Chinas Administrative &

Civil Service Reforms

Improving Overall Government Efficiency
(Group Presentation, Public Administration)
Members
Jrgen Carl Ulrich Budike - Suriname
Diana Renata Wangeri Tanzania
Mwansa Lupenga Zambia
Lakhdar Louafi Algeria
Borja Madiet Bakam Dak S. Sudan

Outline.
Introduction
Analysis/Discussion
Evaluation of the Sixth Round Administrative Reforms
Implementation of the Super Department System
Issue of Government Waste
Issue Civil Service Payment Reforms

Conclusion

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Introduction
According to encyclopaedic dictionary of Public Administration:
Administrative reform is a conscious, well-considered change that
is carried out in a public sector organization or system for the
purpose of improving its structure, operation or the quality of its
workforce.
Most of the countries in the world, irrespective of their ideologies
and level of development have been under a reform process
In the context of liberalization and globalization, governments in
most countries are called upon to reform and re-engineer their
administrative apparatus in pursuit of good governance.
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Introduction
In China, Seven rounds of Institutional Reform have been carried out
since 1982 and the latest administrative reform is motivated by a number of key
concerns. Government ministries and agencies have gone through sizable
reorganization. The existing system of public administration is still based on the
command-and-control approach inherited from the era of the planned economy
Over-centralization of power is long-held as a major problem in Chinas
administrative system. Therefore, Chinas administrative reform has focused on
three main areas:
The decentralization of power and delegation of rights
Simplification and rationalization of administrative power,
Building a government ruled by law

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Introduction
In the following we will learn:
How China learned at imitated from the West: The importation
of Super-Department System
How the Super Department System affected the Civil Service
Pay Reform.
How it affected the treatment of Government waste in china

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Analysis/Discussion
The Sixth Administrative Reform

Sixth Round Administrative Reform 2008

The CCP Central Committee Resolution Opinions on Deepening Reform of the

Administrative System, issued February 2008 declared the Sixth
Administrative Reform. Stating that China stands at a new historic starting
point and the Opening Up Drive had entered a crucial stage.
Main Aims:
1. To build a service-oriented and law-abiding government and, more
generally, a relatively perfect socialist administrative system with Chinese
characteristics by 2020;
2. To make Chinas administrative structure relatively stable and end the
frequent reshuffling of offices after eight rounds of major reforms. (Xinhua
News Agency, March 5, 2008).
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Analysis/Discussion
The Introduction of the Super
Department System

Introduction of the Super Department

The main ideas behind the creation of SuperDepartments
The integration of related functions to improve coordination
and, at the same time, to centralize control, allowing a small top
decision-making group to focus primarily on larger, more
strategic issues ( US, Australia, UK, Norway, New Zealand).
Generally SD's would have stronger resources, competence and
power than smaller ones which should create opportunities for
solving better both domestic and international problems.
(Example of Homeland Security in the US)
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Attractiveness of the Super Department

Model to China
Apart from the apparent advantages:
The term Super Department speaks to the imagination of the
Public and can be used to dramatize a new arrangement, to make
it appear a SUPER initiative when it is only one minor rearrangement of functions. (Dong, p. 174, 175)
A perfect instrument to prevent Social and Political Instability
It suits the need to maintain their political control and at the same
time regenerating the political legitimacy of the Political System

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Chinas Super Departments (Evaluation) I

The Ministry of Industry and Information: modest expansion of the
original structure
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security: is more or less
a restoration of the situation prior to 1993
The Ministry of Environmental Protection: is not really a super
department, but rather an upgraded replacement of the former general bureau
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Construction: a return to
the pre 1993 situation
The Ministry of Transportation: the only one close to public expectations,
significantly fails to incorporate the railway industry
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Chinas Super Departments (Evaluation) II

Inefficiencies and Government Waste still Prevalent
Seventh Administrative Reform (completed in 2015)
Ministry of Railways was scrapped and separated into an
executive arm, which now falls under the Ministry of
Transportation and a corporate arm that runs China's train
services.
A number of other ministries are also integrated and
reorganized to create a more accountable system and cut red
tape.
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Dongs four dimensional model explains choice

Super Department System

According to Dong despite generalized expectations of continuing reform

on everything from human rights to economic modernization, it could not
be said that Chinese leaders were directly put under any international
pressure to adopt any particular set of administrative reforms.
It was pressure from within China that seems to have led the reformers to
look
for
a
solution
like
the
super
department.

