, mora postići veću efikasnost koja će se ogledati u većoj brzini i pouzdanosti u provođenju postavljenih zadaća. Osim toga, pridruživanje Hrvatske Europskoj uniji imat će kao posljedicu pojavu konkurentskih uvjeta za hrvatsku carinsku službu za to što tvrtke iz država članica mogu birati mjesto gdje će provoditi carinske postupke, čime joj se postavljaju novi standardi poslovanja. Istraživanje organizacije hrvatske carinske službe rezultiralo je utvrđivanjem osnovnih nedostataka i kritičnih elemenata u njezinu radu. Predlaže se redefiniranje provođenja procesa osnivanjem procesnih timova prema izvršenju carinskog postupka kroz koordinaciju procesnih aktivnosti te primjenom centraliziranog sustava upravljanja rizicima. Time je moguće postići ekonomičniji način oblikovanja radnih procesa i skraćivanje vremena potrebnog za obavljanje carinskih postupaka.Scientific researches indicated high costs of customs compliance in Croatia, caused – among others – by problems connected with customs servants and duration of customs procedures. Customs Directorate presents an important factor in international trade and transit of goods between Croatia and foreign countries. It must achieve higher level of efficiency in a sense of faster and more reliable performances. Along with that, one of the consequences of accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union will be occurrence of competition, because companies from the European Union can choose place or country in which they will clear their goods. That will set up new standards of doing business. Researches of the Croatian customs service organization have emphasized basic lacks and critical elements of the existing business processes. Because of that, redefinition of such processes by forming process teams for executing clearance through coordination of process activities and by application of centralized system of risk management has been suggested in the paper. In that way it is possible to achieve more economy and faster customs clearances processes

Ocjena utjecaja redizajna poslovnih procesa na efikasnost hrvatske carinske službe : doktorska disertacija

