A study of Taiwanese civil service reform from 1993 to 2003 : with reference to the UK experience

During the period from 1993 to 2003, the Taiwanese government has taken a series of measures to reform its own civil service. Some ideas have been introduced for the reform such as "Effectiveness", "downsizing", "consumer orientation", "contracting out", "privatisation", "introducing entrepreneurial spirit"...etc, which are similar to that of the UK. After a critical evaluation, we found that Taiwanese civil service reform has accomplished some progress. At the same time it has some defects as well. We also found two specific phenomena bothering the reform. These are firstly placing too much emphasis on organisational reform and secondly political factors firmly affecting the due process of the reform. In addition, the Taiwanese civil service has many positive proposals to help raise its capacity. From the aspect of accountability, it should gear up to match this democratic value. Most importantly, this service has to find a better way to reshape its reform objectives and goals, according to the global trends and its own national needs. With reference to the UK experience, we have concluded that there are some feasible ways, which could be adopted as a future approach for Taiwanese civil service reform. First of all, the transplantation of a Best Value model would be a useful framework to handle overall reform thoroughly and systematically. Secondly, the establishment of a Change Management System could deal with the possible challenges. Thirdly, the strengthening of the strategy concept should be well developed. Lastly, the pursuit of political impartiality is important, as the Taiwanese civil service system needs more space to develop in advance.