Factors affecting job performance at public service delivery agencies in vietnam the case of vietnam institute for building science and technology IBST

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI KHOA QUẢN TRỊ VÀ KINH DOANH --- HOÀNG MẠNH FACTORS AFFECTING JOB PERFORMANCE AT PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY AGENCIES IN VIETNAM – THE CASE OF VIETNAM INSTITUTE FOR B

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI KHOA QUẢN TRỊ VÀ KINH DOANH

-

HOÀNG MẠNH

FACTORS AFFECTING JOB PERFORMANCE AT PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY AGENCIES IN VIETNAM – THE CASE OF VIETNAM INSTITUTE FOR BUILDING SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY (IBST) - MINISTRY OF CONSTRUCTION

CÁC YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN HIỆU QUẢ CÔNG VIỆC ĐỐI VỚI MỘT ĐƠN VỊ SỰ NGHIỆP CÔNG LẬP: TRƯỜNG HỢP CỦA VIỆN KHOA HỌC CÔNG NGHỆ XÂY DỰNG – BỘ XÂY DỰNG

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ QUẢN TRỊ KINH DOANH

HÀ NỘI - 2018

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI KHOA QUẢN TRỊ VÀ KINH DOANH

-

HOÀNG MẠNH

FACTORS AFFECTING JOB PERFORMANCE AT PUBLIC SERVICE DELIVERY AGENCIES IN VIETNAM – THE CASE OF VIETNAM INSTITUTE FOR BUILDING SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY (IBST) - MINISTRY OF CONSTRUCTION

CÁC YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG ĐẾN HIỆU QUẢ CÔNG VIỆC ĐỐI VỚI MỘT ĐƠN VỊ SỰ NGHIỆP CÔNG LẬP: TRƯỜNG HỢP CỦA VIỆN KHOA HỌC CÔNG NGHỆ XÂY DỰNG – BỘ XÂY DỰNG

Chuyên ngành: Quản trị kinh doanh

Mã số: 60 34 01 02

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ QUẢN TRỊ KINH DOANH

NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS TRỊNH NGỌC HUY

Hà Nội - 2018

DECLARATION

The author confirms that the research outcome in the thesis is the result of author‟s independent work during study and research period and it is not yet published in other‟s research and article

The other‟s research result and documentation (extraction, table, figure, formula and other document) used in the thesis are cited properly and the permission (if required) is given

The author is responsible in front of the Thesis Assessment Committee, Hanoi School of Business and Management, and the laws for above-mentioned declaration

Date………

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express the deepest appreciation to all teachers at Vietnam National University, Hanoi especially those in HSB- MBA programs for providing me with all the precious knowledge for nearly two years This knowledge does not only help

me complete my research paper but it‟s also a valuable source of capital for my work in future

I would like to send to Dr Trinh Ngoc Huy a sincere and deepest gratitude because

of his caring, thoughtful guidance for the whole time I have conducted the dissertation

I would also like to thank all my questionnaire‟s respondents for giving me useful information to conduct the study Without your honest answers and persistent help, this dissertation would not have been possible

During the course of the thesis, mistakes are unavoidable due to limited knowledge, experience and time Therefore, I would like to receive the comments from teachers

to make the thesis more complete and practical

Sincerely,

Hanoi, 04/05/2018 Hoang Manh

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF TABLE v

LIST OF FIGURE vi

INTRODUCTION 1

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF JOB PERFORMANCE AND FACTORS AFFECTING JOB PERFORMANCE IN ORGANIZATIONS 3

