[기고] Innovating public personnel administration through digital HR systems

Hallyu, or the Korean Wave, ignited by the global craze for K-pop which led to a sold-out concert by a Korean idol group in Paris, France in 2011, continues to thrive to this day, boasting 200 million fans worldwide, defying initial beliefs that it would merely be a passing trend.

The global popularity of K-pop has expanded the reach of Korean culture and introduced new cultural trends against the backdrop of technological advancements.

In the past, fandom culture primarily involved waiting in long queues to support idols and participating in activities on fan sites. On the contrary, fandom culture in the digital age is evolving through fan community platforms, where fans communicate with each other online anytime and anywhere around the world.

This is just one instance of the digital transformation occurring in almost every aspect of our lives, spanning from the economy to society, culture and the arts.

In the civil service, the Ministry of Personnel Management (MPM), a central government agency responsible for Korea's public personnel management, is responding to this trend promptly to lead the Korean Wave in digital HR management.

The MPM has established and operated digital systems that carry out diverse HR functions, from recruitment to retirement support.

For instance, the Integrated Recruitment System serves as a comprehensive platform offering civil service exam information, while the Human Resources Development (HRD) Platform provides customized learning services using artificial intelligence (AI) and big data analytics. e-Saram enables civil servants to process general personnel affairs in a digital format, and the Public Ethics and Transparency Initiative (PETI) streamlines the property reporting and data access process.

Among these systems, the HRD Platform, established in 2020 with regular services launched this year, is garnering considerable attention from foreign governments and international organizations.

In 2010, the MPM introduced online learning to the civil service by establishing the e-Learning Center, ushering in digitalization in HR development. The HRD Platform is a step forward from the e-Learning Center, serving as a future education model that initiates a digital transformation in HR.

The HRD Platform is an AI-embedded learning platform that provides a wide range of educational content supplied by public and private sources for national civil servants. Using AI and big data analytics, the Platform analyzes each user's personnel and job information, along with learning history, to recommend customized learning content.

In addition, the platform supports informal learning, such as social learning, that encourages users to share content and exchange opinions with colleagues. Real-time virtual learning, including hybrid learning, is also facilitated to support non-face-to-face education.

The excellence of the HRD Platform has been widely recognized, with the OECD evaluating the platform as one of the best practices in HR management. In the Government at a Glance 2023, the OECD described the HRD Platform as a modern e-learning platform where learners become content creators and learn from interaction.

Another exemplary digital HR system is e-Saram, an electronic HR management system established in 2000, which greatly enhanced work efficiency by enabling the registration of personnel records in a database.

The MPM, not content with the status quo, is now overhauling e-Saram into an intelligent third-generation system to accelerate digital transformation. The new system aims to innovate civil service culture through digital technologies, including evaluating civil servants' mindsets using chatbots and utilizing big data analytics.

As a result of these efforts, Korea's digital HR systems recently ranked first in the use of databases for HR management in the International Civil Service Effectiveness (InCiSE) Index conducted in the United Kingdom, as well as securing the first position in the OECD's Digital Government Index.

According to HR Champions authored by Professor Dave Ulrich, a respected guru in HR, there are four key roles in HR management: administrative expert, employee champion, strategic partner and change agent.

Under this multi-role model, Professor Ulrich emphasized the need for a balance between these roles to ensure an effective HR function. While the relative importance of the four roles has changed over time, the role of the change agent is currently gaining increasing importance in the midst of uncertainty, whereas the administrative expert has played a vital role during predictable times.

In this era of rapid change, the MPM is committed to swiftly responding to digital transformation as the change agent, guiding the country's civil service to embrace and adapt to innovation.

원문보기 [기고] https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2023/08/197_357344.html