“Public Service for the 21st Century” (PS21) is launched

Public Service for the 21st Century (PS21) was a change movement launched by the Singapore government on 5 May 1995 in an attempt to encourage public officers to embrace change in their daily work and position the public service at the forefront of service excellence.^[1] The movement was initiated as the government was of the view then that the public service had to transform in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century. These challenges included the need to deliver higher standards of service to an increasingly demanding public and face an economy that had become more competitive.^[2] The transformation of the public service required a change in its organisational culture and norms. PS21, therefore, aimed to inculcate a paradigm shift in the mindset of public officers so that they would be more receptive and responsive to continuous change, able to anticipate demands, influence developments, and find innovative ways to meet new challenges.^[3]

To realise the objectives of PS21, the government recognised that Singapore’s public service had to improve in four broad areas, namely: staff well-being; Work Improvement Teams (WITs) and staff suggestion schemes; quality service; and organisational review.^[4] For staff well-being, emphasis was given to the personal needs of public officers so that their physical and psychological welfare, as well as motivation and morale could be enhanced. The WITs and staff suggestion schemes aimed to provide public officers with an official bottom-up channel where they could introduce innovative ideas to improve the public service. Quality service was a commitment to help public officers improve their service delivery to the public. Organisational structures and procedures were constantly reviewed in order to improve the efficiency of the public service.^[5]

To implement the changes envisaged by PS21 for the public service, PS21 committees were set up at every level of the public service. For instance, each ministry had a PS21 committee that was chaired by its respective permanent secretary. Each major government department and statutory board also had its own PS21 committee. Each PS21 committee comprised four functional committees to specifically address the four broad areas of the PS21 movement.^[6]

References
1. The case for PS21: Public service for the 21st century (p. 3). (1995). Singapore: PS21 Office. Call no.: RSING 352.66 CAS; New code to boost the ‘service’ in Civil Service. (1995, May 6). The Straits Times, p. 2. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.
2. The case for PS21: Public service for the 21st century, 1995, p. 2.
3. The case for PS21: Public service for the 21st century, 1995, p. 2.
4. The case for PS21: Public service for the 21st century, 1995, p. 3.
5. The case for PS21: Public service for the 21st century, 1995, pp. 4–5.
6. The case for PS21: Public service for the 21st century, 1995, p. 7.