Civil Service System in Thailand 119
and regulating mechanisms, these new systems have been taking more time than necessary and are not aligned. The key problems that the PSMRP intended to attack (i.e., slow and fragmented civil service reform) reappeared under the PSMRP itself.
Given such implementation drawbacks, the OCSC hopes that the new Civil Service Act of 2008 will provide a more systemic and practical platform for human resource management of the civil service. Key components under this act are discussed below.
6.2 Recruitment and Selection
6.2.1 Main Feature
Recruitment and selection in the Thai civil service has been based on the principle of merit, which is clarified by neutrality, equality, fairness, and competence. Under the Civil Service Act of 2008, recruitment and selection of the civil service can be undertaken through one of three processes:
(1)through competitive examinations,6 which typically applies for general entry level officials;
(2)through selection (with interview or other suitable methods), which aims for special groups of candidates such as a government scholarship; and (3) under rules, procedures, and conditions prescribed by the CSC for the instatement of a person to a knowledge worker group at the position higher than entry level and to a general position group at highly skilled level. Along these processes, the OCSC advises ministries and departments to ensure merit practices and outcomes.
In addition, the Civil Service Act identifies the general qualifications of a person to become a civil service official. The general qualifications are that civil servants must be of Thai nationality,7 be at least 18 years old, and support the democratic form of government with the king as head of state. People are prohibited from entering the civil service are elected officials or holders of executive or committee positions in political parties; legally incompetent or mentally disabled; morally defective; previously punished by suspension, expulsion, or dismissal from government service; or bankrupt. Exceptions to these exclusions may be granted by the CSC. Apart from the general qualifications, a person must possess the qualification requirement for such position as provided under the class specifications, comprising (1) knowledge, law, and regulations concerned; (2) necessary skills (computer, English proficiency, mathematics, data management); and (3) competencies as identified.
Another method of recruiting qualified persons into the civil service is the government scholarship program. The program has been recognized as a key mechanism to recruit highly competent civil servants and those with special qualifications needed in the civil service. Usually, around 70%–80% of candidates in the final selection stage are second or first degree honor students (OCSC 2006). The practice of sending competent students abroad began during the reign of King Rama the Fifth. Approximately 300 scholars are selected to study abroad each year.
6.2.2 Challenges of Recruitment and Selection
Probably, the major challenges of the civil service recruitment and selection involve trade-offs. The fi rst trade-off is between equality and efficiency, which happens at the entry level. As of
6The examination curriculum has three stages: general examination, specific examination, and position suitability assessment.
7This nationality requirement applies also for government employees, permanent employees, and temporary employees.
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July 2009, amid the economic downturn, more than 500,000 people applied for the OCSCconducted competitive examination for less than 10,000 overall vacant positions in various departments. Those who pass this fi rst round examination will be awarded certificates to apply later for departments’ specific examinations. As a certificate can be used for the second round test in any department, it may create incentives for people to take the fi rst round examination even if they don’t know which department they would apply for in the future, or even if they are not certain of choosing the civil service as a career. Thus, the cost-effectiveness of the general examination conducted in a centralized fashion by the OCSC should be analyzed and compared with a possible decentralized approach implemented by each department or ministry.
The second trade-off between efficiency and merit occurs at the position higher than entry level, as section 56 of the current Civil Service Act allows government agencies to recruit a person to be instated for such positions. The civil service rule prescribed under this section further provides flexibility for ministries by devolving authority for lateral-entry recruitment to the ministerial sub-CSC. The intention of such a rule is to help ministries and departments, amid the situation of an aging bureaucracy8 and tight labor market competition, to be able to recruit qualified people at any level of positions. The downside of this policy, obviously, is how the OCSC can prevent unmerited practice of this lateral-entry recruitment. Currently, the OCSC does so by not allowing such recruitment at management and executive positions.
In addition, the new Civil Service Act creates the need for a more aggressive role of the OCSC and departments in recruitment and selection. This act is the fi rst to spell out the word “recruitment.” In previous acts, recruiting people into the civil service was defi ned under the term “test” or “examination.” T hus, the OCSC and departments should be aware that the term “recruitment” brings with it the concept of “job marketing” that requires a more proactive mindset than a testing or examination mechanism. How the civil service can segment the labor market to identify its potential candidates, how to re-brand departments and develop a job-marketing strategy, and how to develop effective selection tools are challenging tasks for the OCSC and departments to attract high caliber candidates.
The OCSC, in fact, tried to respond to the recruitment challenge by inventing more types of government scholarship. In 2007, for example, the OCSC launched the “Public Sector Innovation Scholarship” (PSIS), to attract Thai students who study overseas in top schools (master or doctoral degree) to come back to Thailand and work for the civil service. The scholarship incorporates the concept of the private sector’s signing bonus and performance-based pay mechanisms. Selected candidates sign a 2 to 6-year contract with the OCSC, and receive a lump-sum signing bonus as well as annual top-up performance pay based on the progress of their innovation projects (OCSC 2008e). Likewise, in 2010 the OCSC will introduce a scholarship program aimed at high-potential students who are in their fi nal year bachelor degree program. Unfortunately, the size of both new scholarship programs is small with about 50 scholarships in total.
