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Bureaucratic reforms and policy inconsistency
Medelina K Hendytio ; A Senior
Researcher
at the Centre for Strategic and
International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta
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JAKARTA
POST, 10 September 2012
Amid the rising
unemployment rate among skilled workers, the Administrative Reforms Ministry’s
decision to recruit more than 14,000 new civil servants in 2012 comes as a
relief to a large number of jobseekers.
To date, employment as a civil servant remains a favorite choice for many, especially considering its higher job security compared to other formal occupations.
Apart from absorbing the excess workforce, the recruitment of civil servants is an essential part of bureaucratic reform in every country as it is expected to positively influence the overall performance of the bureaucracy.
As Werther and Davis (1996) put it, “an organization can be no better than the people it hires”.
In accordance with the reasoning, the blueprint of bureaucratic reform in Indonesia prioritizes apparatus performance as an area that requires immediate changes.
Experience and studies in several countries show that poor bureaucratic performance, productivity and corrupt practices may be rooted in improper civil service recruitment and selection which are not based on merit and ignores the principles of neutrality, equality, fairness and competence.
Fairness and equity seem to be the core legal basis for recruitment in an international context. In the case of Indonesia, the failure to improve the recruitment process that should have been done alongside employment coordination since the 1970s comes down to the inflexible nature of the bureaucracy as well as its lack of professionalism and efficiency (Hendytio, 2008).
It is apparent that improving the recruitment and selection process is a key mechanism to get a quality public sector workforce and to achieve the overall goals of bureaucratic reform (G. Siegel and R. Myrtle, 1985).
That the government is requiring job analyses from local governments and agencies in need of additional personnel reflects a step forward for this year’s recruitment and selection of civil servants.
The Administrative Reforms Ministry has rejected recruitment proposals filed by local governments and government agencies considered unable to fulfill conditions, which reflects the seriousness and political will of the government in conducting civil service reform.
The policy is important because, up to now, recruitment oftentimes is neither based on an elaboration of duties and authorities in a job position nor description of the hard and soft competencies required by a certain position.
Aside from that, job analysis must continually be encouraged, given the fact that local governments frequently fail to heed the requirements citing their complexity and budget restrictions.
Even when job analysis is performed, it is conducted infrequently, halfheartedly and generally as a formality.
Without analysis, however, it is difficult to decide the exact number of civil servants required, where they should be located, what kind of competency is needed and the career planning available.
Despite the progress, this year’s recruitment and selection process still faces the problems of policy
inconsistency.
The Finance Ministry, the Administrative Reforms Ministry and the Home Ministry produced a joint ministerial decree to postpone recruitment and selection of new civil servants only last year.
The moratorium was said to maintain the number and distribution of civil servants, manage the state budget (especially civil servants’ pay) and improve the personnel administration system. It should have been effective from Sept. 1, 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012.
Nevertheless, it will certainly be difficult to sustain the moratorium as the government has opened applications for civil service recruitment as of July this year.
Though the decree makes room for exceptions, the ongoing recruitment of 61,560 new civil servants cannot be regarded as an exception, not only because the number is exceptionally high but also because 81 percent of the recruits will fill posts in 21 out of 33 ministries and other government agencies.
The moratorium on civil service recruitment is often misunderstood as part of an effort to meet a zero-growth policy. The actual intention of the moratorium is to put on hold recruitment of new civil servants until the decree is lifted at the end of 2012.
Zero-growth, on the other hand, would enable the government to replace retired civil servants, which means the total number of employed civil servants would not change.
For the sake of staff coordination, specifically to find the correct number of staff, or “right sizing”, retired civil servants should not actually be replaced.
The vacant positions should be occupied by existing employees who have not been optimally utilized. Thus, unequal work distribution may be corrected to avoid over- or under-burdened employees.
The familiar spectacle of civil servants sitting before their computers only to play games, read a newspaper, chat or even play table tennis during work hours may hopefully soon be stamped out.
On top of the inconsistency issues, the recruitment and selection process also encounters the classic problem of the wide gap between the competencies demanded by particular occupations and the qualifications possessed by employees.
A solution would be entrusting the testing materials to a consortium of various universities to effectively filter the best candidates.
The recruitment must further be equipped with tools to measure specific skills of the applicants as required by the positions. All government agencies, including those in remote regions, must be able to carry out these tests.
Considering the target set by the Administrative Reforms Ministry, increasing the capacity and accountability of the bureaucracy and civil service performance will require hard work.
The government scores only -0.29 in the efficiency index, far lower than the target of 0.5. Similarly, the accountability index to date is only 24 percent, well below the target of 80 percent.
The recruitment and selection of civil servants therefore must continuously be improved not only from the administrative and technical angles, but also in the matter of policy consistency.
