The Impact of Differentiation and Differential on Hong Kong's Career Public Service

2003 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-233
Author(s):  
Brian Brewer

The public administration principles characteristic of many Commonwealth countries served as the foundations for building the Hong Kong civil service. These have continued to operate in line with the `one country two systems' concept under which Hong Kong has been administered, since 1997, as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of China. Career employment, hierarchy and public service values combined to provide an overarching unity to a system that nevertheless has developed considerable differentiation over time. This article examines the developments that are currently modifying Hong Kong's public sector. The discussion draws on documentary sources and a recently completed qualitative study on the experiences and perspectives of senior Hong Kong managers working in a dozen government departments and agencies. The discussion addresses questions about whether greater differentiation across government departments, in combination with increasing differential within these organizations, will ultimately bring about the demise of the traditional civil service system.


2014 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Calliope Spanou

The nature of the relationship between the public administration and politics and the subsequent role of the administration appear to be incompatible with the emergence of an administrative elite. After analysing the reasons for this incompatibility, the article explores the impact of the measures taken in the wake of the economic crisis on the civil service and its reform, and also the prospects for the development of a senior civil service. The key, and also the challenge, to any change in this direction remains the rebalancing of the relationship between the public administration and politics. Points for practitioners What might interest practitioners is the issue of the conditions of effectiveness of civil service reform in times of economic crisis and significant pressure.



Author(s):  
Ho Lawrence Ka-Ki

Abstract This article addresses a frequently asked question regarding Hong Kong policing since the outbreak of prolonged civil unrest in June 2019: How can we understand the tactics adopted by the police in their attempts to de-escalate street violence, and why did the highly regarded police quickly lose its legitimacy among the public? This article argues that these phenomena can be explained by the abrupt change in the structural and policing context. This combined and interacted with the limitations of the ‘paramilitary policing model’ and public order legislation of Hong Kong adopted since the realignment of Beijing’s Hong Kong policy under the ‘One Country Two Systems’ principle in 2012. In the face of growing resistance to change this shift demystified the ‘professionalism’, ‘neutrality’, and ‘accountability’ that had continually been associated with the public’s perception of the Hong Kong Police since the 1970s. The protests pulled the police back to the escalated force in protest policing which in turn led to further declines in perceptions of police legitimacy across the population of the special administrative region. The findings also provide the platform for further conceptual debate on police legitimacy.



2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi Wang-Kaeding ◽  
Malte Philipp Kaeding

Purpose The purpose of this paper is threefold: first, to recount the scale, composition and agents of red capital in Hong Kong; second, to conceptualise the peculiarity of red capital; and third, to explore the impact of red capital on the political and economic institutional setup in Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach The paper consults the comparative capitalism literature to conceptualise the phenomenon of red capital. The paper gathers data from Hong Kong Stock Exchange and indices to provide an overview of red capital. Furthermore, the case study of 2016 Legislative Election is deployed to investigate the mechanisms of red capital’s influence. The paper concludes with a summary of how red capital may challenge the validity of the “One Country, Two Systems” framework. Findings This paper argues that red capital replicates China’s state–capital nexus in Hong Kong and morphs the game of competition in favour of Chinese nationally controlled companies. In tandem with the emerging visibility of the party–state in Hong Kong’s economic sphere, the authors observe attempts of Chinese economic actors to compromise democratic institutions, deemed obstacles to state control. Originality/value This paper is the first attempt to systematically embed the discussion of red capital into comparative capitalism literature. This study provides conceptual tools to examine why red capital could pose a threat to liberal societies such as Hong Kong. Through this paper, we introduce a novel research agenda to scrutinise capital from authoritarian states and investigate how the capital is changing the political infrastructure shaped by liberal principles and values.



2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (10) ◽  
pp. 29-36
Author(s):  
Feruza Yuldasheva ◽  

The purpose of this article is to study theoretical approaches to the definition of the concept of public service. The author has researched a significant list of Soviet and modern legal literature devoted to topical issues of the institute of public service. The main concept of this article is that the institute of public service is considered by us from the standpoint of consistency. The author's definition of the concept of "public service" is proposed. In addition, the article presents various concepts of understanding the concept of "public service". At the same time, the author draws attention to the fact that there is no unified normative establishment of the legal concept of "public service" in the domestic legislation. The conclusions are based on the analysis of the experience of foreign countries.Keywords: public service, civil service, public service, public administration, types of public service



