Summary: The fourth Industrial Revolution, which has been opening a new era in human’s development, is expected to change the way we live, work, and produce. As a subject that plays a decisive role in the development of the country, in the face of socio-economic developments, the State must self-renovate, transform, and choose appropriate steps to capture opportunities timely and avoid missing development chances. In particular, the state administration must be really dynamic, flexible, and transparent to create the most favorable environment, helping all social subjects to seize opportunities and maximize all resources. The article focuses on analyzing the impacts of the fourth Industrial Revolution on the state administration, and from that basis, the author proposes some recommendations to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and national governance capacity of the state administration in the digital age.
Keywords: State administration, opportunities, challenges, the fourth Industrial Revolution.
- . Opportunities and challenges of the public administration of the Industrial Revolution 4.0
The characteristics of the revolution of science and technology in the early XXI century are the high technology boom and the scientific achievements made with extensive knowledge, typically that of biotechnology, energy technology, materials technology and information technology. Those have resulted in increasingly strong and profound impacts on all aspects of life, changing the mindset of many subjects in society, including the state. Facing social changes, the State Administration (SA) has also been impacted by the fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0). It has brought not only many opportunities but also many challenges to the development of the SA.
1.1. Opportunities
The fourth Industrial Revolution has created many opportunities for all subjects in all countries. As a subject of society, the state administration is not an exception. In detail:
The fourth Industrial Revolution has helped build an economical and transparent State Administration.
One of the important features of the modern administration is transparency and democracy in all activities of the state organs in the state bureaucracy. Technological achievements allow the government to accelerate the digitalization of public services. This, therefore, creates favorable conditions for administrative agencies in providing public services to the people, helping them save time, effort, and costs, and making public services more accessible.
The application of information technology to specific administrative activities helps reduce unnecessary intermediaries. Especially, the exchange of work, documents and meetings between state organs has been done through high technological equipment, which reduces much time and cost in comparison with the traditional management methods. Take Estonia (a small country separated from the Soviet Union) as an example; it has now been the most successful digitized country in the world. In this country, the online information system of the government meetings (e-Cabinet), meeting schedule management, document and profile processing for the government and the online policy consultant systems (e-Consultation) have been built in order to reduce significantly paperwork, time, and administrative costs. Thanks to technology, in this country, government meetings currently only take place in a period of 30 minutes; even the shortest meeting lasts only 1 minute[1].
In addition, the application of information technology to administrative management contributes to transparent public administration. Indeed, administrative transactions carried out via the Internet will be recorded and stored, which helps facilitate information verification. More importantly, electronic transactions reduce direct contact between citizens and civil servants who are likely to cause harassment when receiving citizens. In Viet Nam, as reported in 2017 by the Ministry of Information and Communications on the application of information technology to provide online public services, there are more than 12,200 online public services at the provincial level or above; most of the ministries, agencies and localities have implemented online public services at level 3 and level 4 with a total number of 828 ministerial-level public services and 11,409 provincial-level[2] public services. If the government continues to promote the construction of online public services, it will continue to create favorable conditions for people and contribute to the transparency of the administration.
The fourth Industrial Revolution helps build a democratic State Administration.
With the trend of strong democratization, increasing people’s participation in state management is essential, and promoting the construction of democratic administration is very popular in many advanced countries. Industry 4.0 will help the government do this task more easily. The rate of Internet users in Viet Nam accounts for more than 60% of the population, ranked 16th in the world[3]. This is one of the favorable conditions for the State to mobilize public participation in state management. Nowadays, the State may provide the necessary information, mobilize intellectual resources of the people through the publication of a system of policies, draft legal documents, statistical reports, budget revenues and expenditures on websites and wait for people’s recommendations. With the application of technology, it is easier for the government to listen to the citizens’ feedback on the activities of public agencies. When the interaction between the people and the government becomes regular, continuous and easy, it has also helped the people to maximize their role, helping them become a real subject itself in the management of public administration.
