Luận văn thạc sĩ Quản lý công: Evaluating the effectiveness of the quality management system ISO 9001:2008 - Analysing the administrative agencies in Dong Nai province

However, Apart from the perceived benefits brought by the ISO standards in public administration, manyopinions and debates about the effectiveness of the compulsory application of those

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS AND BUSIN

AND

UNIVERSITY OF UPPSALA, SWEDEN

Student name: - Ta Quang Truong

- Nguyén Hoang Anh

- Tô Thị LoanClass: MMPP- 165

Topic:

Evaluating the effectiveness of the quality management system ISO

9001:2008 — analysing the administrative agencies in Dong Nai province

Instructor: Dr Phan Chi Anh

PhD Lars Torsten Eriksson

Ha Noi, 8/2011

TABLE OF CON’

Part 1: INTRODUCTION : `,

2 Research objectives NES71580711g032 38918 t5137850118424kfes 2

3, Scope of Study’ ssesssonssiriiriasiaranuzetrssosn Gi185£-HAT9THR1135055.05T0211710013117135015811131118171.80re0 Part 2.MAIN CONTENTS =¬ nổ)

I THEORETICAL BACKGROUND C0552 056001 sy ME 3

1.1 Basic concepts

1.1.1 ISO standards in public administration RTT 1.1.2 Public Administration Reform (PAR)

1.2 Benefits of application of ISO standards in public administration

1.3 The process of application of ISO standards in public administration in

Vietnam and Đồng Nai Province

1.3.1 In Vietnam

1.3.2 In Đồng Nai Province

Il RESULTS OF THE SURVEY OF REALITY OF APPLICATION OF ISOSTANDARDS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN DONG NAI PROVINCE 62.1 Sampling

2.2 Research objectives

2.3 Major findings

2.3.1 Regarding civil servants’ general knowledge of ISO standards in public

administration and PAR 10 2.3.2 The reality of development and application of ISO standards in public

administration <3 2.3.3 Evaluation of application of ISO standards in public administration 23

24 General evaluation cs.ccrovsssssssssessarsenecossssreceerss ceorrorsesstonenserserrenisverenessopornimnennnessivee 2M, 2.5 Some obstacles to application of ISO standards in public administration 30 III Solutions to improve effectiveness of applying ISO standards in public

administration in Đồng Nai Province 32

Part 3 CONCLUSION - -34

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure | Structure of the three groups of departments under survey of

ISO standards in public administration - - 8

Figure 2 Work positions of interviewees AdFigure 3 Civil servants’ relative knowledge of

ISO standards in public administration and PAR 10Figure 4 Objectives of development and application of ISO standards in

Figure 5 Training methods and durations for ISO standards in public

administration - 13

Figure 6 Training contents of ISO standards in public administration 15

Figure 7 Organisation of development and application of ISO standards in

public administration 16Figure 8 Assigning civil servants to implement ISO standards in public

administration 18Figures 9 & 10 Organisation of supervision and periodical/sudden

evaluation, and frequency of consulting citizens and businesses 19

Figures 11& 12 Percentage and classification of procedures in line with

ISO standards in public administration

Figure 13 Evaluation of ISO-based administrative procedures

Figures 14 & 15 Evaluation of durations and civil servants’ attitudes to

application of ISO standards in public administration 24Figure 16 Evaluation of document systems for implementing

administrative procedures after applying ISO standards in public

administration

ract model for MPPM |

ABSTRACT

Title: Evaluating the effectiveness of the development and applying the quality

management system ISO 9001:2008 in association with the aim of public

administrative reform — analysing the administrative agencies in Dong Nai province

Level: Final assignment for Master Program in Public Management.

Authors: Ta Quang Truong, Nguyen Hoang Anh and To Thi Loan

Supervisor: PhD Phan Chi Anh (UEB) and PhD Lars Torsten Eriksson (UU)

Date when the thesis is presented: 2011 - 09

Aim: Applying the ISO standards in public administration, Vietnam in general andĐồng Nai Province in particular have gained certain positive results that contribute

to improved effectiveness of PAR activities and better quality of the state machinery

as well as better control of administrative procedures However, Apart from the

perceived benefits brought by the ISO standards in public administration, manyopinions and debates about the effectiveness of the compulsory application of those

standards in every state administrative agency have been raised, especially by public

management experts, who have a good knowledge of the operational characteristics

of public organisations in Vietnam Our question, then, is “Is it relevant to ask

every state administrative agency to apply ISO standards in public

administration?” To answer this question, the research group! has surveyed and

evaluated the reality of the development and application of the ISO standards inpublic administration and the recent results gained by administrative agencies in

Đồng Nai Province.

Method: This study employs the following methods: Study the theoretical background, collect data through survey questionnaires and analyse collected data statistically.

Result & Conclusions: The research has pointed out the differences of results of

applying ISO standards in public administration by different’ administrativeagencies especially by those doing so to meet their upper-level requirements Our

"That is, T Anh, Tô Thi Loan ~ Students of MPPM 165, Vietnam

Abstract model for MPPM

study suggests that ISO standards in public administration can not be appliedcommenly in every administrative agency

Suggestions for future research

In theo-y, to evaluate the effectiveness of applying the ISO in organizations, the studyhas to use the indicators of effectiveness evaluation from the outside and inside the

organization (External effectiveness relates to customer’s perception of quality,

improv: customer satisfaction, increase competition, but to measure them require a lot

of time, in some cases can not evaluate because the customer make transaction onetime only Internal one includes better documentation, better awareness of quality and

productvity and efficiency increases which can be evaluated through questionnaires).