The connections between one policy and another and between a minister and his or her successor are crucial to ensure plans, programs and long-term designs are free from interruptions, interventions or even revisions that undermine previous efforts.
Most importantly, policy consistency and other improvements will enable policies to yield greater results. ●
To date, employment as a civil servant remains a favorite choice for many, especially considering its higher job security compared to other formal occupations.
Apart from absorbing the excess workforce, the recruitment of civil servants is an essential part of bureaucratic reform in every country as it is expected to positively influence the overall performance of the bureaucracy.
As Werther and Davis (1996) put it, “an organization can be no better than the people it hires”.
In accordance with the reasoning, the blueprint of bureaucratic reform in Indonesia prioritizes apparatus performance as an area that requires immediate changes.
Experience and studies in several countries show that poor bureaucratic performance, productivity and corrupt practices may be rooted in improper civil service recruitment and selection which are not based on merit and ignores the principles of neutrality, equality, fairness and competence.
Fairness and equity seem to be the core legal basis for recruitment in an international context. In the case of Indonesia, the failure to improve the recruitment process that should have been done alongside employment coordination since the 1970s comes down to the inflexible nature of the bureaucracy as well as its lack of professionalism and efficiency (Hendytio, 2008).
It is apparent that improving the recruitment and selection process is a key mechanism to get a quality public sector workforce and to achieve the overall goals of bureaucratic reform (G. Siegel and R. Myrtle, 1985).
That the government is requiring job analyses from local governments and agencies in need of additional personnel reflects a step forward for this year’s recruitment and selection of civil servants.
The Administrative Reforms Ministry has rejected recruitment proposals filed by local governments and government agencies considered unable to fulfill conditions, which reflects the seriousness and political will of the government in conducting civil service reform.
The policy is important because, up to now, recruitment oftentimes is neither based on an elaboration of duties and authorities in a job position nor description of the hard and soft competencies required by a certain position.
Aside from that, job analysis must continually be encouraged, given the fact that local governments frequently fail to heed the requirements citing their complexity and budget restrictions.
Even when job analysis is performed, it is conducted infrequently, halfheartedly and generally as a formality.
Without analysis, however, it is difficult to decide the exact number of civil servants required, where they should be located, what kind of competency is needed and the career planning available.
Despite the progress, this year’s recruitment and selection process still faces the problems of policy
inconsistency.
The Finance Ministry, the Administrative Reforms Ministry and the Home Ministry produced a joint ministerial decree to postpone recruitment and selection of new civil servants only last year.
The moratorium was said to maintain the number and distribution of civil servants, manage the state budget (especially civil servants’ pay) and improve the personnel administration system. It should have been effective from Sept. 1, 2011 to Dec. 31, 2012.
Nevertheless, it will certainly be difficult to sustain the moratorium as the government has opened applications for civil service recruitment as of July this year.
Though the decree makes room for exceptions, the ongoing recruitment of 61,560 new civil servants cannot be regarded as an exception, not only because the number is exceptionally high but also because 81 percent of the recruits will fill posts in 21 out of 33 ministries and other government agencies.
The moratorium on civil service recruitment is often misunderstood as part of an effort to meet a zero-growth policy. The actual intention of the moratorium is to put on hold recruitment of new civil servants until the decree is lifted at the end of 2012.
Zero-growth, on the other hand, would enable the government to replace retired civil servants, which means the total number of employed civil servants would not change.
For the sake of staff coordination, specifically to find the correct number of staff, or “right sizing”, retired civil servants should not actually be replaced.
The vacant positions should be occupied by existing employees who have not been optimally utilized. Thus, unequal work distribution may be corrected to avoid over- or under-burdened employees.
The familiar spectacle of civil servants sitting before their computers only to play games, read a newspaper, chat or even play table tennis during work hours may hopefully soon be stamped out.
On top of the inconsistency issues, the recruitment and selection process also encounters the classic problem of the wide gap between the competencies demanded by particular occupations and the qualifications possessed by employees.
A solution would be entrusting the testing materials to a consortium of various universities to effectively filter the best candidates.
The recruitment must further be equipped with tools to measure specific skills of the applicants as required by the positions. All government agencies, including those in remote regions, must be able to carry out these tests.
Considering the target set by the Administrative Reforms Ministry, increasing the capacity and accountability of the bureaucracy and civil service performance will require hard work.
The government scores only -0.29 in the efficiency index, far lower than the target of 0.5. Similarly, the accountability index to date is only 24 percent, well below the target of 80 percent.
The recruitment and selection of civil servants therefore must continuously be improved not only from the administrative and technical angles, but also in the matter of policy consistency.
The connections between one policy and another and between a minister and his or her successor are crucial to ensure plans, programs and long-term designs are free from interruptions, interventions or even revisions that undermine previous efforts.
Most importantly, policy consistency and other improvements will enable policies to yield greater results. ●
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