The management of a regional customs directorate is analyzed. A new approach of the managerial system, in the European integration context, is presented.The customs system is one of the first “doors” to a new economic, social and cultural community. ForPerformance management, strategic management, human resource management

CABA STEFAN

CAUS VASILE-AUREL

English

Research Papers in Economics

131 
REGIONAL CUSTOMS DIRECTORATES MANAGEMENT 
 
Caba  tefan 
National Customs Authority Cluj Regional Directorate for Excise and Customs Operations 
Cău  Vasile-Aurel 
University  of  Oradea  Faculty  of  Science  Department  of  Informatics  and  Mathematics 
vcaus@uoradea.ro 
 
The management of a regional customs directorate is analyzed. A new approach of the managerial system, 
in the European integration context, is presented. 
The customs system is one of the first “doors” to a new economic, social and cultural community. For that, 
the system must be adapted to European demands in a fast and efficient manner. Obviously, the methods 
used in management have to be improved. The role of customs system has dramatically changed and, 
consequently, the coordination of all activities have to change also. 
 
Keywords: Performance management, strategic management, human resource management 
 
Jel Classification: M12, M54 
 
1. Introduction 
The adhesion of Romania to the European Union represents a fact with major implications for 
every citizen. The importance of this fact is, however, differently dimension at personal level. 
Depending on the possibilities, responsibilities and aspirations of each one of us, the adhesion 
process and the adhesion itself has been looked upon showing more or less interest. Like every 
major process, the implications it withholds are of a nature able to bring structural and strategic 
modifications at all levels. 
As of 2007, we are literally part of a cultural, economic and social universe, which includes 
differences compared to what we have meant as a country to that moment. The efforts made in 
the pre-adhesion process, as well as those made during the adhesion phase, represent a challenge 
which cannot be easily faced. To problems automatically generated by the necessity of adaptation 
to new requirements adds the inertia of a new system that, year after year, has been marked by 
the sickness of individuality built on non-loyal competition and on structures of relations which 
very seldom have had bounds to professionalism. These are premises which, among other facts, 
complicate  the  alignment  of  Romanian  public  institutions  to  the  standards  present  in  most 
European countries. 
The European Union is not purposed as a structure which has as a main purpose helping countries 
stranded behind development. It is conceived as an inter-state community, in which each country 
must bring its contribution to assuring an economic-social stability, also maintaining of cultural, 
ethnical  and  confession  diversity.  All  this  must  be  achieved  by  obeying  rules,  which,  for 
Romania, as a new member, means supplemental efforts. Perhaps the biggest problem is one of 
mentality, and the rational system of a nation cannot be changed during a short period of time. 
Therefore, the overlap of a complex gearing, mostly new, over an almost historical mentality, is 
probably the most difficult aspect of integration.  
Begun long ago, the process of reforming public institutions as a part of adhesion efforts has been 
and is marked by the political handprint of decisional forums. One of the first institutions which 
have taken important steps toward the accommodation with the European vision was the National 
Authority  of  Customs  (under  its  diverse  names  and  organizational  structures).  Romania  is 
presently a part of the border of the European Union, therefore the customs system must satisfy, 
at the highest level, the exigencies imposed. With an important role in protecting the European 
market and also the national market, this system must reach the level where it can fulfill the tasks 
it is faced with, these being not a few or unimportant. 132 
The structures of the National Customs Authority contribute, directly or by cooperation with 
other institutions, to the actions of pursuit and collecting of a category of taxes and debts to the 
national budget, as well as to the prevention and eradication of some contravention phenomena, 
and so forth. It will not be insisted here on the actions which require the implication of customs 
entities, but it is obliged to underline some of the aspects which have been modified along with 
the adhesion of Romania to the European Union.  
The statute of border of the European Union imposes to Romania a reorientation regarding the 
accent posed on different border points. If until 2007, the border points at the western border 
have mostly represented the central points regarding human and material placements, along with 
the attainment of the quality of member of the Union, the accent is transposed to the northern, 
eastern and southwestern borders. Thus, most of the restructuring actions regard the above stated 
regions.  The  regional  excise  and  customs  operations  directorates  have  been  forced  to  adopt 
strategies correlated with the national geographical positions in which they are placed. On one 
hand, some regional directorates have been forced to pay special attention to customs traffic of 
entrance in the European Union: on the other hand, other regional  directorates had to adopt 
measures to assure the fluidity of traffic inside the Union. These are, obviously, just a part of the 
tasks to be accomplished at the level of the structures placed under the authority of the National 
Customs Authority.  
References will be hereafter made to some aspects of the activity of a regional directorate of 
excises  and  customs  operations,  and  we  will  present  some  points  of  view  regarding  the 
management of these entities. Because management is an extensive notion, we will stop upon 
performance management, as part of that of human resources. 
 
