China’s party and government agencies are divided into five levels: central, provincial, municipal, county, and township.
Someone made a very vivid metaphor for the work of agencies at all levels:
Central agencies are a group of people doing one job;
Provincial agencies are several people doing one job;
Municipal agencies are one person doing one job;
County agencies are one person doing several jobs;
Township agencies are one person doing countless jobs.
This very vivid metaphor can roughly reflect the respective characteristics of the work of central government, provincial government, municipal government, county government and township government.
For many people who want to be civil servants, although they do not know much about the characteristics of work in the five levels of government agencies: central government, provincial government, municipal government, county government, and township government agencies, if they can choose by themselves, they may think of working in central government, provincial government, or municipal government agencies. However, due to various reasons, they may end up working in county or township government agencies.
So, what are the pros and cons of working in various levels of government? How should we treat it correctly?
In fact, no matter which level of agency we work at, as long as we can truly understand the pros and cons of working in agencies at all levels, treat the pros and cons correctly, and use our strengths to offset our weaknesses, we can make great achievements and achieve better development.
01
Analysis of the pros and cons of working in agencies at all levels
Pros and cons of working in centrally-controlled agencies: Centrally-controlled agencies are at the macro level. Civil servants working in centrally-controlled agencies have a lot of room for development and progress. They have more contact with foreign countries, universities and scientific research institutes, have a wide range of information sources, have a wide field of vision, and have a high position. They can best exercise macro research capabilities, but they are far away from the grassroots and have little contact with the masses and practical work.
Pros and cons of working in provincial agencies: Provincial agencies are at the meso level. Civil servants working in provincial agencies have greater room for development and progress. They have wider sources of information, wider horizons, and higher positions. They are best able to exercise meso research capabilities, but they are far away from the grassroots front lines and have less contact with the masses and less practical work.
Pros and cons of working in municipal agencies: Municipal agencies are at the meso-micro level. Civil servants working in municipal agencies have less room for development and progress, fewer information sources, narrower vision, and lower positions. However, they are closer to the grassroots front lines, have more contact with the masses and practical work, and are better able to exercise their ability to solve complex problems.
Advantages and disadvantages of working in county-level agencies: County-level agencies are at the juncture of meso and micro levels. Civil servants working in county-level agencies have less room for development and progress, fewer sources of information, narrower vision, and lower positions. However, they are closer to the front line at the grassroots level, have more contact with the masses and practical work, and can better exercise their ability to solve complex problems.
Advantages and disadvantages of working in township government agencies: Township government agencies are at the micro level. Civil servants working in township government agencies have the smallest room for development and progress, the fewest sources of information, and the highest work intensity. However, they are closest to the front line at the grassroots level, have the most contact with the masses and practical work, and can best exercise their ability to solve complex problems.
02
How to make use of strengths and make up for weaknesses when working in agencies at all levels
First, we must pay attention to empathy. empathy is a booster for improvement work. Civil servants at any level must firmly establish the concept of empathy, pay attention to prevent the phenomenon of acting by habit, feeling, and experience. They must consider problems more from the perspective of superiors or subordinates, look at problems more comprehensively, think deeply about problems, and handle problems more appropriately, so as to ensure that thinking about problems, making decisions, formulating policies, and doing things can better meet the requirements of superiors, the actual situation of the grassroots, and the will of the people.
When drafting relevant policies and regulations, civil servants working in central and provincial agencies should not only consider issues from their own perspective, but also from the perspective of the grassroots level. Only in this way can the policies and regulations introduced be more realistic and feasible, and avoid the phenomenon of thankless efforts.
When civil servants working in municipal, county, or township agencies make suggestions to higher-level agencies, they should not only consider issues from their own perspective, but also from the perspective of higher-level agencies, so that the constructive suggestions and suggestions they put forward can be both realistic and take the overall situation into consideration. Only in this way can the higher-level agencies incorporate their opinions and suggestions into future work and policies and regulations.
For example, in May 2020, on the basis of an in-depth summary of our experience in exploring the deep integration of party building and business in our Sanming Municipal Party Committee Organization Office Party Branch in Fujian Province since 2012, I wrote a paper titled "Improving the overall level of institutional establishment work while promoting the deep integration of party building and business." I wanted to publish an experience article in "China Institutional Reform and Management" or "Institutional Establishment Work Information" sponsored by the Central Editorial Office of . I contacted the person in charge of the relevant publication. They all said that their publication focused on publishing experience articles on business work and published very few experience articles on party building work. In the end, they were unwilling to publish this experience article I wrote.
To this end, I wrote a letter to the Director of the Central Organizational Office on August 21, 2020, proposing that "China Institutional Reform and Management" and "Institutional Establishment Work Information" should open columns and special pages to promote their own construction experience, and increase the publicity of their own construction experience, including party building work." I also attached an experience article I wrote titled "Improving the overall level of institutional establishment work while promoting the deep integration of party building and business." On August 26, 2020, the director of the Central Organization Office made an instruction in the letter I wrote, "Please ask the Comprehensive Bureau to study whether it is possible to introduce the experience of Sanming City in information." Later, in accordance with the instructions of the director of the Central Staffing Office, the Comprehensive Bureau of the Central Staffing Office published an experience article written by me titled "The Staffing Office of Sanming Municipal Party Committee, Fujian Province Actively Promotes Deep Integration of Party Building and Business" in the 21st issue of "Organizational Establishment Work Information" compiled and distributed on September 7, 2020, and promoted it to the national organizational staffing system in the form of an editor's note. The editor's note of
says this: "This issue publishes the practices of the Sanming Municipal Party Committee Editorial Office in Fujian Province in promoting the deep integration of party building and business and improving the quality of work for your reference. We hope that the editorial offices at the provincial, municipal and county levels will pay attention to summarizing and refining effective practices to strengthen their own construction, and we will select the best ones for publication and promotion."