1.1 Job performance 3

1.2 Conceptual frameworks of factors affecting job performance 5

1.3 Public service delivery agencies in Vietnam 13

1.3.1 Public service delivery agencies 13

1.3.2 Human resource and Human resource activities in public service delivery agencies 15

1.3.3 Public non-business units and public employees characteristics in Vietnam 17

1.3.4 Past examples and experiences from some Vietnamese researches 21

1.4 Research frameworks and hypotheses 22

1.5 Methodology 25

1.5.1 Research approach: 26

1.5.2 Research methodology: 26

1.5.3 Research plan: 27

CHAPTER 2: CURRENT SITUATION OF HRM AND JOB PERFORMANCE IN IBST - MINISTRY OF CONSTRUCTION 29

2.1 Overview of Construction Science and Technology Institute – Ministry of Construction 29

2.1.1 History and Development of the organization 29

2.1.2 Functions of the organization 29

2.1.3 Structure of the organization 31

2.1.4 Achievements of the organization 32

2.1.5 Characteristics of Human resource in IBST: 33

2.2 Current situation in IBST– Ministry of Construction 35

2.3 Data results and interpretation: In depth interviews and focus group discussions 40

2.4 Data results and interpretation: Questionnaires 52

2.4.1 Descriptive data 58

2.4.2 Reliability test results 61

2.4.3 EFA (Exploratory Factor Analysis) 65

2.4.4 Variables 68

2.4.5 Regression analysis and Hypothesis testing 68

CHAPTER 3: DISCUSSIONS AND PROPOSAL SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVE JOB PERFORMANCE AT IBST AND OTHER PUBLIC NON-BUSINESS UNITS 73

3.1 Discussions and observations 73

3.2 Proposal recommendations to improve employee job performance at Public service delivery agencies 75

3.2.1 Recommendation for financial policies 75

3.2.2 Recommendations for compensation 76

3.2.3 Recommendations for performance management 77

3.2.4 Recommendations for manager’s leadership 79

3.2.5 Recommendations for training and development 80

3.2.6 Recommendations for improving employee relation 81

3.2.7 Recommendations for improving employee’s job motivation 82

3.2.8 Recommendations for improving job analysis and job description 83

CONCLUSION 85

LIMITATIONS & IMPLICATIONS 86

REFERENCE 87

APPENDIX 1 92

LIST OF TABLE

Table: 1 The qualification of public employees in IBST 34

Table 2: Descriptive date of IBST workforce 34

Table 3 : Measurement scale for “Analysis and design of work” factor 54

Table 4: Measurement scale for “Manager‟s leadership” factor 54

Table 5: Measurement scale for “Support from Union‟s activities” factor 54

Table 6: Measurement scale for “Employee relations” factor 55

Table 7: Measurement scale for “Training and development” factor 55

Table 8: Measurement scale for “Compensation” factor 55

Table 9: Measurement scale for “Performance management” factor 56

Table 10: Measurement scale for “Job performance” 56

Table 11: Descriptive frequency of sample 59

Table 12: Mean and Standard Deviation of Observing Measurements 60

Table 13: Cronbach‟s alpha - Analysis and design of work 61

Table 14: Cronbach‟s alpha –Manager‟s leadership 62

Table 15: Cronbach‟s alpha –Support from Union‟s activites 62

Table 16: Cronbach‟s alpha –Employee relations 63

Table 17: Cronbach‟s alpha –Training and development 63

Table 18: Cronbach‟s alpha –Compensation 64

Table 19: Cronbach‟s alpha – Performance management 64

Table 20: KMO and Bartlett's Test 65

Table 21: Total variance explained 66

Table 22: Rotated Component Matrix 67

Table 23: Model Summary 68

Table 24: ANOVA 69

Table 25 Coefficients 70

LIST OF FIGURE

Figure 1: The different between public employees and civil servants 20

Figure 2: Model of factors affecting job performance 25

Figure 3: Structure of IBST 31

Figure 4: Timeline of research 40

Figure 5: Adjusted model of factors affecting job performance 52

INTRODUCTION

It can be said that between various resources, human resources play a pivotal role in determining the success or failure of an organization In the era of globalization, firms‟ activities are becoming more and more challenging due to the issues of equivalence in technology, financial foundation, materials…, and especially the issue of replication between firms within a similar industry Therefore, in order to create a unique competitive advantage, apart from investing on the renovation of technology and modern equipment, organizations now are focusing more on the

importance of human and human resources

Job performance is of high relevance at both organizations and individuals‟ level Correspondingly, job performance has been addressed as a multi-dimensional concept and attracts considerable research worldwide In Vietnam, the expansion of the economy recently requires employees that are of higher education, skills and better job behaviors in order to deliver better job performance (Nguyen, 2006) As a result, the issue of exploring factors that affect job performance is one of the most critical subjects in organizations, especially in public sector where there is limited competition between institutes