Korjenite promjene u međunarodnom poretku i ekonomiji, nove znanstvene spoznaje i tehnološki razvoj te jačanje civilnog društva, bespovratno mijenjaju odnos društva prema državnoj upravi, a time i kriterije odgovornosti državne uprave. Dinamičniji uvjeti poslovanja i pritisci na javnu potrošnju pojačavaju osjetljivost državne uprave na postizanje efektivnosti i efikasnosti, uz trajnu opredjeljenost služenju javnom interesu i poštivanju dostignutih demokratskih normi. U takvim uvjetima, carinske službe, kao važni regulatorni čimbenici međunarodne trgovine i kretanja roba, dobivaju sve značajnije i složenije zadaće, koje su u određenim okolnostima čak i suprotstavljene jedna drugoj. S jedne strane, očekuje se olakšavanje i ubrzavanje vanjske trgovine i prometa, a s druge pouzdano prikupljanje javnih prihoda, kvalitetan nadzor nad međunarodnim distribucijskim lancima i djelotvorna zaštita gospodarstva i društva u cjelini. Tako definirane zadaće i recentni procesi u svjetskom gospodarskom sustavu zahtijevaju dodatnu elastičnost i prilagodljivost organizacijskih struktura carinskih službi, a kvalitetno planirane i implementirane organizacijske promjene postaju jedan od temeljnih čimbenika njihove dugoročne uspješnosti. Moguće rješenje za povećanje efikasnosti hrvatske carinske službe je transformacija birokratskog u nebirokratski model organizacije, a pogodan pristup u tome je procesno usmjeren pristup, za koji već postoje uspješna iskustva njegove primjene na međunarodnoj razini. Takvu, procesno orijentiranu organizaciju karakterizira fleksibilnija, horizontalna organizacijska struktura, nestajanje granica između različitih funkcija u organizaciji, jednostavnija komunikacija, okupljanje zaposlenih oko središnjih procesa i timski rad. Hrvatska carinska služba je već sada, zbog prilagođavanja europskom carinskom i trošarinskom sustavu te trendovima u međunarodnoj trgovini i robnom prometu, jedna od prvih upravnih organizacija u Republici Hrvatskoj koja je već provela značajne organizacijske promjene. Međutim, pored evidentnih poboljšanja na mnogim područjima, istraživanje je ukazalo na činjenicu da efikasnost nije povećana, već je ista smanjena, što znači da prilikom planiranje i provođenja promjena, nije posvećena dovoljna pažnja na optimizaciju odnosa rezultata poslovanja i korištenih resursa. Provedeno istraživanje ukazalo je na pojedina područja koja zahtijevaju značajna poboljšanja, odnosno na probleme koje je potrebno riješiti u cilju postizanja efikasnosti hrvatske carinske službe. U istraživanju je identificirana i definirana ''najbolja praksa'', koja predstavlja poželjan smjer kretanja u organizacijskim procesima u hrvatskoj carinskoj službi. Upravo iz tog razloga, umjesto optimizacije korištenja resursa i promjena u organizaciji, predloženo je usmjeravanje napora prema optimizaciji poslovnih procesa u cilju smanjivanja troškova, podizanja kvalitete i skraćivanja vremena izvedbe. U skladu s tim, predložen je reinženjering poslovnih procesa u hrvatskoj carinskoj službi i primjena novog, procesno orijentiranog modela organizacije, koji radikalno i temeljito mijenja dosadašnju praksu.Radical changes within the inernational relations and economy, a new scientifictechnological development and the strengthening of a civil society, have irretrievable changed relations between a society and a public service, as well as the responsibility criteria in a public sector. Dynamic business conditions and pressures on public spending increase the sensitivity of the public services to achieve effectiveness and efficiency, with a permanent commitment to serving the public interest and respect for democratic norms achieved. In such conditions, customs administrations, being a relevant regulatory operators in international trade and goods' movements, accept more important and complex tasks. To begin with, customs administrations are expected to facilitate and accelerate international trade and transport. Furthermore, they are expected to manage and control supply chains and protect the economy and society. Such tasks and the recent processes of the world business system demand additional elasticity and felxibility of the customs administrations organizational structures, whereas quality planned and implemented organizational changes become one of the basic factors in the long-term success. One of the possible solution for improving the Croatian customs services efficiency is by transforming the bureaucratic into a non-bureaucratic organizational model, and a proper approach is the process focused one, which is already successfully implemented on the international level. Such process oriented organization is characterized by more flexibile, horizontal organizational structure, the disappearance of boundaries between different functions in organization, simplified communication and a gathering of employees at central processes and teamwork. Due to harmonization to European customs and excise system and trends in international trade and transport, the Croatian customs service is now one of the first public administrative organization in Croatia which have implemented significant organizational changes. However, apart from the evident improvements in many fields, this research has shown that the efficiency is lower after implemented organizaional changes. This means that optimization of results-resources ratio hasn't been topic and motive related content during planning and implementing organizational changes within Croatian customs service. Research has shown some fields which need significant imoprovements, i.e. problems that need to be solved to reach Croatian customs service's efficiency. Besides, it has identified and defined ''the best practise'' for guiding its organizational processes. Therefore, instead of resources' optimization and organizational structure changes, it is suggested to focus on business processes' optimization with the purposes of reducing costs, improving quality and shortening the time of performance. Accordingly, business process reingeneering and process oriented organizational model implemetation have been recommended, together with radical and proper changes of a current routine in Croatian customs service

The Influence of Organizational Changes and Downsizing on Professionalism in Civil Service