Theretcre, because of the time limit, the study evaluate only from the inside: toimprove the research, it could be consider to evaluate from the outside the

organization Also, consider to expand the scope of the research on the variousprovinces and cities, with a higher sample rate to improve the scientific basis to

persuad: the Government to consider and review the application of ISO standards in

public aiministration

Contribution of the thesis: It has also considered the limitations and difficultiesfacing application of ISO standards in public administration in the current context ofVietnar’s public administration We have then made some recommendations to

improve the effectiveness of applying ISO standards in public administration in

administative agencies in the coming time Our survey results have provided

evidence of the reality and effectiveness of application of ISO standards in public

administation in administrative agencies in Đồng Nai Province, which will inform

relevant authorities more fully in making supporting policies and readjustments of

implementation of ISO standards in public administration to achieve PAR objectives

and improve operational quality of the state apparatus while saving state budget in

avoidance of merely formal application and wastefulness of state budget that lose

0eople`s ›onfidence

Abstract model for MPPM

Key words: Five-six words which have been frequently used and have a key

mportance in the thesis will be mentioned here: ISO standards in publicadministration, PAR, administrative procedures, the respondents, groups

Part 1: INTRODUCTION

1, Overview

The Vietnamese Government has recently made many efforts to accelerate its PublicAdministration Reform (hereinafter PAR) process, which aims at improvedefficiency and effectiveness of public administration in administrative agencies.Among other things, one solution is attentive construction and application of aquality management system in activities of the state machinery (hereinafter ¿he [SOsiandards in public administration) as an initial step to standardize the workingmethods in order to minimize troubles, make the transparent administrative

procedures, and gain the satisfaction of organisations and citizens Accordingly, thePrime Minister has issued Decision 144/2006/QD-TTg regulating application of the

Quality Management System TCVN ISO 9001: 2000 in activities of administrativeagencies

After nearly three years’ application of the ISO standards in public administration,

Vietnam in general and Déng Nai Province in particular have gained certain positive

results that improved the effectiveness of PAR activities and better quality of the

state machinery as well as better control of administrative procedures To promotethe application of the system of ISO standards in public administration, the Prime

Minister has decided in 2009 that every administrative agency from the centre to the

grassroots that shall apply the ISO standards in the public administration in its

activities

Apart from the perceived benefits brought by the ISO standards in publicadminstration, many opinions and debates about the effectiveness of the compulsory

application of those standards in every state administrative agency have been raised

The public management experts, who have a good knowledge of the operationalcharaceristics of public organisations in Vietnam argued that the ISO standards inpublic administration can not be applied in every the public agency because they can

be effective in one agency and ineffective in another

Our question, then, is “How is current situation of [SO application in the public

administration” and “Is it relevant to ask every state administrative agency to apply

ISO standards in public administration?” Yo answer this question, the research

group! has surveyed and evaluated the current situation of the development and

application of the ISO standards in public administration and the recent results

gained by administrative agencies in Đồng Nai Province In addition, the group has

analysed the possible limitations and obstacles to the recent application of the [SOstandards in public administration, so as to make recommendations aboutimprovement of effectiveness of the ISO standards in public administration in the

future This thesis describes the research process mentioned above and its results

2 Research objectives

The overall objective of this study is to evaluate the current of application of ISO

standards in the public administration in state administrative agencies in Đồng Nai

Province; to assess the impacts of the ISO standards in public administration onmanagement effectiveness; and, to propose the solutions to improve the effectiveness

of application of ISO standards in public administration Because the effectiveness ofISO in PAR is not well studied before

3 Scope of study

- The provincial departments of Déng Nai Province that have applied the ISO

standards in public administration since 2004 to date

- The study is conducted between 3 - 8/2011

‘hat s, Tạ Qua: tường, Nguyễn Hoàng Anh, Tô Thị Loan - Students of MPPM 165, Vietnam

Part 2: MAIN CONTENTS

I, THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1 Basic concepts

1.1.1 ISO standards in public administration

The [SO standards in public administration in Vietnam form the set of TCVN ISO9001:2000 (the 9001:2008 as the latest) that is applied activities of state

administrative agencies to develop scientific and proper work processes and enable

their leaders to contro! the work processes of their organisations, so as to graduallyimprove the quality and effectiveness of public service management and delivery”.Application of those ISO standards will go through four main stages (development,application, evaluation, maintenance and improvement of the quality managementsystem) in order to help administrative agencies standardize their activities andimprove their service quality

1.1.2 Public Administration Reform

Public administration reform (PAR) is most commonly defined to be the reform ofstate management activities of state administrative agencies upon internal andexternal changes PAR is a planned change that aims at certain objectives set by state

authoriies It does not change the nature of the administrative system but make thesystem work more effectively

PAR his different focuses in different development phases Vietnam’s current PAR

concenrates on the four main aspects of legal institution, organizational machinery,

improved quality of civil servants, and public finance’.

1.2 Beefits of application of ISO 900 standards in public administration

It can te easily seen that such application results in the following benefits for state adlminisrative agencies’:

* “he work processes of administrative agencies are standardized scientifically,

yroperly, legally and under a one-stop-shop mechanism;

216i)

23]

19)

v Publicly transparent and open work processes and procedures enable citizens

to control and supervise activities of administrative agencies:

The leader of the state-administrative agency can control its work settlementprocesses and give timely directions:

The efficiency and effectiveness of public service management and delivery

are promoted through regular improvements in line with the requirements ofthe standards;

As a result, state-administrative agencies can enhance public trust and improve their

images and relationships with organizations and citizens in line with the nature of theVietnamese state as a state by the people and for the people

The ISO standards in public administration also help administrative agencies:

v

v

Link the quality management system to their work processes;

