Seniority Over Rank in The Public Service: The Outcome
by It is more often than once that younger generations in the public sector are being left out in the decision making of the organization. Why? Read on.
I will further demonstrate the meaning of the topic by narrowing down the scope.
Image via Wikipedia
Seniority refers to an elderly person who has worked in the service for many years regardless of his job title and current rank. But it happens all the time that after a certain length of time in service, they’ll be promoted to a higher rank. While rank refers to the position of that person during its service whether it is as a leader or a follower. Sometimes held by young people.
Thus the title is named “Seniority over Rank”. Which comes first in the government sector? The elderly, yet experienced workers (seniority) or the younger person with a degree who possibly holds an important role (rank)?
Nowadays, in any public organization, the voice of the younger generation are seldom heard. They grew to become a loyal, dutiful lot, abiding to the rules that governs them. They work almost like robots, no, like puppets with strings controlled by the elderly on the organizations they work for.
In the east, especially Malaysia, it is natural that elders are held in the utmost respect by the youngsters. Youngsters must bow they heads when passing through, as it is in their culture to do so. It is also wrongful to raise your voice at elders or pick a fight. This is because the elders are said to gain so much life experiences and thus are supposed to be wiser and more knowledgeable. An aspect that deserves our respect. And so we thought.
Ever heard about power abuse?
But little do we know, the seniority over rank situation in the public service has left a big loophole in the system.
Government services to the public deteriorates rapidly as management are not handled well. Youngsters become so dependent on their elders that they fail to deliver more innovative and creative way to improve the quality of the services. Thus exists the one-finger typist at public counters, usually found at public banks, post offices, immigration, police stations and such. Public assets are seldom renewed as elders don’t feel comfortable with new technology and tend to stick to old habits. Outdated information systems and facilities further worsens the government image and quality.
One thing in mind as I type this, the government as an overall has became overstaffed and to add that, the staff are mostly lazy bums. And the only service these people provide are being reliable pawns to help certain political parties win general elections.
All because seniority rules over rank. Less you’re not over 40, than your ideas are worthless. What could be done? Mindsets of people are difficult to change and I can only pray to see the day that public services are better than that of the private sectors. Cheers to equality!
The End.
[The writer of this post is also the owner of this blog and this one.]
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