Vietnam Institute for Building Science and Technology (IBST) operates with the model of non-business units under the Ministry of Construction, Hanoi, Vietnam The Institute is a leading research and consulting Institute, which carries the state management duties for Construction Industry With total of 566 employees (2017), IBST is responsible for various functions and has proved to be one of the most effective organizations among public service delivery agencies in Vietnam However, with the purpose of maintaining and enhancing the organization‟s

performance, it is of great importance to conduct a research: “Factors affecting job performance at Public Service Delivery Agencies in Vietnam: The case of Vietnam Institute for Building Science and Technology (IBST)- Ministry of Construction” The research aims to identify and measure the level of factors

affecting the effectiveness of ISBT employees‟ performance, thus help managers in ISBT and mangers in other public non-business organizations with understanding

the underlying causes that are influential to employees‟ performance, as well as suggests recommendations for improvement of Human Resources policies In odder

to achieve this research aim, this study has to solve three research objectives as follows:

- To deepen the theories related to the factors affecting the effectiveness of employees‟ performance

- To measure job performance of IBST employees

- To identify and measure factors affecting the effectiveness of IBST employees‟ performance

So, the research subject is job performance and factors affecting job performance in IBST The research scope is IBST employees, the study was conducted from November 2017 to May 2018

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF JOB PERFORMANCE AND FACTORS AFFECTING JOB PERFORMANCE IN ORGANIZATIONS

1.1 Job performance

Job performance is one of the most noticed concept that has gained more and more attention for the last decade Job performance is both important to individuals and to organizations as a whole Kanfer (2005) states the correlation between high performance with higher satisfaction and higher feeling of self-esteem Scotter (2002) studies the patterns of how high performance employees get promoted and awarded to understand the effects of performance on career activities in comparison

to other factors

The definition of employee performance or job performance alike has only been received research effort in the last 20 years It is commonly agreed by researchers that employee performance is a multi-dimensional concept Borman (1993) distinguished two main aspects of performance in an organization: task performance and contextual performance The task performance refers to what people actually do

at work that directly involve with production process, the work activities themselves These activities include sales activities with customers, programming computers or controlling manufacturing machines Therefore, task performance are works that are easily be measured and compensated On the other hand, contextual performance is regarded as behaviors that are not directly related to the main task functions For example, the effort of one employee to unite several workers to form

a team for higher goal-oriented achievements is considered high contextual performance Furthermore, it is further analyzed into two different dimensions of contextual performance: interpersonal facilitation and job dedication While interpersonal facilitation indicates the “tendency to cooperate, support and assist co-workers”, job dedication is an intrinsic motivation that “includes self-disciplined, self- motivated behaviors such as working hard or voluntarily do extra work” These contextual actions are vital in organizations because they help shape the work culture to enhance task performance in total (Campbell, 1993) Motowildo (1997)

further differentiates task performance and contextual performance with three distinctive characteristics:

- Task performance is job specific while contextual performance is comparable between different jobs

- Task performance can be predicted by physical ability or IQ (Intelligence quotient) while contextual performance is more psychological and is determined by individual personality or EQ (emotional quotient)

- Task performance can be explained specifically in job description and

be evaluated mainly with statistics while contextual performance is extra activities that are extra to general job requirements Task performance is rewarded by formal systems while contextual performance is harder to measure since it does not directly contribute to organizational performance but only supports the social environment in general

