Decision-making process in Korean public institutions is executed in accordance with Poomui (Ringi) System, the bottom-up document-approval process based on organizational hierarchy. Under this system, public servants are to make decisions within the scope of their roles and the boundary of their discretion that comes with their ranking within the organization when it comes to planning, reviewing and approving documents for policymaking under the Presidential regulations.
Hence, the so-called "Real-name Policymaking System" was introduced to clearly draw the line at different accountabilities and limits of individual public servants. Currently, the Regulations on the Administrative Efficiency and Promotion cf Collaboration prescribes the implementation of the Real-name Policymaking System, but it is rarely followed through on the ground.
Despite the fact that decisions made by public institutions lead to many important consequences that impact people's lives, including massive allocation of budget determining the welfare of the people, it has not been studied much. Even in cases in which it was studied, they were limited to configurational studies on how to speed up the Poomui process, while there was no study conducted to examine the content and quality of the Poomui process.
Therefore, the objective of this study is to understand the mechanism of decision-making process in public institutions by examining the cases of how the laws and regulations are actually applied on the ground while identifying its consequences, as well as providing an informative chance for public servants to reflect upon the way they work to help them make more efficient decisions that is more considerate of the welfare of the people.
The Delphi Survey has found the following phenomena, including the cases of "unclear work limits for public servants", and "no record kept for decision-making process", which lead to "disregarding formal procedures" and "lack of responsibility." Hence, more obstacles are created, such as "inability to root out the problem of same complaint being filed repeatedly" and "the creation of innocent victims." Therefore, in order to prevent the negative consequences. of inadequate decision-making process, the solution may be "clarifying the scope of work limits of public servants," and "keeping the records of opinions of all decision-making stakeholders."
This study has found out that the outcome is negative when decisions are made out of line with the regulations in public institutions. In other words, it has confirmed that when a policy is made without following the Real-name Policymaking System as prescribed in the Regulations on the Administrative Efficiency and Promotion of Collaboration, it leads to negative consequences.
In particular, in case where "the recipients of administrative services is negatively impacted," as it was pointed out as one of the problems, it can also be translated that a bad decision-making practice in public institutions has negative influence on people's lives. Another problem, "inability to root out the problem of same complaint being filed repeatedly" can also mean that the negative outcome of bad decision-making has now become part of an everyday vicious cycle.
"Clarifying the scope of work limits of public servants," one of the solutions presented, seems like a distant future, considering the existing rules and regulations in place. However, "the introduction of real-name decision-making system" can immediately be implemented as all it requires is that the decision-making stakeholders keep the records of their opinions and preserve them.
Furthermore, according to a previous study, the obstacles that slow down the process of Poomui, such as taking too much time before a document is approved, not making the use of the electronic approval system, and only working-level officials are drafting a plan and seeking approval from senior officials while senior officials are only making orders to revise or improve the document, are in fact the result of not fully following through with what is prescribed in the existing rules and regulations.
Therefore, when decisions are made in public institutions by complying with what is written in the rules and regulations, it will certainly contribute to speeding up the Poomui process, reducing the negative consequences of policy implementation. It is recommended that when decisions are made in public institutions, public servants should shift away from their outdated norms and practices under their own organizational culture, and conform to what has been prescribed in the rules and regulations in the first place.
Lastly, this study is significant since it is the first study which examines the content and quality of decision-making process in public institutions.