Author(s):  
Mª Concepción CAMPOS ACUÑA

Laburpena: Azterlan honen helburua da administrazio publikoaren eredu berriari buruzko ikuspegia ematea, bi ardatz oinarri hartuta: berrikuntza eta adimen artifiziala. Alde batetik, berrikuntza delako administrazioak bilatu behar duen balio erantsia, bere jarrera tradizionala alde batera utzita, eta, bestetik, teknologien abangoardiarekin bat egiteko premia larritik abiatuta (adimen artifiziala) kasu honetan, gainera, berrikuntzaren eragile izanik . Hori guztia, sortzen diren eztabaida etiko sakonak ikuspegi juridikotik aztertuta, eta erronkei aurre eginez, bai zerbitzu publikoa bermatzeko eta bai herritarrek beren eskubideak libreki baliatzeko eta administrazioarekin dituzten harremanetan bazterketarik ez jasateko. Resumen: En el presente estudio pretende ofrecerse un enfoque del nuevo modelo de administración pública sobre dos ejes: innovación e inteligencia artificial. Por un lado, desde la perspectiva de la innovación como valor añadido que la administración debe buscar frente a su posición tradicional y, por otro, desde la imperiosa necesidad de sumarse a la vanguardia de las tecnologías en clave de inteligencia artificial, en este caso, además, como motor de innovación. Todo ello desde un análisis en perspectiva jurídica, desde los retos que se plantean para garantizar no sólo el servicio público, sino el libre ejercicio de sus derechos por la ciudadanía y la no discriminación en su relación con la administración, ante los profundos debates éticos que aparecen. Abstract: In the present study, we intend to offer an approach to the new model of public administration on two axes: innovation and artificial intelligence. On the one hand, from the perspective of innovation as an added value that the administration must seek in the face of its traditional position and, on the other, from the imperative need to join the vanguard of technologies in the key of artificial intelligence, in this case, also as an innovation engine. All this from an analysis in legal perspective, from the challenges that are posed to guarantee not only the public service, but the free exercise of their rights by citizenship and non-discrimination in their relationship with the administration, before the profound ethical debates that appear.



1993 ◽  
pp. 35-46
Author(s):  
William Plowden ◽  

This article focuses on the central national government of Great Britain. It outlines the most important permanent features of the British administration, those which have remained constant over the past hundred years or so. It then describes the major changes in the public service between 1960 and 1970 and during the government of Margaret Thatcher. It also discusses some unresolved issues and identifies key lessons learned on how to reform and maintain an efficient public administration. Furthermore, it is explained that the British civil service has been altered by accession to the European Community, because their laws restrict the formulation or implementation of British public policies. Finally, thirteen essential elements for an effective civil service in a modern democratic state are mentioned.



Author(s):  
P. Fesianov

The purpose of the study is to provide scientific and theoretical substantiation of the organizational and legal foundations of the development of the public service institution in Ukraine. It is proved that an important direction of organizational and legal development of the civil service institute is the increase of the efficiency of public administration, qualitative increase of the personnel potential of the civil service. Study of the main areas of organizational and legal support of public administration has allowed to determine the priorities for the development of the civil service in Ukraine. The research revealed that the effectiveness of public administration is determined by its ability to operate with modern tools of analysis, modeling and forecasting, which depends on the organizational structure of management. The results of the research show that the development of the Ukrainian state depends to a large extent on the qualitative leadership of the state-management structures, on the personal professional level of the manager, on the presence of progressive orientations, vigor and responsibility.



1993 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-321
Author(s):  
Robert Gatto

The subject, a source of long standing debate among theoreticians and practitioners in public administration, is revisited in an interesting and challenging way. In the face of a changing decentralized government role in many parts of the world, the author presents a modified classical position that proposes to deal with the impact of this on the public service. Canada and the Canadian public service are attempting to re-establish their roles in this new milieu. The author argues for a new role for public administration by drawing from an historical development of the field and introducing new arguments to support changing needs.



Subject Civil service reform. Significance Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s chief strategist, Dominic Cummings, has declared that the main priority in the new parliament will be fixing the machinery of the UK government. Cummings believes the public administration is not fit for purpose in dealing with post-Brexit challenges: cabinet has too many ministers, which makes it impossible to take rational decisions; the civil service lacks delivery expertise and is weak at getting things done; there are too few genuine experts; and the centre of government is brittle and struggles to enforce decisions. Impacts Uncertainty in the civil service will undermine the government’s efforts to negotiate an EU-UK trade deal. Expected initial conflict between civil servants and ministers will result in greater incidence of policy blunders. Cummings will likely leave government sooner than expected, exasperated by the impediments to change within the public service bureaucracy. Cummings's departure would raise questions about Johnson’s strategy and durability as prime minister.