Employees or human resources are widely agreed to be very important in any organization A company can improve its productivity and success indicators by motivating its employee to result in higher job performance According to Motowildo (1993), job performance refers to how employees are able to meet with expected results or standards established by employers In other words, job performance may be understood as the completion, the timeliness, the duration, the cost or other requirements for the job that is required Various researches have illustrated that performance is influenced by internal personal skills as well as external motivation from employers and co-workers‟ environment (Jackson, 2009) Cameron (2013) also shows agreement by stating that performance is affected by the combination of personal skills and environmental factors spread out in work lifetime Other researches point out that performance relates to the number, quality, effectiveness and efficiency of the job While the two terms “efficiency” -

“effectiveness” are popular, they are commonly misused or used interchangeably, especially in Vietnam where both are translated into one same word of “tính hiệu quả” In fact, these two terms are different and represent different facets of performance Effectiveness is defined as the ability to accomplish a goal or produce

the intended results On the other hand, efficiency is defined as the ability to perform the job in the most appropriate manner to maximize the use of resources Drucker (2014) concludes that effectiveness is “doing the right things” and efficiency is “doing things right”

In organizations, in order to link HRM practices to improve employees‟ performance, it is crucial to understand how employees are influenced by different incentives Therefore, the next part of the thesis will explain frameworks that have been developed by researchers on factors that affect job performance

1.2 Conceptual frameworks of factors affecting job performance

It is widely accepted that in organizations, communication creates interaction between employees and managers Since the very beginning of the industrial century, both companies and researchers have been trying to fathom the processes

of building good communication to build and maintain a successful managing directions For years, organizations have figured out that a clear mission statement;

a stable source of funds or updated machines are not enough to guarantee the success of a company, and that human resource is the critical source of competitive advantage Thus it is important first to understand the history of the development of different perspective on job performance factors over time

According to Armstrong (2006), an organization is made up of four resources: Human, Material, Money and Non- living machinery In other words, an organization can be divided into human and non-human resources and history has seen the considerable shift in the stress of importance between these two resources Among various concepts studied throughout history, the commodity concept is widely accepted to happen in the early age of production where labor was regards as

a commodity to be bought and sold In this early stage, job performance is not yet developed since this perspective is traced back to the stage of slavery Next, the factor of production concept sees human as equal as other parts of the organizations: material, money and non-living machinery Workers are like machine tools and are considered to be easy to replace During this period, the human factor of production

is generally managed by “personnel department” However, this personnel manager

is usually a general supervisor or line managers of the company but not acting as an independent profession In this time, even though the concept “job performance” has been vaguely acknowledged, the importance of such concept is still neglected It

is not until the Welfare concept that workers‟ performance are fairly estimated This concept marks the milestone of having a personnel department as an independent department of the company Managers of the Welfare concept believes that welfare measures like safety, lunch room and flexible working hours will have a positive influence on workers‟ performance and effectiveness In this period, the personnel department is constructed mainly to deal with these following issues: an unexpected change in technology, an unexpected expansion of the company or an unexpected change in government regulations During this era, industrial revolution requires skillful workers to manage complicated industrial factories and systems that are not yet entailed only a few years ago Welfare services such as medical package require

an independent person to take care of such activities The Welfare concept also witnesses the beginning of formation of Unions and the establishments of governing policies and protections towards workers This perspective describes the influence

of Welfare factors towards workers‟ satisfaction and motivation, thus affects workers‟ job performance The Paternalistic and Humanitarian concept assumes a protective perspective towards human resources within an organization While the Paternalism concept means the requirements of various needs satisfaction of employees, the humanitarian concept calls for the satisfaction of all physical, social and psychological needs of workers Both of these concepts undermine the importance of money as the most important factor in influencing organization productivity Moreover, these concepts see the organization as a social structure instead of just a machinery structure Accordingly, this concepts adds in protective factors to work performance factors It was not until the Development concept that Performance and productivity are widely researched by academic researchers Under this concept, personnel professionals pay more attention on balancing employees‟ needs and organizational resources to ensure the harmonization of the

