Government reform and human resources--the Taiwan experience delivered at the IPMA-HR thirtieth...

The Constitution of the Republic of China, which is in force in Taiwan, sets out a five-branch system. In addition to the usual executive, legislative and judicial branches, there are two other independent authorities, which address examination and administrative oversight respectively. The

The Executive Yuan is the top administrative agency, with 36 ministries and committees under it. Its top official, the premier, is appointed by the president. The Legislative Yuan is the country's top legislative body. It represents the people in exercising their rights to legislate, and holds the right of approval for presidential appointments to the Judicial, Examination and Control Yuans.

The Judicial Yuan is the nation's supreme legal body, and is charged with interpreting civil, criminal and administrative law, as well as handling disciplinary matters involving government officials. The Examination Yuan is the nation's highest examination authority and is responsible for the administration of all civil service examinations as well as those for the professions and technical occupations. It governs the civil service and, through the three ministries below it, is responsible for all government personnel matters. These include assessment, employment and dismissal, salaries and benefits, incentives, performance evaluations, protections, promotion, retirement, pensions, posthumous benefits, etc. The Control Yuan, meanwhile, is the nation's supervisory watchdog, and handles matters of impeachment, censure and audit. It has one affiliated ministry.

A Historical Perspective on Government Reform in Taiwan

It can be said that government reform has been underway in Taiwan for 50 years, with each successive wave being characterized by a different scope and set of goals. In each instance, nonetheless, the efforts targeted improvements at the administrative level in order to enhance performance and improve service to the public. In comparison, political reforms or reforms at the political level were less prominent. The reason for this had to do with the fact that a period of economic transformation was driving a period of social change, and the notions of political reform were at a very early stage.

With the lifting of martial law in 1987 and the subsequent restoration of democratic institutions, the political environment began gradually to evolve towards a more varied configuration. In administrative terms, the excessive numbers of layers in the bureaucracy and an unclear division of responsibilities were inhibiting government's ability to address the actual needs of society. Even though internal reforms were implemented at every level, the public still did not experience any obvious improvement in government performance. In 1993, the Executive Yuan launched a new program of reforms and set up bodies to monitor their implementation. Over the next three years of effort, the Organic Law of the Executive Yuan was amended on two occasions, without, however, these amendments being approved by the legislature.

In 1997, the big knives came out, and under a simplification program, the functions of the Taiwan provincial government were transferred to the central government, thus reducing the number of levels of government from four to three. This was also the first time such a significant set of political reforms had been implemented on the island.

Governmental reform was quite an international trend at the time, and for its part, Taiwan's Executive Yuan issued in 1998 a set of guidelines for administrative reform that emphasized three areas of activity--organizational reform, human resources and services reform, and legal reform--for priority consideration. At the organizational level, in addition to completing the work of transferring the duties of the former provincial government to the central government, two major laws were drafted addressing organizational standards for central government agencies and the numbers of personnel to be employed by government agencies respectively. (These were the Basic Organizational Code for Central Government Agencies (5 Draft) and the Code for Total Staff Size of Central Government Agencies; see Part below). Consensus was not reached on the contents of these initiatives in the legislature, however, and discussion of them was halted when the legislature adjourned that year.

The presidential elections in March 2000 led to a change of ruling party, and the incoming administration was confronted by negative economic growth and high unemployment in the face of a global recession. In a bid to improve the overall competitiveness of the country, President Chen Shui-bian formed and chaired a Government Reform Committee in October 2001 that included prominent figures from across the public and private sectors. The committee was given the task of coming up with recommendations for fundamental and all-encompassing reforms, and at its first sitting, set out its vision in the terms: Active Government with Global Competitiveness. This articulated the principles of customer-orientation, flexible innovation, partnership, responsible government, and ethical government. Its goals included "simple, flexible administrative organizations, a professional, performance-oriented personnel system, decentralized and cooperative government structures, reforms to legislative bodies in step with the popular will."