Improved the document system of administrative processes and procedureswill enable clear definition of right people for right jobs; improved the workperformance; and serve as the basis for training and recruitment;

Public leaders will not be filled with minor affairs and can spend more timedeveloping their organizations through decentralization to their subordinates;Measure and evaluate the work system, process, quality and clients’satisfaction by specific standards or quality objectives;

Make public employees to have better awareness of the work quality andfollow consistent procedures throughout the organization to achieve PAR

objectives;

Encourage public employees actively work to improve the success of their

units and organisations:

Evaluate the efficiency and outcomes of ongoing guidelines, policies and

legal directions in order to propose to relevant authorities improvement orinnovation solutions that suit current circumstances;

vy Accelerate the implementation of the democratization regulation in all the aspects of the organization and give related organizational members the

opportunities to contribute to the directions, objectives — strategies,administrative procedures and processes

With the benefits mentioned above, the application of the ISO standards in publicadministration will considerably contribute to the ongoing administrative procedurereform and can be considered as an effective tool to realize the current PAR

objectives.

1.3 The process of application of ISO standards in public administration inVietnam and Dong Nai Province

1.3.1 In Vietnam

As early as in 1999, the General Department of Standards-Measurement-Quality

provided a written guide of application of IS0 9000 in public administration’, but

initial applications were mainly unprompted on small scales in administrative

agencies in Ho Chi Minh City, then Hà Nội, Hai Phòng, Da Nẵng, and Đồng Nai.

Based on the experience of successful application of ISO standards in public

administration in some countries such as Malaysia, Singapore ISO standards in thepublic administration were officially conducted on a pilot basis throughout Vietnam

in 2003 under Project “Reforming Management Methods and Modernizing Offices

of the Administrative System” (or Project 169 as it was issued as attachment toDecision 169/2003/QD-TTg) led by the Ministry of Science and Technology

In 2009, the application of the ISO standards in the public administration became

compulsory in every administrative organ from the centre to the district level", under

a roadmap of completion by 2010

Statistically, only 100 or the like administrative organs were certified that compliant

to the ISO standards in public administration while up to 1,675 agencies across thecountry have received that certificate so far However, no single administrative

agency has provided official evaluation reports on how many of its administrative procedures are [SO-compliant

1.3.2 In Dong Nai Province

Apart from such administrative procedure reforms as one-stop-shop and inter-agencyone-stop-shop, ISO standards in the public administration were daringly applied on a

pilot basis in provincial-level agencies in Đồng Nai Province as early as in 2003.

Only one year after the application, four agencies (e Departments of Planning andInvestment, Trade and Tourism, Industry, and the Ojfice of the Provincial People’sCommittee) had been certified that compliant to [SO_ standards in public

administration

After the Prime Minister's Decision 144/2006/QD-TTg in 2006, the provinceproactively provided a plan for deployment of ISO standards in the publicadministration in a roadmap up to 2010 in all of its provincial- and district-level

administrative agencies However, only 73% of its provincial-level agencies and

36% of its district-level administrative organs hit the target by the end of 2010°.

The province could not meet the Prime Minister’s requirement because after the

Prime Minister’s Decision 118/2009/QD-TTg in 2009, the Ministry of Science andTechnology asked it to stop application of ISO standards in public administrationuntil when the ministry provided a guide on the framework of ISO standards inpublic administration, which was then issued in late 2010 Only after that time couldadminstrative agencies re-initiate their development and application of ISO

standards in public administration in their organisations

II RESULTS OF THE SURVEY OF REALITY OF APPLICATION OF ISOS'TANDARDS IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN DONG NAI PROVINCE

6

their administrative procedures Samples were selected objectively and randomlybased on the staff size of the agencies: 5% as the lowest and 21% as the highestpercentage of samples for an agency In addition, sampling was also based on thecharacteristics of the selected agencies (e.g ones with many adminis rative

procedures related to citizens and busines: ones directly related to application ofISO standards in public administration ) We have surveyed 91 out of a total of 787public employees working for those agencies, or 11.56% of their total staf

The survey was conducted carefully in one month from 10 June to 11 July 2011, and

we conducted direct interviews of the 91 samples The results are shown in Table ]

below

Table 1 Distribution of samples under survey of ISO standards in public

administration in Dong Nai

No Agency No.of | Percentage | No of

employees samples

1 Department of Planning & Investment 7 9.86 7

2 Office of Provincial People’s Committee 7 11.27 8

3 Department of Trade & Industry 60 16.67 10

4 Department of Science & Technology 42 21.43 9

13 | Dept of Agriculture & Rural Development 56 536 3

14 Department of Home Affairs 44 15.91 7

Total 787 11.56 91

(Source: personal calculation)

We divided the 14 surveyed agencies into three groups as follows:

~ The I* group includes Departments of Science and Technology, Home Affairs

and Office of the Provincial People’s Committee, which are all responsible fordeployment of ISO standards in public administration, and public administrationreform The group accounts for 24 samples or 26% of the total number of samples

+ The 2" group comprises Department of [rade and Industry, Department of

Planning and Investment because those two departments have many administrativeprocedures celated to citizens and businesses and both applied [SO standards in

public administration very early (in 2004 during the pilot application phase when the

Government did not require ev administrative agency to do so) The groupconsists of 17 samples or accounts for 19% of the total number of samples

+ The 3 group includes all the other departments applying ISO standards in public

administration under the compulsory roadmap provided by the Prime Minister

through his Decision 144/2006/QD-TTg The group has 50 samples or accounts for

55% of the total number of samples

Figure 1 Structure of the three groups of departments under survey of ISO standards

in public administration

GI" Group Depts of Science & Technology.