2. The management of performance at the level of regional directorates for excises and 
customs operations and subordinated structures 
The  statute  of  member  of  the  European  Union  has  determined,  at  the  level  of  the  National 
Customs Authority, the adoption of some strategic policies which are to reflect the modifications 
imposed  by  the  new  status.  It  must  be  underlined  that,  given  the  nature  of  the  service,  the 
personnel involved in this structure is undertaking some specific pressure, temptation and risk. 
Furthermore,  professional  performance,  honesty  and  equity  must  be  appreciated,  as  they  are 
elements which assure the functionality of the system, and are under careful observation by the 
competent national and European forums. 
The notion of performance management is one frequently used in current language, but which 
has different meanings in the concept of each one of us. We see ourselves obliged to specify the 
meaning  we  give  to  this  notion,  in  the  present  study.  We  will  look  upon  performance 
management as a part and parcel of the management strategy of human resources, a transpose of 
department strategies to performance objectives, practical and realistic.  
Generally, the purpose of performance management is to monitor, reiterate and reregister the 
performance of staff, in order to allow access to promotion, to help the planning process and to 
contribute  to  the  improvement  of  the  management  process.  A  quality  management  of 
performance is a condition of a successful strategic management. It can therefore be stated that 
performance management is the most important function of human resource management, as it 
allows  the  establishment  of  a  connection  between  individual  purposes  and  institutional 
objectives. 
An efficient performance management must allow the quantification of personal achievements in 
an unbiased manner. Such a system must be built with the purpose of providing an unbiased and 
correct analysis from those competent and, at the same time, to encourage constructive feedback 
from those evaluated. 
Several components of the system are identified as follows:  
  - Performance planning. 
  - A competence-based approach. 133 
  - Forming the evaluation collective. 
  - Providing a permanent feedback. 
Performance planning implies the adoption of measures which are to assure an evaluation as 
correct  as  can  be.  Therefore,  there  is  imposed  the  establishment  of  performance  objectives, 
adapted to the purposes attributed to each post. It must thus be analyzed whether the employee is 
able to fulfill the tasks attributed, and afterwards the way he/she has fulfilled them. 
The approach based on competences implies firstly the separation of basic competences from 
functional  ones.  The  purpose  of  this  approach  is,  on  one  hand,  that  of  establishing  the 
competences required for occupying a certain position, and, on the other hand, that of analyzing 
the means by which the tasks have been accomplished, for instance the time necessary for the 
fulfillment of certain tasks, the quality of their fulfillment etc. These are quantifiable elements, 
which can contribute to the hierarchy of those evaluated. In other words, the stress is placed not 
on that which is done, but on how it is done. We can thus compare activities which differ in 
content, and it is contributed to the identification of common quantification elements. 
The evaluation collective is to be formed out of high  moral profile, with superior authority, 
hierarchical and professional position to those evaluated, in order to avoid, among others, the 
creation  of  an  atmosphere  which  can  bring  doubt  upon  the  competence  and morality  of  the 
evaluators. 
The assurance of feedback is crucial in performance management. The customs system is in a 
continuous  and  dynamic  change,  both  because  of  modifications  generated  by  the  process  of 
European integration, and because of the diversification of the tasks attributed to it. This is why 
performance standards undergo faster changes than other domains. To apply the same standards 
on a long term means to deviate from specific realities of each post. It thus becomes impossible 
to maintain pace with the dynamic of the employees’ actions without being in constant contact 
with them. The feedback function must be assured the more it is indicated that the functions of 
performance evaluation not be accomplished by personnel immediately superior to that being 