company The administration functions continue to develop to deal with more and more complex requirements from various new roles This period also sees the beginning of academic research, organizations and professionals having interest in developing the behavioral models to understand factors that affect employee performance Elton Mayo is one of the leading researcher in developing theories to improve productivity (Rush, 1959) Mayo and Robbins propose the indication that organizations should treat workers as a specious part of the structure instead of treating human as plain as working tools The development concept also marks the change from managing individuals within a company to managing groups in organization (Ryan, 1985) The Human resource concept sees employees as the most important part of the company and company should spend enormous effort in satisfying needs and wants of employees Maslow is an researcher who pioneers the academia field with the widely recognized hierachy of needs In this theory, Maslow (1954) groups human needs into 5 continuous levels within a pyramid and once one level is fulfilled, people will expect the next level of needs Besides 5 original needs stages of Physiological needs – Safety needs – Belongingness and love needs – Esteem needs – Self- actualization needs, through time, other researchers have developed the theory by adding more level to the hierarchy The most widely-accepted model is the adjustment to Maslow‟ eight level of needs Three added levels are: cognitive needs, aesthetic needs and transcendence needs Cognitive needs and aesthetic needs are added between esteem needs and self-actualization needs Cognitive needs are the need of human for knowledge and understanding Maslow adds this level after esteem needs since he believes that humans have the tendency to search for intelligence and wisdom Aesthetic needs express the statement that humans need beautiful and aesthetically pleasing imagery before coming up to self-actualization level This stage may imply the form of understanding or performing arts Last but not least, Maslow adds transcendence level as the highest level of needs (replacing self-actualization level as in the original model) Maslow describes transcendence stage by stating that after self-actualization of one self, human would reach out to help others also achieve self-

actualization The result from Maslow‟s hierarchy of needs marks the foundation for many other researches on workers‟ needs, workers‟ motivation and performance

In the context of this thesis, since the main objective is to understand aspects of job performance to build appropriate questionnaire scales, it is critical to identify frameworks that have already been studied previously

It can be referred that HRM practices contain managerial activities such as planning, selecting, organizing and directing Moreover, Robbins (2009) suggests the four general functions of HR, through which managers can apply for the goal of influencing employee performance and organizational performance as a whole: (1) Staffing and recruiting, (2) Training and Development, (3) Motivating, (4) Maintaining and Controlling In other words, the main functions of HR department are to find the right person for the job, then motivate that person in order to earn highest job performance as possible and finally, reward and retain that right person Even a small organization without a professional HR department has to understand the importance of those functions since each is crucial for the strategic objectives of the company

Following the well-known Maslow‟s hierarchy of needs explained above, others researchers have developed different theories to explain various factors that can influence employees Herzberg (1959, 1985) proposes a two-factor theory of employee motivation He believes that motivation and performance are closely correlated and companies should look for methods that can increase the intrinsic motivation of workers, thus lead to better job performance Herzberg classifies job factors into two distinct groups: Motivators and hygiene factors According to this theory, hygiene factors are factors that are essential for motivation at workplace These factors include salary, company policies, working conditions, job security, etc Even though hygiene factors are not long-term motivation, if they are not satisfied, it will lead to dissatisfaction from employees Hygiene factors are also known as maintenance factors On the other hand, motivation factors are factors that motivate employees for superior performance These factors include recognition, feeling of achievement, self-responsibility and the feeling of meaningful of works

Therefore, hygiene factors can only keep workers away from dissatisfaction, motivation factors can bring the actual satisfaction to the employees Two-factor theory of employee motivation implies that the managers should spend just enough resource on hygiene factors but focus more on motivation factors to stimulate higher job dedication and thus higher job performance

Kovach (1987) on “What motivates employees? Workers and Supervisors give different answers” tries to rank different reward factors from both employees and managers to observe the difference between roles‟ perspectives His longitudinal experiments yield very exciting results of significant disconnections between the two groups While employees rank “Full appreciation of work done” as the highest reward factor, managers in general only rank this factor at number 8 out of 10 Moreover, managers rank the highest motivation factors as “Good wages” while employees only rank this factor at number 5 out of 10 factors Later, Kovach expands his research to find out that the factor of “Full appreciation of work done” only ranks first with high-income workers, while with low-income workers, the factor of “Good wages” ranks first