Home Affairs and Office of the Provincial

People’s Committee

1 2nd Group Depts of Planning & Investment,

55% Trade & Industry

3x4 Group the other Depts

(Source: personal calculation)

In addition, to ensure the accuracy and representativeness of the survey results, the

samples were also selected based on their work positions This criterion helps divide

the samples into four groups:

v Provincial-level department leaders

Y Section managers

v °xperts (ordinary civil servants).

Y Other

Accordingly, the survey at the 14 depariments having applied ISO standards in

public administration involves 5 samples of provincial-level department leaders or

5%; 33 samples of section managers or 36%; 51 samples of experts or 57%; and 2

other samples (office archivists) or 2%

Figure 2 Work positions of interviewees

the results of the deployment of ISO standards in public administration in Déng Nai

Province The survey has collected the following types of information:

+ The current situation of development and deployment of ISO standards in public

administration in the interviewees’ agencies.

9

+ The effectiveness of application of ISO standards in public administration in their

organisations.

The collected data enabled us to answer the research questions of this thesis:

What should be done to improve the effectiveness of application of ISO standards in

public administration in Déng Nai in the coming time?

than ISO standards in public administration on one hand, and up to 30% said theyknow little about ISO standards in public administration on the other while only 13%

is true to the characteristics ofreported that they know little about PAR Thi

Vietnam’s public administration because PAR is a long-run master plan while ISOstandards in public administration is merely a single content of the former, with less

information about it

Figure 3 Civil servants’ relative knowledge of ISO standards in public administration and PAR

Knowledge of PAR _e@ Knowledge of ISO

Don't know Know litle

(Source: IPA *s survey and personal calculation)

10

A deeper analysis reveals that more than 80% of the respondents knowing ISO.standards in public administration and PAR are trom Group 1 (who know veryclearly about [SO standards in public administration) and Group 2 (who implementISO standards in public administration), while less than 20% are from Group 3 (whoshall deploy ISO standards in public administration under a roadmap) In contrast,most respondents knowing little or with insufficient information are from Group 3,

the only group whose members also said they do not know ISO standards in publicadministration and PAR

Figure 4 Objectives of development and application of ISO standards in PA

0 T9 improve quality

1g To conduct PAR

© To meet upper-level order

0 To be trendy

(Source: IPA *s survey and personal calculation)

Figure 4 indicates that some out of the 91 interviewees ticked one of the fourobjectives while others ticked 2, 3 or even all the four 4 objectives of applying ISOstandards in public administration Most of the respondents believed thatdevelopment and application of ISO standards in public administration are aimed toimprove service quality (49 respondents or 39%), and to conduct PAR (43respondents or 35%); while only 7 interviewees or 6% thought that such application

is just trendy and 25 interviewees or 20% argued that it was to meet upper-levelorders

1

Table 2 Objectives of development and application of ISO standards in public

conduct PAR (22%) Only a low percentage (less than 5%) of respondents fromGroups | and 2 thought that application of ISO standards in public administration is

to meet upper-level orders or to be trendy

The members of Group 3 had the most diverse answers agreeing with all the fourobjectives with more of them (32%) believed that application of ISO standards inpublic administration is to conduct PAR and to meet upper-level orders

The survey results support a conclusion that the departments of the respondents inGroup 1 (i.e the agencies that directly deploy ISO standards in publicadministration) deploy ISO standards in public administration mainly to conductPAR while those departments represented in Group 2 (i.e the departmentsproactively implementing ISO standards in public administration) apply ISO

standards mainly to improve their service quality; those departments represented inGroup 3 (i.e those that shall implement ISO standards in public administration under

a roadmap) do it for more objectives (i.e PAR, quality improvement, and meeting

upper-level orders).

2.3.2 The reality of development and application of ISO standards in public

administration

Figure 5 T ing methods and durations for ISO standards in public administration

Number of agreeing respondents

Others

Self-study

Under 3 sessions

3 to 7 sessions

More than 7 sessil

(Source: IPA ‘s survey and personal calculation)

Regarding the training methods and durations for ISO standards in public administration:

Most of the civil servants were trained of the subject through short-term courseslasting between 3 and 7 sessions (39%), or less than three sessions or through self-study (18-19%) while courses lasting more than seven sessions on the subject forthem account for merely 16% Though accounting for a mere 8%, the information onthe other training methods is interesting because it indicates the fact that some civilservants have not been trained or asked to conduct self-study on the subject to dotheir work better as they were recruited to their current organisations after the latter’scourses on ISO standards in public administration had been delivered

Table 3 ning methods and durations, by group

Training methods Result Group I Group 2 Group 3

and durations Agree] % | Agree] % | Agree] % Other I 4%

apply the standards in their own organisations and guide the other departments of theprovince to do so However, they have had only relatively short-term courses, mainlyranging from 3 to 7 sessions In contrast, nearly half (44%) of the informants from

Group 2 enjoyed quite longer-term courses on the subject (more than 7 sessions)because their departments had proactively implemented the ISO standards in public

administration) even before the Government’s regulation on compulsory application

of the standards by every administrative agency In lack of proper instructions on thesubject at the starting time, those organisations chose longer-term training courses to

make their employees understand the ISO standards more clearly and thus workmore conveniently and efficiently Group 3 (containing those from the departments

that shall apply ISO standards under a roadmap) has had rather short-term courses: a

majority of its members (75%) having attended less-than-seven-day courses; merely5% of the group members having had courses lasting more than 7 sessions; andmany (13%) having not followed any course on ISO standards.

