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Under the Terms
of Reference for the Mission, the Government was specifically interested
in an examination of the following issues:
(1)
the capabilities of the public sector in preparing and
implementing long-term administrative reform policies,
(2)
civil service organization, conditions of service, and human
resources development, and
(3)
research and training in public administration.
Initial
conversations, with H.E. the Minister of Civil Service and H.E. the
Under Secretary of the Ministry, indicated that particular attention
should be devoted to:
(a)
the organization of the Ministry of Civil Service (MCS),
(a)
the strategy of the Omanization program,
(a)
the organization and functions of the Institute of Public
Administration, and
(a)
the process which might be followed for classifying positions in
the Government.
These concerns
of the Government are closely interrelated, reflecting current
perceptions of development priorities in Oman. After twenty years of
very rapid economic growth and infrastructure development, the
Government is devoting increasing attention to human resource
development. For the first time, the Government is finding it difficult
to place some Omanis educated at both secondary and university levels,
although over half of the workforce is non‑Omani, reflecting a
mismatch between educational achievements and the needs of the job
market and other factors. Declining oil revenues, prior to the current
crisis, signaled the need to replace expatriates in the work force and
increase the efficiency of the public service.
In recognition
of the need for improved development and utilization of human resources,
the Ministry of Civil Service was created in 1988, to supercede the
Central Personnel Agency and to carry out training and administrative
reform programs as a service to public agencies. The Ministry has broad
powers and responsibilities for improving the performance of the public
service but as yet relatively limited staff capability for achieving its
goals. Several studies been made recommending desirable Ministry
activities, but the Ministry is less unclear about what it should do
than about how to accomplish its tasks with available staff resources.
The report on
this Mission, to be drafted shortly after leaving Oman, will suggest
concrete strategies for the provision of UNDP assistance in dealing with
the array of public management problems confronting the Government, and
the Ministry of Civil Service in particular. The strategies are
summarized below, keyed to the priority topics put forward by the
Minister.
(a)
Strategies for Strengthening the Ministry
The Minister
remarked, quite correctly, that the first task to accomplish in
improving public management was to build the capacities of the Ministry
of Civil Service itself.
Public service
agencies and ministries, set up to solve personnel and organizational
problems of government, too often become part of the problem and not the
solution. This happens when the control functions of the agency
dominate the service functions. At that point, the other agencies
of government begin to look for ways around the public service agency
and avoid dealing with it whenever possible.
At the present
time, with very limited staff, both in numbers and in qualifications,
the Ministry is in danger of letting control functions take over. For
example, 22 staff members are engaged in auditing each hiring and
promotion action to ensure they conform to civil service regulations.
Many mistakes are found, which seems to justify the activity. It would
be preferable, however, to invest in additional training of the
personnel staff of other ministries, so auditing by the MCS could be
done on a sampling basis. Audit department staff could be available to
advise personnel departments in other ministries, and might help to
train them. This would be a service approach rather than a control
approach.
In dealing with
reorganization issues, my impression is that the control approach again
dominates. MCS staff are concerned with checking to avoid duplication of
functions and violations of regulations, which are control activities.
MCS would like to be in a position to assist ministries to design
reorganization plans, but in practice good organization plans must be
build upon a thorough knowledge of the functions the organization is to
perform, so ministries often prefer to design their own plans. They may
turn to the IPA for assistance, because IPA has no control or approval
responsibilities, but they are unlikely to turn to MCS unless MCS can
provide expertise not available elsewhere.
A UNDP/MDP
project would contribute most usefully to the MCS, therefore, if it
could strengthen the MCS ability to perform services which other
ministries would find beneficial. These services could include methods
of work simplification (as in the audit case), providing training that
meets genuine needs, and bringing in improved management methodologies
for upgrading existing systems. The report will provide examples of each
of these types of service functions.
(b)
Omanization
The Government
is rightly concerned that the vast investments made in human resource
development in Oman and abroad are not resulting in as rapid a rate of
replacement of expatriate skilled labor as would be desirable. MCS has
conducted an extensive survey to determine the number of
non‑Omanis employed in Government, their tasks, grades, and
qualifications. Based on this information, MCS seeks to help ministries
plan the replacement process and train Omanis for the posts.
The goals of
this campaign are commendable, but the process is likely to lead to
unintended results. In many cases, given the low salaries available in
their home countries, expatriate staff are willing to accept positions
for which they may be somewhat over‑qualified. A person with a
degree, for example, may be willing to work as a secretary if that is
the best position open to him. When MCS produces a newly trained Omani
candidate for the secretarial post, the employing ministry may object,
saying that the work accomplished by the secretary far exceeds the
rudimentary services the candidate can perform. Here again, MCS is
likely to be perceived by its clients as a control organization rather
than one producing desired services.
It would be
preferable if the drive to accelerate Omanization were to stress
qualitative factors rather than quantitative. The standards of
performance set in the next decade are likely to prevail in Oman for
many years to come. This is the time period when Omanis will take over
most posts, so it is very important that appropriate standards be set
now, and that existing Omani staff be encouraged and enabled to improve
their qualifications.
The process of
upgrading the quality of Government personnel and the systems of
management they operate should begin, with MCS assistance, very high up.
Many senior Omani executives have held positions of great responsibility
although their formal qualifications are very limited. The most
outstanding of this group who are under 45 years of age should given the
opportunity to develop further their perspectives, analytical abilities,
and knowledge of experience elsewhere by spending a year in a public
policy program at a leading university abroad. This year would be a
valuable investment in the further development of executives who have
already demonstrated outstanding potential. The Mason Fellows program at
Harvard University is an example of the opportunities available, but by
no means the only one.