Noe et al (2010) presents the model of 8 factors that have an influence on employee performance According to this theory, each factor needs to be looked upon in order

to maximize the impact on job performance As the figure demonstrates, 8 influencing factors are: (1) Design of work, (2) HR planning, (3) Recruiting, (4) Selection, (5) Training and development, (6) Compensation, (7) Performance management, (8) Employees relation This model has been agreed and cited by various researchers worldwide However, since this thesis aims at analyzing job factors in public sectors of Vietnam, it is crucial first to explore the concepts and characteristics of Public service sectors in Vietnam before getting into the details of literature review of each factor

Among selected frameworks and models that have been described previously, the model of 8 influencing factors by Noe et al (2010) is chosen to act as a base for this thesis‟s framework for the following reasons: Firstly, the model explains the relationship between factors and employee performance – the direct objective of

this research Secondly, the model is used and cited in various researches Each factors of the model will be assessed:

1 Analysis and design of work

Job analysis and design is the process of providing employees with detailed description about the job This includes duties, responsibilities, purposes of the job

as well as the extent of payback to which employees expect from the employers The factor requires that the job is fully understood by both employees and the company Hacker (2003) indicates two elements of this factor: First, employees must know what to do and must have the ability and capacity to meet the job‟s requirements However, the job can not be too easy to accomplish Managers must provide a job that is challenging and rewarding enough for the employees to strive for achivements The ultimate goal of analyzing and designing job is to increase job performance by defining the duties to be performed and also the timeline and required resources to complete the tasks Clear analysis and work design alo help prevent confusion and dissasfaction, thus enhance performance of the employees

4 Selection

Hiring and recruiting valuable people is highly appreciated, however building and maintaning a motivated workforce is more likely to not only just about finding the

right people Selection refers to the extent that the right person is selected to manage the right job within the organization This involves with understanding the nature of the job and ensure the best-fit match between the person and the job This is different from recruiting since recruiting is about finding the right person to the company while selection is about maximizing the utilization of human resources For instance, although the company has successfully recruits 5 precious employees,

it would be worthless if managers fail to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each person Some might be better off working individually, thus forcing them into working in groups might decrease the overall perfomance Selection also deals with rearragement between positions if there is room for higher efficiency in doing so Appropriate selection of employees and jobs result in higher job performance and generates more favorable outcomes

The main function of selection is to decide who can most successfully perform the job Since finding and putting an employee into a position is expensive, HR managers have to make sure the candidate is interested in offered position Selection process requires various complex steps The selection or rearranging decision for unskilled or low skilled employees might be easy while very complicated and risky

at high-level jobs

5 Training and development

Training is not only about providing employees with the skills they need to accomplish the jojb, it often acts as the representative of employer‟s commitment to the employees (Storey, 1993) Many companies develop their own training and development policies in order to enhance the productivity and quality of employees Training and development have been proved to be a very important factor in determinig both personal growth and personal motivation of employees Training focuses on supporting growth in people‟s effectiveness New employees have to go through training to understand the job and to keep pace with other co-workers At the same time, all other workers should have constant trainings on technological updates or on new approaches to improve performance According to Sama (2012), training is essential for organizations as: Firstly, the rapid change of technological

infrastructure requires constant training for employees so that they would have the skills to manage their job Secondly, training and development contribute to boost intrinsic motivation of workers Especially in public sector, employees not only seek for high salary job but also the challenges and opportunities for self-growth