i4

Regarcing training contents: four main following contents on have been delivered to

the civil servants in Đồng Nai Province: introduction to ISO standards in publicadministration, their requirements, writing documents on the subject, and internalevaluaion It can be seen that the training content on writing documents is popular inthe resyondents’ courses (90%), and a majority of the members (about 90%) of thethree groups have attended this content The high percentages are because the

conten’ is fundamental for deployment of ISO standards in public administration in

their oganizations and application of a certificate in the field Civil servants alsoneed taining of internal evaluation to maintain and improve their organizational

systems of ISO standards in public administration, but our survey reveals that only

64% o ‘all the respondents on average, mainly from Groups | and 2, attended this

training content while merely 42% of the members from Group 3 in particular

received the same training content In addition, Table 5 indicates that the members ofGroup? received the most training on the subject while the respondents from Group

3 had dfferent numbers of the training contents, and up to 14% of them had not been

trainedof the basic issues of ISO standards in public administration

Table 4 Training contents of ISO standards in public administration, by group

ning Results, Group I Group 2 Group 3

content Agree % Agree % Agree %

Introduction to |

68 75% 20 83% 17 100% 3) 62%ISO standards |

‘equirements of

| 23 96% 15 | 88% | 27 54%ISO standards | | |

(Source: IPA ‘s survey and personal calculation)

Figure 7 Organisation of development and application of ISO standards in public

administration

=

Number of agreeing respondents

11% 8%

© Delivered by respondent's organisation

g Delivered in collaboration with consultants

Figure 7 indicates the similar results, as shown by its preceding charts: up to 81% ofthe departments under the survey developed their ISO standards ín public

administration in collaboration with external consultants while only 8% of themdeveloped and deployed their [SO standards on their own, and 11% had external

consultants completely build and deploy their ISO standards

Table 5 Organisation of development and deployment of ISO standards in public

administration, by groupResults Group 1 Group 2 Group 3

(Source: IPA ‘s survey and personal calculation)

Im addition, it is noted that only the departments of some respondents from Group 3

hiad development and deployment of their ISO standards in public administration

conducted by external consultants; in contrast, only the department of some

imterviewees from Group | organised development and deployment of their ISO

sttandards on their own The departments of all the members of Group 2 developed

aind deployed their ISO standards in collaboration with external consultants

Figure 8 Assigning civil servants to implement ISO standards in public administration

OSeries1

Fully in charge Holding several positions None

(Source: IPA ‘s survey and personal calculation)

Table 6 Assigning civil servants to implement ISO standards in public administration

by group

Assigning civil Results Group 1 Group 2 Group 3

servants Agree | % | Agree | % | Agree % Agree %

their organizational implementation of ISO standards in public administration while

holding other positions at the same time, with Group 3 having the highest percentage

(96%) The other respondents were made either fully responsible for monitoring theimplementation or totally free from it (11% and 2% respectively for the wholesurvey) The lack of civil servants fully in charge of monitoring implementation ofISO standards in public administration is only available in Group 3 Althoughaccounting for a mere 4%, it somehow shows the low attention paid by the leaders of

those respondents to the implementation of ISO standards in public administration

18

In contrast, the departments of the respondents from Group 2 have a quite high

ge of civil servants made fully in charge of the implementation (47%)

perce

Figures 9 & 10 Organisation of supervision and periodical/sudden evaluation, and

frequency of consulting citizens and businesses

(001 tnow

‘Once every Sain @Once 3:6 mong @Onee every 8: morhe 2Once every 12 meta Mone

(Source: IPA ‘s survey and personal calculation)

Table 7 Organisation of supervision and periodical/sudden evaluation, by group

Organisation Results Group 1 Group 2 Group 3

of supervision | Agree % Agree % Agree % Agree %

(Source: IPA ‘s survey and personal calculation)

Figure 9 indicates that only 74% of the interviewees responded that theirorganizations frequently organized supervision and evaluation of implementation of

ISO standards in public administration, while 21% reported no such activities Inaiddition, all the departments of those from Groups | and 2 organised supervision and

evaluation (100%) while 38% of the departments of the interviewees from Group 3

diid no: conduct those activities and up to 10% of the respondents of the same groupdiid no: know if their organizations conducted them or not

Table 8, Frequency of consulting citizens and businesses, by group

Results ipl Group 3

Frequency Agree % % Agree % Agree %

(Source: IPA ‘s survey and personal calculation)

Similarly, Table 8 indicates that the departments in the survey tended to organizeconsultation of citizens and businesses on their application of ISO standards inpublic administration every 6-12 months on average (41%) and every 12 months orlonger (24%) Notably, up to 19% of the departments in the survey did not carry outthe activity Although this percentage is lower than the rate of self-organisation ofsupervision by those departments, it somewhat expresses how much attention theadministrative agencies paid to administrative products and services that theydelivered Only the departments of those in Group 2 always conducted consultation

of citizens and businesses (every 3-12 months); while the departments of those in

Group 3 paid much less attention to the activity: up to 68% of them either conducted

it every 12 months or longer or did not do it Though having certain limitations inconsultation, Group | was relatively better than Group 3 as only 20% of thedepartments of those in the former either conducted it every 12 months or longer or

did not do it

20

In some aspects, the limited results found in Table 8 came from inadequate attentionpaid to the activity of consultation by the departments, especially those of the

respondents from Group 3 though supervision, evaluation and consultation are

fundamental requirements for effective application of ISO standards in publicadministration

Figures 11 & 12 Percentage and classification of procedures in line with

ISO standards in public administration

Fat TR

==

(Source: IPA *s survey and personal calculation)

Im additioa, although it is stipulated that all administrative procedures related tociitizens ard businesses must be in line with ISO standards in public administration,

the results found in Figure 11 and Table 9 show certain limitations: only 45% of the

departments in the survey have applied ISO standards to more than 70% of theiradministrative procedures while up to 12% of the respondents believed that less than