Author(s):  
A. Lipentsev ◽  
O. Romanyuk

Problem setting. Aspects of leadership have been studied throughout the entire history of humanity, and since the 80s of the 20th century it has become a subject of systematic research of various sciences, scientific investigations of ways and means of development of leadership qualities of a person have been carried out [25, p. 73]. The phenomenon of leadership is extremely rich in its manifestations and functions and depends on historical epochs, types of political systems, specific situation, peculiarities of leaders and their constituents and other factors [25, p. 76].Accordingly, during the critical period in the development of the Ukrainian society, the old principles of governance lose their efficiency and stop to work. It becomes difficult to exercise leadership in a world where creativity is valued more than diligence, indicating a change in the nature of the leadership phenomenon. Taking into account that Ukraine is currently in a zone of turbulence, there is an urgent need to improve approaches to human resource management in the system of public authorities. Therefore, aspects of enhancing the effectiveness of management and leadership in the public service are still gaining relevance in further research.In our publication we will focus on our own thoughts on the development of leadership in general and leadership in public service on the basis of analysis of the source base of scientific research on leadership.Recent research and publications analysis shows that the problem of leadership in public administration is constantly in the sight of the scientists who are trying to grasp all edges of the leadership phenomenon. However, this topic is still more thoroughly designed and developed by foreign scientists, among them: A. Adler, K. Lewin, R. Bales, R. Tannenbaum, I. Weschler and F. Masaryk, P. Drucker, F. Fiedler, V. Vroom, F. Yeatton, M. Mescon, P. Hersi and C. Blanchard, W. Bass, Conger and R. Kanungo, A. Fllley, R. House, S. Kerr, B. Chester, C. Shrishame, F. Fiedler and others. The scientific paths of formation and development of leadership were also studied by native scientists. These include T. Vasylevska, N. Honcharuk, I. Hrishchenko, S. Derzhanovska, A. Kliuchnikov, A. Lipentsev, L. Pashko, A. Pakhariev, T. Pidlisna, L. Prykhodchenko, A. Rachynskii, I. Surai, S. Seriohin, V. Tolkovanov, P. Khaitov and others. At the same time, the leadership of the civil service was repeatedly emphasized by NAPA (National Academy for Public Administration) scientists O. Parkhomenko-Kutsevil, O. Piddubchak, V. Poberezhnaia, N. Popadiuk, P. Sydorenko, R. Storozhev, S. Chernova, S. Haiduchenko, and others. Some positions of works of these scientists are used in the further for substantiation of own understanding of leadership.At the same time, the largest Google search engine for the query «leadership in public administration» (status 23.08.2021) received 558,000 links, which indicates that the concept of leadership is very popular. We have reviewed a few of them that are relevant to our own research [6, p. 35].Highlighting previously unsettled parts of the general problem. The research of leadership development in the public service is of particular relevance for modern Ukrainian society. Accordingly, the authors studied theoretical and conceptual approaches to the research and development of leadership in public authorities, taking into account the priorities of the “Public Administration Reform Strategies in Ukraine for 2022-2025”, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of 21 July 2021, №831-p.Aim of the paper. The article aims to reveal theoretical and conceptual approaches to the research of leadership in public authorities in the context of the tasks of scientific support for the implementation of the main goals of the “Strategy for Public Administration Reform in Ukraine for 2022-2025”.Paper main body. Summarizing various definitions, we can define leadership as a type of managerial interaction (in this case – between the leader and followers), based on the combination of different sources of power depending on a specific situation and aimed at motivating people to achieve common goals. In other words, leadership is the relationships of dominance and subordination, influence and direction in the system of interpersonal relations in the group, which lead to the intended goal. However, in socio-political life, the concept of “leader” is often associated with the concept of “manager”. Thereby, serious debates about the similarity or divergence of these concepts take place in the scientific community today. In particular, researchers are trying to reveal who is more required in a modern civil service – a manager, a leader, or a manager-leader? They also try to find out if a specialist can be an informal leader. If yes, how can a manager successfully use such a human resource then?Besides, the practice shows that a manager in public authorities is not always a leader, and a leader is not always a manager. It has also been proven that a manager with managerial skills, who exercised leadership, is more effective. Conclusions of the research and prospects for further studies. Leadership in public authorities is an understudied phenomenon that requires comprehensive research. Comparing the phenomena of leadership and governance within classical management and leadership, it can be argued that leadership involves the ability to lead employees to a common goal, to motivate them to want to do what is necessary.The way to an effective model of public administration management is the systematic development of leadership at all management levels.Development of innovative and service aspects of organizational culture and its management - this is the main task of leaders at all levels in public authorities in the context of the implementation of the “Strategy for Public Administration Reform until 2025”.



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