Fifth Global Forum on Reinventing
Government – Innovation and Quality
in the Government of the 21st Century
The Best Practice in the Civil Services
Reform for the Sustainable Human
Development In Jordan
Prepared By
Dr. Zuahir Al-Kayed
Higher Population Council/General
Secretary
Mexico City
3 to 6 November 2003
Content
Page
No.
Reengineering Process in the Department of Civil Status and Passports
( Jordan Case Study)
2
1.
Introduction
2
2.
Jordan Historical Background
2
3.
DOCSAP Services
4
4.
Business before 1991
4
5.
Business Process
5
6.
The Change Strategy
6
7.
Launching the BPR
7
8.
Office Reorganization
7
9.
New Human Resources Management
8
10. Service Process Redesign
8
11. Delegation of Authority
10
12.
10
Leadership with an Open Door Policy
The Best Practices in Civil Service Reforms and in the Department of
Civil Status Passport
10
1.
Methodology
10
2.
Demographic Profile of Respondents
10
3.
Most Successful Civil Service Reform
11
4.
The Worst/unsuccessful Civil Service Reform
12
5.
Most Successful Reform in the Department of Passport and Civil Status
13
6.
Most Unsuccessful/Worst Reform in the Department
13
7.
Managers' Perception of Public Service Reforms
14
8.
Perceptions About Successfully Implemented Civil Reforms
15
9.
Innovative Reforms to be Adopted by other Entities
16
10. Innovative Reform to be Adopted by the Department of Passport
and Civil Status from others
16
11. Scope of Resistance to Civil Service Reform
16
12. Conclusion of the Best Practice in the Public Sector Reform & in (DCSP)
17
1
The Best Practices in the Civil Services
Reform for the Sustainable Human Development
In Jordan
Reengineering Process in the Department
of Civil Status and Passports
Jordan Case Study
1. Introduction
Doing business today at the Department of Civil Status and Passports (DOCSAP) is
different from how business was done ten years ago. For many years, DOCAP had a
bad image which was characterized as inefficient, highly centralized, bureaucratic,
extremely slow in service delivery and lacking customer service. Today, DOCSAP is a
model government department. DOCSAP was able to turn its bad image around and
score high on customer service and satisfaction by improving its efficiency,
decentralizing its services, increasing its responsiveness, and encouraging customer
services. Nowadays, obtaining a passport or a national identify card takes less than one
business day whereas before it could take weeks or even months.
There are indicators that suggest that obtaining a passport is cumbersome and timeconsuming in a number of countries. According to Ms Monica Nyholm, lecturer in
economic geography at bo Akademi University (Finland): “It took more than 2 weeks
to get my Finnish passport completed. I had to hand in my documents personally and
prove my identity”. In Italy, “Usually it takes two weeks to get a new passport. A
friend in the right place can help expedite the process”, says Ms Paola De Vincentiis,
consultant at the School of Administrative, University of Torino in Italy. “You hand in
your application form and then after approximately a week you receive your new
passport”, says Hector Gachs, Spanish Ph.D. student from Spain. “The process of
getting a passport takes two weeks. If you have connections, the process might take
less than that”, says Dr. Kammalin Shaath, professor of Engineering at the Islamic
University of Gaza in Palestine.
2. Jordan Historical Background
March 2, 1921, the day Prince Abdullah Iben al-Hussein arrived in Amman, is regarded
as the beginning of the establishment of a Jordanian state under the name of the
“Emirate of Trans-Jordan”. The same year witnessed the formation of the first
Jordanian Government, the Council of Chancellors. In 1928, the first Jordanian
constitution was enacted, under the title of “Essential Law of Trans-Jordan”, in order to
organize the affairs of the state and its three powers, namely the legislative, executive
and judicial powers. It remained in force until 1946, when Trans-Jordan finally gained
independence upon signing the Treaty of London in March 1946. On May 25, 1946,
Prince Abdullah was proclaimed King, and in 1947, a new constitution was declared by
issuance of Law No. (3) for the year 1947 under the name of the Jordanian constitution.
On July 20, 1951, King Abdullah was assassinated in Jerusalem, and his oldest son,
2
Prince Tall, succeeded to the throne. A year after his accession, King Tall stepped down
in favor of his son Prince Hussein, who was proclaimed the King of the Hashemite
Kingdom of Jordan in 1952, and a new constitution was enacted and promulgated. Its
first Article stipulates that the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is an independent and
sovereign Arab state, with a parliamentary and a hereditary monarchy. After the death
of late King Hussein in 1999 his son, Prince Abdullah succeeded to the throne.