evaluated. 
The application of performance management at the level of units subordinate to the National 
Customs  Authority  implies  extent  knowledge  of  the  system,  of  specific  activities  and  of 
employee psychology. The entire system has confronted and confronts the lack of trust from the 
population  regarding  the  integrity  of  employed  personnel.  An  exhaustive  research  on  this 
phenomenon has not been conducted, and the image created is more the result of public exposal 
that that of a reality. Any institution with broad visibility is undergoing criticism on a larger 
scale. It is actually a reality which the employees of the customs system and not only them alone, 
must accept. Furthermore, individual performance which is not the subject of publicity must be 
pointed out and recompensed in different ways within the system. Some specific elements are 
thus identified for each component of performance management in the customs system. In the 
present study, we have looked upon the case  Regional directorates and subordinate entities, 
because at this level there meet in a greater measure basic components as well as functional 
components of competence. 
Regarding performance planning, the specific objectives of these entities must be enumerated. 
Not all of them will be presented, but some of them will be noted: 
  - Pursuing and collecting of customs taxes 
  - Pursuing and collecting excises 
  - Oversight of product producing firms subject to excising 
  - The assurance of customs control for import products 
  -  The  assurance  of  fluidization  of  customs  traffic,  for  wares  originating  from  the 
  European Union, as well as for those originating from outside the E.U. 
  - The cooperation with the institutions implicated in the supervising and  diminishment 
of forbidden product traffic 
  - The supervising of product transit and hazardous waste etc. 134 
For  each  of  these  activities,  as  well  as  for  each  of  those  not  enumerated,  it  is  imposed  the 
establishment of performance indexes, to measure not necessarily the quantity, but the way in 
which each employee conducts his/her activity. A conclusive example of this approach is that 
that a higher level of penalties applied as a result of discovering of illegal activities does not 
necessarily mean a more efficient activity. On the contrary, a more reduced level can mean a 
better efficiency of the actions of preventing. Another example: a customs agent who does not 
register confiscation of wares can be corrupt, or, on the contrary, extremely fair, and therefore 
avoided by potential felons. In other fields, the hierarchy of performance can be simpler: for 
example,  the  productive  fields,  where,  in  most  cases,  performance  is  measured  by  directly 
observing quantity and quality of the products realized by each employee. Therefore, an efficient 
management of a performance management system differs from one field to another, and is far 
more complex in the customs system. 
The establishment of competence is another element of elevated complexity. A customs agent 
must possess, even if only intuitively, knowledge regarding psychology and human behavior. 
These are already elements which can make the difference: those who cannot fulfill their job 
tasks, those who fulfill them consequentially, and those born for the job they have chosen. 
Furthermore, as a consequence to the complexity and diversity of activities which can be tasks of 
customs agents, the members of evaluation teams must rather be perfectly acquainted to the 
system than to the personnel to be performance-analyzed. The idea stated earlier is withheld, 
according to which these evaluations must be made by personnel who is not immediately superior 
to that evaluated. 
In conclusion, it can be stated that a strategic management at the level of the National Customs 
Authority  cannot  be  successful  without  the  adoption  of  a  performance  management  system 
applied at the level of subordinate entities, system for which it is compulsory to adapt to specific 
factors.  Such  a  system  also  creates  the  premises  to  access  to  promotions  attributed  to  each 
employee, the position corresponding to the training, participation and er individual performance. 
 
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REGIONAL CUSTOMS DIRECTORATES MANAGEMENT

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REGIONAL CUSTOMS DIRECTORATES MANAGEMENT

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