http://www.todayonline.com/Hotnews/EDC12...
I bet many of us didn't know the government was doing this even if we could observe that they were fond of copying private sector practices. It was a stupid idea. Can't they see it at the beginning? It is no different from Economics suffering from Physics envy, and the government afflicted with private sector worship.
This is the result of losing one's common sense which the Old Guard had in abundance. It is also the inescapable consequence of civil servants who are only comfortable with thinking in models they learned from universities. Our real life problems had required them to roll up their sleeves to understand in situ what the challenges were and fashion solutions. We spent so much on their education and than we stifle them with all these inflexible models and cuffed them with KPIs that they cannot escape except by resigning from the service.
No wonder the smartest ones leave, and the even smarter ones reject PSC scholarships.
In Pte sector, it is always said 'what gets measured gets done'.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, Public servants are rarely held to account and poor performers are transferred or promoted. Politicians no longer get frank and fearless advise from senior staff as they cultivate those that tell them what they want to hear.In just the same way as they manage the media and public who ask hard questions. The public has the right to know how funds are used wisely. However in SG, KPI's gets lip service and gets ticked off every quarters. It exists so politicians can claim that government is accountable, not for any actual useful purpose when data aren't even privy to the public.
A poor tradesman blames his tools. There can be abused by KPI designer & KPI gamers. Agree too that most of the problems are caused by insufficient rigour applied to the setting of KPIs, and to the subsequent measurement and audit of performance against them. The art is to balance quantity with quality, and knowing where/what to measure appropriately. And NOT ALL line of business (divisions) can be applied.