The Industrial Revolution 4.0 helps build more dynamic and flexible State Administration.
In a more open and flexible social environment, many traditional habits have been practically eliminated. The State, schools, and businesses all have to change to adapt. In the 4.0 era, the problem of employment for people faces many great challenges. The jobs of industrial production, construction, and agriculture have been replaced by robots. Many traditional jobs have gradually been lost, and many new jobs have appeared. The people now have to adjust themselves to survive and develop. With the role of orienting, leading and managing society, the cadres and civil servants must know how to accept diversity, different opinions or solutions in order to serve the nation in a most effective way. They are also willing to learn new things, be creative, strengthen living skills and international communication, and master and apply all technological software in their own jobs. Facing rapid social changes, people in general and civil servants in particular will have to renew themselves regularly if they do not want to be outdated and eliminated.
The Industrial Revolution 4.0 helps modernize State Administration.
The achievements of Information Technology, with examples such as more and more rapid development of big data and the Internet of things, help the administration to apply software in management to improve management efficiency. Especially, in the stage of promoting e-government building, under the Resolution No. 36a/NQ-CP dated October 15, 2015 of the Government on the achievements of the fourth Industrial Revolution, many public agencies have actively applied technology such as using electronic documents and emails to exchange work, building a database system of all sectors and fields and connecting with each other, using electronic office software to create convenience and savings for managers. The use of the Internet and media to conduct online meetings and provide online public services aims to simplify the process of implementing administrative procedures. Instead of manual management, the technological environment allows administrative agencies to apply new, advanced and appropriate equipment and technologies to form a modern administration, catching up with the developing trend of society, while avoiding obsolescence.
The Industrial Revolution 4.0 helps build a professional and effective State Administration.
Many state administrative agencies at all levels and agencies have actively promoted the application of document management software, work records, electronic one-stop software, as well as established an official electronic mail system for cadres and civil servants to exchange work. Especially, the application of online public services has received positive feedback from citizens and businesses. The transactions between the State and people, businesses, and within the state administrative agencies are carried out online, helping to solve work more quickly and economically. It is one of the important criteria to achieve efficiency in state administrative management.
Besides, professionalism will also be a concern and thoroughly implemented in the digital age. Professionalism is the top criterion for customers to choose a service provider. If the state wants to improve people’s satisfaction, it is necessary to establish professionalism. Efforts to apply the achievements of science and technology to solving problems in the administration will contribute to this. That is the system of modern machinery and equipment connected together, electronic office software to help managers operate, direct, make decisions, and control work in a timely and economical manner. The management of work through smart devices is also a favorable environment to force the team of officials and civil servants from leaders, and managers to executive levels to improve their professionalism, always self-learning to meet practical requirements.
1.2. Challenges
Besides opportunities, the digital revolution also creates many challenges for the administration. Such challenges are the following:
Firstly, the State Administration is under great pressure in building and perfecting institutions.
The Industrial Revolution 4.0 creates not only a premise for institutional change, but also much pressure when it comes to changing this important factor. It is compulsory for the State to adjust the state policies and laws when the digital revolution arises in order to meet the requirements of serving the interests of the people.
To unlock the house of Industrial Revolution 4.0, one of the indispensable jobs is to unlock the institution. The key problem here is how to unlock and how to open it. These questions must be answered only by the State.