310% of the administrative procedures of their organizations complied with ISO

standards and up to 19% of the respondents did not know the number of

administrative procedures and those in line with ISO standards in their organisations

The deparments of Group 2 had the highest degree of applying ISO standards totheir admnistrative procedures (70% of their administrative procedures were ISO-

biased); wiile those of Group 3 had the lowest degree (up to 24% of the departments

im this group had less than 30% of their procedures in line with ISO standards), and

those of | achieved an average rate

Table 9, Percentage of administrative procedures in line with

ISO standards in public administration, by group

Results Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Percentage [Agree] % | Agree | % [Agree] % | Agree | %

upper administrations Besides, up to 11% of the ISO-based administrative

procedures are conducted internally with no direct relation to citizens and businesses.While 65-94% of the ISO-based administrative procedures of the departments ofGroups | and 2 belonged to their or their superior-level authority, up to 20% of the

procedures of the agencies of Group 3 were internal though the rest of them

belonged to their authority

Table 10 Classification of ISO-based administrative procedures, by group

Type of ISO-based Results Group 1 Group 2 Group 3

procedures Agree] % | Agree % Agree | % | Agree | %

Internal 10 [1%] 0 0% 0 0% 10 | 20%

Organizational authority | 73 [80%] 17 | 7IWT[ 16 | 54WJ[ 40 | sore

Organization authority,

20 | 22%] 8 33% | 0 0% 12 24%related to other agencies | | |

Under superior authority, | 35 |39% | 17 71% II | 65% 7 | 14%

|

Total 138 | 2 | 27 | 69 |

tờ tò

2.3.3 Evaluation of application of ISO standards in public administration

To evaluate the effectiveness of the application of ISO standards ín public

adininistration by the administrative agencies of Dong Nai, we mainly evaluate the

methods and durations, civil servants’ attitude, and improvement brought by

documents for implementing the administrative procedures

Figure 13 Evaluation of ISO-based administrative procedures

(Source: IPA *s survey and personal calculation)

Table 11 Evaluation of methods of implementing ISO-based administrative

procedures, by group

Results Group 1 Group 2 Group 3

| Agree| % Agree % Agree % Agree

Figure 13 and Table 11 indicate that only 40% out of the 91 respondents, most ofthem were from Groups | & 2 thought that it was much easier to carry out [SO-based administrative procedures while 16% believed that the [SO-based procedureswere the same as before, and 12% of the respondents as the whole (mainly in Group

3 with 22%) argued that they were even more complicated The survey results to

some degree show that the departments of Groups | and 2 applied ISO standards inpublic administration more effectively making it easier to implement administrativeprocedures while those of Group 3 had unexpected results because 22% of itsmembers believed that it was the same te conduct ISO-based procedures as beforeapplication of them (the percentage is nearly that of the members in the same group

who believed that it was much easier to follow ISO-based procedures).

Figures 14 & 15 Evaluation of durations and civil servants’ attitudes to application of

(Source: IPA ‘s survey and personal calculation)

Table 12 Evaluation of durations of implementing ISO-based procedures, by group

Results Group 1 Group 2 Group 3

Agreel| % | Agree % Agree % Agree %

Unlike the results found in terms of methods of implementing [SO-based procedures, cnly 10% and 69% believed that the durations for implementing ISO-based frocedures were extremely good and good respectively while up to 21% argued that

they were neither good nor bad The results explicitly suggest that the application ofISO standards in public administration improved the methods more effectively thanthe durations of implementing administrative procedures

Table 12 indicates that the durations of implementing administrative procedures

were much rmore improved afier application of ISO standards in publicadministration mainly among the departments of Group 2 (82%) and Group | (71%)while only 64% of Group 3 respondents thought the durations of ISO-basedprocedures were good, but up to 32% of the same group members argued they were

just the same as before In conclusion, the departments of Group 3 gained the leasteffectiveness of the application of ISO standards in public administration in terms of

duraticn

Table 13 reveals that the application of ISO standards in public administration has

remarkably improved civil servants’ attitude Though 30% of the respondents stillbelieved that civil servants’ attitude remained the same, up to 70% argued that it was

good cr extremely good We then came to a conclusion that the application of ISOsandads in public administration has brought positive results improving civil

servans’ attitude and responsibility Though varying from one group to another,

more tian half of the respondents in every group believed that civil servants’ attitudewas gcod or extremely good (see highlighted details in Table 13)

Tatle 13 Evaluation of civil servants’ attitude to application of ISO standards in

public administration, by group

Agree] % | Agree] % [Agree] % Agree %

Finally, Figure 16 shows four advantages of the document system for application of

ISO standards in public administration First, 95% of the respondents agreed that it

was easy to control them (100% in Groups | & 2 and 90% in Group 3) Next, 91% of

the respondents on average believed that the documents were clearer, but only 75%

of the Group | respondents believed so in contrast to 96% in Group 3 A relativelylow percentage of the interviewees (49%) on average thought that the documents

were simpler (it was more supported by Group 2 (71%) and much less in the other two groups (some 40%)) We then came to a conclusion that the application of ISO

standards to simplify administrative procedures was not really highly effective; itmainly made their implementation clearer and more controllable

Figure 16 Evaluation of document systems for implementing administrative

procedures after applying ISO standards in public administration

J) Easy 10 contrat

Easy lo tmplemen

(Source: IPA ‘s survey and personal calculation)

26

Table 14 Evaluation of document systems for implementing administrative

procedures after applying ISO standards in public administration, by group

Results Group | Group 2 Group 3

Agree | % Agree | % | Agree] %

(Source: IPA ‘s survey and personal calculation)

Following is the summary of the survey results on civil servants’ knowledge of ISO

standards in public administration and PAR; objectives of implementing ISOstandards in public administration; the reality of development and deployment of

ISO standards in public administration by administrative agencies in Đồng Nai

province and their recent results (see Appendix No.1)

2.4 General evaluation

The results shows the summary of survey results of the three groups It can be seenthat knowledge of both ISO standards in public administration and PAR varies fromthe departments of one group to another, so different departments have set differentobjectives: some to improve their service quality; others for PAR; still many others

to follcw their upper-level requirements or to be trendy.