Regarding the recent public sector reform one can say that major economic shocks in
the early 19990s necessitated the achievement of fundamental shifts towards:
a.
A private-sector-led economy;
b.
A diversified export-led growth path;
c.
Greater investment in traded goods and services;
d.
A more resilient economy less prone to regional economic shocks;
e.
Protecting the poor in the adjustment process.
The Government of Jordan has successfully implemented far-reaching reforms- in
energy and agriculture, reduction of food subsidies and better targeted assistance to the
poor, trade policy and customs administration, domestic and foreign investment
deregulation, banking and financial sectors, and privatization (telecommunications,
transport, energy, water and other sectors). As a result, growth is beginning to pick up
despite continued regional economic shocks, exports are more diversified, the private
sector is replacing government as a source of economic activity, and poverty has been
reduced.
The thrust of reforms continues, with ongoing privatization, and a wide-ranging
legislative program designed to revamp key aspects of economic life from banking and
financial markets to competition law and customs. The Government's cross-cutting
reforms aim to achieve close integration with global markets and to establish an
investment-friendly and efficient business environment. Jordan has joined the WTO,
and has signed commercial treaties with the EU and the USA as key elements in this
strategy.
Building on this overall reform strategy, the Jordanian public-sector reform is wideranging, addresses directly the quality and accessibility of services to households and
businesses, and enjoys wide and solid political backing. This Public Sector Reform is
being implemented along several tracks: judicial reform is being led by a Royal
Commission for the Development of the Judiciary chaired by the Prime Minister; the egovernment initiative falls under the responsibility of the Minister for Post and Telecommunication; The Transparency and Accountability Higher Committee chaired by
the Deputy Prime Minister to handle corruption practices at a higher level; the other
public sector reforms (civil service, quality of and access to services, government
restructuring, etc… are led by the Minister of State for Administration Development. In
each track the responsibility for implementation is thus clearly attributed and these
parallel initiative are being coordinated at the highest level.
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3. DOCSAP Services
On January 16th 1988, the Council of Ministers in Jordan decided to merge the General
Passports Department and the Civil Status Department into a single department, the
Civil Status and Passports Department (DOCSAP). The new department’s mission was
to: “ascertain the nationality and identity of Jordanian citizens whatever country they
may be in and provide them with a fast and efficient service free from difficulties and
the need of resort to nepotism”.
● registration of Jordanian families in the civil register and issuing family and personal
identification cards;
● registration of incidents of birth, death, marriage and divorce of Jordanian citizens
wherever they may be and issuing related certificates;
● registration of birth and death incidents of foreigners residing in Jordan and issuing
of related certificates;
● issuing, renewal and extension of Jordanian passports;
● issuing of temporary passports for residents in the West Bank and Gaza;
● providing relevant government agencies with information and necessary statistics.
On July 10th 1991, the Cabinet of Minister appointed Mr. Nasouh Marzouqa as
DOCSAP’s new Director General. Mr. Marzouqa had retired from a top post in the
national security service and had no formal management education or experience in
Business Process Re-engineering; he managed, however, to transform DOCSPA’s
image and create one of the most successful stories in Jordan’s public sector.
4. Business before 1991
The following were DOCSAP’s main characteristics before the BPR plan was applied.
It was normal to see long queues of applicants waiting at DOCSAP’s doors. Because of
their heavy work load, employees were unable to perform duties satisfactorily. In many
instances, management was forced to call the local police in order to organize applicants
into lines. Due to the lengthy delays and the frustration this caused, fights among
applicants waiting in queues were very common.
Despite the early morning queues, many DOCSAP employees felt that reading the
morning newspaper was a must. In general, employees were disgruntled because there
were no clear job descriptions and work was unfairly distributed.
The average time for completing procedures for obtaining a new passport, a family
identity card or a birth certificate at DOCSAP’s central office in Amman ranged from
between one to five days. Citizens with the right connections at DOCSAP were exempt
from waiting in line and often obtained their new documents in a day. Because of the
lack of inter-regional communication at government level, issue of documents via
regional offices could take more than a month.
Obtaining a new document involved three days: one day for presenting the application,
another for paying the fees, and a third for receiving the new document. All passports
were distributed at 1.00pm daily regardless of the time the passport had been
completed. So, even if a passport was ready by 10.00am, the applicant could not collect
4
it until 1.00pm: the reason behind the general 1.00pm distribution of passports was that
the Director General signed all new documents collectively at 12.30pm.