The rapid development of science and technology has paid more pressure on the promulgation of institutions and the creation of a legal corridor for the State. The Industrial Revolution 4.0 has been promoting growth, disrupting the region’s traditional strengths in low-cost manufacturing thanks to automation, robotics and 3D printing. Many new fields which have arisen in the era of Industry 4.0 emerge in countries, especially those related to e-commerce, network security, information and communication technology, digital connection infrastructure, and artificial intelligence. Those fields have not previously existed in Viet Nam yet, while Viet Nam has been in the trial-and-error phase of promulgating and implementing institutions and policies. Meanwhile, the existing fields such as education, employment, production, and consumption also have many changes under the influence of science and technology that require the institutions to adjust and adapt to the factual condition of the times. Meanwhile, the reality of the country’s institutional system has also shown many limitations. Dr. Dang Quang Vinh – the Central Institute for Economic Management, said that despite the application of improvement measures, the index of institutional quality is still low. Specifically, Viet Nam achieved 51.2/100 points, ranked 70/120 on the competitiveness index 4.0. The World Bank ranks Viet Nam at 68/190 (Doing Business index). Without breakthrough solutions, rapid changes will be difficult to achieve[4]. It is clear that the low institutional quality foundation may continue to put pressure on us when issuing a new institutional system. The adjustment of social relations and problems arising in these new fields require a very high forecasting capacity of legislators. The function of drafting laws and promulgating guiding documents has burdened greatly on the government to build an institutional system that is both adequate, tight and responsive, fulfilling requirements for social development.
Secondly, the State Administration is under great pressure from improving the capacity of cadres and civil servants.
The government 4.0 need to have the capacity of governing and developing the country in the digital age. To gain the industrial revolution 4.0, the country must have human resources 4.0. Especially, it is necessary for cadres and civil servants with the role of leading society to meet the standards of a citizen in the 4.0 era such as good knowledge, a deep understanding of professional and social issues, the ability to cope with changes, international communication skills, and high professionalism. Meanwhile, it is a fact that the capacity and quality of Viet Nam’s cadres and civil servants are still not enough to meet the requirements of the country’s development. Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW of the 12th Party Central Committee stated that: “There is a shortage of highly-qualified leaders, managers, top scientists and leading experts in many fields. The capacity of the public servants is unequal and still weak. Many officials, including senior officials, do not work professionally or work in the fields for which they are trained; their skills in foreign languages, communication and working in the international environment are still limited. A large number of cadres have lost their ideals and will. They are afraid of difficulties and have degraded political thought, morality, and lifestyle. They also show the signs of “self-evolution”, “self-transformation”. Some leaders and managers, including those at the strategic level, do not set good examples. Their reputation, capacities, and qualifications are not high equally to their position. They have signs of bureaucracy and individualism or involve in corruption, wastefulness, and group interests[5]. The force of cadres and public servants plays a decisive role in the success of the revolution. As the facts of cadres and civil servants are previously mentioned, it is truly difficult to have a team of cadres and civil servants who can fulfil the job requirements. It requires great effort and determination of the whole political system, in which the administrative system must take the lead.
Thirdly, the Industrial Revolution 4.0 creates challenges in managing and responding to social issues.
The impacts of the industrial revolution 4.0 are happening every day, every hour, and changing society rapidly in all fields. The Industrial Revolution 4.0 affects and changes the way of production and consumption. It causes unprecedented problems in society, which requires the government to take measures so as not to fall behind. For example, online business and e-commerce have developed and become more and more popular in Viet Nam. In fact, the value of e-commerce in 2012 only reached nearly five trillion VND, and it has increased five times, to 25.7 trillion VND, by 2017. With an average growth rate of about 33% per year, it is expected that Viet Nam’s e-commerce value will reach 106 trillion VND, which is equivalent to about USD 4.6 billion in 2022[6]. The explosion of e-commerce forces the government to actively research and choose appropriate policies in order to effectively manage these issues.
In the era of the Industrial Revolution 4.0, ensuring national security and cyber security also puts a lot of pressure on every government, including Viet Nam. With the interweaving of different information flows, hostile forces can take advantage of loopholes in state management to sabotage the country. This situation urges the government to have a flexible and appropriate solution. The Industrial Revolution 4.0 makes the country transform into a digital industry and business models in the digital economy. In the digital society, a series of new arising problems that need to be managed requires the government to find flexible and decisive solutions to ensure national security. Thus, under the impact of the Industrial Revolution 4.0, the government will gain new technological strength to increase control and improve the social management system, but it will also face increasing pressure to change its current approaches to making policies and dealing effectively with new issues.
