UNION INTERPARLEMENTAIRE
INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION
Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments
CONTRIBUTION
from
MR ALI AFRASHTEH
Secretary General of the Islamic Parliament of Iran
to the general debate on
“FINDING THE STRUCTURE OF A PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARIAT WITH
MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY”
Hanoi Session
March 2015
In the Name of God
Dear Colleagues,
Honorable secretaries general of parliaments,
It is my pleasure today to deliver a lecture on the structural
necessities to a parliament secretariat with maximum efficiency. Indeed,
success of any organization necessitates due attention of its members to
the factor of efficiency, and the secretariats of parliaments have the
important responsibility of prioritizing real needs and fulfilling the
missions of the organization and long- term goals. Thus, the manner of
enhancing the efficiency of parliament secretariats was picked as one of the
key topics for the meeting of IPU secretaries general.
There are multiple factors which can enhance efficiency and
productivity, and accordingly there is a sustainable relationship between
maximum efficiency and modern methods of managing human and capital
resources and improving processes. As a result, the better a secretariat
prepares a principled program for fulfillment of the three factors above, the
more successful it will be.
A) Improving Processes
Improving processes will lead to facilitation of affairs. One of the
measures parliament secretaries can adopt for improving processes is to
establish necessary channels for receiving experts' views. The
productivity of any organization rests on its intellectual interaction with
experts. Parliament secretariats must be a center for convening experts'
views. As regards managing processes, it is a necessity to establish
maximum alignment between adoption of policies and strategic plans.
Changes in behavioral patterns of organizations and fast
development of ICT have raised the role and standing of secretariats in the
process of exchanging information leading in its own turn to replacement
of traditional patterns of management with modern patterns of
management. Following developments in communications science and the
increasing role the internet plays in the lives of people from all social
classes, it is a must for the parliament's secretariat to consider taking
advantage of the potentialities in cyber space. Thus, during the
reconstruction process, the structure of the secretariat must be reformed
in such a manner that by utilizing technological potentialities, the access
time to latest organizational experiences is made shorter which in turn
augments the efficiency of the organization.
Exchange of technical experiences on raising security and safety of
the services rendered is another factor which can directly increase the
efficiency of parliaments' secretariats. Each parliament is in possession of
worthwhile experiences on methods of optimization in managing human
resources. Given the necessity of mobilizing isolated experiences of states,
it is suggested that the establishment of a data base of parliament
secretaries' documents and experiences for the purpose of supporting the
legislature, be put on agenda as a priority.
Establishment of an integrated evaluation system can also lead to
improvement of processes. The efficiency process is expedited only when
the performance of parliament secretariat is evaluated on the basis of
clear criteria. Establishing fixed criteria will not only prevent
disorganization in policy making but also will facilitate the process of
supervision and evaluation. Making use of advanced archiving techniques
and adoption of appropriate measures for ensuring security of archived
back-up documents are prerequisite to the success of a parliament
secretariat.
B) Human Resources Management
Dear guests and honorable parliament secretaries,
One of the other necessary measures for enhancing the efficiency of
parliament's secretariat is human resources management. Meanwhile,
making use of the potentiality of unofficial discussion groups and
scientific associations increases the efficiency of the secretariat indirectly.
As a result, in order to increase efficiency, parliaments today benefit from
communication with not only official but also unofficial discussion groups.
In fact, secretaries general and officials in charge of executive affairs of
parliaments have a crucial role in organizing the outcomes of unofficial
discussion groups.
Association of Secretaries General of Parliaments (ASGP) is the
consultative arm of Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU). Secretaries general
of parliaments are also faced with barriers and shortcomings of
operational and executive nature in relation to the legislation and thus
pooling of their experiences can provide proper intellectual support for
evolution in the structural system and familiarity of the IPU with
shortcomings in the executive sphere. Parliamentary secretariats are the
driving force underlying identification of real needs of November 2015
and March 2016 ASGP meetings which will be held respectively in India
and Zambia. In this line, I propose the establishment of a Cyber Dialogue
Center between the secretaries of parliaments with the purpose of
intellectual contribution of Association members and the resolution of
common executive challenges in order that human resources are taken
advantage of in the best possible manner.
C) Capital Resources Management
One of the other prerequisites to increasing efficiency of
parliamentary secretariats is management of capital resources. Definition
of the concept 'efficiency' indicates that there is a direct relation between
efficiency and costs. Thus, it is necessary for the secretariat to adopt a
proper approach for reduction of costs and for optimal use of the existent
resources.
Dear Colleagues,
The secretariats can be an integration force in a system and they can
here bring about a sustainable link between ASGP and IPU. Establishment
of a data base for back-up legislative documents and continuous exchange
of experience between parliamentary secretaries on human resources
management will enhance the efficacy of parliamentary secretariats. It is
necessary to benefit from the experiences of secretaries general of
parliamentary bodies at regional, continental, and extra-regional level. At
the same time, using the experiences of executive secretaries in other
countries will also culminate in reduction of costs and optimal utilization
of capital resources.
One the other area as regards the mission of parliamentary
secretariats is the use of public diplomacy techniques by taking advantage
of the media potentialities. The secretariats can establish maximum
alignment between organizational missions and public demands. In
addition, by conveying information on latest decisions and policies
adopted by the organization, they can directly provide the members with
informational support.
Holding joint seminars, launching educational workshops, exchange
of experiences of parliamentary secretaries in the sphere of human
resources management and finding a joint solution for countering
frequent challenges and common concerns are among the other factors
which can help ideal use of capital resources.
In the end, it can be concluded that a parliamentary secretariat can
enhance both efficiency and efficacy by accumulating successful examples
in performance of national and regional parliamentary secretariats,
recording latest results of field and experimental researches, making use
of the potentialities of cyber space, establishing cyber dialogue centers
between parliamentary secretaries, making necessary coordination for
holding scientific-specialized meetings between parliamentary secretaries
of regional countries, identifying shortcomings and neglected areas,
facilitating the process of accountability, strengthening public supervision
and establishing an integrated evaluation system.
In this line, I suggest holding a specialized seminar exclusively for
the parliamentary secretariats of IPU which puts the following items on
the agenda: exchange of specialized experiences and latest achievements
on information technologies for the purpose of promoting synergy
between the administrative sectors of parliaments and also reinforcing
parliamentary exchange between these sectors which will be significant
steps toward realization of the goals of the Association of Secretariats
General of Parliaments.
Thank you.