DOCSAP’s accounting system followed government financial regulations, which
stipulated that payment for new documents could only take place between 8.00am and
12.30pm. Payment of fees after 12.30pm was prohibited. Applicants had to come back
the next day to pay the fee.
An applicant for a new passport had to submit a written letter to certify place of birth
and residence. In addition, female applicants were asked to submit a written statement
to certify their marital status. Applicants obtained these certificates for J$1 from
Almuktar; a village elder acting as a kind of public notary. Almuktar would issue
certificates at someone’s request without checking on the validity of the information
provided and usually without knowing the circumstances of the person in question.
5. Business Process
It was clear that many steps in DOCSAP’s procedures were unnecessary. The most
frequent question asked by the public was why they had to comply with so many
unnecessary regulations. Many employees had arrogant attitudes and delaying
applications was common practice. Customer satisfaction was unknown, and the most
frequent response given by employees to applicants was to ask them to come back the
next day.
Illustration 1
Steps involved in processing and issuing a passport
Step 1
Submission of
application
Step 2
Acceptance of
appication
Step 4
Step 5
Archives
Step 7
Receptionist
Step 10
Signature
Controller
Step 8
Paying fees
Step 3
Controller
Step 6
Office
Manager
Step 9
Printing and
Issue
Step 11
Distribution of
Passport
The time it took to obtain a passport ranged from between one to five days; on average,
it took three days. Applicants would lose two full working days: one to hand in the
application for a new passport and one to pick up the passport. In addition, to the above
lengthy procedure, other factors that contributed to long delays included:
- unclear forms asking unnecessary information.
5
- customers were obliged to present their applications in person.
- overuse of files and paper-work, opening new files for every application (whether
renewal or change).
- investigation of passport loss at the relevant Security Departments, with no authority
given to DOCSAP head office or its regional offices to conduct investigations.
- untrained and unskilled employees in terms of operations and customer services.
- inability of DOCSAP employees to use and deal effectively with available
computers.
Other negative attitudes, such as reporting late to work and leaving early before the end
of the official working time, were normal.
Completion of any application procedure involved transferring paper-work back and
forth between four floors in the DOCSAP building. Final approval was given by the
Director General on the top floor. Accountants were distributed between the ground
floor and the third floor. Employees responsible for adding and deleting names to
passports were on the third floor. Typists were on the second floor as was the office
manager. Files were on another floor.
It was found that between 300-400 files were being moved daily from the ground floor
to the second, to the fourth, through to the third, and then to the second floor for the
office manager to certify the application, and finally to the ground floor where the
document was handed over to the applicant.
Public sector employees are governed by the Civil Service Employment bylaw. In order
to ensure fairness, the Law is very strict on hiring, firing and promotion.
6. The Change Strategy
Upon his appointment as Director General of DOCSAP, Mr. Marzouqa considered
himself and his employees to be at the service of the public. “I sleep very well when I
feel that I have served people satisfactorily”, he was quoted as saying. Shortly after his
appointment, the new Director General, along with his senior employees, decided to
draft a list of objectives taking customer needs into account. It included the following:
- Completion of application requests as fast as possible.
- Change DOCASP’s image from “favour-provider” to “service-provider”.
- Enhance employee opinion of public services so that they view their jobs as
rendering a public service, an obligation they have in return for the salaries they
receive. “A public job is not a position of prestige or power that gives employees the
right to provide a good service to some and deny it to others”, he stated.
- DOCSAP’s commitment to training and rehabilitating employees in order to improve
skills and abilities enabling them to perform duties in a satisfactory manner.
To work towards the above objectives, the following rules were established and
communicated to all directorates and staff at DOCSAP at the various administrative
levels:
6
- Issuing new passports, personal identity cards, family cards, or their renewal or
extensions, should be completed on the same day that the application is submitted.
- Adding family names onto passports or deleting names from passports should not
take more than two hours.
- Registration of incidents of birth, death, marriage and divorce and issuing
corresponding certificates should not take more than two hours.
7. Launching the BPR
The development strategy required to implement the necessary changes was initiated at
DOCSAP’s main office in Amman, its busiest and largest office in terms of number of
applicants; it is here that the Director General is based.
8. Office Reorganization
In addition to problems caused by the heavy work load at DOCSAP’s main office,
applicants from regional areas often had to face long journeys in order to reach their
nearest main regional office. In some regions, applicants had to travel over 160km (in
areas where public transport facilitates are minimal) in order to obtain new documents.
In addition, the distribution of employees across the main regional offices was
inappropriate both in terms of numbers and competencies.
