• Pan Suk Kim

Transformation of • Professor of Public

Public
Administration
Administration, College of
across Asia: Government and Business,
What Can We Learn Yonsei University, South
from Each Other? Korea; Former Minister of
Korean Context and Personnel Management of
Experiences the Republic of Korea

• pankim@gmail.com
 • Bureaucrats-driven developmentalism: remains
the foundation of public governance in East Asia
(China, Japan, and South Korea, etc.)

• Strong mandarin tradition (meritocracy) and

The Nature of policymaking has been dominated by a
East Asian developmentalist bureaucracy keen on state-
building
Public
Administration • A hybrid of Western and Eastern traditions,
combining state-led development strategies
and the instrumentalities of public
administration
A Trinity of Modern Public Administration:
New approaches are needed in all 3 areas

Practice Education

Research
Major Challenges in
Practice
• Unstable politics & over-politics

• Bureaucrat’s declining pride and ownership

• Frequent turnover (short-term tenure) of government leaders

• Myopic perspective of government leaders

• Bureaucrat’s self-protection

• Weak politics-administration interface, etc.

Innovative Practices:
Beyond and Above
South Korea: Number 1 in “collection and availability of
administrative HR data in the central government,
Government at a Glance 2017, Paris: OECD, p,147.
 • Smart government

• Smart manufacturing

• Smart health

• Smart farming

• Smart transportation

Building a Smart City

• Smart buildings, etc.
 UN E-Government Survey 2018 &
IMD World Digital Competitiveness Ranking 2019

Government transformation: from e-government to AI-based digital government

Source: https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/Reports/UN-E-Government-Survey-2018
file:///C:/Users/Pan%20S.%20Kim/Downloads/imd-world-digital-competitiveness-rankings-2019.pdf
 Barriers to Asian Public
Administration Research
Ideational limitations & lack of confidence: dominance of Western thoughts and theories;
borrowed knowledge (Weberian bureaucracy and PA) shaping knowledge-building in Asian PA; PA
institutions were led by foreign experts and technical assistance

Epistemological weakness & constraints: dominance of positivist knowledge; empirical

quantification and verification; mainstream PA models are positivist (publications are based on the principle
of verificationism), which are NOT compatible with Asian research contexts

Structural obstacles in publication/production: the proportion of articles on Asian countries

represented only 0.05 % of all social science journal articles; underrepresentation of authors from Asia;
underrepresentation of Asia countries in publication; and less numbers of journals
How to Overcome Such Barriers?
• Indigenization, localization, co-production:
internationalization, globalization +
appreciation of local knowledge in Asia (self-
confidence); utilization of ICT and new tech;
and creative co-production

• Searching for epistemological alternatives

including interpretive traditions
(phenomenology, hermeneutics, etc.)

• Representation & engagement of more

Asian scholars: collaboration among Asian
scholars for theory-building, not merely
theory-testing; and more support for such
activities and events

• Need more mediums & collaboration

( journals, joint meetings, joint publications,
joint activities (AAPA, AGPA, EROPA, etc.)
 • Joint publications (co-
authoring, co-editing,
etc.)

• Joints meetings,
conferences

• Joint Working Groups

or Study Groups

• More Asian journals &

books (in English) &
enhancing their
reputations

Co-production & Joint • International Review

of PA (SCOPUS); Asian
Research Activities Review of PA?
 • Asian Values vs.
Beyond Asian
Values

• Universal Values

• Feel confident and

be creative

• Reappreciation of
The Thinking Revolution our tradition and
local wisdom
for transforming Asian PA
 Good News The Kim Principle
Chinese scholars’
publications in the • The Higher the Position, the Broader
PAR 79(4) the View
(July/August 2019): • The relationship between employees’
5 out of 13 articles position in the hierarchy and their
horizon is inversely proportional
Source: Kim, Pan Suk.
2019. “New development:
A new principle—the
higher the position, the
broader the view,” Public
Money and Management
39 (2019 online).
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1
Source: Lawrence Peter & Raymond Hull (1969) 080/09540962.2019.1658997
12
 • Education of Social
Sciences and Public
Administration should
be innovated

• Curriculum Innovation:
(modification from US
MPA model) including
Data Science &
Related Fields
(economic, political,
social & technological
development)

• Innovation of Teaching
Education Revolution: Methods including
Action Learning,
Data Science Thinking Blended Learning,
Flipped Learning, etc.
Human-Machine Collaboration:
Humans co-work with AI systems and other machines rather than
using them as tools

Digital Transformation:
The process of using digital technologies to create new (or modify
existing) business processes, culture, and user experiences

Operational strategy: services, products, delivery processes

Functional strategy: finance, HR, IT…..

 The 4th Industrial
Revolution
(2nd Information
Revolution)
is
a New Opportunity
for Asian
Public
Administration

Source: Kim, Pan Suk and Hong, Kilpyo. 2017. “Debate: Humanized robotic agents in government:
the emergence of the 'Hubogent“, Public Money and Management 37(2): 131-132.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09540962.2016.1266172
The 4th Industrial Revolution and Workforce Planning
Digital-Ready Public Service: HR Shortages - how to supply highly skilled talent?

HR
Current Supply Supply
HR Plan

Supply
Demand Gap Gap
Analysis
College &
Graduate
School
Execution
for
New Tech &
Analysis New Demand AI?
Certificates &
Licenses?

The need for technology-savvy leadership: demonstrate the political will to

build a digitally-ready public service; and modernize human resources and hiring practices
 • Action Plan: Our college
will require a new course
“Computational
thinking” for all
incoming students

• The ability to objectively

analyze and evaluate a
complex problem,
develop possible
solutions to the
problem, then format
these solutions in a way
that a computer or a

Computational Thinking
human could
understand and carry
out
Korean Government’s Innovation Plan for a Digital Government was announced in October 2019:

change from plastic ID to digital ID cards

digitalization & use of more than 300 e-certificates via smartphones by 2021

digitalization of collecting use fees & charges via smartphones, etc.

 Caution: Dystopia rather than Utopia?
Ready Player One Blade Runner 2049
SF film directed by SF film directed by
Steven Spielberg in 2018 Denis Villeneuve in 2017
Lesson Learned

NEED TO TRANSFORM FROM NEED TO DEVELOP OUR OWN PROMOTE EMBEDDED CULTURE OF
IMITATION TO CREATIVE INNOVATION INDIGENOUS (LOCALIZED) WAY INNOVATION IN EVERY WORKPLACE

20