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Dongs four dimensional model

Extra arguments in support of this view
China is a Global Player with the world's largest economy, that
influences world prices and world politics, so at least the next
two decades China can AFFORD to Neglect International
Pressure;
The Foreign Direct Investments keep flowing in despite China's
weak ranking (Source: China Economic Review).

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Analysis/Discussion
Civil Service Payment Reforms &
Government Waste

Civil Service Payment Reforms

Anyone who wants to understand Chinas Government you must
understand its Civil Service, including the pay system(Chan & Ma, How are they paid? A Study of Civil Service Pay in China)

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Civil Service: Relatively

Lowest Paid Sector

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Welfare in Wages and Hidden Income

1.

Direct in-kind Welfare

food, house

appliances)
2.

(shopping and dining

cards, book coupons, barbershop
coupons)( no tax)
Indirect in-kind Welfare

3. Monetary subsidies or Welfare*

(salary increases, electricity, trip
allowances, festival allowance etc.)
4. Position Consumption( cell phone,
vehicle, reception fees,
communication fees) ( job related)
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The Issue of Hidden Income

The practice of raising off budget revenues has given
government departments and offices a free hand in the
provision of hidden, arbitrarily concocted, largely unregulated
and plainly unlawful, monetary subsidies ( Chan, p. 311)
They may divert funds to provide employees with monetary
subsidies, but most of the time outright unlawful ( Chan, p.311)

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Not so simple to solve..

Because the state did not allow the provision of additional
welfare benefits and subsidy increases, public sector offices
could not openly provide them to the civil servants;
They could only turn the compensation that was not salary into
hidden benefits, taking it off the employees pay slips and
removing it from the formal budget.

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Not so simple to solve:

Labor Market Pressure

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Despite Budget Reform, The issue

remains..
Many top officials of the CCP
and thousands of middle and
low ranking bureaucrats were
prosecuted under the anticorruption campaign launched
by President Xi Jinping after
taking over in 2013. (Reuters,
24 December 2015)

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So Why?
The authority to set welfare and subsidy items remains outside
the constraints of the new budgetary system, resting instead
with a number of Party and state offices at all levels
This most likely also contributes to the increasing
administrative costs and Government Waste

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What is Government Waste ?

Essentially unreasonable,
unnecessary, and illegal use of
government expenditure (Fan
(et al.) 2010: p.686)

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Lets Take Official Cars as Example

20% Annual Increase in Car
Purchases
They get more and more
luxurious and upgraded
frequently.
Maintenance costs up to 300
billion Yuan yearly
A lot of government officials
drive a car
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China limited government purchases

of foreign cars ( May 2012)

But this rule does not apply to senior officials

(Source: Washington Post)

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Other forms of Government Waste

Extra Budgetary Allowances
Overseas Trainings
Office Buildings
Vanity Projects
Energy Consumption
Wine and Dine
Conferences

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Growth Rate Administrative, Public Expenditure and GDP Growth Rate (1978-2010)

Source: Cross-Cultural Communication Vol. 8, No. 5, 2012, pp.

103
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Government Waste & Global Competitive

Rating (2000-2016)

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Among various explanations for the failures of these

administrative reforms, [..] political control is one of the most.
The occupation of critical positions by the Communist Party
(CCP) in the government guarantees its supremacy over it.- (Qu
Wang: 2010)

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Conclusion

Conclusion
Chinas administrative reforms are in line with similar reforms
carried out in many other countries in the quest for efficiency,
effectiveness and improved government service delivery and
performance;
The ability for any country to successfully attain sustainable
development is no longer just about competitive advantage
arising from resource endowment, but rather by the competitive
advantage created by effective and efficient governments;
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Conclusion
It is however important to note that one of the most important
pre-requites for reform include political will, and stable
strategy for implementation.
Chinas goals are to use scientific management to improve
efficiency, to wage war on wasteful spending, to standardize
administrative procedures aimed at making them fair and open,
and to structure and limit administrative power to prevent
corruption and reduce bureaucratic red tape.
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Questions or Comments ?

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