Training And Capacity Building In Civil Services – Paper II

Training And Capacity Building In Civil Services

Recruiting the right kind of civil servant and training and capacity building in civil services are equally important for the smooth functioning of public administration. There are different types of training in civil service. The national programme for civil services capacity building is one of the key pillars of training civil servants for being in constant connection with Indian culture and roots. Read on to know more about different employees capacity-building strategies, steps, objectives, and more.

Employee Capacity Building Strategies

New facets continue to emerge in governance such as sustainable development, com technologies, information technology. etc. which need to be incorporated in organizational functioning. To institute the same. capacity-building initiatives are needed. Vapachy Building is the development of an organizations core skills and capabilities such as leadership, management, finance and fundraising to build the organisations effectiveness and sustainability”.

Capacity building has two components, organizational and human. Organisational capacity building involves both technical updating of the organization through periodic reviews and the development of human capital through education and training. Human capacity building is the process of assisting an individual or a group to identify key areas of development and gain necessary insights for fuller exploitations of capacity. Knowledge and experience are needed to solve incident and apprehended problems and implement necessary changes to augment organizational capacity to preempt change as also withstand attendant pressure. To that end, capacity building involves building on the available knowledge base both in technical and human relations fields. For better exploitation of available resources, continuous review and development need to be instituted through Research and Development initiatives (R&D) emphasizing the most vital, human resource.

Human Strategies for Human Rights (HSHR) provides capacity building services centring on the development of effective, efficient and sustainable physical working conditions for the promotion and protection of human rights. It focuses on two areas of development, the employees of the institution and the organization thematic area of work. The objective is to provide training and guidance that facilitates the development of a profession and ensures transparency and accountability of internal operations and processes concerning the environment and internal equilibrium of the organization. There is a need to continually update the knowledge and skills of the employees as part of the process of learning and adapting to – a changing society.

To realize this objective, the Human Strategies for Human Rights (HSHR) works closely with individuals responsible for the management, fundraising, public relations, accounting and human resource on operating activities of the organization.

An organizational capacity building work plan is developed after an HSHR consultant completes an assessment of the organizations working environment. Training takes place over time and on time as per need, taking cognizance of the realities of the employees to work-life in a ‘classroom’ setting. It is essentially an educative exercise with technical overtones. There is a suggestion of education and training which inform human resource development practices in organizations.

Strategies For Employee Capacity Building

Specific strategies for employee capacity building in government organisations include:

Decentralization

Decentralization is more democratic in that decision making is * facilitated at the grass roots which involves more people. Services rendered are also more people-friendly and more in tune with requirements at the local level and employees are empowered with more authority and better ‘choice’ in decision making. ‘Choice’ is widened also for the government by way of cost-benefit comparisons in choosing’ between centralized and decentralized options for a facility, also involving cost comparisons regarding structure, manpower, inventory etc. Wider participation in policy formation and implementation and thereby better choice concerning policy inputs. By creating more choices for all partners involved, that is government, employees and the clientele, decentralization maximizes benefits and minimizes cost both in the purely utilitarian and welfare senses.

Delegation

Better resort to delegation makes processes dynamic and improves communications in an organization considerably. Work is speeded upon and top management is relieved of routine functions. Delegation contributes to employee empowerment. For delegation to succeed there has to be increased emphasis on :

• Ethics and governance from the point of view of responsibility and responsiveness properly.
• Training to acquire necessary skills to carry out delegated tasks Employee capacity improvement is a natural corollary to delegation.

Quality and Innovation

For better effectiveness’ at the level of individual organizations, stakeholders need to adopt a new concept of development that stresses quality and innovativeness to step up capacity building practices. Application of exogenous pressure in the form of interest articulation and lobbying for the same is, therefore, important, especially, in government administration for employee capacity building.

Technical Capacity Building

Technical capacity building in organizations is facilitated through the provision of technical support activities, including coaching, training, specific technical assistance and resource networking. In the present context of the information communication revolution, human capacity building involves bridging the digital divide, and in turn, converting the ‘digital divide’ into ‘digital opportunities’ to benefit all segments of the economy. In the context of e-governance, it is the extent to which the same is pressed for in government administration that will determine the procedural efficiency of government administration in the coming years.

Promoting openness and networking of government organizations promotes capacity building. In the U.K. the citizen’s charters contain specific provisions for promoting – increased openness about the reasons for the decision’s taken by the government. In 1988 certain changes were effected in the official secrets act, 1911 to narrow the scope of official information falling within the ambit of the Act. Besides a white paper guaranteeing a statutory right of access to personal records held by the government has also implemented in April 1994. Canada has access to the information act which gives and Canadian citizens as well as people and corporations present in Canada more access to federal government records that are not personal. Government Malaysia has also taken steps to provide for an inclusive policy formation mechanism. specie measures include publication of reports on public complaints, the progress of administrative efforts undertaken by the government etc.

