Parliament has known for years about problems of poor management

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Internal investigations by the Finnish Parliament indicate that the legislative body has been aware of the existence of serious administrative problems for nearly 20 years.
      "According to various studies, the Parliamentary office has been affected by the same kinds of personnel strategy problems at least since 1992", says a Parliamentary report from 2007 with a title that translates as Assessment of the effectiveness of the personnel strategy of the Parliamentary Office, 2002-2006.
      The magnitude of the problems encountered in the administration of the operations of Parliament were made public in the latest report by a hired consultant which was released over the weekend.
      Parliament's Secretary General Seppo Tiitinen rejected the criticism out of hand, saying that he does not recognise the Parliament thathe knows in the report.
      Already before the 2007 study, considerable administrative shortcomings had been indicated in a number of consultants' reports.
      The most recent opinion survey of the effectiveness assessment is contained as background material in the Parliament's own report on the process of developning the administration, as is the most recent consultant's report.
      The study from 2007 indicates that better personnel management is needed, as well as more rapid reaction to crises, more open and speedy information policy, and more participation on the part of the top management.
      Employees wanted the whole organisation to exhibit more of an atmosphere of trust. On paper, the strategy and its values were considered good, but their implementation was seen as unsuccessful.
      According to the study, the strategy is a good document, but so far, it has been ignored.
     
The head of the Parliament's administrative office, Kari T. Ahonen, did not want to comment on the issue of the administration of Parliament on Monday. He said that this week Parliament plans to put forward proposals for improvements, under the leadership of Speaker of Parliament Sauli Niinistö.
      According to an expert commissioned by Parliament, the institution has not been able to implement its strategy because of a lack of commitment. Also, the organisation is dispersed, and in the working culture, legislative work and related tasks take priority over everything else. Thus, personnel management has been neglected.
      The extensive study also asked for assessments of how actions of the top civil servants have affected the working atmosphere. A majority of respondents said that they did not know what the higher management had done, or that nothing had been done. About 50 per cent of the employees of the Parliamentary Office responded to the survey.
     
Tiitinen said that the consultant's report that was made public during the weekend, which had a narrower scope, contained only some vague personal opinions of civil servants. Ahonen, meanwhile, said that the study contained opinions of civil servants who are "known to critical". However, he also conceded that the criticism itself was accurate, and that there is a real clear need to improve.
      In fact, the consultants asked for the views of civil servants known to be loyal to Tiitinen and Ahonen. A total of 14 Parliamentary civil servants were involved in the study.
     
Ahonen is responsible largely for personnel management and financial matters in Parliament. Tiitinen is responsible for legislative work, but he takes the initiative in a number of other matters as well. He was especially active in the 100th anniversary celebrations of the Finnish Parliament.
      Ahonen has his background in the Social Democratic Party, while Tiitinen pays membership dues to the lawyers' association of the Centre Party. Some have described the leadership of the civil service in Parliament as a two-humped camel.
      There has been no criticism of the core operations of the Finnish Parliament - concerning legislative work itself.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Sharp reactions to consultant´s criticism of administrative practices in Parliament (25.2.2008)

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