UNIVERSITI BRUNEI DARUSSALAM

SP 3319 PUBLIC PERSONNEL

ADMINISTRATION
ESSAY ASSIGNMENT: Training and
Development in the public service of
Brunei

Liyana Aqilah Binti Haji Abdul Wahid (07B1443)

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Introduction
As jobs become more complex, training and development has become an
increasingly important field in many organizations nowadays. Today, employees
need to continuously learn new skills, expand their knowledge and meet the
challenges of technology in order to improve their performance and achieve
efficiency in the organizations. There is without doubt that a well trained and
developed staff will be a valuable asset to an organization as it increases their
chances of achieving efficiency in fulfilling their duties. Training and
development are particularly important to the public sector because of the rapid
change in role of these organizations and the need to operate on very limited
budgets. The importance of training and development was even emphasized by
the government of Brunei where a number of training and development
programs have already been initiated by the government in order to improve the
public service of Brunei. Training and development therefore plays a vital part in
the continuing success and development of both individuals and organization.

In order to elaborate more on the significance of training and development, this

essay will focus on training and development in the public service of Brunei. This
essay will first begin with the definition of ‘training and development’ and the
distinctions between the two terms, followed by its importance to the public
organization. It will then provide a background on the training and development
in Brunei public service and training delivery that exists in Brunei. Finally, this
essay will provide some suggestions for improvement and conclude with a
summary of the whole essay.

Training and development and its importance

In essence, training and development within organizations is ‘the acquisition of
skills, knowledge and attitudes which enable people to achieve their current and
future individual and corporate objective’ (Bambrough 1993). Although the terms
training and development are often used interchangeably and used together,
there are some fine distinctions between the two. Training is a learning process
that involves the attainment of knowledge, sharpening of skills, concepts, rules
or changing of attitudes and behaviours to enhance the performance of
employees where as development is an effort to provide employees with the
abilities the organization will need in the future (Khindria 2009). Training is
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usually offered to employee at the lower levels whereas development programs

are conducted for employees at the higher levels. However both are concerned
with the structure and delivery of acquisition of knowledge to improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of the organization. The ongoing training and
development of public managers are vital to create a favourable climate in which
the human resources of public institutions as learning organizations are enabled
to address any challenges.

Training and development is important because it is obvious that new employees

may have lack of skills, knowledge and working experience when they first join
the organization and existing employees may have outdated and obsolete skills
that needs to be improve. Therefore, by going through training and
development, it will help develop the skills and expand the knowledge of these
employees by teaching them the new techniques and way of performing the job
or operation. Training and development is also necessary when a person move
from one job to another because of transfer, promotion or demotion. Moreover,
rapid technological innovations impacting the workplace have made it necessary
for people to consistently update their knowledge and skills. The technological
advancement is taking place at such a rapid speed that the knowledge and skill
required become obsolete at much faster rate. In order to cope up with the fast
changes in requirement of skill and knowledge due to advancement of
technology, the need for systematic training has been felt in almost all
organizations including in the public sector. In this aspect, training can help
improve the skills and knowledge of the employee by enhancing the employee's
ability to adopt and use advances in technology especially in this era of
technological advancement where computer skills are very necessary in an
organization. In fact, appropriate technical skills and information technology
skills are required in meeting the demands of the ever-changing environment.

In view of the constant change in consumer’s taste, technology, policies and

procedures, training is therefore vital to equip the employees with skills and
knowledge that enable them to keep pace with the changing requirement of the
job and organization. This will eventually upgrade the overall work quality of the
employee in the long run and help to achieve efficiency in the organization.
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Training and development in the public service of Brunei

In Brunei, the Government of His Majesty the Sultan has put greater emphasis on
the enhancement of quality of public service delivery aimed at increasing
customer satisfaction. In trying to achieve such objective, appropriate training
and development programs for the civil service in Brunei are being actively
pursued to bring about positive change in the mindset of the civil servants. The
capability and capacity of the civil service agencies to produce and deliver high
quality and efficient service to the general public and customers continues to be
an area of concern even until today as they are the people who is responsible in
assisting the government in the formulation, articulation and implement of
government policies and programs as well as responsible in providing and
delivering basic services to the citizens (Brunei resources n.d.). It is therefore
important that they are train and develop to become more efficient and effective
in carrying out its functions, roles and responsibility in such a way that will not
only facilitate national development but also equip them with the latest
knowledge, skills and attitudes which they need in order to plan and implement
government policies, projects and activities efficiently.

This significance is even reflected in the amount of money spent annually on

employee training and development. Based on the National Development Plan
(2007-2012), a budget of $2.9 billion has been allocated for human resource
development and capacity building (Department of Economic Planning and
Development n.d.). It is evident that the development of human resources is
very much in the national agenda as it continued to be the main thrust of the
National Development Plan (2007-2012). In recognizing the need to develop
professionalism, attitude and knowledge and skills, modernized and upgraded
training programs will continue to be made available and more responsive to the
changing environment in Brunei.

