Paper on Korean Study Tour
Human Resources Management in
Government
-with Special
Emphasis on Recruitment.
Outline of the Policy
Korea has an enviable tradition of merit based democracy
which dates back to the Shilla dynasty of 57 BC – 935 AD. The merit based
system consolidated itself during the Koryo and Choson dynasties[1]. To this date, it is the norm
in the Korean society which values competitiveness. This is a life philosophy
to them much in contrast to nations like India where we are yet to fully base
ourselves on competition as the key in every aspect of life. Koreans take pride
in the shift of their dominant paradigm from one of laid back accommodation to
competitive realism. This philosophy finds expression in their economic
thought, rural development process and is quite well weaved into the general
fabric of the society. It, therefore, is of little surprise that the Human resource
management in Government is again based on this core idea of competitiveness.
This finds expression in the system of performance appraisal, promotions and of
course, in recruitment.
Recruitment into the Korean Civil Service primarily is
through competitive examination which results in selection to G9, G7 and G5
grades, with the rank of the civil servant progressively increasing from G9 to
G1. Though the Vice Minister and Minister above the G1 grade are political
posts, here again the present working of the system brings in persons who have
earlier been in the senior levels of civil services (from G5 to G1). The key
feature of the Civil Service Examination is that it is open to everyone
irrespective of their educational qualification. Though most of the qualifiers
are graduates or post graduates from the various Universities, the examination
is by design inclusive and gives a channel for rapid social mobility based on
one’s merit. This social mobility would ensure that the avenues for civil
service was open for all strata of the society and was not restricted to elite
who were able to garner a particular form or location of education. The
fairness of the examination is also given high importance in the Society. This
has been so from the years of the dynastic rule which is suggested by the final
phase of the multi-phase examination being conducted in front of the ruler
himself. There is great amount of recognition to the winner in the examination
and the participation in the examination being so wide, there is great emphasis
on the accessibility to higher social echelons through the examination.
In year 2010, there were discussions on setting some
criteria as entrance qualification for the Civil Service Examination in Korea[2]. There was wide spread
resentment to this move as evinced by the newspaper reports of those times
available on the internet. The value of keeping the high social mobility
opportunity tag on the examination was considered important and the basic
examination system was left untouched. There is also a flip side to this widely
participative examination in that it being a huge opportunity for the youth, it
is a major contributor to the youth distress. Newspapers report as if the whole
nation comes to a standstill in the high stakes examination which would not be
the most ideal scenario for an economy where other opportunities are available
in the form of global firms offering private jobs. Here again, the general
level of allegiance of Koreans to their firms is very high in that they do not
flip their jobs as frequently as in other countries. For a nation which
attaches high importance for the availability of highly skilled manpower to
match the requirement of its export oriented industrialization, engaging the
youth in a dream of social mobility may also be seen as a deliberate choice. By
having an open examination, it incentivizes early specialization of the
workforce for those who need to pick up a job.
Policy Alternative
The recent policy shift in this realm is the introduction of
the Civil Service Commission as an independent body with a mandate on
comprehensive personnel management in Korea in the year 1999. Earlier this was
one of the functions of the Ministry of Government Administration and Home
Affairs. Now, with an independent Commission organized as a statutory body, the
Commission is bringing about changes in all spheres related to Public Service
Management with special focus on the competitiveness of the new age civil
service. The crisis of 1997 in Korea is seen as a trigger for this radical
change. This also brings about changes in the civil service examination pattern
being based on skills and performance based in comparison the one being based
on education which usually translated as rote memorization. Korea, which had
tasted success with its State led development Policy, the opening up of the
Civil Services to the concept of New Public Management was a novel idea though
it might have been too dated in comparison to other OECD countries. The new
paradigm was deemed necessary to make the public services more
accountable/responsive and merit-based/competitive. This included the Open
Employment System in which senior echelons of civil services in Grade 1 to
Grade 3 were opened up to lateral entry from the business world. This would be
carefully managed by the Civil Services Commission to obviate chances of
Public-Private collusion.