In order to overcome this problem, management asked regional managers to present
daily, weekly and monthly reports on the number of completed applications. These
reports provided information that would facilitate redistribution of employees according
to workload. Management recognized that there was a need to decentralize its activities
to the regions and their municipalities in order to provide applicants with a fast and
efficient service close to their place of residence.
In order to implement the decentralization process as quickly as possible, management
negotiated with the larger municipalities so as to have office space in their buildings.
Municipalities were very enthusiastic at the idea and provided DOCSAP with all the
necessary physical facilities and in some cases this included furniture. Accordingly, 26
regional offices were opened in the municipalities and seven offices were redesigned
and improved. By the end of 1996, the total number of regional offices was 74,
distributed throughout Jordan according to population density.
Work procedures were redesigned logically according to time and location. This was
done in order to avoid moving paper-work from one floor to another and to have all
relevant offices on the same floor in an exposed, open-plan office space. There are now
three sections: one is responsible for accepting applications from customers; another is
the accounting section where customers pay the required fees. Finally, there is the
issuing section where employees print documents and pass them on to the office
manager for signing before delivery to applicants.
Impact of redesigning
- Completion of application requests in one place and in a short period of time.
7
- Redistribution of responsibilities and authority among the office manager and his/her
assistants: this gives the office manger the opportunity to supervise the work being
carried out.
- Provide the office manager and customers with the opportunity of presenting their
problems and suggestions.
9. New Human Resources Management
DOCSAP increased the number of qualified and trained employees responsible for
receiving applications. In order to provide a new customer service, a number of
employees were assigned the tasks of filling in application forms free of charge for old
and illiterate citizens and helping answer customer queries.
Working hours for accountants were extended to the end of the official working day
(2.00pm). Later, they were extended until such time as transactions for all applications
are completed. Any application must be completed within the same working day, which
ends 6.00pm. Distribution of completed passports is done as soon as the passport is
ready. There is no need to wait until 1.00am. Employees involved in passport
procedures are not allowed to leave the office until all applications for that day are
ready. Results include an increase in the number of completed applications and
processing of all applications on the day of application.
Job rotation was introduced in order to make on-the-job training possible for
employees. Employees are trained to perform all work processes in order to facilitate
employee mobility and their transfer to other offices if needed. In addition, off-the-job
training is highly favored and most employees participate in training programs at
government institutions, such as the Jordan Institute of Public Administration, and other
private institutions.
For the first time, promotion policies are based on merit and qualifications. A number of
competent and qualified junior employees were promoted to managerial positions. Even
though they did not have the normal necessary seniority.
Hiring suitable employees was the main problem that management could not solve. The
Civil Service Bylaw restricted DOCSAP’s freedom to hire qualified employees because
hiring in the public sector is based on a number of criteria including dates of graduation
and application. This does not mean that DOCSAP has a shortage of employees, but
rather, it lacks certain competencies and is unable to hire the required personnel because
of the regulations and uncompetitive salaries offered compared to give the money saved
to high performance employees. This would make the department more effective and
efficient, said Mr. Marzouqa.
10. Service Process Redesign
By observing work processes and noting suggestions and recommendations from the
public, it became clear that the steps for obtaining a passport could be reduced and
rationalized into four steps as can be seen in illustratin2.
8
According to this procedure, applicants can obtain new documents within six hours, on
average three hours. The application form can be dropped off and the applicant can
return later on the same day to obtain the new document.
Illustration 2
Step 1
Submission of
application
Step 2
Acceptance of
application
Step 3
Paying
Fees
Step 4
Issue of
document
The above simplification is not the only measure that DOCSAP has taken. In addition,
the following steps have been adopted:
- A working group was formed to cover national holiday periods so as to be able to
receive, process and issue documents in cases of humanitarian need and emergency.
- Application forms were redesigned and simplified.
- Permission for an adult to apply for issue or renewal of passports on behalf of a
family member resident in Jordan without the need for the latter to present
him/herself in person.
- Establishing an investigation unit for lost documents at DOCSAP with a trained
receptionist providing all necessary information to citizens in terms of requirement
for replacing lost documents. In addition, clear signs have been placed in appropriate
and visible places inside the building to point customers in the right direction.
- Using fax facilities to receive and process applications of Jordanians living outside
Jordan. Faxes are used to communicate between DOCSAP and Jordanian Embassies
around the world. This use to be done via the weekly diplomatic pouch which goes
through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before arriving at DOCSAP, causing
unnecessary delay. Using fax facilities has resulted in a reduction in the time it takes
to issue passports to Jordanian citizens living outside Jordan.
- Issue of identity cards to citizens in less than one hour through any of DOCSAP’s
offices in Jordan without having to go in person to the main Amman office.
