PUTRAJAYA: Focus must be given to revitalising civil service employees as they are the backbone and catalyst of a country’s transformation programme, said the Public Service Department (PSD).
Its deputy director-general, Datuk Seri Dr Sharifah Zarah Syed Ahmad, said talent development was imperative in encouraging civil service employees to embody traits such as good governance, patriotism, ethics and integrity.
“This is about training them to become better leaders, enhancing their competency, performance and innovative skills,” she said during her presentation at the plenary session of the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (Capam) 2014 biennial conference here yesterday.
Sharifah Zarah said one of the simplest ways to re-engineer an organisation was by implementing organisational development (OD), which is a deliberately planned, organisation-wide effort to increase effectiveness and efficiency to allow an organisation to achieve its strategic goals.
She also said that having human talents would be meaningless without a good institution which was inbuilt with ethics, culture and integrity.
While highlighting talent development and OD as two essential ingredients in public administration, Sharifah Zarah also stressed on the importance of strategic networking, especially in today’s fast-paced society.
“It is important to engage with every level of society in the social pyramid. By doing so, every decision made is an informed one and everyone will have a sense of ownership,” she said.
She noted that among the major challenges faced by public service officials were corruption and rising citizens’ expectations of the government.
“We are definitely not yet at zero corruption level as we constantly hear talk about this issue … but what people always forget is that it is a two-way street.
“It does not only involve the public officials, but also the citizens. We must create a zero-level tolerance for corruption,” she said. — Bernama