Danijel Koletić : Where is the transparency hidden?

When politicians start listening more to people and so do directors, there will be more efficiency and transparency.

We are witnessing a global transformation and numerous challenges in the organization of working time. The pandemic has changed the way we do business and we are entering one of the key periods that needs to answer many questions, the first of which is whether we put people ahead of technology.

There are a number of models that will need to be considered in order to change work organizations and performance structures. Everyone is talking about digital transformation, new technologies, the growing number of applications, solutions that solve the speed of certain processes and control. However, we forget about differences, and even more about possibilities. The pandemic has put us all on online platforms, and millions don’t even have internet within the European Union, let alone within Southeast Europe. How efficient we really are in the processes of our work and how aware we are of our efficiency also depends on many factors. However, the key factors are skills, knowledge and love for the work we do.

Demographic transformation is happening on a grand scale. There are a lot of questions and changes that await us in this area as well. We must be prepared, especially those of us living in Southeast Europe, for an increasing number of foreign nationals, and thus the demographic picture will change. If we add up the overall statistics according to the available data of the tax administrations, for which the demographic picture in Southeast Europe in the last 10 years is very important, 10 million people emigrated abroad. In Serbia, more than 1.5 million people send money to their families every month through various platforms. All these processes are connected by the keyword transparency. Every transparency starts with communication.

Corruption as a global virus has reached its peak without consequences and it has become a global standard, I would dare say since the beginning of humanity. But we must not globalize things because not everyone is corrupt. Corruption stems from the value process but that is another matter. We are witnessing numerous global, national, regional cases that ultimately remain just stories on portals or newspaper articles that warn and reveal certain non-transparency, including recent non-transparency, for example in the Republic of Croatia in allocating funds from the Ministry of Culture, but this is not the only example. Who will answer, no one? Paper suffers everything, so different decisions and changes in the internal system will find a modality and solution to please yourself and find ways to earn more.

Everyone is talking about patriotism and it is sacred. However, patriotism, according to me, is measured by a key category, and that is the care of the state, read the politician, the political system for the elderly and infirm. By this you can assess not only the transparency of a nation but also the culture but also the care of people for people. It is not a matter of law; it is a matter of the national identity of consciousness that you have or do not have. If they wanted to be transparent and efficient, which unfortunately will never happen in public administration in the Balkans. A law would be passed which would have procedures that would enable employees in public administration to be fired, and thus not only a certain number of them are not interested in transparent communication, but they are not interested in the function of public service in the service of citizens.

Unfortunately, always a small number of people ruin the perception and reputation of a larger number of people, so in public administration there are many people who create good, working for the benefit of the community. Whether we really want to be transparent and whether we are in an era when transparency is desirable is one of the key issues behind another key word, and that is trust. The public sometimes does not understand the positive aspects and effects of public administration, and for that it is the fault of the public administration itself. If we analyze the communication systems of public administration, we would come to devastating data, that in the 21st century, there are no systems or departments in some cities that conduct communication practices on a daily basis, and as I said without it there is no transparency.

None of us can solve the challenges of corruption and the challenges of transparency but we can try to change the concepts of new legal norms in the public sector. Is it and how to communicate after a pandemic, what is it that can connect us without putting people ahead of technology? Definitely the possibility that employees depend on the sector in which they work or get in the system of companies the opportunity not only to form different decisions but to talk to professionals who would find out what makes them happy in the workplace and how they see efficiency.

New trends are going in the direction of the chief happiness officer, it sounds a bit strange and challenging, but it is definitely a long-term solution. However, unable to take on the role that a chief happiness officer can play, his task should be to talk to employees which makes employees happy in order to try to meet their demands which ultimately has higher productivity, if the goal is to put people ahead of technology.