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Reform is more than just a numbers game

The Government Reform Com-mittee (政府改造委員會), organized by the Presidential Office to implement the resolutions passed by the Economic Development Advisory Conference, has been established and has convened its first meeting. I sincerely hope the government will be successfully reformed and streamlined, that its efficiency will increase, its service will improve and industrial competitiveness strengthen.

In the past, government restructuring has always been the responsibility of the Executive Yuan. But this time there has been much ado about the elevation of restructuring to the presidential level, with the head of state presiding over the process. Whether it will be successful remains to be seen.

Restructuring is so far focusing on "weight-loss," meaning reducing the number of agencies. I want to point out, however, that government restructuring must review everything to succeed. It should not be restricted to the number of agencies, but should also include reducing employee numbers and rationalizing the official ranking structure.

Even more important is the use of information technology; the use of the Internet to simplify things for the public, tight information management, accumulating institutional experience and transforming implicit knowledge to explicit knowledge, simplifying procedures for the customer (the public) and amending laws and regulations to improve customer satisfaction.

If we look at restructuring in terms of these goals, then the committee has one great shortcoming: There is no customer participation. In the end, restructuring is just another procedure, but customer satisfaction is the ultimate goal.

According to the plans revealed in the media, organizational streamlining means that some of the agencies will not be downsized or merged. They will simply be excluded from the number of departments and committees under the Cabinet. This gives rise to the worry that this kind of restructuring will simply become a numbers game.

The whole government system needs to be completely changed -- vertically, horizontally, inside and out.

First, the vertical tiers. When the Taiwan Provincial Government was streamlined, it seemed on the surface as though the goal of eliminating one level had been reached. But in reality most provincial government units were reincarnated in new guises, transformed into each department's "central Taiwan office." The number of employees was not reduced, and instead office ranks were elevated.

And if the provincial government can be "frozen," why does the Fujian Provincial government still exist?

It makes one wonder whether the stated goal of streamlining at the time really was to raise

efficiency.

The focus of horizontal restructuring is on ministries and councils. But limiting it to ministries and councils under the Executive Yuan, while excluding the other arms of government, will make it impossible to complete the streamlining and restructuring in one effort.

Looking at the third tier of agencies, each ministry and council -- based on departmentalism -- is expanding its scope by creating independent agencies from their internal units, displaying the importance of the unit by the number of its employees. Bloated organizations, extending the time needed for circulating and discussing official documents, do not meet the requirements for efficiency at all.

Looking at internal agency units and official ranks, we also find quite a lot of room for restructuring. As for internal units, one common problem is too detailed a division. Personnel administration, budget, accounting and statistics, and the anti-corruption departments set up independent systems using a certain proportion of their employees.

Apart from this, research and evaluation, information, archives, general administration and the secretariat have all established a profusion of units, creating complex systems that increase negotiation work for no reason.

In addition, a universal phenomenon among central government agencies is a top-heavy hierarchical structure with a bunch of idle high officials. Lower levels lack personnel and are overworked.

The most typical example is the Presidential Office itself. If President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) really has any strength of character, he will take the lead and set an example by his own actions. How else could he ask others to lose weight?

The reduction and merger of agencies and the streamlining of human resources are only part of the task. Even more important is to find ways to satisfy the public. The government therefore has also to simplify procedures and amend laws and regulations.

Identifying what the people want in terms of restructuring, and integrating that with the experience of scholars, experts and frontline workers to thoroughly amend laws, regulations and procedures, is the most urgent and important task at hand.

Next, borrowing from corporate restructuring experience, government agencies should make good use of information technologies to simplify and speed up procedures, especially encouraging the flow of information between agencies to avoid having the public run back and forth to provide the same information.

One good example where the goal of simplifying procedures for the public and improving efficiency has been achieved is the handling of household registration materials by the residency administration authorities. The process has already been fully computerized so that residency transfers can now be dealt with at one location.

Unfortunately, the scope is still limited, and there is still room for improvement.

Finally, another worry is whether there is the determination to follow through once government restructuring is completed. The DPP advocated government restructuring during the last year's presidential election campaign. But since winning the election, it has been led by electoral considerations.

The reduction and integration of departments, committees and agencies in particular is a great administrative and political project. Today, the new government lacks its own administrative talent.

Even though the public has the patience to wait for the completion of reform, it is also worried. If the government restructuring project is met with opposition or boycotts, will it be abandoned halfway through?

Kao Koong-lian is a professor at Chung-yuan Christian University.

Translated by Perry Svensson
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