By BARBARA TEY

TAN Sri Ramon V. Navaratnam is no stranger to Malaysians at
large. A member of the MIM Court of Fellows and the Council, he
is one of the few consistent voices championing social and
economic causes.

His 30-year career in the public sector and 15 years in banking
and business enable him to offer both a broad perspective as
well as an insider’s view of management practices in these
different sectors.

Here we draw lessons from this wise veteran’s sixth sense of
management excellence.

Then and now

Management excellence entails being able to deliver good quality
service to one’s customers. As such, the Government has rightly
recognised the need to improve the delivery system of the public
sector under the 9th Malaysia Plan. In the words of our Prime
Minister, “The idea is to facilitate, not to frustrate.”

1st management sense: Attract the right and best talents, not by
'default' but because your organisation is really the place they
want to be in.

But why, in the first place, has the delivery system of the
civil service deteriorated, or is perceived to have
deteriorated, compared to about three or four decades ago?

“In the early days, the Malaysian Civil Service (MCS) was the
best employer in the country!” Nava reveals.

“Essentially, there was no domestic private sector to talk
about, except for the retail and wholesale trade. The public
service then was almost entirely in the hands of the British. In
any case, the civil service was much more prestigious as we were
taking over from the highly regarded colonial civil service.

“Of course, there were a few large companies in the plantations
and trading sectors, but these were mainly foreign-owned.

These mainly colonial British-owned entities were reluctant to
hire Malaysians. So for Malaysian graduates, there was no
attraction to the private sector.”

“Consequently, most bright young Malaysian graduates wanted to
join the MCS. Firstly, they were better paid compared to locals
in the private sector. Secondly, once they were hired as junior
officers, they were destined to become someone.

“In an environment where there were not many local professionals
in the private sector – save a minority of doctors, engineers
and lawyers – a member of the MCS enjoyed high esteem. To most,
it was the best job available soon after Merdeka.”

Winds of change

As the private sector developed, it gradually became a more
attractive sector to work in. Today, a promising young Malaysian
would more likely aspire to join the private sector for better
prospects of career advancement.

2nd management sense: Adapt to attract. If you've attracted good
talents in the past, don't assume this will last forever.

The more competent and entrepreneurial-minded would seek
business opportunities for unlimited income generation. Not many
express a desire to join the civil sector as their first choice.

“The more politically minded tended to join the Government
service. In those days, many teachers became political leaders.
But today at the Cabinet and other top levels, we have very
highly qualified professionals who assume political leadership,”
Nava explains.

“However, some leaders in the public sector believe that they
are well-positioned to tell senior civil servants what to do and
make decisions on the latter’s behalf.

Unfortunately, a number of these leaders who are very
politically inclined do not necessarily show much
professionalism. If leaders are more preoccupied with getting by
the next election, they rarely have a long-term strategic
perspective, and this comes through in their long-term
planning.”

3rd management sense: One's personal political agenda shows up
when one does not have the organisation's long-term interests at
heart.

Nava says these days there appears to be inadequate in-depth
analysis during policy formulation.

“Too little time is given for discussion and debate on the
potential policy. There seems to be a lot of hurry to introduce
a certain policy. In the end, an ill-conceived policy will show
up during its implementation. Implementers are then blamed when
in fact, the policy makers share the burden of responsibility.”

So where do we go from here where the public sector is
concerned?

4th management sense: Look before you leap or you might weep
during implementation.

“We have to start now to compensate for the weaknesses of the
past. We can’t change so suddenly. Let us start building up the
pace of paying a higher premium to quality and competitiveness,
and increasing meritocracy.

“If we go for anything short of that, then we can expect a
third-rate ‘delivery system’ that cannot match a first-rate
planning system, for therein lies the gap between policy and
implementation,” Nava asserts.

“In the private sector, we always ensure that we get the best
talents because we have to compete with multinationals in the
context of globalisation. But this is not necessarily true in
the public sector where there is no bottom line to worry about
except for the key performance indicators (KPIs) for
Government-linked companies (GLCs).

5th management sense: Short cuts to quality cut short your
delivery.

“Here, too, we seem slack in our will and determination to make
KPIs really work. The Client Charters in many Government
departments have become the butt of jokes!

“To make matters worse, corruption is so widespread today. A
weak and corrupt workforce makes an organisation easy fodder for
competitors. Corruption can also undermine our NEP and cause
major social problems in future.

“Multiracial Malaysia must also have a more multiracial civil
service. Malaysia’s management capacity must be strengthened
through the hiring of more competent managers from a wider
multiracial mix.

“We must have zero tolerance for inefficiency; we must reward
deserving people; we must weed out the bad from the good. Civil
servants should not be mollycoddled. After all, they are paid
from the people’s hard-earned income from the rakyat’s taxes.
The people thus deserve a better deal.

“For too long, civil servants have been protected – let them
come out of their cocoon and evolve into butterflies,” Nava
exhorts.

6th management sense: Software must match hardware. But the
software mustn't be soft - it must withstand hard demands.

Unique learning ground

So does Nava recommend that young graduates today join the
private sector rather than the public sector?

“Despite its many weaknesses, there is nowhere else that you can
get the breadth of vision and the depth of understanding as in
the public sector; the Government is the biggest employer in the
country and offers a unique learning experience,” he says.

“Only in the public sector does one have the opportunity to deal
with all kinds of national issues, where you are required to be
involved in social, economic and political issues, not merely
business-related profits. Hence your vision is long-term, not as
a politician or even an employee in the private sector (who
frequently switches jobs), but as a civil service professional.

“So join the public sector by all means, but if you feel weary,
use the experience and expertise you have gained to move on into
the private sector. Your experience in the civil service would
stand you in great good stead as I have, for which I am thankful
to God.”
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