Fourthly, the Industrial Revolution 4.0 creates big challenges in the modernization of administration.
The Industrial Revolution 4.0, with the development of many modern technologies, creates favorable conditions for managers in administration to speed up the application of these technologies to improve the efficiency of management activities. This is both an advantage and a challenge for the development of administration. If managers have reasonable policies and take advantage of technological achievements, they will get high efficiency in management activities. On the contrary, if there are no appropriate orientations and solutions in promoting the application of modern technology to management activities, administrative activities will become stagnant and inefficient. For example, the development of information technology is the core of the Industrial Revolution 4.0; thus, the main task is to promote the application of information technology in building e-government at all levels of authority. Currently, the implementation of Resolution No. 36a/NQ-CP dated October 15, 2015, on building e-government has initially achieved certain results, but also encountered many difficulties and challenges in completing the tasks and achieving the goal of the comprehensive reform of 3 groups of online public service indexes (OSI), telecommunications infrastructure, and human resources indexes (HCI). Besides, telecommunications infrastructure and information technology are still limited; human resources of information technology in public administrative agencies are lacking in number and weak in expertise. In addition, there are other difficulties and challenges in terms of security, safety assurance, information security, and network security. Therefore, it is required that ministries, agencies, and localities conduct research and learn about the Industrial Revolution 4.0 to adjust and supplement plans, programs, schemes, and projects on applying information technology and building e-government.
- Recommendations
In order to make the most of opportunities and thoroughly deal with challenges, the administration must have changes to adapt to the exponential development of the industrial revolution 4.0. First of all, it is necessary to effectively perform the following tasks:
Firstly, the government must well perform its leading mission. It is undeniable that the Industrial Revolution 4.0 is fundamentally changing the manufacturing industry, affecting all aspects, from state governance to the market of many countries. In order to catch up with the development trend, Viet Nam cannot stay out of this revolution and must join in with the determination of the whole political system. This is extremely important, especially when many countries in the world, including the countries sharing many similarities with Viet Nam such as Thailand and China, have their own strategies to take advantage of the opportunities of the Industrial Revolution 4.0. In order not to create shocks to businesses and people, the support from the government, especially that of every civil servant, is extremely necessary. The government needs to perform well its function of orienting and creating a favorable environment for all subjects in society to take advantage of opportunities from this revolution. In particular, the government needs to assess market opportunities and GDP contribution to identify strategic sectors that investment priority should be focused on. Also, it has to formulate a digital transformation strategy, implement institutional reform, promote digital government, improve the competitiveness of businesses, and assist businesses in forecasting opportunities and threats so that people can actively come up with solutions. The Industrial Revolution 4.0 creates many opportunities and challenges. Only by taking advantage of opportunities and actively establishing a strong business environment can we overcome challenges.
Secondly, it is important to change the mindset of cadres and civil servants, especially leaders in the administration. A stagnant administration must be changed into a dynamic, flexible, accountable, and transparent one to ensure compatibility with the new context. The government must transform to become the government of the era 4.0, which is first and foremost a transformation of thinking. A favorable environment for digital talents and a skilled workforce in the digital economy will not be established if we do not have changes in economic management thinking in the direction of the Industrial Revolution 4.0. Dr. Nguyen Dinh Cung said: “If we keep on thinking as the way of the 1.0 or 2.0 and applying it to the 4.0-operating economy, we will push Industrial Revolution 4.0 away from Viet Nam, not pull it back”[7]. Therefore, administrative management agencies must give up old habits and mindset in order to change, adapt and actively grasp new opportunities. In particular, special attention must be paid to renewing the thought of managers at the macro level because leadership is a factor that always plays a key role in the operation of the country. It is necessary to renovate the thinking and methods of state administrative management based on high technology to reduce administrative procedures for enterprises and ensure transparency in the operation of the administrative apparatus. Leaders must change the way of thinking, and quickly absorb new ideas and achievements of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 in order to become the fundamental nucleus for the transformation of the nation, moving forward with the times.