For its part, the Executive Yuan founded an Organizational Reform Committee in May 2002 that was comprised of six subcommittees working in one of two main areas--functional adjustment or support mechanisms. The functional adjustment group included the subcommittees for central administration agencies, central-regional partnerships, and people-government partnerships. The support mechanisms group included subcommittees for expenses, personnel and laws. Because the substance of governmental reform involves adjustments in organization, human resources, services and regulations, it can only be accomplished through cooperation among all agencies in all respects. The direction of reform can best be determined by referring to the experiences of other governments in this regard, abandoning the "big government" models of the past and moving toward a lean and capable ideal. The most important outcomes of this raft of reforms concerning the restructuring of central administrative agencies are presented in greater detail below.

Current Organizational Reforms in the Executive Yuan

1. Organizational Deficiencies

There are presently some 36 subsidiary ministries and committees under the Executive Yuan, far more than the average of 15.7 in most advanced countries. Under these agencies are a further 336 tertiary administrative units. The deliberations of the Organizational Reform Committee identified five major deficiencies in the prevailing structural arrangements. These include:

a. The excess of horizontally distributed separate agencies exceeds the scope the premier can efficiently oversee and increases the costs of coordination.

b. The mechanisms for the integrated application of policy are weak, which makes it difficult for the Yuan to fulfill its roles of governance and the integration of policy.

c. The organization has been unable fully to adapt to the transformations in core government functions, which makes it difficult for local governments and the civil society to fully develop their potential.

d. There are too many consultative bodies, leading to redundancy, a scattering of responsibilities, and lack of clarity in the respective functions of the various ministries and committees.

e. The articles of charter of independent agencies are not clearly set out, which results in an inability of these agencies to fully develop the professionalism and neutrality that should characterize them.

2. Organizational Reform Goals

Having identified the deficiencies outlined above, the Organizational Reform Committee set five goals for organizational reform. These are:

a. Simplification of scope: Government should be shrinking, in step with trends that require "decentralization" and "deregulation." The scope of activity of government organizations should be significantly simplified as well.

b. Logical organization: Government agencies should not depart from basic principles of organization. Models for the establishment and organization of secondary-level agencies (ministries and commissions) should be determined according to objective and logical standards.

c. Stronger administrative leadership and integration: In terms of policy planning and coordination, the Executive Yuan should be organized so as to provide timely and adequate support to the premier in ensuring the effective implementation of government policy objectives.

d. Reasonable distinctions between operations and organization: A clear distinction must be made between organization and operations, while a suitable balance must be found in the division of professional responsibilities and in the exercise of authority over specific matters.

e. Flexibility: In order to address the organizational needs that may arise in the context of particular unforeseen situations, flexibility should be built into the legal structures of organizations, favoring a "loosely-knit" orientation.

3. Strategies for Organic Adjustment

In keeping with government trends in advanced nations, in which new governance structures are moving the exercise of powers downward and outward, reforms to the Executive Yuan are based on two premises: "government should not do what the private sector can do," and "the central government should not do what the local governments can do." Under the "4 Reforms Strategy," each agency is required to undertake, in the context of its current duties, a thorough review of the following:

a. Localization of Central Government Powers--This refers to functions performed by agencies of the central government being taken over by local authorities, and a downward shift of operations so that specifically regional and local factors become the main criteria in decisions regarding which level of government should be responsible for which functions. When reviewing these questions, in addition to the necessary discussion of which functions of central government agencies can best be taken over by local governments, it is also necessary to consider at the same time the willingness and ability of these downstream governments to accept these responsibilities.

b. Corporate Structuring of Public Agencies--This refers to matters that are the nation's responsibilities, but which do not need to be handled by a government agency. These duties can be handed to an administrative corporate entity established under public law.

c. Outsourcing Operations--The outsourcing of public functions to private-sector entities can be carried out according to two models: "agency outsourcing" and "task outsourcing." The former refers to the outsourcing of an agency's entire operations to the private-sector, while the latter refers to outsourcing a part of these or specific projects to private-sector entities.

d. Shedding of Duties by Public Agencies--This has to do with deregulation and the reevaluation of government functions from the standpoints of human rights and resource efficiency. When a particular government function is no longer necessary, or has human rights implications, or when performed by a government agency is inefficient, it can be discarded or transferred to the private sector.

