Enhancing of Efficacy of Interior Ministry Inspectors by New Public Management and Good Governance

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1 Enhancing of Efficacy of Interior Ministry Inspectors by New Public Management and Good Governance Nittaya Sintao 63/118 Rachapruk Road, Pakret District, Nonthaburi Province 11120, Thailand Abstract - This dissertation has been conducted in order to study the implementation of laws relating to inspections by inspectors of Interior Ministry, problems of its structure and system in inspections, including enhancement of its efficacy by application of New Public Management and Good Governance. Its method has been systematically operated by quantitative with open-ended suggestions by distributing the questionnaires to collect data proposed form selected research samples. The research result reveals that on the laws relating to inspections by Interior Ministry Inspectors, they are, in general, regularly implemented, but mostly act 3/1 of legislations issued in 2545 B.E., in particular. For the problems of its structure and system, it states that irregular transfer and shortage of project budgets are mostly found. On the application by New Public Management and Good Governance, it states that the concepts of Managerialism (3Es: Economy, Efficiency, Effectiveness) and Decentralization, based on democracy, have been mostly achieved, and the principles of Responsibility, Morality/Ethics, Rule of Low, Equity, and Efficiency of Good Governance, also have. The result, however, suggests as follows: - According to the policy and management, 1) the inspector authorities should be shifted to the Prime Minister as policy maker, and classified the parties concerned into clusters. To meet public demands, 2) for morale and innovation, the career parts of inspectors be equally promoted and assigned as well as the director General and Deputy Secretary General, 3) operational budgets should be increasingly subsidized, 4) the performance of all inspectors, both Ministry and Department levels, should be horizontally and vertically integrated, 5) the reports and comments submitted by inspectors should be presented to the Boards of Ministry, 6) E-inspection system should be developed and trained, and 7) projects for skill development such as training courses, seminars, including project subsidies should be substantially provided. Keywords - Efficacy of Inspection, Application of New Public Management, Application of Good Governance I. INTRODUCTION The Ministry of Interior, under the main mission on eliminating the sufferings and enhancing the happiness of people in the central, local, and regional parts, has the aim to support, satisfy, and achieved the government policies in accord of the goals and objectives established. As a result, the inspection mechanisms of the Ministry of Interior were determined whereas the Interior Ministry inspectors have been appointed as the administrators managing and responsible for such inspections. The inspectors have been authorized to use the inspection mechanisms in controlling, supervising, monitoring, and evaluating so that the government functions of all departments under the Ministry of Interior can be efficiently and successfully achieved in 95

2 Enhancing of Efficacy of Interior Ministry Inspectors by New Public Management and Good Governance compliance with the State Administration Act B.E.2545 (section 3/1) and the Royal Decree on Criteria and Good Governance B.E 2546 stating that the public management should be aimed for the highest benefits of citizens. However, the investigation on the inspections, workshops, and Interior Ministry inspection revealed that there were several problems and obstacles that resulted in ineffective Interior Ministry inspections. These influencing problems and obstacles included: The Interior Ministry inspections in some dimensions did not respond to the State Administration Act B.E (Section 3/1) and the Royal Decree on Criteria and Good Governance B.E The structures and roles of the Interior Ministry inspectors affected and caused the problems to the Interior Ministry inspections as the missions in some inspection areas were inefficient and could not be achieved. Concerning the inspection systems, it was found that: the integrated inspection with the aim of the achievement in accord with the government policies lacked the integration and seriously-mutual problem solving; the suggestions on the inspections were not implemented in solving problems or in concrete practicing; and the e-inspection system has not been fully implemented whereas the budgets and tools supporting the inspections were insufficient and unqualified. II. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES To study the implementation of laws relating to inspections by inspectors of Interior Ministry. To study the problems of its structure and system in inspections, and To the enhancement of its efficacy by application of New Public Management and Good Governance. III. RESEARCH RESULTS The overall implementation of principles, rules and regulations related to the inspections used in the actual Interior Ministry practices was in a moderate level. It could be noted that the State Administration Act B.E (Section 3/1) was mostly applied in the Interior Ministry inspections, followed by the Royal Decree on Criteria and Good Governance B.E. 2546, and the Interior Ministry regulations, respectively. The overall problems related to the structures and Interior Ministry inspection systems were in a low level. The moderatelevel problems were involved with the unwilling transfer of provincial governors to be appointed as the Interior Ministry inspectors and the insufficient budgets. On the other hand, the