8At the same time, to fully utilize the potential of officials, section 108 of the act allows the extension of the retirement age for some positions up to 10 years. The CSC, therefore, issued its rule in September 2009 to extend the retirement age of civil service officials in the knowledge worker group at expert and advisory levels or those in the general group at highly skilled level from 60 to 70 years old. However, the extension would be granted based on necessity of the work and once extended, each official will be revised periodically.
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Civil Service System in Thailand 121
6.3 Position Classification
6.3.1 Main Feature
The Thai civil service has systematically employed the position classification system since 1975. Before 2008, civil servants were classified through 11 common levels with level 11 as the highest rank (permanent secretary or senior advisor) while level 1 was the lowest (non-degree position). Positions can also be categorized into three groups: general position, specialized or professional position, and management position. The Civil Service Act B.E. 2518 (1975) postulated the general responsibility of each level. Later, this clarification was updated by the Civil Service Act of 1992 while leaving the specific job description of each position for the CSC to formulate.
Career progression is in accordance with educational qualification (as a condition of entry level), tenure, performance, and certain additional qualifications. Figure 6.1 illustrates the existing classification in the civil service.
Under this classification, one step-wise salary schedule (structure) is applied for all job series (more than 400 series). A salary increase for officials can be through promotion, performance appraisal, and/or the shift of the salary schedule itself. Each salary step represents approximately a 4% increase.
In 2002, the OCSC launched the “Modification of Position Classification and Compensation System for the Thai Civil Service Project.” This project, originating from the PSMRP in May 1999, aimed to renew the classification and compensation systems that had been used for more than 25 years and to help the civil service to become more performance oriented. Under this project, civil service jobs were systematically reviewed and re-evaluated, resulting in a new position structure that is broader and more practical. Such concepts as job broadbanding, competency, performance based and continued development were embedded into the design of this new position structure. The new position classification changes the single 11 level platform into a platform consisting of four position groups each with their own respective levels.
Level 11 |
Permanent Secretary / Senior Expert |
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Level 10 |
Director General / Deputy Permanent Secretary / |
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Level 9 |
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Deputy Director General / Bureau Director / Expert |
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Level 8 |
Division / Unit Director |
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Level 7 |
Senior Officer |
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Level 3-5/6 |
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Level 2-4/5 |
Operational Officer |
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Level 1-3/4 |
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Figure 6.1 Civil Services’s Position Classification under the Civil Service Act of 1992.
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122 Public Administration in Southeast Asia
The current position classification of the civil service is prescribed under section 45 of the new act as involving (1) executive positions (namely, heads and deputy heads of government agencies at ministerial and departmental levels and other positions prescribed by the CSC as executive positions); (2) managerial positions (namely, heads of government agencies at levels lower than departments and other positions prescribed by the CSC as managerial positions); (3) knowledge worker positions (positions that require holders of bachelor degrees as prescribed by the CSC for performing duties in such positions); and (4) general positions, namely, positions that are not executive positions, managerial positions, and knowledge worker positions. Executive and managerial positions each have two levels (primary and higher level); knowledge worker positions have five levels (practitioners, professional, senior professional, expert, and advisory); and general positions have four levels (operational, experienced, senior, and highly skilled).
Under the new position classification platform, job series in the civil service are cut in half (from over 400 job series to about 200 job series). Similar or redundant series are combined while obsolete series are removed.
To progress within each position group, one must meet both time of service required and must reach the midpoint of his/her salary band. This is the improvement over career progression under the previous act, which mainly focused on years of service as a condition for promotion. It is estimated that only the most highly performing officials, for example, can be promoted from practitioner level to senior professional level after 8 years. This is because in order to progress in this time period, an official needs to be evaluated as outstanding every year for 8 years such that his/her salary can reach the salary band’s midpoint. Under the previous system, the only connection between promotion and salary level was that an official needed to reach the lower band salary of the new salary band (the band for the new position group he/she would be promoted to). Such a requirement, however, was almost meaningless given that there was a huge overlap between each salary band (as high as 70% overlap).
In addition, the current act has devolved certain of the CSC’s authority on position management to government agencies. For example, specifying the position regarding number, type, job series, and level, which was under the authority of the CSC, is now devolved to the ministerial Civil Service Sub-Commission (Ministry CSSC). To ensure the effectiveness of such a devolution, the CSC issues guidelines on position management (including the personal expenditure budget) for the ministry.
6.3.2 Challenges of the Position Classification System
The successful implementation of the new position classification will depend on both management and cultural aspects. First, as new selection and promotion committees in departments and ministries have to be set up to replace the previous ones, effective and practical guidelines to setting up such committees must be provided by the OCSC. Second, as the competency model employed within the new job description is a new phenomenon in the civil service and has only been advocated by the OCSC, while the HR management capability of departments is not strong, sufficient communication and training of officials are needed to help departments comprehend the competency model and be able to apply the concept for their HR management process, especially training for line managers and HR personnel in departments (Wedchayanon 2009). Third, the new broadband classification means that officials who used to be at different position levels are now in the same position band. For example, a majority of officials at position level 3, 4, and 5 under the previous act are now classified as knowledge worker position at the practitioner level. Likewise, while a director general (head of department) used to be level 10, he or she is now in the executive position at the high level, the same level as a permanent secretary-general who is the head of the
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