The survey results indicate that the objective of applying ISO standards in public

administration is the mainstream of development and deployment of ISO standards

in public administration, and it largely affects the results of different departments

To ewduate the effectiveness of applying ISO standards in public administration in

administrative procedures correctly, we have considered the relationships betweenobjectives: reality of development and deployment, and, especially results of

implenentation There are two ways to evaluate the effectiveness in connection with

PAR <cbjectives: (i) from the perspective of public service providers (from the

supplie perspective), and (ii) from the view of citizens and businesses (from the

27

demand perspective)’ We have chosen the first method for our evaluation, mainly

based on the four major aspects, each of which reflect the effectiveness of applying1SO standards in public administration in connection with PAR objectives:

i Duration for implementing administrative procedures

ii Document system of administrative procedures

ili Methods of implementing administrative procedures

iv Civil servants’ attitude to implementing administrative procedures

The first aspect, duration for implementing administrative procedures, is consideredthrough evaluating the time for following a certain procedure before and after

applying ISO standards in public administration The fact shows that ISO standards

in public administration positively help systemize procedures on one hand while they

create some complicatedness on the other through requiring procedures of controland supervision done through many intermediate states that increase the duration

for implementation Some simple procedures have become more complicated after

application of ISO standards in public administration

The second aspect helps evaluate the pre-eminent advantages of document system ofadministrative procedures after applying ISO standards in public administration It

mainly evaluates whether the application complies with the government objective of

“controlling the work settlement process”

The third aspect, methods of implementing administrative procedures, evaluateswhether application of ISO standards in public administration create more

administrative procedures that complicate implementation of those procedures

The fourth aspect, civil servants’ attitude to implementing ISO-based administrativeprocedures, is considered through evaluation of civil servants’ perception of theprocess of applying ISO standards in public administration

In addition, to facilitate our evaluation of the relationship between development,

deployment and results of implementing ISO standards in public administration, we

have evaluated the process of development and deployment of ISO standards inpublic administration polygonally in the following 8 aspects:

i Training methods and durations of ISO standards in public administration

ii Training contents of ISO standards in public administration

iii Organisation and responsibility for deployment

iv Arrangement of civil servants in charge of monitoring implementation

on and ev

v Organisation of pericdical/sudden supervis

vi Frequency of consulting citizens and businesses

vii Percentage of ISO-based administrative procedures

viii Classification of ISO-based administrative procedures

We have scored each aspect from 0 to 3 ranging from very much limited, limited,good to very good that we have identified based on the survey results (see appendix

No.2)

The results show the differences during the development and deployment of ISOstandards in public administration by three groups of departments in Đồng Nai.Giroup 2 is the best of the three groups with all of the basic contents and issues ofISO standards having been deployed at a high rate All of its aspects almost gain thehiighest scores being evaluated very good, except the aspect of organization of

deployment being evaluated good It is easy to interpret these results because Group

2 contains departments that pioneered in implementation of ISO standards in publicadministration during the pilot phase Because of limited knowledge of ISOstiandards in public administration at the time their collaboration with externalconsultants was necessary, unlike the departments of Group | that were responsible

for deploying ISO standards in public administration in other organisations Incontrast, Group 3 had the most limitations in deployment of ISO standards in public administration with only the aspect of training methods and durations being given

the highest score of 2 points while the other aspects being evaluated still limited andthe two aspects of supervision — evaluation and training contents, which are both

very important, being evaluated sứ much limited Finally, many aspects of Group |

29

are evaluated good or extremely good, except the aspect of training contents being

evaluated still limited

The results express the effectiveness of applying ISO standards ¡in publicadministration in connection with PAR objectives in the departments of all the three

groups in Đồng Nai Their quadrangles express in more detail the quality of the fouraspects under survey Accordingly, Group 2 applied ISO standards in public

administration most effectively with its aspects being given nearly the highest scores

of 3 and only the aspect of civil servants’ attitude in implementing administrativeprocedures being scored 2 In contrast, Group 3 had the lowest effectiveness ofapplying ISO standards in public administration with all of its aspects beingevaluated s// limited (1 point), except for the aspect of document system beingevaluated very good (3 points) Similar to its rank in terms of implementing ISOsttandards in public administration, Group 1 comes in the middle with three aspectsbeing evaluated good (2 points)

The experience of the departments that are successful apply ISO standards in public

administration shows a relationship between their objectives, process of developmentaind deployment, and results of implementation This is suitable with our group’simitial judgment Departments applying ISO standards in public administration toimprove their work quality will develop and deploy them fully and comprehensivelywith impressive results On the contrary, those departments applying them to followtheir upper-level requirement or to conduct PAR tend to pay inadequate attention todevelopment of ISO standards, so their results remain much limited than expected bythe central government

2 5 Some obstacles to application of ISO standards in public administration

Thhe survey results above show that application of ISO standards in public

administration by agencies in Đồng Nai face many obstacles in many forms, not onlybyy the subjective reasons of the applying agencies but also by the shortcomings and

owerlaps of the different PAR programmes and the characteristics of Vietnam’s

public administration mechanism that altogether negatively affected the effectiveness

off the application

Budget for application of ISO standards in public administrations IPP /

According to the Provincial Department of Science and Technology, theadministrative agencies that develop and deploy ISO - standards in publicadministration have received quite a big supporting budget for the activities untilthey received an ISO-compliant certificate, apart from the budget for annualmìaintenanee and re-evaluation More specifically the departments of Groups | and 2received 150 million VND per department on average, and those of Group 3 - 110

million VND per agency on average'”, If all administrative agencies are forced to

apply [SO standards in public administration as required by the centra! government,