- Establishing a special office for retired civil and military officials in recognition of
their prior services.
- Renewal of passports by mail. Applicants can obtain their passports by mail in a
period of not more than three days from the date of reception of the application form
at DOCSAP.
- Suspension of Almuktar certification.
9
11. Delegation of Authority
Many of the Director General’s responsibilities were delegated to senior directors, legal
affairs directors and the regional office directors. Such delegation eliminated some of
the unnecessary routine and led to decentralization. In addition, it allowed Directors to
contribute and play their role as leaders in their respective directorates and offices. The
Director General was no longer responsible for signing all documents, giving him and
other top officials the time for strategic planning.
12. Leadership with an Open Door Policy
Before 1991, the decision-making process was mainly in the hands of the Director
General. Whenever applicants had a problem, they would go directly to the Director
General’s office in order to complain or ask about specific procedures. As a result, the
Director’s Office was swamped by a large number of people asking questions.
Subsequently, the Director General’s office was closed off and his secretary was
assigned the task of meeting these applicants.
The Best Practices in Civil Service Rforms and in the Department
of Civil Status Passport
The survey on Civil Service Reform in Jordan sought to get the opinion and perceptions
within the civil service, relating to successful and failed civil service reforms both
within the service as a whole and within a targeted government agency. Mangers and
supervisors from the Department of Passport and Civil Status constitute the Survey
population. (130) Managers and supervisors responded to the questionnaire.
1. Methodology
About 130 questionnaires were distributed to the staff of the department that occupy
management and supervisory positions. Questionnaire designed was preceded by a
general desk review of civil service reforms in Jordan, which identified some of the key
achievements of civil service reforms and the bottlenecks. The administration of the
questionnaire by the survey method was to be able to document the perceptions of the
civil servants that are both the instruments and the objects of civil service reforms. This
gives the view and attitudes of the civil servants themselves about the reforms in the
country . About 100 questionnaires were properly filled and analyzed.
All the questionnaire distributed were completed and returned, because the survey has
been conducted by several direct meeting with the respondents in the three different
region in the kingdom.
2. Demographic Profile of Respondents
The majority of the respondents who constituted (73%) of the survey were office
managers who work in the department’s offices in the regions outside the capital. While
junior managers represent (13%) of those survey leaving (14%) as a senior managers.
10
With regard to their service in the department, most of the respondents have been
working for a long time, where just (2%) of the survey had worked for (1-5) years, and
(15%) of those sample had worked for (6-10) years, while (74%) respondents had
worked for (11-25), only (9%) had worked for a period (26-35) years.
Since the survey was targeted the top managers and supervisory level, hence most of
them have had long period service in the Civil Service, (9%) of those had worked for
(1-5) years and (13%) had worked for (6-10) years, while (69%) of the survey had
longer period of service for (11-25) years and those who had worked more than (26)
years were only (9%).
It is also expected to have the moderate age of the survey, (56.1%) were between (3140) years age, while (11,1%) of those were between (41-60) years age, and (12,3%)
below (30) years age.
In respect to educational qualification, (72%) of the respondents have (BA) degree and
(16%) of the survey have 2 year diploma and (9%) have 2 year diploma after the (BA)
degree, only (3%) of the sample have graduate degree (PH.D and MA) degrees.
3. Most Successful Civil Service Reform
Although questionnaires were included two kinds of answers or fields to be listed by the
respondents, only the first response has been taken into account and analyzed, most of
the respondents (30%) insisted on the training process ,that the government has
adopted over the past three years to develop and upgrade the employee’s performance
as part of human development which come through the allocation of the financial
resources within the annual state budget to the training programs in cooperation with
Jordan Institute of public Administration (JIPA), and the government has also supported
the annual training plan that JIPA implement out by defining an independent resources
specially deducted from the budget of public agencies for this purpose.
The Second successful reform on the state level was on the computer technology field,
as (19%) of the respondent indicated that the government has obviously worked on
developing the information technology through interlinking some public departments
with the National Information Center (NIC) to construct information network among
them, on the other hand the government has succeeded in installing some necessary
computer technology which aimed at simplifying and improving the Services delivering
to the public.
Also the government as (18%) cited the successful reform in decentralization and
delegation of authority, where the cabinet has empower some of it’s representative in
the outside region a necessary authority to make up decisions there without referring to
the central agencies in order to facilitate the service delivery and reducing the
bottleneck in the central government.
