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Total Quality Management of Public Policies in the Korean Government
The Office for Government Policy Coordination, Republic of Korea

The Problem

The changing policy environment in Korea today creates many new policy requirements. In other words, as civil society evolves in an era of global competition, the demands from different stakeholders rise, as do social conflicts. Complex social issues require policies for resolution. The policy development process is becoming increasingly specialized, detailed and sophisticated as each step of policy design, implementation, and assessment and reflection becomes more complex and delivers more diverse policies to the general public, who are the ultimate consumers of government policy services.
The previous policy development mechanism, which was based on anecdotal experience or past practice, is untenable in the present and changing environment. In the past, the regulations and environmental impact assessments that were carried out had several problems due to the partial and limited policy management systems. First, the lessons learned from policy failures were not shared and disseminated well. Second, the voices of stakeholders such as local residents were not properly heard and policy promotions for each different target were unsatisfactory. Finally, policy failure and faulty policies were repeated due an inadequate system of rewards for successful policy management cases.
In addition, when pursuing a particular policy, town hall meetings or promotions for local citizens were seen as being mere formalities. This caused repeated public antipathy and disagreement toward key government policies. It has become necessary to help stakeholders and the media better understand government policies so that the purpose and future effects of the policies are known clearly and accurately.
As a response, systematic and step-by-step quality management measures have been set up and applied to the entire process of policy development and execution.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The Total Quality Management of Public Policies (TQMPP) in Korean Government has been disseminated and consolidated in central government agencies. Two years have elapsed since the system was developed and adopted. The expertise of public officials involved in TQMPP has been improved, their job attitude has been changed, and organizational capability has been strengthened. In July 23, 2007, a survey of 1,134 public officials at 42 central government agencies was conducted, using a scale of 0-5 points. The study indicated that respondents found that policy quality had been improved through the card and Quality Circle.
This means that the system is producing tangible results. The survey results improved from 3.11 points in 2005 to 3.35 in 2007 in terms of policy quality improvement through card use. In the category of policy improvement through the Quality Circle, the figure rose from 3.18 to 3.34 during the same period. The survey found that organizational atmosphere changed in a positive way. For example, jobs were done more systematically, expertise was enhanced, and communication between the top and bottom was expanded. More specifically, the figure increased from 3.23 in 2005 to 3.37 in 2007, in terms of job attitude, and from 3.04 to 3.21 regarding organizational atmosphere.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The TQMPP is a unique system that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Because each government agency has distinct work arrangements, it is difficult to standardize all management systems. In order to address possible problems in adopting the system, a taskforce was established in June, 2004. It comprised related government agencies and experts from the private sector. The team outlined necessary strategies such as manuals, regulations and pilot projects. TQMPP manuals act as guidelines for public officials involved in policy implementation. The manual includes review points, management skills, as well as key frequently asked questions and typical responses.
In order to create the legal foundation for this effort, the prime minister ordered the rule of TQMPP. These stipulate the definition of quality management, the responsibilities of central administrative organizations, the creation of management manuals, the designation of subject policies and policy promotions, and the initiation of policy assessment. From February to June 2005, the taskforce carried out a pilot project that could identify and analyze problems that might arise in the introduction of the system. After that, the TQMPP was initiated in July 2005.
The policies that are subject to TQMPP are designated by the head of a related central administrative organization when he or she thinks their quality should be enhanced.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
The main players of the TQMPP are the Quality Circle, the Steering Committee and the Advisory Committee. Each team consists of an individual or group of people who come up with policies, and support or carry out their implementation. Every policy that falls under the system is managed primarily by its own Quality Circle. The Steering Committee is at the top level and the Advisory Committee (or Advisor) is under it.
The three parties identify quality management problems. The next step is to find and disseminate best practices that can help public officials change their mindset about quality management and then reform the overall organizational culture.
The key player of TQMPP is the Quality Circle. The team's major tasks are filling up the TQMPP Cards, finding out new challenges to improve policy quality, and coming up with ways to address them. Quality Circles comprise team members and a leader. At regularly scheduled meetings, theteam is encouraged to participate freely and actively. In addition, they exchange opinions by talking about their current activities. They also share relevant data in online line communities on their section's work management intranet system.
The Steering Committee, which comprises high-ranking managers of concerned bureaus, regularly checks out how the subject policies are being pursued. The Advisor (or Advisory Committee), which is composed of internal and external experts on quality management, diagnoses and analyzes various problems and obstacles caused during the operation of the system and offer solutions.
The TQMPP Card is a quality management tool set in a standardized format. The card records every policy implementation step and the major achievements of each step. It includes the project outline and a list of checkpoints that should be considered at various stages. The TQMPP Card lists checkpoints that should be examined at each of the interrelated steps of policy design, promotion, implementation, and assessment and reflection. Relevant strategies are written down accordingly.
In order to detect and address policy bottlenecks, the TQMPP Card lays out 19 checkpoints for the four steps of policy design: promotion, implementation, and assessment and reflection, and 65 sub-points. Checkpoints at each step in the TQMPP Card are as following:
First, at the step of policy requirement, spot and write down pending issues to be resolved. Second, at the step of policy design, point out and write down policy goals and most preferred policies to resolve the issues. Third, at the step of policy promotion, point out and write down promotion organizers and targets, promotion plans and ways to respond to public opinion. Fourth, at the step of policy implementation, identify and write down possible problems that could surface in implementation strategies and plans, or in the process of policy implementation. Fifth, at the step of policy assessment and reflection, set up a plan about who will assess whom, when, and how. Write down assessment results and how these results are used.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
Prior to operation, a pilot project was run to identify problems and enhance the system after analyzing the causes during the system introduction.