problems related to the personnel supporting the inspections, the reports implemented for the Interior Ministry inspection benefits, and the integrated inspections between the ministries, departments, and provinces were in a low level. The inspection efficacy based on the missions of the Ministry of Interior included the integrated inspections for the achievements in accord with the government policies, the special inspections as assigned by the superiors, the monitoring and evaluation of provincial development plans/provincial groups and the mission-based inspections. The overall emergency policies of the Ministry of Interior and the government policies were in a moderate level. It was, however, expected that the Interior Ministry inspection efficacy might be increased if the new public management and Good governance of inspection were applied. The following two concepts of the new public management should be mostly applied to enhance the Interior Ministry inspection efficacy: 1) the Managerially that could enhance the cost-saving, worth whiteness, efficiency, efficacy, and achievements corresponding to the changing environments and social conditions; and 2) the Decentralization that could solve the problems of the citizens in the areas thoroughly. This concept could also ideally satisfy the needs of the citizens and the communities ease the missions of the central units and the ministerial 96

3 Nittaya Sintao inspectors. It, additionally, encouraged the participation and the integrated inspections between the central, regional, and local units with the compliance of the administration under the democratic ways. The following five principles of Good Governance should be mostly applied to enhance the Interior Ministry inspection efficacy: 1) the Responsiveness - the inspections should be qualified and accomplished within the schedule and could satisfy the needs of the clients; 2) the Morality/Ethics - the inspections should be carried on with consciousness, responsibility, morality, ethics, social expectation, and core values of ethical standards; 3) the Rule of Laws - the inspections should be based on the power of laws, strict rules and regulations, fairness, equality, and freedom of the public; 4) the Equality - the inspections should be conducted with the equality with the consideration of equal opportunity to access the public services between the normal people and the disadvantaged; and 5) the Efficiency - the inspections should be carried on with the saving on resources with worthwhile productivity, and greatest benefits of the public. IV. RESULT DISCUSSION Regarding to the Interior Ministry inspections, the principles, rules and regulations, recognized as the laws, related to the ministerial inspections were moderately implemented. In this part, the Ministry of Interior has paid much attention and also clearly stipulated the laws relevant to the inspections in its inspection rules and regulations, not only to be complied with its policies but also the policies of the government. This was consistent with the views of Woradet Chantharasorn [1] stating that the public management or the state administration of Thailand usually and still emphasized the implementation of rules and regulations as the guidelines to solve the problems rather than using the marketing mechanisms focusing on the controlling, not the motivating. The overall problems related to the structures and Interior Ministry inspection systems were in a low level. The moderatelevel problems were involved with the unwilling transfer of provincial governors to be appointed as the Interior Ministry inspectors. This discouraged the provincial governors and made them less enthusiastic. In addition, the budgets supporting the inspections were insufficient, which dramatically affected the efficiency and efficacy of the inspections. This was in accord with the study results of Suphot Saikaew [2] mentioning that there were still several requirements and problems on the development of the inspection management systems. For example, the inspection techniques were not based on the same standards; the inspection guidelines were not consistent with the current public management contexts; and the appointment of the officials as the inspectors were deviating from the principles. All of these affected the efficiency and effectiveness of the inspections. This was totally in line with the findings of Totsaporn Sirisamphan et al. [3] revealing that the agencies have allocated only a few resources to the inspections, which were not sufficient for the operations. Worse than that, this became the main reason why the inspection systems were not successfully achieved. The research results of Sujittra Boonyarattanaphan et al. [4] indicated that the organizational structures were not changed to be consistent with the new public management. There were only a few numbers of the inspector general s and assistant inspectors but these inspectors had to be responsible for a lot of tasks. This was in line with the suggestions on the new dimensions of the inspections of Sombat Thamrongthanyawong [5] proposing the problem-solving guidelines for the insufficiency of budgets and personnel that the supporting unit equipped with readiness of personnel and tools should be established to support the inspections. The efficacy of the Interior Ministry inspections could be summarized as follows: 97