Concerning the cost of the latter reforms, (39%) of the respondents believed that the
government has not bear up a very much expenses and they described the reform as
cheap, (33%) thought otherwise. This result is not in part surprising since the
11
delegation of power by which the authority was eliminated to the offices which does not
impose any expenses on the budget, but on the contrary the installation of computer
technology might cost the government a high expenditure to get it worked inside public
agencies.
In the mean time (59%) of the survey indicated the simplest reform the government had,
(30%) believed neutral, this notifies that those reforms of the concerned fields were not
complex because the goal of developing the quality of services by using the advanced
information technology and delegating authority was so clear.
With regard to the scope of use of the best reforms in the Civil Service, the majority
(59%) of the survey believed that the government has carried the reforms out in a wider
scope, which in turn incorporated the most contacting departments with the citizens,
only (8%) believed otherwise.
4. The Worst/Unsuccessful Civil Service Reform
The worst reform in the civil service on the country level was the Civil Service
legislation, (47%) of the respondents indicated that the Civil Service by-law was not up
to their expectations or the way it should be, especially in terms of the articles that make
the promotion within the job hard and also the articles which relate to the salary scale,
so they expected to have more effective and responsive Civil Service by-law which
might improve and enhance their performance.
The Second worst reform in the government was the bad application of decentralization
and delegation, Since the decentralization itself has been considered as a successful
reform, (22%) of the survey believed that the implementation of this process was not so
sufficient, hence practicing the delegated authority either inside the public departments
or at the regions was also ineffective so as this being considered successful reform as a
principle, it described as a worst as being practice.
In terms of the cost, (38%) of the survey believed that implementing such reforms had
not costed the government too much spending, in the mean time (36%) believed
otherwise, this because the latter civil service reforms do not need to allocate much
financial resources to set a legislation or even to delegate authority, but it just needs a
time and efforts to do so.
With respect to the complexity of carrying out those worst practices, (44%) of the
respondents cited the sophistication in executing the decentralization and implementing
of the Civil Service legislation, actually it might be easy to decide or to set a law but it
is not easy to get it implemented, so the process faced several obstacles which hinder
the effective executing of such reforms.
Regarding the scope of use, the majority (53%) of the survey believed that the used of
Civil Service legislation and the delegation of authority were widely use and it is not
surprising to say so, because such reforms concern a wide sector of public employees
and regard the whole community for the decentralization.
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5. Most Successful Reform in the Department of Passport and Civil
Status
Focusing on the experience in the Department of Passports and Civil Status, and the
goal of Sustainable Human Development. Results show the two best reforms in the
department, (39%) of the survey insisted on the computer technology as a successful
practice and (32%) of the respondents believed that the procedures simplification were
also among the best reform in the department, it is reason to say that, because the
department has used the computer facilities in order to simplify the delivering of the
services, and those two remarkable reforms have been gone parallel for improving the
quality of the services provided to the citizens in their dealing with the department, to
the extent of having the service of passport for one hour instead of (2) days which in
turn being considered as a significant change and improvement in service delivering.
The results show another best practice in Business process Re-engineering which the
department adopted to streamline and to allow easy access the service which eventually
related to the use of computer technology and simplifying the procedures.
In terms of the cost of executing such reforms, (50%) of the survey believed that the
department has spent much financial resources to install and use the computer units and
so for the simplification of the procedures which include developing some action steps
and filling, (35%) of survey thought otherwise, because it has been accomplished by the
internal skills and experts.
The results show a high degree of complexity, (50%) of the respondents indicated the
simplest way that the department had gone through to achieve the best reforms, because
of a clear vision that the top management already possessed which thus gained the
commitment and cooperation of the employee to participate in fulfilling the mission of
reform.
With respect to the scope of use, the majority (79%) of the survey emphasized on the
widely use of such best practices, because it has become feasible and evident to the
public to feel the consequences of the reform, which eventually reflected on the whole
performance of the department.
6. Most Unsuccessful/Worst Reform in the Department
At the time that (47%) of the survey in considered the civil service legislation as worst
reform at the whole context, (18%) of the respondent still insisted on the deficiencies of
the Civil Service by-law at the departmental level and it is not surprising that (23%) of
the survey also cited the lack of financial and morale incentives as a worst practices,
because such latter reforms was impeded in the Civil Service by-law, which means that
public managers become bounded by the article of the law to offer or decide the
incentives in order to motivate and activate the employees.
Regarding the cost of implementing worst reforms (46%) of the sample thought that the
department has been costed much financial resources for this process, whereas (32%)
believed otherwise, because it just needed professional knowledge and time with a very
few motives to get it done.