The findings of each agency in this process of review with regard to what the agency should "keep" should be considered in the light of "block integration," taking into account such factors as functional interaction, required professional skills, up and downstream connections, etc. A decision can then be made as to whether to retain the function in the original agency, create an entirely new agency to manage it, incorporate it into another agency, or incorporate it into the core functions of the Executive Yuan itself.

The Legal Framework for Organizational Reform

The Research, Development and Evaluation Commission (RDEC) of the Executive Yuan drafted three acts of legislation in 2002 with a view to launching the process of administrative reform. These initiatives, the Basic" Organizational Code for Central Government Agencies (Draft), the Draft Amendments to the Organic Act of the Executive Yuan, and the Draft Provisional Statute on the Adjustment of the Functions, Businesses, and Organizations of the Executive Yuan, in addition to the Code for Total Staff Size of Central Government Agencies and the Draft Administrative Corporation Act produced by the Central Personnel Administration, were passed by the Executive Yuan and the Examination Yuan, and jointly forwarded to the Legislative Yuan. (The interrelationships of these five laws are illustrated in Figure 1, next page).

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

The Basic Organizational Code for Central Government Agencies (Draft) was revised and passed by the Legislative Yuan and signed into law by the President as the Basic Organizational Code for Central Administrative Agencies in June, 2004. These laws set out the basic structures for administrative agencies and represent a significant milestone in Taiwan's march to government reform. The main elements of the five laws are summarized below:

1. Basic Organizational Code for Central Administrative Agencies

This law sets out for the agencies at each level and the names of units within them the items that should be covered by their organic laws, the conditions and procedures for their creation, adjustment or abolition, their limits of authority and important areas of operation, and the number and scope of secondary- and tertiary-level agencies under the Executive Yuan, as well as the units within these and standards for their creation. (The number of secondary- and tertiary-level agencies has been reduced from 36 and 336 respectively to 22 and 50, while the number of individual departments in secondary-level agencies has been reduced from more than 200 to 104). After its reordering under the Basic Organizational Code, the Executive Yuan counts fewer agencies below it, but these are in general larger than before. Tertiary agencies in particular are often quite larger than secondary ones.

Under the Code, administrative agencies have the authority to establish fourth-level agencies on their own initiative. This gives them the greater flexibility to respond to needs when and where they arise by adjusting their organizational setup, and is in line with the stated goal to maintain loosely knit structures. In addition, the Code simplifies the areas that organic laws are required to stipulate. For example, as agency staff" numbers need no longer be written into law, administrative bodies no longer need to have amendments to their organic laws passed by the Legislative Yuan in order to increase or reduce staff numbers. This gives them the right to decide staffing matters independently.

2. Draft Amendments to the Organic Act of the Executive Yuan

Subsequent to the adjustments stipulated in the Basic Organizational Code, the organic structure of the Executive Yuan will be changed to comprise 13 ministries, four commissions and five politically independent agencies classed for structural reasons as secondary agencies. Among these, the new core functions of the traditional eight ministries will be reflected in their names: the Ministry of the Interior and Homeland Security, the Ministry of Foreign and Overseas Compatriot Affairs, the Ministry of Defense and Veterans Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education and Sports, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Transportation and Construction.

In response to new demands, five new ministries will be created: The Ministries of Labor and Human Resources, of Agriculture, of Health and Social Security, of Resources and the Environment, and of Tourism and Culture respectively. The coordinating functions of the "four commissions," meanwhile, will be strengthened in their new configurations as the National Development and Technology Commission, the Maritime Affairs Commission, the Indigenous People's Affairs Commission and the Hakka Affairs Commission.

At the same time, in order to boost the strategic planning capacity of the Executive Yuan itself, its internal structures are to be addressed by a group of nine to 11 ministers without portfolio. The heads of the commissions may be one of these ministers without portfolio, or persons of equivalent rank. There will also be a chief accountant, a director of personnel, a chief legal officer and a chief of information technology who will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of government budgets and accounting, civil service resources and organization, legal affairs and information technology respectively. Responsibility for the National Palace Museum, formerly under the Executive Yuan, is to be transferred to the Office of the President. (An "organigram" of the revamped Executive Yuan is shown in Figure 2).