The pilot project for the TQMPP will not become a formal system. Instead, it was put together to run on a standalone basis from February 2005 till June 2005, before it was put into practice as a test in each office.

To identify the operational status of the pilot project from various point of views, the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, the Ministry of Government Affairs and Home Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Information and Communication and the Ministry of Construction and Transportation were selected in October 2004 to run the test.

▶ Complement of the manual through the pilot project
After running the project in 6 offices and professional non-governmental research teams for 12 periods, the current inspection details on the management card were segmented, starting with 15 categories in January 2005 and moving to 19 inspection categories in March of the same year. This offered a detailed view of the preparations by reflecting the inspection categories into a further 65 detailed items for each official's questions and opinions.

Debates and education through the TQMPP Forum were based on the results on the pilot project and led to the study of opinions and questions proposed during the inspection of the whole system. Through this, the manual made adjustments based on the operation and construction of the inspection details and promotion system.

The questions and opinions brought up during the forum were made useful in the supplement of the Q&A from 26 subjects to 36 subjects.

<Schedule of the TQMPP Introduction Process>

1. April 2004,Discussion on the introduction of the
Management Analysis subject issue

2.1st June 2004,Instructions for the introduction of
the TQMPP (Cabinet Council Conference)

3.18th June 2004,Formation of the TQMPP T/F
- The Office for Government Policy Coordination,
Ministry of Government Administration and Home
Affairs, the Central Personnel Committee, the
Government Information Agency, Central Public
Service Training Institute and 2 other non-
governmental professional organizations

4.July 2004,Quality Analysis of key issues in the
process of standardizing the format

5.August to September 2004,Preparation of the draft
and obtaining office opinions of the TQMPP (Scheme)

6.October 2004,Discussions on the selection standards,
authorization, confirmation of the management of the
TQMPP
- Attendance of Chief Personnel from the Central
Personnel Committee, the Government Information
Agency, the Civil Service Commission, and the
Ministry of Planning and Budget.