Značajan broj istraživanja organizacijskih promjena i smanjenja (downsizing) upozorio je na njihove moguće negativne implikacije na zaposlene i na organizaciju u cijelosti. Pritom, organizacijama prijeti gubitak kreativnih potencijala i energije potrebnih za nastavak efikasnog djelovanja, dok zaposleni reagiraju na moguće šokove i stresove koji takve promjene prate. Međutim, ponekad su upravo takve promjene nužne, zbog čega su u ovom istraživanju prikazane odrednice organizacijskih promjena i smanjenja u državnoj upravi te su izdvojeni i opisani osnovni pristupi takvim promjenama. Istražen je primjer smanjenja u hrvatskoj praksi s aspekta organizacije koja ga provodi i njegov utjecaj na profesionalnost zaposlenih. Istraživanje pokazuje da je u analiziranom slučaju odabrani pristup downsizingu, prema kojem se zaposlenima osigurala mogućnost izbora, bez neposrednog utjecaja poslodavca na njihove odluke, rezultirao smanjenjem profesionalnosti zaposlenih, ali i ukazao na neka obilježja njihova ponašanja u uvjetima neizvjesnosti.Downsizing as a form of organisational change is applied in order to adapt the organisation to the changes in the environment that require reducing its scope and/or depth, redefining business/work processes, reducing costs, and reducing the number of employees. Such changes, although more frequent in the private sector, are also made in the public sector. There are several approaches to downsizing, differing in the level of employees’ involvement and employers’ decision making. Thus, on the one hand, there are approaches where the employer encourages the employees to leave the organisation, but does not influence on their decision when to leave it. On the other hand, there are approaches where the employer decides who and when will leave the organisation. Along with desirable results, like increased efficiency of the organisation, such processes may result in the loss of energy, talent, and organisational knowledge, as well as in diminished motivation, dedication, and loyalty of the organization’s employees. The research has dealt with the influence of downsizing on employees’ professionalism, which includes their efficiency, professional competences, work attitude, and adaptability to changes. Indicators of professionalism that have been used are grades obtained during performance measurement, education level, age, senior civil servants’ status, and employees’ disciplinary records. The research was conducted on the sample of 168 employees of Customs Service in Istarska County from 1 July 2012 to 1 July 2013, when the Customs Service conducted reorganisation with the purpose of Croatia’s adjustment to the European Union. One of the consequences was reduction in the number of employees, which created favourable research conditions. According to the analysed indicators, the level of professionalism has decreased after downsizing was conducted, which may be attributed to the application of free choice approach. Furthermore, it has been noted that, in precarious times, civil servants choose workplaces and organisations where they have a better chance of secure employment

Measuring efficiency in the Croatian customs service: a data envelopment analysis approach

The concept of efficiency in the public services is more complex than the concept of efficiency in the private, profit-oriented sector. Consequently, the measurement of efficiency in the public services is very complex and implies more effort in the identification of relevant outputs and inputs. One of the segments of the public service system in the Republic of Croatia is the Customs Administration, which is an important regulator of Croatian international trade and freight traffic, and also a significant tax authority. This research is focused on determining the relative efficiency of regional organizational units of the Customs Administration on the basis of its most relevant inputs and outputs. Conclusions were made by the processing of data obtained directly from the Customs Administration by using the method of data envelopment analysis. The results obtained, in the end, indicate the need to establish new and different territorial organizational structure for the Customs Administration

Ocjena utjecaja redizajna poslovnih procesa na efikasnost hrvatske carinske službe : doktorska disertacija

