Tadeusz Buchacz, director of the Umbrella project, talks to Agnieszka Domańska.

The program for implementing ISO 9000 quality management systems in public administration has been carried out under the Umbrella project since 1998. Are public institutions in Poland interested in this system?

The program is designed particularly for public administration at a local-government and central level. But several years' practice shows that quality management concepts are more quickly and easily adopted by local-government administration. Some 50 local-government bodies such as commune, county or city administrations, have already applied ISO 9000 systems and, having obtained the proper certificates, have been successfully functioning on this basis for several years. We estimate that another 30 bodies are in the process of implementing the system. In addition to this, three province administration offices have adopted ISO 9000 standards. One of these, Świętokrzyskie province administration has already obtained the certificate and the other two, Małopolska and Lower Silesia, are in the process of introducing the system. As regards central level administration, the Polish Agency for Foreign Investment (PAIZ) and the National Fund for Rehabilitation of the Disabled (PFRON) have gained the ISO 9000 standard. The Ministry of Justice was the first ministry in Poland to meet the challenge. The fact that more and more public administration entities are showing interest in the ISO system and standards, which a few years ago were associated exclusively with industry and business activities, proves that our efforts have resulted in success. There are more and more administrating officers who can appreciate the advantages of applying the system. They infect others with their enthusiasm and the whole operation gains momentum.

You mentioned the system's advantages and the satisfaction of offices which have received the certificate. But how does an ordinary citizen, a potential client of public institutions, benefit?

Everybody needs quality management systems. The basic objective of introducing ISO standards is to reorient public administration bodies towards their clients. Administration officers are visibly changing their attitude, switching from thinking the "officer is a machine for tending to business" to "how can the applicant be served in the best way possible?" Officers are coming to believe that their efforts are designed to meet the needs of the individual. This doesn't mean that all requests should be complied with but that the procedure for tending to a client's business has to be transparent.

A person coming to an officer should be precisely informed what to expect and what are the subsequent steps in the procedure for their specific case, what documents they should supply and who will make the decision. Information on these standards should be commonly accessible so that it can be easily found on the Internet, in a leaflet, or a poster put up in an office.

There is a widespread belief in Poland that public administration is based on a stagnant structure, resistant to change. It seems therefore that for most officers these new work methods will signify a revolution. Was there strong resistance to the changes on the part of administration workers in the offices which have obtained ISO certificates?

Perhaps there has been some resistance. There are 3,000 administration offices and only some have introduced the system. However, our experience shows, contrary to what's generally believed, that there are many people in public administration who are willing to go forward. Only they should be given a chance. Starting such new mechanisms of work and organization, showing people that things can be done in a different way, releases great energy in workers, although implementation of quality management systems takes a lot of work. Surprisingly, people who used to say they were overworked and had no time, perform with real commitment. They're not additionally rewarded for this work and frequently stay late despite not being paid overtime. This is because officers themselves see how they can benefit from ISO standards.

How do they actually benefit from all this?

You must remember that ISO standards, apart from additional duties for a civil servant, mean that their work becomes easier. Defective, irrational procedures sometimes pass unnoticed in the traditional way of thinking and working. The ISO has systematic measures to combat these defects. This involves another fundamental ISO standard, the so-called process approach. This means viewing work organization in a horizontal alignment rather than as a hierarchy of individual levels. Viewing things from this perspective, we can acquire information on what can be eliminated, simplified and rationalized, even with regard to very basic matters. In this system, procedures are analyzed by civil servants themselves and it's they who think how to improve work using certain instruments about which we, the consultants, can inform them.

What is the consultant's role in the Umbrella project?

Our role is most important at the beginning, when civil servants have to be convinced that the whole operation is designed to make their work easier and clients more satisfied. We're more like teachers, instructors, advisers or helpers. Together with office workers, we look at the institution's structure and see what can be improved.

The Ministry of Justice was the first to apply the system at a ministerial level. Why has the ministry resolved to meet this challenge?

Credit for taking the decision on applying ISO 9000 in public administration, which is not easy, particularly as regards central offices, must go to the visionary heads of such offices. This was the case when we were applying the system to the PFRON and the PAIZ.
The ultimate decision of the ministry executive was preceded by a discussion involving heads of all departments and the assessment of the ministry using the Common Assessment Framework model, widely used in the EU.

How will the ISO be implemented in such a highly developed organization?

The process will take place within two stages. For a few months it has been carried out within two departments: the Court and Economic Monitor Publishing Office and the National Court Registers and Computerization Center. These two departments were selected because they involve services for the public. The former issues official bulletins used all over the country. The latter is responsible for introducing information technology in the ministry. A good program of measures designed to introduce ISO 9000 in this department seems to be of particular importance. Thanks to the quality management system, information technology will be more efficiently introduced to the whole ministry and, as a consequence, the judiciary system will be more efficient and individual clients seeking justice more satisfied. Another advantage is that the system will ensure an efficient channel of information from these two departments. Every alarming signal will be immediately used to improve the quality of services in other departments. An answer of the whole ministry to the question "are we satisfied with the work of Court and Economic Monitor Publishing Office and National Court Registers and Computerization Center?" can help assess the system's efficiency and the ISO's role. If we're not, it's obvious that alterations are needed at one point or another. This is how quality is created. Besides, it's impossible to unnaturally isolate individual departments from the whole ministry structure; therefore, when the pilot program is being introduced in two ministerial units, conditions have to be created at the "points of contact" for introducing the system throughout the ministry. Further application of ISO standards to the whole organization will depend on its success in the first two departments, although the ultimate decision on the scope of applying the ISO lies in the minister of justice's hands.

In its several reports on Poland, the EU is critical of our administration. Could the introduction of ISO standards change this opinion?

Introducing the quality management system is certainly a step in the right direction. The EU is aware of the fact that such systems make administration more efficient, although they aren't a remedy for every problem. This is why they're widely applied in EU countries, from all kinds of offices to the police, border guards, education centers, hospitals etc. In this sense, our activities are compatible with this general trend. The Umbrella project has played an important role in promoting such systems. We realize that the number of similar systems operating in administration is hardly impressive. But there's a distinct tendency toward promoting them. We know that the ISO's success in the Ministry of Justice will set an example for other central offices.