Leadership and Public Sector Reform in Asia by Berman Evan;Prasojo Eko; & Eko Prasojo

Author:Berman, Evan;Prasojo, Eko; & Eko Prasojo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
Published: 2017-02-17T00:00:00+00:00

In spite of ambitious programmes for PSR over past decades and some positive achievements, as widely observed in practice, the quality of public sector remains poor and still hinders overall socio-economic development. One of the main reasons for the slow pace of change is that the scope of reform is too broad as it covers all key elements of public sector, meanwhile the capacity of implementing public agencies and individual public servants is still limited. Even though PSR is considered a top priority and a regular and continuing task of public agencies, its implementation in both central and local levels has not been properly carried out. Moreover, the weakness of the existing monitoring, evaluation and reporting system also contributes to the ambiguous results of PSR.

It remains to be seen whether the PSR process in Vietnam can attain its predetermined targets, but in order to achieve PSR results as desired, strengthening of leadership from the top to the lowest level of government during reform process, undoubtedly, is one of the key solutions. The awareness of Vietnamese top leaders of this solution was also shown in the 2011–2020 PAR Master programme as a key guideline for PAR implementation. Indeed, leaders are widely perceived to play a critical role in leading PSR in Vietnam. However, in practice, their role is mainly to ensure the compliance of regulations and rules regarding PSR among subordinates. The role of leader in motivating people and managing the reform process seems to be neglected. Also, it is observed that after the initial success of reforms, Vietnamese leadership has become less proactive and vigorous in practicing or embracing bold experiments on reforms (Khuong, 2015). To deal with these matters and to promote the effectiveness of leadership in PSR, the following recommendations should be taken into consideration.

First, both central and local leaders should be selected and trained carefully to ensure capable people being selected for important tasks. As suggested by Khuong (2015), these leaders should articulate a clear vision for the country’s development as well as local development. More importantly, at a critical time, they need to be aware of the urgency of implementing decisive reforms to catch up with other peers. They should also reflect ability to communicate, convince, cooperate and cope with resisting actors. To obtain these leadership skills, leaders at all levels should participate in training courses more proactively and effectively on related leadership issues. Moreover, some key actors who are in charge of civil and public servants training and development such as MOHA and provincial department of home affairs and National Academy of Public Administration should be the pioneer in reforming the training system for civil and public servants.

Second, as suggested by Wong (2015), it is of significant importance to recognize the tradition of strong leadership in Asia and the high level of trust and obligation between leader and followers. Therefore, any public administration reform in Vietnam should allow the leaders to lead. However, in the new economy, the role of the government, especially the leadership

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