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

3. The Draft Administrative Corporation Act

The Draft Administrative Corporation Act sets out a range of principles that can act as the organic basis for the establishment of public administrative corporations. On the one hand, the Act aims to loosen up such regulatory strictures as concern personnel and accounting procedures, for example, so that these bodies can set their own policies in these areas, as well as in internal controls, auditing procedures, etc. In addition, it provides for a suitable system of internal and external oversight and performance evaluation so as to ensure that the twin goals of professionalism and high performance are duly met.

On the other hand, corporate business practices are borrowed in a bid to upgrade performance. With regard to such public corporations, the law sets out clear frameworks to govern government subsidies, assets management, the contracting of loans and debt management, as well as the rights and protections due to civil servants working for a government agency that is transformed into such a corporation.

In order to smooth the implementation of these laws and to keep the overall process under control, the Executive Yuan has drafted pertinent administrative regulations, such as the principles for the establishment of independent agencies, and has requested all existing agencies to refrain from amending their organic and related laws while the Executive Yuan's own draft Organic Act is still pending.

Human Resources Management

Because of the strict limits the Basic Organizational Code places on the scope of the agencies it addresses, the process of reshaping the Executive Yuan will affect almost all its affiliated agencies in varying degrees, from outright abolition to mergers, changes of affiliation, restructuring and operational simplification. The far-reaching nature of these reforms is sure to exert considerable impact upon operational methods and the allocation of human resources. Achievement on the one hand of the restructuring goals, and assurance on the other that adequate numbers of personnel of the quality required to ensure the future development of government organizations can be hired, will require a complementary set of mechanisms to be put in place. In response to this situation, the Executive and Examination Yuans have put in motion the following measures:

1. Logical Staffing Arrangements: More Intensive Staff Assessments, Logical Allocation of Staff Numbers, Slimming Down of Total Numbers

The Executive Yuan has since 2001 utilized the budget review process to keep the growth of civil service numbers under control and requires all agencies to implement the "4 reforms strategy" and reduce their personnel of all types year by year. In consultation with the various agencies and relevant experts, the Central Personnel Administration has formed a Human Resources Assessment Service Group

which targets 10 to 20 major agencies per year to perform personnel assessments, then oversees the strict implementation of its conclusions, a process which results in more logical structuring of agency staffs.

In order to support a reasonable allocation of personnel numbers in the reform process underway, the Central Personnel Administration has produced a Personnel Allocation (and Transfer) Plan for Executive Yuan Reform. This document stipulates that agencies, which under their current structures are not able to accept inward personnel transfers, should adopt interim provisions to allow this. Subsequently, they should determine in light of their actual operational needs a reasonable level of staffing, and then, by offering early retirement packages and by natural attrition, reduce their numbers to this level. Once the process of structural adjustment is complete, further transfers of personnel should be carried out in accordance with regulations. Parent agencies should periodically conduct staffing assessments in the agencies subordinate to them, determine any adjustments needed and, as appropriate, continue the process of slimming down by natural attrition.

Another preemptive measure taken by the Central Personnel Administration is in the form of the Guiding Principles for Staff Reduction by Administrative Agencies. This document requires agencies that have to reduce staff, whether for reasons of abolition, merger, restructuring or change of orientation, to ensure that these reductions do not represent less than four percent of current staff, or 100 persons, and stipulate that once this initial slimming is completed, new staff may not be hired as replacements. In addition, these reductions must be reflected in annual budgets and no increases may be requested within five years. The maximum severance bonus allowed to personnel made redundant in the restructuring is seven full months of salary and benefits (in addition to their duly acquired pension benefits). The objective of this initiative is to bring staffing numbers at government agencies in line with the upper limits stipulated in the draft Code for Total Staff Size, and therefore mitigate the impact of the sudden staff reductions that will be mandated when the new Executive Yuan Organic Act and the Code for Total Staff Size are passed into law.

Staffing at central government agencies has in fact been in decline since 2001, with numbers having been cut by 67,493 persons by 2004--18,403 in government agencies and 49.09 in state-owned enterprises--an average annual reduction of 3.57 percent. The Executive Yuan staffing budget for 2005 provides for 193,000 staff, a figure that is already below the maximum of 200,000 set out in the Code for Total Staff Size.

