Implementation of Civil Service Legislation in Vietnam: Strengthening Elements of a Position-Based System
Saskia P. Bruynooghe
Trina Q. Firmalo
Ann E. Futrell
Jonathon A. Kent
Rohan Mukherjee
Isy Faingold Vigil
The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf(CBTL), Business strategy case study
2009 04 01 Implementation Of Civil Service Legislation In Vietnam
1. Implementation of Civil Service
Legislation in Vietnam:
Strengthening Elements of a Position-Based System
Team Members:
Saskia P. Bruynooghe Trina Q. Firmalo
Ann E. Futrell Jonathon A. Kent
Rohan Mukherjee Isy Faingold Vigil
Princeton University
April 2009
2. Position vs. Career-Based Systems
Research Question / Methodology
Research Focus: Career Paths
1. Recruitment and Retention
2. Performance Management
3. Compensation/Incentives
◦ Findings
◦ Recommendations
◦ Challenges
4. Research Question
How can the Government of Vietnam and other
◦
interested parties strengthen the position-based
elements of Vietnam’s largely career-based civil
service?
Methodology
Interviews
◦
Vietnamese government officials
Donor agencies
Civil service employees
Quantitative data
◦
MOHA, GSO2003
5. Predominantly career-based
Lack of transparency in recruitment procedures
and proper training of interviewers
Higher-level positions are primarily filled from
within the Civil Service or party; selection
criteria are largely political
Rapid economic growth has pulled qualified
civil servants to the private sector
6. Attract high quality candidates
Improve perception of CS as elite workforce
Improve outreach via multiple channels
Increase transparency and quality of
recruitment process
Carry out job analyses and create job
descriptions that will be used in
recruitment
Improve training and retraining methods
Continue experimenting with lateral
recruitment at senior and middle levels
7. Develop human resources to a professional
level
Institute reforms to compete for talent with
private sector
Overcome bureaucratic retrenchment and
political resistance
8. Three-tiered assessments
Self-evaluation
◦
Peer review
◦
Evaluation by immediate superior
◦
Focus on character traits and compliance
with general principles rather than job-
specific targets
Emphasis on avoiding noncompliance
9. Delegate more responsibility to agencies
Use job descriptions as baseline
Strengthen communication and
accountability through negotiated
‘development contracts’
Link individual, group and agency
performance
Streamline responses to poor performance
via a clear and formal process
Focus on positive incentives for good
10. Develop relevant performance indicators
Address goal displacement and gaming
strategies
Manage expectations about a feasible
pace of change
Design tools and procedures that work in
the Vietnamese context
11. Pay is based on a salary scale anchored on
minimum wage, with coefficients
Salary scale is relatively compressed
Many civil servants supplement income with
other sources
Civil servants receive non-wage benefits
and incentives worth more than their salary
12. Minimum Wage Increases and Inflation Rates (1994-2003)
Source: Government of Vietnam General Statistics Office (2003) in “Sequencing Civil Service
Pay Reforms in Vietnam: Transition or Leapfrog?”. Martin Painter, 2006.
13.
14. Study possibility of wage decompression
Continue sustainable and practicable wage
increases, especially for professional and
administrative workers
Enhance quality of the work environment
Establish mentoring programs
Emphasize non-financial incentives
Establish group incentives
15. Carrying out wage reform taking into
consideration size of government wage bill
Implementing decompression
Efficiency measures (e.g. rightsizing)
Overcoming resistance to change
Addressing misperception / lack of
information about the wage gap
Sorting out legitimate vs. illegitimate
sources of income
16. Moving towards a more position-based
civil service would support PFM reform in
particular, and the PAR MP in general, by:
◦ attracting the right people for the right jobs
◦ monitoring employees with improved
performance management measures
◦ having higher levels of retention with attractive
compensation packages
Editor's Notes
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Merit-based civil services can be broken down into two types: career-based and position-based. A career-based system is considered to be a largely closed system that promotes individuals from lower-rank to higher rank positions. A position-based system is considered to be a system where the best-suited candidate depending upon there experience and training relevant to the position. In such a system, specialization is key. In practice, no country uses an entirely career-based or position-based CS but rather they fall in a continuum between the two extremes (and use elements of both) as seen here. uses elements of both depending on the specific needs of the country at a given time and what is politically feasible.<number>
While there are various areas of civil service reform, our team decided to focus on three career path areas, in particular the following areas of recruitment and retention, performance management and compensation/incentives<number>
Case: Ministry of Finance – many left to work in the private sector<number>
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performance-related promotionCompetitive salaries for finance people<number>