Korjenite promjene u međunarodnom poretku i ekonomiji, nove znanstvene spoznaje i tehnološki razvoj te jačanje civilnog društva, bespovratno mijenjaju odnos društva prema državnoj upravi, a time i kriterije odgovornosti državne uprave. Dinamičniji uvjeti poslovanja i pritisci na javnu potrošnju pojačavaju osjetljivost državne uprave na postizanje efektivnosti i efikasnosti, uz trajnu opredjeljenost služenju javnom interesu i poštivanju dostignutih demokratskih normi. U takvim uvjetima, carinske službe, kao važni regulatorni čimbenici međunarodne trgovine i kretanja roba, dobivaju sve značajnije i složenije zadaće, koje su u određenim okolnostima čak i suprotstavljene jedna drugoj. S jedne strane, očekuje se olakšavanje i ubrzavanje vanjske trgovine i prometa, a s druge pouzdano prikupljanje javnih prihoda, kvalitetan nadzor nad međunarodnim distribucijskim lancima i djelotvorna zaštita gospodarstva i društva u cjelini. Tako definirane zadaće i recentni procesi u svjetskom gospodarskom sustavu zahtijevaju dodatnu elastičnost i prilagodljivost organizacijskih struktura carinskih službi, a kvalitetno planirane i implementirane organizacijske promjene postaju jedan od temeljnih čimbenika njihove dugoročne uspješnosti. Moguće rješenje za povećanje efikasnosti hrvatske carinske službe je transformacija birokratskog u nebirokratski model organizacije, a pogodan pristup u tome je procesno usmjeren pristup, za koji već postoje uspješna iskustva njegove primjene na međunarodnoj razini. Takvu, procesno orijentiranu organizaciju karakterizira fleksibilnija, horizontalna organizacijska struktura, nestajanje granica između različitih funkcija u organizaciji, jednostavnija komunikacija, okupljanje zaposlenih oko središnjih procesa i timski rad. Hrvatska carinska služba je već sada, zbog prilagođavanja europskom carinskom i trošarinskom sustavu te trendovima u međunarodnoj trgovini i robnom prometu, jedna od prvih upravnih organizacija u Republici Hrvatskoj koja je već provela značajne organizacijske promjene. Međutim, pored evidentnih poboljšanja na mnogim područjima, istraživanje je ukazalo na činjenicu da efikasnost nije povećana, već je ista smanjena, što znači da prilikom planiranje i provođenja promjena, nije posvećena dovoljna pažnja na optimizaciju odnosa rezultata poslovanja i korištenih resursa. Provedeno istraživanje ukazalo je na pojedina područja koja zahtijevaju značajna poboljšanja, odnosno na probleme koje je potrebno riješiti u cilju postizanja efikasnosti hrvatske carinske službe. U istraživanju je identificirana i definirana ''najbolja praksa'', koja predstavlja poželjan smjer kretanja u organizacijskim procesima u hrvatskoj carinskoj službi. Upravo iz tog razloga, umjesto optimizacije korištenja resursa i promjena u organizaciji, predloženo je usmjeravanje napora prema optimizaciji poslovnih procesa u cilju smanjivanja troškova, podizanja kvalitete i skraćivanja vremena izvedbe. U skladu s tim, predložen je reinženjering poslovnih procesa u hrvatskoj carinskoj službi i primjena novog, procesno orijentiranog modela organizacije, koji radikalno i temeljito mijenja dosadašnju praksu.Radical changes within the inernational relations and economy, a new scientifictechnological development and the strengthening of a civil society, have irretrievable changed relations between a society and a public service, as well as the responsibility criteria in a public sector. Dynamic business conditions and pressures on public spending increase the sensitivity of the public services to achieve effectiveness and efficiency, with a permanent commitment to serving the public interest and respect for democratic norms achieved. In such conditions, customs administrations, being a relevant regulatory operators in international trade and goods' movements, accept more important and complex tasks. To begin with, customs administrations are expected to facilitate and accelerate international trade and transport. Furthermore, they are expected to manage and control supply chains and protect the economy and society. Such tasks and the recent processes of the world business system demand additional elasticity and felxibility of the customs administrations organizational structures, whereas quality planned and implemented organizational changes become one of the basic factors in the long-term success. One of the possible solution for improving the Croatian customs services efficiency is by transforming the bureaucratic into a non-bureaucratic organizational model, and a proper approach is the process focused one, which is already successfully implemented on the international level. Such process oriented organization is characterized by more flexibile, horizontal organizational structure, the disappearance of boundaries between different functions in organization, simplified communication and a gathering of employees at central processes and teamwork. Due to harmonization to European customs and excise system and trends in international trade and transport, the Croatian customs service is now one of the first public administrative organization in Croatia which have implemented significant organizational changes. However, apart from the evident improvements in many fields, this research has shown that the efficiency is lower after implemented organizaional changes. This means that optimization of results-resources ratio hasn't been topic and motive related content during planning and implementing organizational changes within Croatian customs service. Research has shown some fields which need significant imoprovements, i.e. problems that need to be solved to reach Croatian customs service's efficiency. Besides, it has identified and defined ''the best practise'' for guiding its organizational processes. Therefore, instead of resources' optimization and organizational structure changes, it is suggested to focus on business processes' optimization with the purposes of reducing costs, improving quality and shortening the time of performance. Accordingly, business process reingeneering and process oriented organizational model implemetation have been recommended, together with radical and proper changes of a current routine in Croatian customs service

The Influence of Organizational Changes and Downsizing on Professionalism in Civil Service