From the fact that the relevant publications of the Central Editorial Office refused to publish articles about my experience in party building that I wrote to the editors and offices at all levels requesting manuscripts on my experience in strengthening their own construction, it can be seen that as long as the opinions and suggestions put forward by grassroots units take into account the overall situation and are practical, they can attract the attention of higher-level agencies and can also be adopted by higher-level agencies.
Second, we must focus on strengthening communication. 's enhanced communication is an important guarantee to ensure smooth communication from top to bottom, smooth flow of government orders, and efficient operation. Civil servants in central and provincial agencies must fully listen to and absorb the opinions and suggestions of municipal, county and township agencies before drafting policies and regulations and during the implementation of policy regulations, so that the policies and regulations issued will be more targeted, feasible and effective. Civil servants in municipal, county, and township government agencies should focus on discovering and analyzing the difficulties and problems encountered in actual work, and on the basis of in-depth thinking, timely propose analytical, insightful, and quality countermeasures and suggestions to higher-level agencies, and strive to provide important reference basis for higher-level agencies to formulate practical policies and regulations.
For example, in 2019, before formulating the "Guiding Opinions of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee on Further Deepening the Reform of Township (Street) Institutions", the Fujian Provincial Party Committee's Editorial Office went to the municipal, county, and township (street) agencies to fully listen Opinions and suggestions from the grassroots level, based on in-depth thinking, our Sanming Municipal Party Committee Editorial Office proposed to "integrate about 5 public institutions affiliated to townships (streets) into 3 public institutions in response to the problem of poor promotion and transfer channels for staff in township (street) institutions. unit, and upgrade the institutional specifications of the three integrated public institutions from stock level to equivalent deputy section level." The proposal was taken seriously and incorporated into the guidance plan for the institutional reform of townships (subdistricts) across the province, opening up promotion and transfer (promotion refers to career The main person in charge of a unit can be promoted from the stock level to the deputy section level. Transfer refers to the channel where the person who is promoted to the deputy section level as the main person in charge of a public institution meets the basic conditions for transfer to a civil servant one year later. After this policy was implemented in the province, it has been widely praised and praised by the staff of the public institutions.
Third, we must pay attention to investigation and research. investigation and research is an important means for agencies at all levels to understand the actual situation, discover problems, summarize experience, research countermeasures, and improve work. As civil servants in central and provincial government agencies, we should go deeper into municipal, county and township government agencies, get to know the people, go deep into reality, and fully understand the thoughts, thoughts and expectations of grassroots frontline cadres and the masses. Mastering the first-hand information of and will provide a true and reliable reference for better thinking about problems, making decisions, formulating policies, and handling things in the future, effectively help grassroots cadres and the masses solve urgent, difficult and anxious problems, and continuously enhance the sense of gain, happiness and security of the grassroots cadres and the masses.
For example, in 2019, in order to ensure the steady and smooth implementation of the institutional reform of townships (streets), the leaders of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee Office led the staff of relevant departments to conduct in-depth investigations and studies at the municipal, county, and townships (streets), and arranged for relevant personnel to conduct half-month field research in relevant towns (streets) to provide scientific information. The study and formulation of guidance on the reform of township (subdistrict) institutions provided first-hand reference materials. In response to the understanding of the problem of low treatment of staff in township (subdistrict) institutions, the guidance clearly stated the requirement to "explore the implementation of a staff system in management positions in township (subdistrict) institutions", which effectively helped the staff of township (subdistrict) institutions solve practical difficulties that have not been solved for a long time.
Fourth, we must pay attention to practical exploration. Practice has proved that the grassroots level is the source of reform and innovation. Many good experiences are created by the grassroots cadres and the masses in practice. The higher-level agencies summarize and improve the experience created by the grassroots cadres and the masses, formulate policies and promote them, and then achieve the purpose of leading the area from one point to the overall situation. As civil servants in municipal, county, and township government agencies, we must make full use of our advantages of being closer to the grassroots, having more contact with the masses, and doing more practical work. We must adhere to problem orientation, demand orientation, and goal orientation. Through learning and reference, practical exploration, investigation and research, and summary and refinement, we must strive to create and summarize good practices and experiences of working hard, striving for excellence, and overcoming difficulties, so as to provide replicable and generalizable experience for promoting related work on a larger scale.
For example, since 2015, our Sanming Municipal Party Committee Organization Office has been actively exploring effective ways to evaluate the implementation of institutional establishment in accordance with the requirements of "accelerating the legalization, standardization and scientificization of institutional establishment management" and in view of the existing problems in the previous institutional establishment work of reviewing and approving institutional establishment matters based on documents and experience, and the extensive management of "emphasis on review and approval but not on supervision", and used the evaluation results as an important basis for improving institutional establishment management and optimizing the allocation of institutional establishment resources.The experience and practice of institutional establishment implementation evaluation explored by our Sanming Municipal Party Committee Organization Office were fully affirmed by the Supervision and Inspection Bureau of the Central Organization Office, and we were asked to provide relevant documents and a complete set of information for carrying out institutional establishment implementation evaluation, which provided an important reference basis for the Central Organization Office to study and formulate institutional establishment implementation and use efficiency evaluation policies.
What I published today is the 247th article in the series of articles I wrote titled " Wisdom in Being a Person and Being an Official ". Friends are welcome to follow, like, and subscribe. Favorite, forward, comment, leave a message , " think more " will share more life insights with you!
