We became aware of the dissatisfaction with the way the process is managed, the abandonment of the Selection Committee and the lack of transparency and fairness in the selection of awardees. We are convinced that a suitable committee of high level public servants should be established to consider and select candidates for overseas fellowships and scholarships to insulate the process from political pressure and influence.
Commission of Inquiry Report
Last Wednesday, it was reported that the Parliamentary Opposition tabled a motion for a debate on the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Public Service. It will be recalled that the Commission was established in August 2015 to, among others, inquire into, report on, and make recommendations on the role, functions, recruitment, training, remuneration, conditions of service and other matters pertaining to personnel employed in the Guyana Public Service. The Commission concluded its work and presented its report to the President on 13 May 2016. The report was laid in the National Assembly on 24 May 2016.
The tabling of the motion is good news, considering that over the last two decades the traditional Public Service was neglected in preference to a “parallel” Public Service. The latter comprises persons selected by the Executive without the involvement of the Public Service Commission, the constitutional agency responsible for the recruitment, transfer, promotion, discipline and retirement of Public Servants. In addition, these persons enjoy terms and conditions of service superior to those of their counterparts in the traditional Public Service. This column estimates that the parallel Public Service currently comprises some 27% of the total number of Public Servants.
Today, we continue our discussion of the report by looking at Chapter 3 entitled “Training and Staff Development”.
Training priorities
In its review of training initiatives since Colonial times, the Commission felt that the most comprehensive and well-structured proposals regarding the training of Public Servants came from the Burgess-Hunn Report of 1966. Its contents, in the Commission’s view, is in large measure still relevant to the present day Public Service but has, in general been ignored or overlooked to the detriment of the Public Service, Public Servants and their career.
The Commission made it clear that training for staff development is an essential requirement in public management and administration to provide a competent cadre of public servants to deliver timely, quality, efficient and professional service to the public. It is the responsibility of the Public Service Commission to ensure that the Public Service is comprised of persons, recruited and selected based on merit, who are suitably qualified and have access to training. In this regard, effective training systems should be developed at all levels of Government. The Commission noted that training is the systematic development of: knowledge (what the public servant needs to know); skills (the expertise that the public servant needs and uses to achieve results with the effective use of knowledge); and positive changes in work ethic and job behaviour.
The Commission emphasized that staff development and training interventions should be geared towards: (a) ensuring that the Public Service has competent and well-trained staff; (b) having a shorter, focused learning time so that new staff can be trained as quickly as possible; (c) developing staff capabilities to meet future challenges in Public Administration; and (d) providing opportunities for personal growth and career development in the Public Service.
The Commission believed that the successful maintenance of a strong Public Service Administration depends on: (a) the transference of knowledge, skills and attitude of currently serving employees to future ones at all levels; (b) acquisition of new knowledge, skills and attitude as changes in employment relations, technology and other conditions demand; and (c) positive change in work ethic and job behaviour of Public Servants. Accordingly, it advocated a systematic approach to training in the Public Service involving: (a) defining the training needs of Government agencies; (b) deciding on the kind of training necessary; (c) planning and delivering appropriate training; (d) using suitable resource personnel and facilitators to plan and conduct training; and (d) reviewing and evaluating training at periodic intervals to ensure that it is effective and achieving set objectives.
Types of training in public administration
The Commission considered training to fall generally under two categories: training for immediate needs; and training for development. Training for immediate needs includes: (a) introducing new staff to the Ministry or Department; (b) introducing new staff to work procedures, processes, relevant legislation, rules and regulations of the Public Service environment; (c) providing staff with the knowledge they need to make decisions and do their work competently; (d) training in particular skills; and (e) training in the fundamental principles of an academic discipline. The training types in this context are:
- Induction and orientation – broad orientation in all the elements in Public Administration;
- Basic job-related training – thorough grounding for the job to be performed;
- Performance improvement – refresher courses to keep staff up-to-date; and
- Staff development – for improvement of supervisory and managerial skills, preparation for greater responsibility, and developing top leadership skills.
Training for development includes: (a) preparing able young public administrators for senior positions; (b) introducing new techniques and skills; (c) preparing senior Public Servants, whose managerial responsibilities are increasing, in managerial techniques and leadership skills; and (d) improving technical training for specialist groups. The Commission emphasises that in well-run Ministries and Departments, staff development is not left to chance or to trial and error.
Principles and concepts in training
The Commission indicated that there are certain essential concepts and principles on which training is based. It has identified two such components. The first is the learning theory since all training is or should be based on an understanding of how people learn, particularly adult learning. The second relates to the sequence of training which includes the following:
- identifying and analyzing training needs. All training must be directed towards the satisfaction of defined needs;
- defining training objectives. Training must be directed towards measurable achievements;
- preparing programmes of training courses, including an overall scheme of training as well as its costs and benefits;
- delivering training courses;
- measuring and analyzing results, validating achievements of each course against its objectives, and evaluating the effect of the whole training programme;
- obtaining feedback of the results of validation and evaluation; and
- maintaining training records.
Managing training interventions
The Commission emphasized the importance of good management of the training and development functions in Public Administration. Activities which demand planning, direction, evaluation and auditing, in addition to their execution, need to be managed effectively by Heads of Department, Permanent Secretaries, and the Department of Public Service. There should be greater emphasis on the role of training and development functions within Ministries and Departments, particularly internal training where the focus should be on the training and development of specialist staff.
In relation to managing the training and development functions, the Commission considered that the aim is to provide a bridge between the general skills and theories in public management and their special use in the training and development of Public Servants. The focus should therefore be on the following two aspects:
- the management of job-related training interventions and activities; and
- the management of staff development initiatives – developing the potential of staff for higher leadership and managerial responsibilities through internal and external training interventions for the development of critically high level skills.
The Commission indicated that it became aware of the dissatisfaction with the way the process is managed, the abandonment of the Selection Committee and the lack of transparency and fairness in the selection of awardees. Accordingly, it was convinced that a suitable committee of high level public servants should be established to consider and select candidates for overseas fellowships and scholarships to insulate the process from political pressure and influence. The Commission considered the Barbados Public Service Act 2007 as the best practice example where a Committee of Permanent Secretaries from the key Ministries under the Chair of the Head of the Public Service (who is the Permanent Secretary of the Public Service Ministry) meet to consider candidates for overseas fellowships and scholarships. Accordingly, the Commission has recommended the establishment of such a committee for the Guyana Public Service.