MCS should,
with IPA assistance, take a greater role in the selection, preparation
and placement of civil servants sent for graduate studies abroad. The
quality of each of these activities is critical to the value of the
training received. At present candidates too often are not well prepared
before they leave and are not enrolled in the best universities to which
they could be admitted. This produces lower returns on training
investments than are available. Well-selected graduate programs abroad
could be so valuable to the country that the present system of sending
new people abroad only after someone already abroad returns should be
reconsidered. Methodologies for improving selection, preparation and
placement, which could be provided through a UNDP/MDP project, will be
discussed in more detail in the report.
Other measures
for improving the quality of the Omanization process could include
arranging for after‑hours courses at the University and at
technical training institutes, and devising incentives systems to reward
Omanis who take advantage of voluntary training opportunities. It should
be possible, for example, for someone who joined the civil service after
secondary school to earn a BA through attending afternoon or evening
courses over a number of years. Those who make the effort to gain
advanced qualifications should be suitably rewarded through promotions,
salary adjustments or allowances. The experience of other nations in
instituting incentives schemes could be made available through UNDP/MDP.
(c) Institute
of Public Administration
The IPA
currently offers a limited range of training courses, which may shortly
be augmented by the initiation of a two-year course for new entrants to
the civil service. There is also a need for more advanced courses, such
as information and communications skills, analytical and quantitative
skills, and financial management, but the specific content of middle
management courses such as these should be determined in consultation
with the client ministries.
At present, the
development of the professional skills of Omani staff of the IPA is in
the early stages and needs to be accelerated and improved through more
attention to quality. Staff being sent abroad for study should be
selected on the basis of academic potential rather than seniority, and
that can be determined initially by staging a competition for admission
to the best universities abroad. In time, selection instruments in the
Arabic language should be developed, as was done in Indonesia.
The maturation
of the IPA could also be accelerated by pairing it with a similar
institution abroad. The arrangement could involve staff exchanges and
training programs, collaborative research on administrative problems,
and joint consultancies on problems of client ministries.
The development
of the IPA should be done parallel with the development of the MCS so
that IPA activities support and complement the work of the Ministry. For
example, MCS may undertake to assist the Development Council in
upgrading the project appraisal system used throughout the Government.
This could involve identifying a source of improved methodology abroad,
sending one member of professional staff from the IPA and one from the
Development Council for training in the methodology, adapting the
methodology to the needs of the Development Council, and organizing
training courses at the IPA for staff from all the ministries expected
to use the improved methodology. Consultants from the source institution
abroad could assist in adapting the methodology to Oman’s needs and
help to organize the first course at the IPA.
In this way,
the MCS and IPA would provide a service to the Development Council and
other ministries by helping to upgrade their methods of project
appraisal and train staff in its use. Similar services could be provided
to upgrade a wide variety of systems such as public sector budgeting,
agricultural planning, hospital management, public enterprise
management, and educational policy analysis. The contribution of MCS,
with UNDP/MDP assistance, in identifying appropriate sources of advanced
methodologies, adapting them to the needs and circumstances of Oman, and
training civil servants in their use, would make the Ministry a powerful
force for management development in the country. The IPA would also gain
stature by participating in the process.
Another
contribution the IPA could make by is the development of a
pre‑departure course for preparing graduate school candidates. By
upgrading language, mathematical and analytical skills here, it will
become possible for Omani candidates to gain admission to more rigorous
educational institutions abroad than has generally been the case in the
past. (PDO already has a pre-departure preparation course that could be
a model for IPA, but I was unable to see it.)
(d) Position
Classification
Position
classification is a fairly routine but essential step in the further
professionalization of the Omani civil service. It is a building block
for improving recruitment, performance evaluation, and promotion
systems, and for facilitating interministerial mobility.
It seems to me
unlikely, however, that the UNDP/MDP would have a comparative advantage
in assisting the Government in this matter. Position classification is
largely a matter of working out the system to be employed, organizing
people from the personnel sections of the various ministries and
training them as job analysts, setting timetables for accomplishment of
the process, and monitoring progress. The MCS should not itself
undertake to do the classification in other ministries; that would take
forever. It should organize and supervise the effort, and get it done in
the shortest possible time. External expertise, beyond that available
from advisors already employed by the Ministry, should not be required.
CONCLUSION
To summarize
the conclusions of this Mission, I recommend that the Government
concentrate on improving the quality of the analytical and management
systems it uses, and the qualifications of the Omanis it employs. This
will have more healthy results for Oman in the long run than placing
undue stress just now on the replacement of expatriates in the shortest
possible time.
If emphasis is
to be placed on quality considerations, the UNDP/MDP could assist the
MCS and IPA in gaining access to advanced systems and in improving the
overseas and domestic training process for public servants.
The UNDP/MDP
project to be proposed would not provide consultants or advisors to do
the work. It would instead provide consultants to guide working groups
or task forces of Omanis on the accomplishment of their tasks, and to
monitor progress. It would not seek to import foreign models and plug
them in in Oman. It would, instead, work with Omanis to adapt foreign
experience to the needs and conditions of Oman and then help train
Omanis in utilizing the resulting methodologies. The operational
dynamics of the proposal will be elaborated in the final report.
If the
Government in interested in pursuing further the strategies suggested in
this Aide-Memoire, the next step could be the visit of a team of
specialists to work with designated Omani officials to produce project
proposals for the Government’s consideration. The UNDP/MDP team could
include people with experience in development management, overseas
training systems, institutional pairing arrangements, and one or two of
the management systems selected by the Government for initial attention
(such as project appraisal). The Omani officials might be selected from
the Ministry and the IPA, plus whatever client ministry would be
appropriate to the system chosen for initial attention.
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