7.November 2004,Commencement of the first analysis on
the subject issue (the Ministry of Justice, Korea
Food and Drug Administration Jurisdiction)

8.Feb~Jun 2005,Pilot Project of the TQMPP
- 6 Model administrations: Finance and Economy,
Education, Administrative Affairs, National
Computing and Information Resources, Ministry of
Commerce, Construction and Building

9.16th Feb 2005,Official Announcement of the TQMPP
(Date: 1st July 2005)

10.10th Mar 2005,Debate conference on the TQMPP
- Chief officials from each sector

11.10th June 2005,TQMPP Workshop
- Chief officials from each sector

12.1st July 2005,Execution of the TQMPP of the
draft and obtaining opinions from office

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
In addition to standardized manuals, each government agency's own manual should be developed by considering their policy characteristics. This is to ensure that the TQMPP successfully takes root. Under this conception, as of August 2007, 27 government agencies, including the Ministry of Education & Human Resources Development (MOE), the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) and the Ministry of Planning and Budget (MPB), have their own manuals. These manuals are based on standard manuals. Other checklists, card formats and management skills are added and adjusted, based on the characteristics of each agency.
For example, the MOE conducts tailor-made quality management for different kinds of policies. Policy functions are divided into seven areas, including formation, regulation, assessment, and resource allocation. Communication is categorized into three types dissemination, mediation, and negotiation. Different checkpoints are prepared and applied to each policy that falls into a particular category. Furthermore, TQMPP is part of the process of assessment and 40% of quality management performance is reflected in self-assessment so that TQMPP is linked with performance management.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
A total of 16,540 public servants and 3,286 non-governmental experts such as professors have worked on introducing and running the TQMPP. The whole project cost ￦113 million.

1. To introduce the system, six public officials and ten non-governmental experts completed work on system operations manuals (August, 2005) and came up with system management methods (November, 2006). These projects cost ￦50 million.

2. Regarding system operation and management:

(1) Seven public officials from the Presidential Office (Blue House, BH) and the Office for Government Policy Coordination (OPC) are in charge of overall system operation. They are joined by 92 public officials from 46 central government departments or agencies that are subject to the TQMPP.

- As of late 2007, a total of 1,172 public servants from 46 government departments or agencies are responsible for filling out TQMPP Cards on 586 government policies.

- For operating the 483 Quality Circles, 3,261 people from the private sector and 8,974 from the public sector are working together. (Keeping the cards and running Quality Circles do not cost anything financially.)

(2) The introduction and operation of the TQMPP Information System has required support from related administrative organizations as well as ￦27 million.

(3) The Korean Association for Public Administration and The Korean Association for Policy Studies put the TQMPP on the table at seminars (twice). Writings on the system were published on academic journals (three times). Fifteen professors (experts) had been involved in these discussions and publications.

(4) The Central Officials Training Institute in Korea provided 41 training opportunities to 6,273 public servants between 2006 and 2007. Sixteen public officials support the operation of the TQMPP Center and a best practices development team.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The TQMPP has developed into an independent research area in academia. The TQMPP was presented as a discussion topic at The Korean Association of Public Administration's Fall Seminar (October 2005) and Spring Seminar (May 2006). Three papers on the subject were published in the Korea Public Administration Journal (March and June 2006, July 2007), which signals that the TQMPP is becoming an independent research area. The accomplishments of the TQMPP were presented at the Asia Forum on Government Innovation (September 6, 2006), the OECD Senior Public Officials Workshop (September 27, 2006), the OECD Public Governance Committee (October 30, 2006) and the 7th Global Forum on Reinventing Government (June 26, 2007). On March 24, 2007, the American Society for Public Administration published a paper, sparking an in-depth discussion.
Re-training programs regarding the TQMPP are being provided to civil servants. The system is also being taught at colleges. In 2006, the Central Officials Training Institute created a TQMPP course as a part of its 10 basic training courses, in order to teach policy management skills and show policy improvement cases at each policy development step. The TQMPP Center, which belongs to the Central Officials Training Institute has opened. The center disseminates policy best practices and failures, and develops training skills. The institute developed four TQMPP cases into educational programs in 2005 and 16 cases in 2006. Those numbers are expected to be surpassed in 2007.
Education on TQMPP is being done even at the college level. For example, the Public Administration School at Jeonnam University is using a book titled 'The TQMPP, Lessons Learned from Mistakes' as a textbook, which shows the significance of the TQMPP and lessons learned from it.
Finally, the TQMPP has been introduced and publicized through the media.
Korean K-TV used its Good Policy, Good News program to show what was happening at the TQMPP Forum, doing interviews with outside experts and officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economy, Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs and Ministry of Information and Communication. the station also publicized the current operations of Quality Circles. On October 15, 2005, K-TV's program, Seminar Live reported on discussions about the TQMPP at a seminar.
On a global broadcast in June 2007, Korea's English-speaking broadcaster, Arirrang TV, introduced five best practices of the TQMPP, including the National Tax Service's Home Tax Service. In its July 29 edition in 2005, Seoul Daily run a column titled 'Policy Quality can be managed.' On August 25, 2006, to report achievements of the system, the newspaper ran an article headlined 'The TQMPP Solidified.'
The Hankyoreh, Seoul Daily, Kukmin Ilbo and other Korean newspapers reported about the introduction of the TQMPP on February 22, 2005. The media has consistently informed people about local government adoption of the TQMPP (Daejun Ilbo (Daejun), March 2006; Yonhap News (Daegu), May 2006; Newsis (Gyeonggi), July 2006; Pusan Ilbo (Pusan), February 2007; Seoul Daily (Jeonju), April 2007).