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In terms of the complexity of carrying those bad reforms out, there were two
contradicted viewpoints that have described this issue, where (37%) believed that such
reforms were simple to implement and easy to use, (30%) asserted otherwise especially
in terms of the way the employee get promoted and raised.
The scope of the use of these worst reforms has been widely used, (46%) of the
respondents believed that the reform has had it’s widely processing and consequently
affecting wider range of public employee.
7. Managers’ Perception of Public Service Reforms
In the survey each statement has been taken separately, first of all, the managers were
asked about their opinions and attitudes toward the civil service reforms and it was not
astonishing to have an overwhelmed support for civil service reforms from the top
political leader on the state level which has been emphasized by (91%) of the
respondents, this was appeared from a constant directions and continual royal decree
issued by His Majesty The King to the government or on the other hand through the
consecutive follow up by H.E. the Prime Minister and his team in the cabinet..
Despite the full support for the reforms by the political leader, the top managers inside
public agencies demonstrated moderate back up for the Civil service reform. This
perspective might be derived from several reason, one of which is the fear of change or
the disability of getting positive change happened, (14%) of the respondents have
disagreed with this which properly be convenient with the majority (83%) who believed
that the civil service reforms have not been explained clearly, having the top managers
not informed and notified by the new reform will this make them opposing and rejecting
the whole idea of reform.
In Jordan the civil service reforms have not been perceived as a threat to personal
interest as (54%) of the survey indicated, while (46%) believed the opposite, basically
the reform usually focusing on the process directed to the whole performance rather on
the individuals themselves, but on the other hand managers who do not believe in
change thought that the reform would targeted them and will threat their personal
interest.
A high percentage of the respondents (68%) believed that Jordan does not lack the
necessary skills for best Civil Service reforms rather there were diversity of expertise on
the Civil Service and Administrative development who acquired the appropriate
experience over the past years in the concern field.
Regarding the expenses that the Civil Service might require, (72%) of the respondents
cited the failure of the reforms if it would cost the government too much resources. This
devoted the scarcity of the financial source and the need to prioritize the spending in the
most significant objectives to seek, so any high expensive plan or effort aiming at
reforming the Civil Service must put into consideration the fiscal dimension before they
think to employ it.
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As for one of the most sensitive element of the reform, (68%) of the survey believed
that the reform would fail if it imposes a threat upon the cultural norms, this might be
homogenized with the statement which basically means that the social and personal
acquisitions and privileges that managers gained from being at the higher positions
might be threatened or affected so significantly.
The Statement of advocacy for reform was so reasonable for highlighting focal point,
(96%) of the survey insisted on the necessity of advocating the reforms and the
importance of convincing the managers and the public about the keen need to have
change and create a better reform, this emphasize the role of the change agents (persons
responsible for the reform) to justify the process of the reform for the targeted people or
for the persons who are counted as a the tools for this process as well as its main goal.
The majority (97%) of the survey have by consent agreed with the essence of having the
Civil Service reform managed properly, this also indicated that the reform process must
be leaded or guided by some people who practically have the right experience and the
credibility to do what is said.
In the meantime (55%) of the respondents do not mind if the Civil reform comes from a
foreign agent, who in turn could provide the country with a suitable and better fit
experience applicable to our environment.
The majority (94%) of the sample did not hesitate to assure the necessity of providing
and getting the right financial resources available, which inevitably would increase the
probability of succeeding the entire civil service reforms.
8. Perceptions About Successfully Implemented Civil Reforms
In Jordan, the Service Delivery Survey, Business Process Re-engineering, Managing
Resistance to Change, Human Resource Development and Decentralization and
Delegation of Authority had been identified as being successfully implemented.
As the table shows the overwhelmed consent by (96%) on the effective use of the
Survey that the government took over to assess the effectiveness of the Services
delivered to the people by the most contact departments with it’s clients, which
eventually had its impact on the quality of the service and the way it is being delivered.
With the same trend of agreement, (98%) of the survey insisted on the re-engineering
activities that the government carried out in various public departments, which
obviously demonstrated its significant results on the institutional performance.
If there were reasons for getting changed and reform occurred, there should be the way
and the techniques that the government used to manage change resistance. As (73%) of
the respondents cited the better implementation of the management of change
resistance.
A majority of the survey (89%), have emphasized on the human development process
that the government as they noted has successfully implemented through its policies and
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plans regarding the human element as a part of the comprehensive development on the
whole context.
Despite the remarkable implementation of the decentralization and delegation of
authority as (81%) of the survey believed, this might contradict with the responses of
the sample which pointed at the bad application of the decentralization and delegation,
but with less emphasize (22%), this contradictory case shows the different perception
among the respondents toward Decentralization as it is being principle and as a practice.
