Contemporary Issues of Civil Service Reform and Human Resource Management in Government

Prepared for the Gaidar Forum at the RANEPA in Moscow on January 15, 2015:

Expert Discussion Panel on the Personnel Dimension of Public Policy Development

in Modern Russia

Pan Suk Kim, Ph.D.

President, Asian Association for Public Administration (www.aapa.or.kr)

Visiting Scholar in Residence, The American University, Washington, DC, USA

Professor of Public Administration, College of Government and Business

Yonsei University, Wonju Campus, Wonju 220-710, South Korea

E-mail: pankim@gmail.com or pankim@yonsei.ac.kr

http://www.aapa.or.kr/mailto:pankim@gmail.commailto:pankim@yonsei.ac.kr

More complex

More diverse

More fragmented

More interdependent

More time-consuming

More transparent

More blurring

More decentralized

More stakeholders/

conflicts or dilemmas….

Public Sector Capacity was declined:- Shrinking Role of the State- Dynamic Societies: More Wicked Problems

(hyper VUCA: volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity)

- Lack of Resources

- Increasing Cost of Governance

- Critical citizens & resistance culture

- Increasing public expectation……

Doing more/better with less

- “Deep Gap” between new demands and existing capacities “Lack of Public Capacity”(capacity deficit)

Need “Capacity Building”- Individual level

- Organizational Level

- System Level

Daunting

Challenges LimitedCapacity

CapacityDeficit

Global Phenomenon: Capacity Deficit

• Generally, citizens feel that politicians and public officials often abuse/misuse their powers in the interest of self-aggrandizement

• government service delivery is perceived to be inadequate

• government systems are mal- functioning

• resentment over political scandals and crises

• the incompetence of politicians and bureaucrats . . . . . . . . .

Global Phenomenon: Public Trust in CrisisGeneral Roots of Mistrust/Distrust

New Civil Service System

High Competitive-

edge

Low expertise due to frequent

rotation

Lack of Accountability

& Responsiveness

Closed System

& Rigidity

Old System

Openness FairnessExpertise

Autonomy Accountability

4

Ethics

Civil Service Reform Vision

Legal & Organizational Foundations

Civil Service Laws (and follow-up Decrees)

USA: Pendleton Act (1883)

Japan: National Civil Service Act (1947)

Korea: National Civil Service Act (1949)

China: Civil Service Law (2005)

Vietnam: Civil Service Law (2008)

Central Personnel Agency (Full-functioning Sole Agency) in dealing with overall HRM and HRD functions

USA: Office of Personnel Management (OPM)

Japan: National Personnel Authority (NPA)

China: Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS)

Korea: Ministry of Personnel Management (MPM)

Holistic View: Human Resource WheelNeed more specialization

Meritocracy

Meritocracy: system which rewards talent and hard work

Open competitive recruitment and selection through a competitive entrance exam: need to recruit the best of the best (no irregularities)

Performance-based promotion

Performance-related pay

TraitsKSA

(Knowledge, Skill & Ability)

KSAVA

(KSA+Value+Attitude)

Competency

Professionalism

Behavioral and Mindset Change

Public Interest (Pubic value, virtue)Citizen-orientedMission-oriented

Innovation, result/performanceExpertise, problem-solving New vision

Public Administration Education (undergraduate & graduate programs) andGovernment Training Program (hardware & software)

Modernize HRD programs & utilize international accreditations

Improve the Quality of Education & Training in Public Administration: HRD Reform

Political

Appointees

Senior civil

Service (SCS)

Gigantic

Pubic Bureaucracy

How to Govern and Manage? SCS?

Capacity Development

Lead Better Programs & Policies

(competency Assessment)

Senior Civil Service (SCS)

as a Linking Pin

CEOsBoard of Directors

Senior Management

Team

Political

Appointees

(Political Accountability)

Top Leadership and Management in Business and Government

Business Government

Mid- & Lower-Level Employees

Best of the Best ☞

Political Leadership

Executive Leadership

Accountability

Capacity Development

Managing Better Programs and

Policies

Political and Ideological Priorities

Constituency/Voter Responsiveness

Political

Leadership in Public Agencies

Performance Management: New Ideology?Performance appraisal (evaluation) system must be well utilized

Management by Results (MBR)

Innocence + Hi-performance

PerformanceAppraisal System

Performance AgreementPerformance

Appraisal System

Objective Setting

Achievement Evaluation

Evaluation Grade

Objective Setting

Evaluation- Performance- Competency - Behavior

Above Director-General

Division Director

Below Deputy-Director

Evaluation Process

Pay Annual Merit Incremental Program

PerformanceBonus Program

Evaluation Grade

Performance Management

Appraisal Grade

Excell-ent

(Grade S)

Outstan-ding

(Grade A)

Normal

(Grade B)

Unsatis-factory

(Grade C)

Payment Scope

Top 20%

30% 40%Bottom

10%

Performance Pay Rate

15% 10% 6% 0%

Champion Mediocre

Performance-Related Pay for Senior Officials

USA (SES)