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The TQMPP has been created to pro-actively respond to the changing policy environment, prevent possible challenges, and systematically manage the quality of government policies. The purpose of the system is to avoid policy failures or errors and produce efficient policies by setting up systematic quality management measures that cover the entire policy development process.
The TQMPP provides manuals for necessary procedures in each policy process, strengthens education on best and bad practices, and conducts procedural management of policy development. Through these efforts, the system satisfies people's (external customers') needs and expectations, and expands the autonomy and participation of public officials (internal customers).
In the past, the Korean government has carried out impact assessments on particular areas based on different laws, including regulation impact assessments, gender impact analyses, corruption impact assessments, environmental impact assessments, population impact assessments, natural disaster impact assessments and transportation impact assessments. The TQMPP, however, is the first to provide comprehensive checkpoints over all steps of policy development and to manage policies in a holistic manner.
Whereas the existing performance assessment system, which conducts evaluation by agency, focuses on the outcomes of policy implementation, the TQMPP instead emphasizes the entire policy development and implementation process. The ultimate goal of the system is to create an organizational culture that minimizes the number of policy failures and maximizes policy perfection.
What the Korean government has done and will do to consolidate the TQMPP are as follows:
First, in order to gain tangible results for policy quality improvement, different strategies are deployed in three different phases. In the first phase (initial stage: 2005), the foundation for system adoption was laid to monitor present situations on the operation of the system. In the current second phase (middle stage: 2006 2007), the system is being efficiently disseminated by making consistent improvements and complementing the system. In the last phase (consolidation stage: 2008 ~), changes in organizational culture will be encouraged to make the system successfully take root. The system will be advanced and diversified to fit different government agencies.
Second, policy improvement cases will continue to be found and disseminated. A book introducing the best practices of the TQMPP will be published and distributed to encourage different agencies to learn from each other. This will help some agencies better adopt and utilize the system, and advance Quality Circle's function on subject polices.
Third, the institutional foundation, which includes the revision of regulations, will be strengthened. The TQMPP's Regulation, which was made at the early stage of system adoption, will be modified to fit the current situation, where great progress has been made in consolidating the system.
Fourth, the TQMPP Forum led by outside experts, leaders, and participating government agencies, will be consistently expanded. Efforts will be made to gain international certification of the TQMPP.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   The Office for Government Policy Coordination, Republic of Korea
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   Chong-Jin Kim
Title:   Policy Analysis and Evaluation  
Telephone/ Fax:   82-2-2100-2315, 82-2-2100-2311
Institution's / Project's Website:   82-2-2100-8885
E-mail:   chjk7@opc.go.kr  
Address:   Sejong-ro 77-6, Jongro-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Postal Code:   110-760
City:   Seoul
State/Province:   Seoul
Country:  

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