By the general trend worldwide, towards a more open and transparent government, the right to information act has recently been passed by the legislature in India. Such measures would curtail the growing arena of administrative discretion which has been a point of debate and concern in academic circles and also with practitioners. Transparency is both external (responsiveness) and internal, concerning personnel processes. The Fifth Pay Commission has called for clearly defined criteria for all matters concerning promotions transfers, appointments etc of government employees. “Openness shall also extend to the resolution of disputes among government servants. Instead of following the official channel of reporting the grievance, the sensor official should counsel both parties involved in the dispute to arrive at a mutually acceptable settlement. If a settlement has not been possible, the two people involved should be disassociated’ to avoid further interpersonal problems. Lastly, positive relations should be cultivated with the media. Publicity seeking bureaucrats should be punished as per conduct rule in this regard.

As observed in the Fifth Pay Commission report, “We have a centralized system of government that is premised on distrust. Whether it is the ministry of finance or the ministry of law or the Department of Personnel, the tendency is to centralise decision making. Individual ministries have to refer everything to these nodal ministries. Most important decisions of any consequence are taken either by the cabinet or cabinet committee or the minister or the committee of secretaries”. The Commission has called for a delegation of powers to individual ministries to cut down levels involved and the time take for arriving at a decision.

Steps In Capacity Building

The significant steps in capacity building can be studied as follows:

a) Promoting Overall Human Capacity building: Employee capacity building will not be possible unless the overall human capacity is promoted. It is necessary to emphasise the following activity areas :

Human capacity building within overall social and economic development strategy, recognizing the critical importance of human capital by developing more integrated approaches to capacity building. Develop relevant programmes to enhance entrepreneurial and management skills, particularly among small and medium enterprises to meet the new demands from globalization and the new economy. Develop policies to provide need incentives for the business sector to participate in the development of human capacity building such as providing facilities and infrastructure ensuring that access is maintained for the development of e-commerce etc. Facilitate mutual recognition of professional qualifications in respective countries which should be based on the standard of achievement and outcomes that are mutually agreed on between economies. Enhance industry-academic partnership between businesses as end-users of the workforce as well as providers of financial resources, and universities, educational institutions, and vocational training institutions, as suppliers of the workforce, so that they produce an Information Technology (IT) workforce that is readily available to high-tech businesses. Establish mutual linkage between sectoral networks including business, education, training sectors and government to draw out synergy effect to the human capacity-building. Encourage trade union to develop and implement relevant training programmes, and motivate and mobilize workers to undertake life long learning. Setting up a life-long education and learning society.

b) Making capacity Building a continued process: To build employee capacity on a continued basis, it is felt necessary to set up a lifelong education and learning society to :

Establish accessible, wide and multi-dimensional learning networks to empower the whole community. Endeavour to convert education and training systems that are more supplier centric into consumer-oriented systems that are in tune with demands. Establish a life-long learning system to ensure pre-employment education continual training and upgrading of knowledge and skills for workers, Enhance the skills and responsiveness of government employees to better equip governments to design appropriate policy infrastructure and process in a changing environment and Encourage the opening of education and training facilities, including facilities which transcend national boundaries.

Objectives Of Capacity Building

The following are the objectives of Capacity Building:

1. Prioritising the areas for improvement.
2. Developing specific outcomes to achieve along with strategies and tactics.
3. Identifying resources required to achieve identified outcomes.
4. Implementing
5. Evaluating what worked, what did not and what was learnt in the process.
6. Beginning again including suitable modifications.

Significance of Capacity Building

Through effective capacity building the following merits are gained :

1. Optimum utilization of resources through consistent application of R&D.
2. Preparation of the organization to face the future through assessment of prevailing logistics and the wherewithal of augmenting the same.
3. Helping the organization acquire competitive advantage in identified fields.
4. Facilitating long-term decisions in the organization.
5. Providing training and guidance to facilitate the development of individual careers.
6. Developing a database to measure and evaluate the current working capacity of the organization.

Process Of Capacity Building

The process of capacity building involves the following activities. O Preparing information material to promote the organizations work O Developing and implementing job descriptions. o Developing a formal organizational chart. O Preparing and maintaining a core operating budget O Developing a routine for strategic planning and work plan management.

Developing fundraising strategies and building a donor database and o Developing a database to measure, trend and evaluate working activities.

During the last decade due to changes in the economy all over the world, a need has been felt to enhance the capacity of employees in all respects of sustainable development and organizational effectiveness. Its vitality is now realized by every country.

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