Đồng Nai province will have to spend at least 30 billion VND as support to

development of [SO standards in public administration by its 269 agencies (at thelowest rate of 110 million VND per agency on average, regardless of budget for

ainnua! maintenance and re-evaluation; the whole country (comprising 63 provinces

amd centrally-run cities, regardless of central agencies) will have to spend a total sum

of some 1,900 billion VND, which is a huge amount of fund for still unclear resultsoif applying ISO standards in public administration produced by most agencies under

a ISO-based roadmap

Vietnam's public administration with an overlap between public management and

activities of political and socio-political organisations

Tihis feature more or less affects results of application of ISO standards in public

administration, especially in popular transfer of human resources between different

organisations While public organizations have to apply ISO standards in publicadministration, political and socio-political organizations don’t Consequently, acivil servant from the latter working for the former tend to lack knowledge of ISOstandla:ds in public administration and receive so late training on the subject thatresults of implementing ISO standards in public administration are negativelyaffected In addition, transfomation of public leaders also has big influences overapyplicetion of ISO standards in public administration because their commitment toimplementation of ISO standards will not be carried out continuously

30)

Public leaders’ inadequate attention to and merely formal application of ISO standards in public administration

Ihe survey results indicate that those agencies applying ISO standards in public

administration in a roadmap have a low percentages of ISO-based procedures, which

ae mainly internal or under their authority, and many of them have the applicationcarried out by external consultants without assigning their civil servants to monitorthe implementation As a result, we notice that the application of ISO standards in

public administration by those agencies are merely formal for getting an

ISO-compattible certificate other than paying authentic attention to implementation

odjecti ves.

III Solutions to improve effectiveness of applying ISO standards in public

administration in Đồng Nai Province

Our survey results indicate that the results of applying ISO standards in publicadministration vary from department to department ISO standards in public

administration can be highly effective only in those departments applying them toimprove their quality If every administrative agency is forced to apply them, many

agencies that lack internal motivation of improving their service quality will produce

results unexpected by the central government that waste money and time Based on

the obstacles to application of ISO standards in public administration analysed above

(i.e huge fund, contradictions between different regulations, overlaps in Vietnam’spublic administration ), we can now answer our research question: “The currentregulation that every administrative agency shall apply ISO standards in publicadministration” is unsuitable to the situation To apply ISO standards in public

administration really effectively, our analysis leads to the following suggestions:

1/ Every administrative agency should be encouraged, other than forced, to apply

ISO standards in public administration through the central government's increasedpropaganda and introduction of different successful models of applying ISOstandards in public administration and development trends of modern public

management in the world so as to improve the awareness of administrative

agencies of objectives of applying ISO standards in public administration so thatthey will implement it more proactively The survey results indicate that only those

ø

agencies with proper objective of improving their service quality could gain high effectiveness.

2/ A specialized organization and mechanism should be established for quicksettlement of proposals of adjusting management contents made by agenciesapplying ISO standards in public administration because the current mechanism ofViet s public administration cause many difficulties to administrative agencies

in applying ISO standards in public administration to improve their quality, mainly

due to the fact that most administrative procedures are issued by upper-leveladministrations and difficult to be adjusted

3/ The perception and attitude of civil servants, especially public leaders, to

application of ISO standards in public administration must be raised because theprinciples for management of ISO standards in public administration involve person-

to-person management activities Perception and attitude are therefore decisive to

good results of application of ISO standards in public administration

4/ Infrmation technology must be applied thoughtfully in application of ISO

standards in public administration to establish an e-system that simplifies documents

and traning processes, and saves costs of application

5/ Appication of ISO standards in public administration by administrative agencies

shouldbe frequently supervised and controlled; ISO-compatible certificates must not

be given to those organizations applying ISO standards in public administration

merely to some simple administrative procedures under their authority to meet theirupper-kvel requirements at the wasteful cost of the government budget

Part 3: CONCLUSION

The role of [SO standards in public administration is undeniable for its obvious

benefits in PAR and quality improvement for the state apparatus However, it is

questionable about the relevancy of the regulation of compulsory application of ISOstandards in public administration by every administrative agency in the current

context of Vietnam.

Through studying the theoretical background, surveying the current situations and

analyzing the limitations and difficulties in application of ISO standards in public

administration by 14 administrative agencies in Đồng Nai Province in nearly one

month; our study, which involves 91 interviewees, has pointed out the differences ofresults of applying ISO standards in public administration by different administrative

agencies, especially by those doing so to meet their upper-level requirements Our

study suggests that ISO standards in public administration could not be applied

commonly in every administrative agency It has also considered the limitations anddifficulties facing application of ISO standards in public administration in the currentcontext of Vietnam’s public administration We have then made some

recommendations to improve the effectiveness of applying ISO standards in publicadministration in administrative agencies in the coming time

Our survey results have suggest some empirical evidences of the current situationsand effectiveness of application of ISO standards in the public administration in

administrative agencies in Đồng Nai Province, which will inform relevant authorities

more filly in making supporting policies and readjustments of implementation of

ISO standards in public administration — a modern advanced quality management

method in the world — to achieve PAR objectives and improve operational quality ofthe stae apparatus while saving state budget in avoidance of merely formalapplicaion and wastefulness of state budget that lose people’s confidence