Traditionally, the Korean Civil Service Examination, Kwa-go
involved written test on English and major subject areas followed by an
interview which had relatively less weightage in the process. This is being
radically overhauled in that internationally reputed tests like TOEFL, TOEIC,
TEPS[3] are being used to measure
English proficiency (to ensure competitiveness in a global world) followed by a
standardized PSAT (Public Service Aptitude Test) and an interview (blind). The
PSAT would have two sections – measuring intelligence and knowledge broadly.
Included under the Intelligence head is the comprehension ability, Mathematical
and logical reasoning, history et al. In Knowledge side, emphasis is on Law,
Economics, Public Affairs and research methodology. The emphasis is on skill
and competency than scholastic attainment, which distinguishes itself from the
present system in India where there is still a huge premium for rote
memorization and coached answer writing. The interview is conducted in a blind
fashion in that there is a situation that is given and the background of the
candidate is not disclosed to the evaluators helping them to avoid bias and
base themselves on the creative solution seeking ability of the candidate in a
simulated setting.
Policy alternative in Indian Scenario
India has a constitutionally mandated Union Public Service Commission
(UPSC) which conducts the recruitment process into the Civil Services for the
nation. Though a Civil Service Commission which has mandate to look into the
entire management of the personnel in Government is not available and would be
difficult to set in given the federal structure that exists in India, the
recruitment mandate of the Korean Civil Service Commission is quite similar to
the UPSC. The constitutional status of UPSC is above that of the statutory
entity in Korea. The change that has been recently moved in Korea in view of
reorienting its civil service in the global competitive scenario, however,
holds a policy alternative for India which needs to be looked into detail.
Though there have been incremental changes in the Civil
Service recruitment system of India, the base model established to recruit
Civil Servants during British times remains unchanged to a great extent in that
we still value scholastic achievement in the recruitment process. This system
was well suited in the Victorian era where there was only the limited elite who
had the leisure and inclination to man the higher civil services on behalf of
the British masters. However, the modern democratic and competitive scenario is
quite different. The Indian Civil Service Examination is arguably, the toughest
examination to crack. This resulted in the best being selected into it from the
aristocracy in the pre – Independence era and the logic held even in pre
liberalization era where the opportunities in the private sector was low. Even
during this phase, a concern on the general social strata of candidates being
selected into the Civil Service was present. With a liberalized economy and a
competitive environment, if a person was available to compete in a leviathan
examination at the age of 21, he or she was probably not the best of the lot
who would find opportunities elsewhere. Again, by emphasizing on scholastic
achievement rather than aptitude, premium was on time available at the age of
21, which was the primary scarce commodity for those who are the most brilliant
and did not have the financial and social backing to take a break, risking
their fledgling careers.
Scholastic achievement based examination for Civil Services
Examination has the following negative effects as observed - 1. Scholastic
achievement gives an edge to those who devote more time and energy even with
lesser scholastic aptitude. Time and energy being asked for at the age of 21
gives an edge to those who have no opportunity cost for that. This eliminates
the best from the race. 2. Scholastic achievement
gives an edge to rote memorization which is not a skill with great dividends in
the Civil Service career. If anything, analysis is more important (if not
synthesis). This is given lower preference in an examination where cramming
facts gives an edge 3. Scholastic achievement gives a huge advantage to the
“funnels” of processing information and synthesizing answers – i.e. the
coaching institutes. This means the less financially well off are successfully
avoided 4. Scholastic aptitude would have been an asset in keeping a person
current with the latest developments during the Civil Services career and would
help in learning new frontiers which would keep the Civil Services current and
competitive – an imperative in a competitive global environment 5. In an effort
to even out the advantage in one discipline due to scholastic achievement, many
subjects are offered which leads to the problem of comparing apples and oranges
when it comes to final result. As such, comparing two individuals on the basis
of a single test is difficult and UPSC achieves the impossible of comparing
Pali literature and Mathematics – not withstanding what use it might be in the
career of a Civil Servant. 6. Making the examination tough and dicey dissuades
the best from attempting it with such an opportunity cost. Those who succeed
would have invested heavily in time, energy and money would have an inclination
to harvest it as early as possible by endorsing illegitimate “funnels”, putting
a price tag on in the marriage market if not indulging in down-right corruption
from the earliest opportunity. 7. The examination keeps the youth of many
thousands if not lakhs hooked on to the Civil Services dream ruining their
alternate careers – perhaps leading to a lot of unavoidable awe about and
grudge against those successful.