Current practices of training in Brunei public service

In many countries, the responsibility for training and development is usually

delegated to line management to ensure their staff receives appropriate training
and development to meet the required individual and corporate standards of the
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organization and to enable them to develop to their full potential. In the case of
Brunei, the Civil Service Institute or Institut Perkhidmatan Awam (IPA) is the
government training institution which is responsible in providing training and
development programs, designing and delivering short courses, updating and
implementing training programmes to all the Civil Service, local and international
clients in order to ensure that it is align with the national development goals
(www.ipa.gov.bn). The Institute also carries out other activities in support of its
training function such as research and development, management information
system, publication and consultancy. As the training arm of the Public Service
Department (PSD), the institute offers a wide range of management and skill
courses aimed at inspiring corporate culture, entrepreneurial and positive ethical
values within the Civil Service.

In some ministries, they also provide an in-house training program which is

meant to improve the quality, performance and productivity of their own staffs.
One example is Ministry of Health. According to the Brunei Times dated 6th April
2010, Ministry of Health has organized a 15-day Leadership and Management
Training Programme for Second Level Health Managers especially for medical
and health professionals. This program is to train and equip the Health Personnel
at all levels with leadership skills in order for them to keep up with the ever-
changing health policies and healthcare values and handle any challenges. On
an administrative level, management and leadership skills were also important in
ensuring the organization’s objectives are achieved. Leadership skills will also be
developed and cultivated among officers at the ministry through this course and
through this course, it will encourage lower-rank staff to assist their leaders in
executing strategies already in place. By organizing such course, officers and
staff at the Ministry of Health will be able to enhance the leadership and
management skills so that they could become skilled and knowledgeable leaders
of high caliber. This will bring about positive effects to members of the
organization and also encourage their staff to realize the ministry’s objective.
These endeavors signified the commitment of His Majesty’s Government to bring
about a paradigm shift and mindset changes in the system of management and
work culture towards creating a more transparent, dynamic, responsive,
accountable, effective and efficient civil service.
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Suggestions for improvement

There are some suggestions that can be considered to ensure training and
development in the Public service is efficient and effective. The government
should employ expertise either locally or from overseas to conduct the training
and development program to the civil service in Brunei but it needs to ensure
that the training and development programs is specifically tailored to the needs
of the organization rather than adopting programmes practiced in other
countries but it needs to be guided and balanced by our national philosophy of
Malay Islamic Monarchy. The civil service institute should also identify training
and development needs of the individual and the organization before designing a
training and development program to foresee what can make employees
contribute to the success of the business and at the same time develop their
own potential.

Conclusion

Based on above, training and development is essential as it can contribute to the

success of the organization by enabling employees to improve their
performance, improve the quality of their work and achieve job satisfaction
which will in turn have a good impact on the performance of the organization
itself. It is only through training and development that the civil service can be
equip with the latest knowledge, skills and attitudes which they need to plan and
implement government policies, projects and activities efficiently. Therefore,
greater emphasis should be given towards enhancing performance, productivity
and quality of the civil service through training and development.

(1,709 words)

References

• Pont, T. (1991), Developing effective training skills, 2nd Edn., England:

McGraw Hill.
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• Bambrough, J. (1993), Training your staff, Pelanduk publications, Malaysia.

• 14th Asean conference on civil service matters (2007), Brunei initiatives

towards enhancing a corporate culture in its public service (Current
corporate aspects within Brunei Darussalam’s Public service).
Retrieved on April 15, 2010 from
http://www.bruneiresources.com/pdf/accsm14_brunei_paper.pdf.

• Institut Perkhidmatan Awam (n.d.), About IPA. Retrieved on April 19, 2010
from http://www.ipa.gov.bn/ipaonline/ipa_information/ipa_history.aspx.

• Metussin, G. (n.d.). Preparing the Brunei Darussalam’s Civil Service for

the 21st Century. Retrieved on April 19, 2010 from
http://www.bruneiresources.com/pdf/preparingbruneicivilservice.pdf.

• Brunei resources (n.d.). The Brunei Civil Service: An introduction.

Retrieved on April 19, 2010 from
http://www.bruneiresources.com/civilservicebackground.html.

• Brunei Times (2010). Upgrade skills for better healthcare, MoH staff
told. Retrieved on April 19, 2010 from http://www.bt.com.bn/en/news-
national/2010/04/06/upgrade-skills-better-healthcare-moh-staff-told

• Khindria, N. (2009). Training: Significance and Challenges. Retrieved on

April 19, 2010 from http://www.articlesbase.com/training-
articles/trainingsignificance-and-challenges-914092.html

• Hazair, H. (2001). Dato Haji Hazair on Brunei Civil Service. Retrieved on

April 19, 2010 from
http://www.bit.gov.bn/archives/press/2001/dec/dato_haji_hazair_on_civil_servi
ce.htm.