2. Improving Staff Numbers Management: Overall Numbers Control, Flexibility in Allocations

Staff numbers are an important factor in all organizations, and whether management can stay abreast of policies and operational needs while allowing for flexible adjustment as needed goes to the heart of the efficiency and performance of government itself. In the past, the organic laws of government agencies set out in specific detail the numbers of persons to be employed at each level. This meant that agencies had to change their structures in order to accommodate various policy changes or operational requirements, or even, when special hiring needs arose, that changes had to be legislated to their Organic Acts. This of course led to extra work for legislative organs as well as general difficulties in adapting an agency to its actual needs. In order to encourage flexibility in personnel use and improve the country's competitiveness, the draft Code for Total Staff Size of the Central Personnel.

Administration of the Executive Yuan has put in place a supple regimen for personnel management that codifies guiding principles to maintain reasonable numbers of government personnel while also providing for flexible adjustments in these. This process has been conducted under the budgetary oversight of the legislature.

This draft law contains the following provisions:

1. It establishes six types of staff and sets the upper limit of central government employees at 200,000 while mandating a reduction of 2,500 per year for six years, which will reduce staffing to 185,000 at that time.

2. Proportions are set for the number of staff to be assigned to agencies' auxiliary services.

3. The rights, responsibilities and procedures are set out for determining agency personnel numbers.

4. The factors to be considered when allocating personnel within an agency, the principles of personnel planning and allocation, cutting staff, opportunities for adjustments or transfers are defined.

5. It specifies the important matters to take into consideration when special circumstances compel an increase in staff during the year and how to process this.

6. It sets out methods and approaches for personnel assessments.

7. In addition, so as to encourage outsourcing, corporatization, localization, deregulation and privatization, methods for handling relevant personnel issues are set out, while provisions are made for the reallocation to secondary agencies of a certain proportion of personnel made redundant.

The spirit behind this law is to give agencies the authority to use their human resources with the flexibility they need. Once the legislation is passed, the staffing numbers for secondary-level agencies will be set by their parent agency, while those for tertiary- and fourth-level agencies will be formulated by the secondary agency above them, which will make the allocations request of the parent agency.

In other words, agencies at any level may, within the scope of the staff allocated to them, respond to the operational needs of the agencies directly below them and make staff planning and allocation decisions with great flexibility.

3. Workers' Rights: Protecting the Rights and Interests of Workers and Encouraging Early Retirement

In order to move the staffing numbers of the whole Executive Yuan structure toward the staff reduction goals in as short a time as possible, the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission has formulated the Draft Provisional Statute on the Adjustment of the Functions, Businesses, and Organizations of the Executive Yuan. This draft statute stipulates that all legally hired civil servants, hired personnel, security guards, auxiliary workers, retired or semi-retired workers, retired civil servants, dependants receiving benefits, etc. are eligible for the protections set out in this statute, and that these are not limited to persons affected by abolitions, mergers or restructurings. The protections and benefits it provides for include:

1. Benefits for Voluntary Retirees:

Civil Servants: Attractive measures are in place such as a reduction in the number of years of mandatory service required before taking voluntary retirement and allocation of a bonus that can be up to seven full months of salary and benefits to people who do take early retirement. Any person is eligible who matches one of these criteria: 20 years of service; 10 years of service and 50 years of age; or, three years of service at the highest attainable pay grade. Among these, persons retiring who have 20 years of service and are 50 years of age can choose to receive their retirement fund in a lump sum or in a partial lump-sum partial monthly pension arrangement; this is comparable to the conditions available only after 25 years of service under the current system. In addition, the conditions for receiving a monthly pension for persons over the age of 50 have been significantly relaxed. Statistics show that some 60,000 persons will be eligible for this arrangement. It is expected that a large number of these will take advantage of the offer when it is passed into law. Other employees: In addition to the other benefits that are available according to a person's specific position, a bonus of up to seven months' salary and benefits will be offered.

2. Protections for the Rights and Interests of Civil Servants:

Relaxation of Restrictions for Qualifiers in Special Examinations: In Taiwan, the government enforces transfer restrictions on civil servants, particularly on persons who qualify for the civil service in special examinations. Current regulations stipulate that such persons must work for six years in the agency sponsoring the examination they qualified in before being able to transfer to another agency. In the interests of persons who are subject to this restriction and in order to comply with the greater flexibility for personnel mobility required under the Executive Yuan's new organization, this restriction will be relaxed as is suitable at the time each agency is restructured.