9. Innovative Reforms to be Adopted by other Entities
In order for circulating the remarkable practices and the best fit that the Department of
Passports and Civil Status achieved (table 13), (34%) of the survey have recommended
the procedures simplification as a good example and significant results that could other
public and private agencies imitate or take opportunity within their context as well as
other broad institutions that could benefit from this successful reforms.
The computer technology was one of the best practices that (26%) of the sample have
recommended, as a paramount achievement that could other department inside and
outside Jordan adopt, and the survey also denoted the Business and reengineering as a
best reform by (20%) of the survey. Those distinguished reforms were become very
evident and feasible touches in the performance of the Department of Passports and
Civil Status.
10. Innovative Reform to be Adopted by the Department of passport and
Civil Status from others
The other way of taking opportunity of the successful reform is to adopt the innovative
reform for the sustainable human development from other entities which have achieved
remarkable civil service reforms, (36%) of the survey believed that the incentives
systems in some governmental agencies such as the department of customs and the
central Bank of Jordan could be best fit to their department to adopt, this answer would
be convenient with their responses of considering the lack of Financial and moral
incentives as worst Civil Service reform. This indicates the keen need for providing the
department’s employees with essential motives which in turn would reinforce their
ability and desirability in work.
11. Scope of Resistance to Civil Service Reforms
The responses reveal that (52%) of the survey indicated that the civil service reform in
the government as a whole are supported, while just (9%) were resisted, this might be
agreed with the feelings of the respondents that the top political leaders in the country
are fully support the reforms on the whole level.
But, Regarding the level of support in the department respondents show that (38%) of
the sample believed that the support for reform was high but less than the whole, while
(16%) feel otherwise.
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12. Conclusion of the Best Practice in the Public Sector Reform & in
(DCSP)
Over the past ten years, Jordan has taken over serious and an intensive efforts to
institutionalize the good governance and for highlighting the importance of the human
development as a part of the comprehensive development in the country as a whole.
Many of public agencies have initiated civil service reforms in several fields, among
those departments were:
-
The Customs Department had been given The Arab Award for the Best Arab
Government Department in modernizing its process, service Delivery and
procedures simplification in 2001
-
The Land and Survey Department was the second best in the Arab Award in 2002
-
The Department of Passports and Civil Status (DPCS) which has been described
as a command public department.
So, this survey has been conducted to assess the civil service reforms on country level
as a whole and that being initiated by the DPCS, this has been conducted by targeting
the top and middle managers in the department and it’s main centers at the regions.
Among the best reforms in Jordan, training employees, computer technology and
decentralization and delegation of authority have been achieved in various departments
and institutions, that eventually led to improve the quality of service deliver and safe
time as well as efforts for both government and citizens, they were described as
inexpensive, simple and widely used all over the country.
The worst civil service reforms on the whole level were civil service legislation and bad
application of decentralization and delegation, it seemed that those unsuccessful
reforms were not up to their hopes and objectives and in other words, the gab between
perceiving the decentralization itself and practicing it was not effectively filled nor
well-being treated.
These bad practices were not so expensive, but were complex and in the meantime
widely use.
On the department side on the other hand, the successful civil practices in the (DPCS)
were the computer technology, the procedure simplification and the business processre-engineering, which have apparently been reflected on the quality of the department’s
services and the way of being delivered. The remarkable results of these reforms have
it’s direct impacts on the right time to get the service done and the place of where this
service being delivered.
Despite the outstanding consequences of these reforms, they were expensive but simple
and widely used, because it needed to employ an advanced hardware but has the
expanded impact broader than the center.
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The worst civil service reforms in the (DPCS) were the lack of financial and moral
incentives and the civil service by-law especially on the articles related to the process of
promotion and deciding incentives for the employees. Those reforms were also
expensive but simple and widely used.
Regarding the level of support in Jordan the top political leaders reinforce the civil
service reforms but with less enthusiastic support by the top administrative managers.
The civil service reforms have not been explained so clearly, and Jordan has possessed
the outstanding expertise in this field of reforms, however, it had to be adequately
funded and properly managed.
The service delivery survey, process re-engineering, managing resistance to change,
human resources development and decentralization have been considered as
successfully implemented in the country, procedure simplification, computer
technology and process reengineering were the most innovative reforms that being
recommended by the respondents to be adopted by other entities, on the other hand,
incentives systems was the most innovative reform that the (DPCS) has to adopt in
order to improve it’s performance.
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