Core Qualifications

UK (SCS)

Core Skills

Leading Change (Creativity and

Innovation, External Awareness,

Flexibility, Resilience, Strategic Thinking,

Vision)

Strategic Thinking

Leading People (Conflict Management,

Leveraging Diversity, Developing Others,

Team Building)

People Management

Results Driven (Accountability, Customer

Service, Decisiveness, Entrepreneurship,

Problem Solving, Technical Credibility)

Project & Programme

Management

Business Acumen (Financial Management,

Human Capital Management, Technology

Management)

Financial Management

Building Coalitions (Partnering, Political

Savvy, Influencing/Negotiating)Communications & Marketing

Examples of Core Competencies ofSenior Officials in the USA and the UK

• Working:Performance OrientationChange Management

• Thinking:Problem RecognitionStrategic Thinking

• Relation: Customer SatisfactionCoordination & Integration

Competency Assessment and Leadership Development in Korea

A whole day assessment: 9 assessors evaluate 6 candidates in the competency assessment center from 8am to 4 pm

candidate

assessor assessor

assessor assessor

Competency Assessment Methods

Methods: role play, group discussion, interview, in-basket exercise

•Common competencies required across all senior jobs in

ministries determined through job analysis

CompetencyFramework

•Various methods such as group discussion, role-play,

in-basket exercise, presentation, and interview are used

EvaluationMethod

•Provides opportunities to improve deficient abilities to

those who failed to pass the assessment procedureUtilization

Cumulative failurerate: about 20 %

Cumulative average: 2.8/5.0 (DG candidate)(pass: over 2.5/5.0)

Application: Competency Assessment

(Legal)

Public Administration

(Economic) New

Public Management

(Sociological)

New Public Governance

Citizen-state relationship

Obedience Entitlement Empowerment

Accountability of Senior Officials

Politicians Customers Citizens & Stakeholders

Guiding Principles Compliance with rules

Efficiency & Results

Accountability,

Transparency & Participation

Criteria for Success

Output Outcome Process

Key Attribute Impartiality Professionalism Responsiveness

Type of Interaction

Coerciveness Delegation Collaboration

New Trend: Three Models of Public AdministrationHow well are we doing?

Dodo: an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar

Phoenix: a long-lived bird that is cyclically reborn by arising from the ashes of its predecessor.

Chameleon: a distinctive and highly specialized lizard and has the ability to change colors (Charles Darwin: “the survival of the fittest”)

Adaptive Public Administration?

Governance Innovation: the Evolving Concept of Governance

Accountable Governance: from rule-based to performance-based answerability

Transparent Governance: from secrecy to clear, open, complainable, accessible (Freedom of Information Act; information disclosure law), accurate service

Participatory Governance: from information to consultation to full participation

Accountable Governance(The concept is NOT fixed; it is evolving)

ExcellenceTransform

Demonstratingevidence of impact

Developing the spectrum of policies and processes

related to accountability

Answerability (Listening to Citizens)Satisfying: contract and reporting requirements;

financial and ethical policies and procedures

Rule-based AccountabilityRelying on an honest and ethical character

Compliance with rules (Innocence)

Basic Obligation

Performance-based Accountability

Embedded in culture

Complex

Transparent, Open Governance

Clear/Clean

Straightforward

Open Government

Open Data

Accurate

Observable

Accountable

Answerable

Rational

Reasonable

Accessible (Freedom of Information Act: FOIA)

Complainable

Participatory Governance

Empower

(citizens’ juries, ballots, delegated decision-making in the hands of the pubic)

Collaborate

(citizen advisory committees, consensus-building, participatory decision-making)

Involve

(workshops, deliberative polling)

Consult

(public comments, surveys, public

meetings)

Inform

(fact sheets, websites)

The concept is NOT Fixed,

it is evolving!

Major Trajectories of Public Sector Reform

Civil Service Reform & Anti-Corruption

Decentralization & Local Autonomy

(deconcentration-delegation-devolution)

Corporatization/Privatization

(Separating public service delivery from government)

Financial & Budgetary Reform

Regulatory Reform (Deregulation)

Informatization (Electronic & Mobile Government)

Public Enterprise Reform & Public Private Partnership (PPP)

Key Question: How to promote further development? Sustainable Public Sector Reform

Paradigm Shift of HRM

or Generalist

Major Challenges Ahead

1. Fiscal sanity (fiscal soundness)

2. Crisis of competence and capacity

3. Information overload

4. Government without boundaries/borders

5. E-government is only the beginning

6. Green & ethical leadership

7. Expect surprises & catastrophic

non-routines (pandemics, disasters, etc.)

Need “preventive & prescriptive administration”

More Reforms in the Public Sector

Identify opportunities

Develop reformprograms

ObtainOrganizational & public supports

Implement

changes to achieve results

Raise awareness of the need to

change

Emphasis over time

Imp

rove

me

nt

in p

erf

orm

ance

A journey of continuous (endless) improvement of service delivery and management

NATO (No Action, Talk Only Now Action, Talk Over)