Postings for Transferred Personnel: In order to uphold the rights and interests of civil servants who are transferred, their new agency should find a post for them within their organization of a rank and grade equivalent to that which they have left. If no such position is available, one at a lower grade may be allocated, but the person shall retain the rank and benefits of his or her original position.

Salary and Benefits for Transferred Personnel: The years of service and acquired benefits of transferred personnel will be assessed as stipulated in the Civil Service Pay Act. Persons whose technical or professional emoluments are lower in their new position, as well as executive ranks who are transferred to a non-executive position, are eligible to receive compensation up to the level of their original salary package only; they are not eligible for further increases that may accrue to their original position. With respect to senior-grade non-executive civil servants who are in an executive position and receiving an emolument in consequence, they remain non-executives after transfer. Their cases shall be considered in common with the other senior-grade non-executive civil servants in their new agency and handled in accordance with the provisions of the Regulations for Civil Servant Emoluments.

4. Strengthening Employees' Core Abilities: Determining

Core Abilities and Setting Up Effective Training Programs The term "core abilities" refers to the "talents, knowledge, skills, judgment, attitudes, values and character that play a role in workplace success." Based on the levels in an organization and the division of labor, these can be divided into "core management abilities" and "core professional abilities." The former refers to what a person in a management position needs in order to achieve management goals, while the latter refers to what is needed in a particular professional position or other field of work.

With regard to the new ministries that are to be created after the restructuring of the Executive Yuan, these will require new personnel to carry out the new business at hand. In order to train the personnel these new agencies need, the Executive Yuan defined in February 2004 the six abilities required in middle- and top-executive positions.

For high-level executives (12th grade of the civil service and above), these were defined as: creating and shaping vision, strategic analysis, handling of crisis and reform, group motivation and leadership, cross-boundary coordination and performance management.

For mid-level executives (9th grade of the civil service and above), these core abilities were defined as: customer-oriented services, knowledge management and application, time and process management, communication and conflict resolution, guidance and the passing-on of experience, goal-setting and execution.

The Central Personnel Administration of the Executive Yuan has also drawn up a Table for the Assessment of Core Management Abilities at Mid- and High-Executive Levels, which is provided to agencies for their reference in determining the command of such abilities in their personnel and designing personal training and development programs as may be required. In addition, in January, 2005, the Executive Yuan issued its Methods for Selection of Core Professional Abilities by Subordinate Agencies, which required these agencies to determine specific core abilities of importance to their operations, and report these to the Central Personnel Administration so that they might be incorporated into training and educational programs and contribute to a general enhancement of the quality of the civil service.

5. Training for Changes in Specialization: Developing Second Specializations Through a Diversified Training Methodology

In January, 2005, the Central Personnel Administration of the Executive Yuan set out a training plan for changes in specializations, which aims to:

a. Respond to adjustments in the organization and operations of the Executive Yuan. As the various agencies proceed with restructuring, this will involve transfers, re-placement and revised duties for civil servants.

b. Develop a second area of expertise for civil servants. This will assist personnel in adapting to and developing in their new duties and enable them to easily switch classifications or take over new positions. The flexibility will further the goals of human resources development and placing personnel in positions most suitable for them.

c. Enhance the necessary professional abilities of civil service personnel in their current or future positions. This builds up reserves of specializations and core abilities and is of benefit to the development of agency operations.

These training programs address:

1. Civil servants whose original qualifications or professional abilities do not match the requirements of their new duties subsequent to their re-placement in a new agency.

2. Civil servants who remain in their original agency after restructuring, but are moved to a new job that requires different specializations or functions.

3. Personnel of an auxiliary service that experiences staff cuts, and who have to be transferred to regular agency operations;

4. Personnel whose specializations do not match their new jobs.

5. Personnel appointed to new areas of agency operation and require training to support this development.

Varied training methodologies apply:

1. Training classes: Courses will be designed to address the needs of each area of specialization of job groups or classifications, and administered in centralized or dispersed sessions.