There are some counter arguments[4] which essentially compare the
CAT scores with Civil Services result and compare the representation of
socially disadvantaged sections in the list of successful candidates. This
question might be addressed by comparing the social stature of the successful candidates
not at the entry level of the examination, but at an earlier level – say
intermediary. Again, the absence of rural representation in CAT success is not
a function of it being an aptitude test, but the opportunity cost of completing
two years of management studies at a critical juncture of the careers of those
have got the base qualification. This is perhaps the reason why there is no
such urban bias is found in engineering colleges which primarily have an
aptitude based entrance examination. On the issue of the scholastic aptitude
examination favouring engineers and science graduates, there is a clear
distinction between quantitative or mathematical aptitude and scholastic
aptitude. The examination could be offered in multiple languages to neutralize
the language bias. As in Korean system, the aptitude test could measure the
scholastic aptitude in subjects which are most critical for post selection use
in Civil Service Examination. Another argument is that the examination ensures
that hard working and dedicated people get into the service when it is based on
scholastic achievement. This argument is double edged, as scholastic
achievement is no guarantee for continued dedication after the selection. If
anything, the criticism on the present Civil Servants is that they cease to
learn once inside the Service.
However, in the recent years when the UPSC took steps to
move towards a more aptitude based pattern, there was stiff resistance in the
political context. The move was seen as favouring English speaking elite.
Korea’s developmental experience with the Civil Service Examination could be a
pointer for the necessary reorientation in this regard. There would be a need
to 1. Bring out the facts and logic which back the decision more clearly so
that there is no misunderstanding regarding the contents and reasons of the
change that is being attempted 2. Need to do reassessment to ensure that the
scholastic aptitude test is not biased in favour of English speaking elite or
any elite for that matter. This could be ensured by having the examination in
all languages – same question being asked in all languages.
Such a change would improve the opportunity of the very best
to appear in the examination and take an opportunity of serving the nation
without much of an opportunity cost. Again, even with the limited move towards
scholastic aptitude it has been noticed that the same candidates (who had
earlier been selected into other services than IAS, IFS etc.) get selected in
the examination. Though this is indicative of the integrity of the selection
process, this could be prevented by capping the number of attempts. Life needs
to move on. Here again, Korean experiment of allowing OES (Open Employment
System) which provides lateral entry at higher levels would keep the
opportunity alive for those who succeed elsewhere apart from keeping the
Service more nimble. A freer exchange between sectors would certainly add value
to the functioning of the process of governance where there would be a
realization of politics and finance as two arms of the same supreme sovereign
trying to achieve results for itself. However, this move needs to be carefully
guarded against the possibility of private sector collusion, especially in the
present stage of Indian Polity where we are way behind nations like Korea in
being favourably indexed on the aspect of corruption.
The new globalised world requires us to seriously rethink
the different aspects of Civil Services to ensure that it remains competitive
and vibrant. Recruitment is the earliest intervention in the life cycle, but
certainly not the only one. The idea of competitiveness needs to be pushed
forward, with due concern over arbitrariness and oversight spoiling the game. Capability
to identify the right measure and ability to do the measurements rightly would
hold the key behind suitably tailoring the services to the new age. The
Gandhian idea of opening the windows to the world while refusing to be swept of
the feet is crucial here.
[1]
Kwago: The Civil Services Examination Hur Joon, Sogang University
[2]
South Korea: Civil Services Exam Removed, Years of Studies wasted? Lee Yoo Eun
on www.globalvoicesonline.org
[3]
Human Resource Management Reform in the Korean Civil Service Pan S. Kim, Yonsei
University
[4]
Acknowledging the contribution of Mr. KG Jagdeesha IAS in a personal interview.
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