Thirdly, it is essential to renovate administrative institutions and improve the legal environment from central to local levels. Institutional reform is the path all countries must go through to be able to approach the achievements of the Industrial Revolution 4.0. It will be difficult to use old legislation to monitor and manage new technology. Therefore, in the coming time, it is necessary to quickly improve the legal environment for the development of the science-technology market in the direction of integration; to focus on regulations to create conditions for businesses to quickly develop new technologies and new business models; to review and abolish unsuitable business regulations. Businesses need to be given favorable conditions to access, participate in and apply advanced technologies. Industrial Revolution 4.0 is creating dramatic changes in socio-economic life, raising new legal issues that require the law-making process to be comprehensively changed in both content and form. For example, the government should soon propose and develop a draft law to submit to the National Assembly on urgent issues arising in the digital economy such as the Law on E-documents, the Law on E-transactions, and the Law on Digital signatures to support electronic transactions.
Fourthly, it is important to speed up administrative modernization. We can build government 4.0, if we have a good network infrastructure and digitalization capacity of operation processes and public administrative services. The government need to be rapidly transformed from the current model to “digital government” – a higher development step, following e-government – which is being built in our country. Therefore, the tasks are to complete the construction of e-government at the highest level and to set up a new institutional system, including institutions for e-commerce and sharing economy, smart business regulation, simplified administrative procedures and business conditions on digital platforms. Another task is to accelerate the development of the national strategy of Industrial Revolution 4.0, with a greater focus on the successful construction of e-government and smart cities, which will create a solid foundation to transform into digital government.
Fifthly, it is essential to improve the capacity of cadres and civil servants in the administration. Humans are always the decisive factor in the success of the work. More than ever, the administration requires that civil servants and cadres, especially those holding key positions, must be talented, conscientious and capable leaders as well as good experts. Only when the quality of cadres and civil servants is improved can we hope to take advantage of opportunities and overcome the challenges of the Industrial Revolution 4.0.
In short, the Industrial Revolution 4.0 is an inevitable one that people can only participate in; otherwise, they will be eliminated from the trend. With its important position, the administration plays a decisive role in the prosperity of the country. Unceasingly, the administration needs to be reformed and innovated in all aspects in order to take advantage of opportunities and overcome the challenges of the Industrial Revolution 4.0.
Dr. Nguyen Dang Que
National Academy of Public Administration
[1] http://ictViet Nam.vn/xa-hoi-so/kinh-nghiem-xay-dung-chinh-phu-so-tai-estonia.htm, 18/07/2018.
[2] [2] http://ictViet Nam.vn/phuong-phap-danh-gia-chat-luong-dich-vu-hanh-chinh-cong-va-nhung-ton-tai-can-giai-quyet.htm, 20/11/2018.
[3] https://anninhthudo.vn/doi-song/hon-60-nguoi-dan-viet-nam-su-dung-internet/792292.antd, 05/12/2018.
[4] http://ttvn.vn/kinh-doanh/cong-nghiep-40-se-tac-dong-nhu-the-nao-den-the-che-4201896115422432.htm, 09-06-2018.
[5] Resolution 26-NQ/TW dated 19 May 2018 by the 12th Party Steering Central Committee on focusing on development of cadres at all levels, especially at strategic level, who are qualified, competent, have reputation, capable to assume the assigned tasks.
[6] https://forbesViet Nam.com.vn/kinh-doanh/thuong-mai-dien-tu-viet-nam-du-bao-dat-25-ti-do-la-my-nam-2020-4085.html, 12/7/2018.
[7] http://enternews.vn/thay-doi-tu-duy-de-bat-nhip-voi-cach-mang-cong-nghiep-4-0-135858.html, 12/09/2018.