Značajan broj istraživanja organizacijskih promjena i smanjenja (downsizing) upozorio je na njihove moguće negativne implikacije na zaposlene i na organizaciju u cijelosti. Pritom, organizacijama prijeti gubitak kreativnih potencijala i energije potrebnih za nastavak efikasnog djelovanja, dok zaposleni reagiraju na moguće šokove i stresove koji takve promjene prate. Međutim, ponekad su upravo takve promjene nužne, zbog čega su u ovom istraživanju prikazane odrednice organizacijskih promjena i smanjenja u državnoj upravi te su izdvojeni i opisani osnovni pristupi takvim promjenama. Istražen je primjer smanjenja u hrvatskoj praksi s aspekta organizacije koja ga provodi i njegov utjecaj na profesionalnost zaposlenih. Istraživanje pokazuje da je u analiziranom slučaju odabrani pristup downsizingu, prema kojem se zaposlenima osigurala mogućnost izbora, bez neposrednog utjecaja poslodavca na njihove odluke, rezultirao smanjenjem profesionalnosti zaposlenih, ali i ukazao na neka obilježja njihova ponašanja u uvjetima neizvjesnosti.Downsizing as a form of organisational change is applied in order to adapt the organisation to the changes in the environment that require reducing its scope and/or depth, redefining business/work processes, reducing costs, and reducing the number of employees. Such changes, although more frequent in the private sector, are also made in the public sector. There are several approaches to downsizing, differing in the level of employees’ involvement and employers’ decision making. Thus, on the one hand, there are approaches where the employer encourages the employees to leave the organisation, but does not influence on their decision when to leave it. On the other hand, there are approaches where the employer decides who and when will leave the organisation. Along with desirable results, like increased efficiency of the organisation, such processes may result in the loss of energy, talent, and organisational knowledge, as well as in diminished motivation, dedication, and loyalty of the organization’s employees. The research has dealt with the influence of downsizing on employees’ professionalism, which includes their efficiency, professional competences, work attitude, and adaptability to changes. Indicators of professionalism that have been used are grades obtained during performance measurement, education level, age, senior civil servants’ status, and employees’ disciplinary records. The research was conducted on the sample of 168 employees of Customs Service in Istarska County from 1 July 2012 to 1 July 2013, when the Customs Service conducted reorganisation with the purpose of Croatia’s adjustment to the European Union. One of the consequences was reduction in the number of employees, which created favourable research conditions. According to the analysed indicators, the level of professionalism has decreased after downsizing was conducted, which may be attributed to the application of free choice approach. Furthermore, it has been noted that, in precarious times, civil servants choose workplaces and organisations where they have a better chance of secure employment

Perceived Effects of Croatian Customs Services Reform: the Opinion of Forwarders from Istarska County

The reforms of the public sector rank among the most complex problems Croatia has to face in the process of transition and accession to the EU. One of the recent reforms, the Customs Service Reform, offers insights into some of the achieved improvements and may serve as a guideline for reformers in other areas of public management. This research provides evidence of “customer satisfaction” with the functioning of the Croatian Customs System. Conclusions have been drawn based on the responses of 31 forwarders from Istarska County using a 19-item Likert scale. According to their opinion, services have improved in several aspects during the past few years, and accordingly the results can be interpreted as an indication of success of reform efforts

Vidljivi učinci reforme hrvatske carinske službe: mišljenja otpremnika iz Istarske županije

Reforme javnog sektora jedan su od najsloženijih problema s kojima se Hrvatska mora suočiti u svojoj tranziciji i pristupanju Europskoj uniji. Jedna od nedavno vođenih reformi, reforma carinske službe, daje uvid u određena postignuta unapređenja i može poslužiti kao vodič za one koji provode reforme na drugim područjima javnog sektora. Ovo istraživanje osigurava dokaze o “zadovoljstvu korisnika usluga” funkcioniranjem hrvatskoga carinskog sustava. Zaključci su doneseni na temelju odgovora 31 otpremnika iz Istarske županije o ukupno 19 pitanja, primjenom Likertove skale. Prema njihovu mišljenju, usluga se posljednjih nekoliko godina poboljšala u nekoliko aspekata, što se može interpretirati kao indikacija uspjeha reformskih napora