4 Enhancing of Efficacy of Interior Ministry Inspectors by New Public Management and Good Governance 1) the overall inspections based on the emergency policies of the Ministry of Interior and the government policies, the special inspections assigned by the superiors, and the monitoring and evaluation of provincial development plans/provincial groups and the integrated inspections for the achievements of the government policies were in a high level because the missions related to the Interior Ministry inspections were planned for shortterm and long-term period in compliance with the Regulations of Prime Minister s Office on the inspection regulations of the inspectors; 2) For the Interior Ministry inspections, if the principles and concepts related to the new public management and the good governance were applied, the overall competency would be in a high level. This was consistent with the research findings on the inspection system development and the inspectors of Totsaporn Sirisamphan et al. [3] suggesting that the competency/potential of the agencies and the inspection systems should be improved and developed to achieve the efficiency and efficacy in accord with the objectives or missions of the organizations. Furthermore, regarding the application of theories and concepts related to the public management reform, especially the new public management, to the inspections in Thailand, it was suggested that the current inspections should be reviewed and adjusted to be in accord with the directions and guidelines of the new public management reform with the emphasis on the achievements and worthwhileness of the inspections. From the application of the New Public Management to the Interior Ministry Inspections, the analytical results showed that most of the inspectors had the knowledge on the new public management in terms of the decentralization, performance contract, contracting out, cost recovering charges, downsizing, managerialism, debueau cratization, and privatization. However, most of the inspectors held that these concepts were still not suitable to be totally applied as the principles and concepts for the Interior Ministry inspections due to the current limitations and the non-compliance with the Interior Ministry inspection contexts. Nevertheless, they accepted and agreed that the following two concepts of the new public management should be mostly applied to enhance the Interior Ministry inspection efficacy: 1) the Managerialism as it could enhance the efficiency and efficacy of inspections, cost-saving, worth whiteness, modernization, achievements, and reduce the unnecessary procedures. It also corresponded to the changing environments and social conditions, and could therefore satisfy the needs of the citizens. This was in accord with the views of Hood [6] who proposed the new public management in terms of the professional management, benchmarking standards, emphasis on achievements, decentralization, competition between the public and the private sectors, highest benefits gained from the limited resources. It was also consistent with the study results from Ninuch Boonyaritthanon, [7] finding that the concepts of the new public management positively affected the overall inspections. Applying the concept of managerialism to the government system development was suitable for the government agencies providing services to the public because the citizens would be satisfied with the qualified services while the government operation could be usually measured for the achievements; and 2) the Decentralization as this could enhance the flexibility, solve the problems of the citizens in the areas thoroughly, and could ideally satisfy the needs of the citizens and the communities in all aspects. It could also encourage the participation and the integrated inspections under the democratic ways. This was similar to the study from Nakharin Mektrairat et al. [8] mentioning about the four benefits gained from the decentralization as follows: 1) the decentralization resulted in the public participation and provided the chance for the citizens to participate in the community-level political activities under the principles of selfdetermination in accord with the public intent of the democratic system; 2) the decentralization helped the local agencies respond to the problems and needs of the communities with the community strengthening based on the democratic accountability; 3) as the 98

5 Nittaya Sintao decentralization encouraged the decisionmaking and participation in a local level, the legitimacy on exercising the power of the government agencies was achieved, in particular, in cases of the big development projects in the local areas; and 4) the decentralization was recognized as one of the conditions of the good governance management resulting in the checks and management resulting in the checks and balance in the public sector management. From the application of Good Governance to the Interior Ministry Inspections according to the analytical results on the overall realization of the good governance applied in the Interior Ministry inspections, the value of the application was in a high level. The good governance of the Interior Ministry inspections consisted of ten principles as follows: 1) Efficiency, 2) Effectiveness, 3) Responsiveness, 4) Responsibility, 5) Transparency, 6) Rule of Laws, 7) Equality, 8) Participation/Consensus Decision-making, 9) Decentralization, and 10) Morality/Ethics. It was found that the good governance was suitable and should be applied to enhance the efficiency of the Interior Ministry inspections. Among these, the five principles that were mostly applied in accord with the State Administration Act B.E (Section 3/1), the Royal Decree on Integrated Provincial Administration / Provincial Groups B.E. 2551, the Royal Decree on Criteria and Good Governance B.E. 2546, and the Interior Ministry Inspection Regulations included 1) the Responsiveness - the inspections should be qualified and accomplished within the schedule and could satisfy the needs of the clients; 2) the Morality/Ethics - the inspections should be carried on with consciousness, responsibility, morality, ethics, social expectation, and core values of ethical standards; 3) the Rule of Laws - the inspections should be based on the power of laws, strict rules and regulations, fairness, equality, and freedom of the public and all stakeholders; 4) the Equality - the inspections should be conducted with the equality with the consideration of equal opportunity to access the public services between the normal people and the disadvantaged; and 5) the Efficiency - the inspections should be carried on limited resources, reduced working procedures, elimination of unnecessary and obsolete missions, enhancement of productivity worthwhile for the investment with the greatest benefits of the public. This findings were similar to the research results from Wichit Boonsanong [9] revealing that the guidelines promoting the good governance in the local administrative organizations included the following principles: 1) Good Governance - the efficiency of the local agencies should be enhanced with the emphasis on rapid, fair, and proper convenience and services provided; 2) Morality - the overall harmony should be enhanced whereas the conflicts between the officers and officers, and the superiors and the staffs should be reduced; 3) Transparency - the data should be disclosed so that the public could acknowledge the operation of the government agencies; 4) Participation - the decisions should be made based on the consensus between the citizens and the local administrative organizations; 5) Responsibility - the personnel of the organizations should pay respect to the different opinions and dare to accept their action results and the inspection; 6) Worthwhileness - The budgets should be systematically allocated with proper procedures and methods appropriate to the operation, 7) Equality - the rules and regulations should be equally enforced to all parties without any bias or exception, and 8) Consistency - the personnel of the organizations should be encouraged to learn the culture and social contexts so that they perceive the actual needs of the communities and societies. This was in accord with the views from Chai-anan Samutvanich [10] citing that the good governance was a good ruling of the government using the effective mechanisms of the state, including the fair laws, rules, regulations, and criteria, together with the principles of equality, responsibility, public participation, transparency, inspection, exercise of proper power for public benefits. 99

6 Enhancing of Efficacy of Interior Ministry Inspectors by New Public Management and Good Governance V. SUGGESTIONS Suggestions for the policy and management, 1) the inspector authorities should be shifted to the Prime Minister as policy maker, and classified the parties concerned into clusters. To meet public demands, 2) for morale and innovation, the career parts of inspectors be equally promoted and assigned as well as the director General and Deputy Secretary General, 3) operational budgets should be increasingly subsidized, 4) the performance of all inspectors, both Ministry and Department levels, should be horizontally and vertically integrated, 5) the reports and comments submitted by inspectors should be presented to the Boards of ministry, 6) E-inspection system should be developed and trained, and 7) projects for skill development such as training courses, seminars, including project subsidies should be substantially provided. Suggestions for Further Researches, 1) The comparative researches should be conducted to compare the roles of the ministerial inspectors in the context of professional inspectors with the aim to enhance the inspection efficiency and to gain benefits forth inspections. 2) The researches related to the achievement of the application of the new public management and the good governance in the government-sector management should be extended and conducted. REFERENCES (Arranged in the order of citation in the same fashion as the case of Footnotes.) [1] Woradet, C. (1996). Philosophy of Public Management. Government System Reform Committee. Government System Reform Secretary Office. [2] Saikaew, S. (2013). Inspection System Development. Walai Alongkorn Rajabhat University. < Accesed 13 December p.1, [3] Sirisamphan, T. (2001). Development of Inspection and Inspectors. Research Findings Report. Thailand (TRF). p. 119, [4] Boonyarattanaphan, S. (2005). Study on Domestic Government Management and Coordination System Project: Development of Inspection System for Regional Operation Monitoring. Academic Service Center. National Institute of Development Administration. P. i. [5] Thamrongthanyawong, S. (1994). New Dimensions of Inspections. National Institute of Development Administration. p [6] Hood, C. (1991). A Public Management for All Season. Public Administration. [7] Boonyaritthanon, N. (2551). Results of the New Public Management Concept Used in the Government Agencies Reform in Chiang Mai Province. Thesis; Faculty of Political Science. Chiang Mai University. p. E, 125. [8] Mektrairat, N. ( 2009). Project Enhancing the Competency of Local Administrative Organizations to Support the Decentraloization and Local Good Governance. Study Results Report, Thammasat University s Research and Consultancy Institute. Proposed to the Department of Local Administration. p [9] Boonsanong, W. (2013). Guidelines to Promote Good Governance in Local Administrative Organizations: A Case Study of Sub-district Administrative Organization and Municipality in Bang Kruay District, Nonthaburi Province. Ratchaphruek College. p. A. [10] Samutwanich, C.A. ( 1998). Good Governance and Educational Reform - Political Reform. Vajiravudh College. p