2. Study placements: Depending on the nature of the changes to be carried out in an agency, personnel may be sent to the agency they are to be transferred to, or to another agency with similar operations, in order to obtain on-site training in a new specialization.

3. External courses: As the operational requirements of an agency may require, training plans should include sending personnel to approved training institutions to receive appropriate training or further education.

4. Digital learning: Agencies should set up on their own initiative network-based training courses that use digital learning platforms to deliver training in the necessary specializations. These courses may be contracted out or obtained through agencies approved by the Central Personnel Administration.

6. Total Restructuring of Job Classifications: Re-ordering of Job Groups and Classifications, and Revisions to Job Descriptions

Job classifications in the civil service are determined and distinguished one from the other in terms of the nature of work performed and level of education required. The purpose of such classifications is to enable recruitment and assignment to posts according to specific criteria, so as ensure that persons are qualified and suited for the posts they occupy. Whether or not these distinctions are logical and appropriate has a direct bearing on the operations of an agency, and they should be able to be modified at any time as the operations of an agency undergo change or experience development.

The job classifications defined in 1987 by the Ministry of Civil Service have been in place for some time now, and for the most part have not undergone revision, addition or cancellation. They are, in fact, at some variance with the actual current operations and state of development of government operations and cannot be fully adapted to the needs of the agencies that will emerge from the forthcoming government restructuring. An ad-hoc committee formed to address this issue presented the conclusions of its thoroughgoing three-year deliberations in August 2004. The committee recommends that the original 31 job categories be increased to 43, while the number of subsidiary classifications also be increased from 60 to 84. In addition, it recommends the creation of 11 wholly new classifications to meet current requirements. This total of 95 job classifications will require a series of new or revised job descriptions. This new system of job classifications in the civil service is slated for implementation in 2006.

7. Improvements in Examination.based Recruitment: Simplification and Conflation of Examination Disciplines, Testing for Professional Core Abilities

In order to come into line with the new series of job categories and classifications and the revised service manuals noted above and therefore to meet the needs of employing agencies, the Ministry. of Examination is upgrading coordination of matters pertaining to education, examination, training and employment.

In July 2004, an evaluation was undertaken to determine the suitability of the examination disciplines, candidate eligibility requirements and subjects tested in examinations. The outcome of the study was a recommendation that the number of disciplines addressed in the senior, junior and elementary examinations and civil service rank promotion examinations be reduced from 563 to 460.

The modifications in the candidate eligibility requirements and subjects to be tested in each discipline are to be phased into the administration of civil service examinations starting in 2006. The efficiency of the examination process will be enhanced through a reduction in the number of subjects to be tested, alignment with the contents of job service manuals, reference to the desired core abilities determined by the various agencies of the Executive Yuan, an overall requirement for English language skills, etc. Such improvements should lead to concurrent improvements in the quality of persons recruited to the civil service and a strengthening of the country's competitive profile.

In addition, in order to improve understanding of the civil service examination system among youth and the society at large, the Ministry of Examination has developed a National Examinations Orientation Project that seeks to attract promising talent through a variety of channels to challenge examinations and contribute to an overall upgrade of the civil service.

8. Intellectual Capital Management: Promotion of Knowledge Management, Innovations in Agency Core Knowledge

Civil servants constitute the government elite and are by nature knowledge workers. It is therefore a critical concern for the government, in its efforts to maintain the country's competitive advantage, to retain such valuable personnel at the moment of restructuring so that a large-scale hemorrhage of talent does not lead to fault lines or outright gaps in institutional memory. Indeed, initiatives to enhance innovation and performance are vigorously encouraged as the government faces the impact of its far-reaching reforms.

Because of the sheer scope of the organizational reforms to be brought to the Executive Yuan, there will be a great corresponding reshuffling of the nation's civil servants. Such movements will include, for example, personnel in all the agencies affected by the "4 Reforms," who may see their jobs abolished or transformed, or their agencies shifted from central to local government control.

In agencies that are to be retained in their current forms, civil servants may still face staff cuts, mergers, changes of affiliation, reorganization or abolition of posts. High-level or long-service civil servants who opt for early retirement under the provisions of the Draft Provisional Statute on the Adjustment of the Function& Businesses, and Organizations of the Executive Yuan once this law is passed will, almost immediately, leave the service, move to the private sector or go into teaching.

