There is a lot of controversy over the selection process for a top-level position at the new stock futures exchange. The union is strongly opposed to the process, saying some among those nominated are not qualified. We believe the claims coming from the union and elsewhere have validity. The right thing to do now would be to take more time and find the right person for the job.
The people who have been nominated are not opposed to this individual just for having "parachuted" in from elsewhere. Sometimes, bringing in someone from the outside can be more suitable for renovating the organization. When that is what is supposed to happen, however, the individual has to have the capacity to do the work in question. Some among those who have been nominated make you wonder if they have what it takes to be entrusted with such a massive organization. You wonder what was the basis for judging their abilities.
It is wrong that 5 out of the 6 people nominated for leadership positions at the new exchange are originally from the Yeongnam region. That was a concern since it was first said that it would be moved to Busan. It is even more a problem that people from the same hometown as the president are trying to take up the important jobs there. Does it make any sense at all that people from the same region are having themselves a party just because it is going to Busan? It is pathetic to see the new exchange looked at as something like the spoils of victory.
Something else that needs to be rethought is the nomination of individuals from the Finance and Economy Ministry and the Financial Supervisory Service. The people who get sent to auxiliary government ministry organizations are all too often people who have been pushed aside by the related ministry. If people who have lost out in the competition in the bureaucracy go to the private sector in search of positions there, how will the private organization be able to develop? From now on, when someone goes to a private organization closely associated with government in search of position, that individual needs to be the most qualified of civil servants in the bureaucracy.
The reason one after another position at the new exchange has been the subject of controversy is because the principles of personnel selection have not been respected. Regardless of the times, the most important principle in personnel management is putting the right people in the right jobs. Maybe, sometimes, you can pass out positions by region or choose people who share ideology. Those, however, are secondary considerations. It ruins things when that which is secondary overwhelms the principles. We call on the Participatory Government to remind itself of what the principles are.
The Hankyoreh, 8 January 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Personnel Selection at New Stock Exchange |
