By Yoon Ja-young
Staff Reporter
As one of the most powerful elite groups in the country, the Ministry of Finance and Economy (MOFE) has a good reason to be envied by others, but it has also given dogmatic and bureaucratic impressions. It plans to benchmark international organizations and global companies to get rid of such images.
The ministry said Sunday that it would soon start the ``Mofe Way,'' a project aimed at innovating the ministerial culture by emulating international organization and global companies.
The reform would start with the personnel management system.
Ministry officials have considered themselves, and have been considered by others, as the elite of elites, but the promotion system there was considered outdated. There also have been conflicts within the ministry as those who joined the government after passing the national exam for ranking officials monopolized power.
The ministry plans to research the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to set up a system based on performances. The most notable in the IMF promotion system is that it is a two-way system in which the supervisor and the employee work together to reach a consensus on the employee evaluation.
The boss and the subordinate set up a task object together in the beginning of the year, and evaluate the performances together regarding teamwork, reporting ability, punctuality or coordination ability. The evaluation doesn't come in the form of a grade, but as a concrete description of its performances. The employee thus develops more of an idea how much he or she has accomplished, and the supervisor can make a suggestion whether or not to help the employee build up career.
The ministry also plans to introduce corporate culture innovation programs by global businesses such as Toyota, HP and GE. The ``HP Way,'' for example, is an egalitarian, decentralized system that believes employees' brainpower is the most important resource for the business. The ministry hopes it could enhance the officials' global competitiveness through innovations.
The ``Mofe Way'' is scheduled to be declared in October, after hearings from inside and outside the ministry. It will also refer to a research institute for a consultancy.