In order to prevent a hemorrhage of talent during the restructuring process, the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission of the Executive Yuan issued in April, 2004 a document setting out Major Points for Improving Research and Innovation in Agencies of the Executive Yuan, which required agencies to utilize knowledge management methodologies to promote work in the areas of research and innovation.

Approaches advocated include the development of innovation implementation plans, and the establishment of agency knowledge dossiers, agency personnel data banks, internal knowledge communities, knowledge management platforms and incentive programs to encourage the sharing of knowledge. Together, these measures aim to promote the conservation and sharing of, and innovation in, core knowledge. At present, the majority of secondary and tertiary agencies of the Executive Yuan have established knowledge management and information systems, and are actively pursuing the opportunities these tools offer.

Conclusion

In comparison to Taiwan's last major government reorganization effort, the absorption of the former provincial government, this current move to restructure the Executive Yuan is broader in scope and goes far deeper. In addition, its effects will not be felt at the central level only, for once the process is underway there will be a definite trickledown effect that will lead to adjustments in local governments as well. In short, governing structures of the whole country will be affected. This restructuring plan is one of major proportions, and its degree of success will have a determining influence on the place Taiwan will occupy within the international community in the 21st century.

The work of a number of agencies over several years, this restructuring project saw its first material steps taken last year with the drafting of essential legislation and the completion of plans for the reorganization of Executive Yuan structures and accessory matters. Opportunities to move ahead with the overall restructuring plan have been missed, however, due to delays in the legislative process attributable to the fact that the majority party in the executive branch remains in opposition in the legislature. Government reform also requires more than the support of its civil servants and legislature, but also needs to be supported by the civil society at large. Once the remaining four pieces of essential legislation are passed, the new structures designed for a revamped Executive Yuan will be implemented as of January 2006.

The implementation of a new raft of structures does not, however, signal the end of the reform process. It will rather be the beginning of a new set of challenges and a new, long road to travel as the new organs created integrate their human resources and move towards the creation of a new set of institutional values.

Only when a superior organizational culture has been shaped can agency performance be improved, only when a high level of morale can be assured, can all reforms really be accomplished. Similarly, only when good working relationships have been established among its various agencies can government performance truly be maximized, and only when leaders of wisdom, courage and stamina take the reins of these agencies can these desirable and necessary ends be truly achieved. It scarcely needs to be said that any efforts toward large-scale government reform are fraught with risk, and the hardest part of any such efforts is the reengineering of administrative structures. Furthermore, this is a road from which there is no viable return, and its ultimate effects can really only be measured after the passage of a considerable period of time.

Chia-Cheng Lin, Ph.D.

Minister

Taiwan Ministry of Examination

1-1 Shihyuan Road

11602 Taipei, Taiwan

Phone: 886-2-22363683

Fax: 886-2-22360555

E-mail: 0380@mail.moex.gov.tw

Born in 1952, Dr. Chia-Cheng Lin was educated at National Taiwan University, where he graduated in economics before going on to earn a master's degree and a doctorate in political science. He began a professional academic career as an associate and then full professor in the Department of Sociology at Taipei's Soochow University, while also working as the chief editorialist for a leading daily newspaper. Lin entered public service as chairman of the Research and Evaluation Committee of the Taipei City Government and then as political deputy mayor. In 1999, he joined the presidential campaign of Chen Shui-bian as chairman of the National Policy Blueprint Committee, and subsequently entered the Executive Yuan Cabinet as chairman of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission. At present, Lin is the minister of examination in the national government of Taiwan. During his four years as chairman of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, Lin also served as executive secretary of the presidential office's Government Restructuring Commission and chief executive of the Government Reform Commission of the Executive Yuan. His experience of and contributions to the cause of government restructuring are thus extensive. Lin's current responsibilities include setting and implementing policies governing the examination and selection of personnel for the nation's civil service as well as those for professional and technical examinations. He is the author of 35 scholarly articles and 13 books on a variety of subjects, and has presented papers at 12 academic conferences.