6 Compensation

Salary and wages is the main function of HRM Milkovich (1991) states that “the way people are paid will affect their quality of work, their attitudes towards customers, and their williningness to flexible and learn new skills” While various researches suggest the correlation between high paycheck and high commiment, one profound phenomenon that Herzberg has found out is that salary and wages do not create motivation for public sector employees even though late payment may create dissatisfaction This statement goes against the belief of the majority of managers who traditionally assume that money is the most important factor in motivating employees to generate highest performance Other research in public sector also confirms that “salary is not an essential incentive in public sector, unless employees are promised to have significant and stable raise in the future” The issue

of salary and wages to job performance is still of much debate between managers The majority of employees accept their job because of financial incentives However, when employees form emotional attach to the job, money will become less important Another explanation to the phenomenon is that since public sector provides limited goal-oriented money rewards, employees tend not to rank money

as important factor

7 Performance management

Performance management concerns with indididual‟s performance review and development This HR function deals with monitoring, measuring and evaluating performance of workers It is first to make sure that the outcomes of the job is consistent with the organization‟s goal Any performance management system need

to be carefully aligned with the company‟s mission Secondly, performance appraisal can be used to influence employee‟s future performance Chelladurai (2006) argues that “the results from a company‟s performance appraisal policies

offer insights into the effectiveness of the whole HR system, the development and training requirements for the company” In public sector, the most used strategy for performance management is a formal pay scale for all positions to ensure fairness

Employee relations often concern with working conditions, safety, security and peer-to-peer relationships Some aspects are governed by governmental regulations such as employee safety standards or regulations on sexual harrassment in the workplace However, in general majority of companies set its own culture of employees relationship

In conclusion, 8 factors as in Noe et al (2010) models have been reviewed However, more relevant factors will be added and less relevant factors will be omitted for the questionnaires based on qualititative step of the research

1.3 Public service delivery agencies in Vietnam

1.3.1 Public service delivery agencies

Following the definition public service sector in various countries, public services constantly associate to the government supply of these services The term “public services” derives from the concept of public commodities In economic theories, public commodities are commodities that everyone has the right to use once they have been created In other words, it is impossible to exclude anyone from using it Additionally, a person‟s consumption of public commodities does not decrease the consumption of others Public commodities are also impossible to be discarded, which means even if someone does not want to consume a public commodity, it still exists Public commodities are categorized into two groups: pure and impure They

are considered pure when the considered commodities satisfy all of the above characteristics, and are impure if there is any unmet characteristic The definition of

“public service” is used for the first time in Europe after the World War II It has been considered as activities of impure public commodity supply Nowadays, the conception of “public services” has been understood in different ways, depending

on various approaches

From the point of view of state management subjects, public services are defined as activities of state agencies of performing the function of state administrative management and assuring public service supply to serve common and essential needs of the society In Vietnam, Article 22, the Law on Governmental Organizations (2001) stated: “Ministries, governmental and ministerial-leveled agencies are to carry out functions of state management of industries or professions

in the whole nation; state management of public services belonging to industries and sectors, etc.” Thus, the conception of “public services” highlights the influence

of the state on public service supply to the community It does not mean that the state acts like monopoly to supply services to the community On the other hand, the state can socialize some public services by sharing the task of supplying the services, such as education, water supply etc with the private sector

In every country, local people often have some problems in healthcare, education and other public services So, public service delivery is a fundamental function of every government The provision of public service – such as healthcare, education, sanitation, transport and criminal justice – is a crucial task for government Moreover, the provision

of public goods is crucial to development: access to a basis services such as clean water and sanitation, transport, healthcare, and education not only increases individual well-being but also serves an an input for aggregate production Roads and telecommunication systems lower transaction costs and hence encourage trade and economic activity The provision of healthcare and education increase the quality of human capital, an important input in knowledge-based economies

There are different ways to classify public services Firstly, following the World Bank, there are five categories of public services: legal foundations, policy

environment, investment in social service and infrastructure, protection of underprivileged groups, and protection of environments Secondly, the Classification of the Functions of Government (COFOG) divides a government‟s functions into ten categories, namely general public services, defense, public order and safety, economic affairs, environmental protection, housing and community amenities, health, recreation, culture and religion, education, and social protection Moreover, Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company categorizes the major public services into eight groups namely public safety; public education; healthcare; social security; infrastructure; public transport; environmental protection; culture, sport and entertainment

The classification of public services depends also on institution of different countries, different economic development levels Thus, it is impossible to apply a common standard to all countries In Canada, there are 34 types of public services, varying from national defense, security, institutions, to socio-economic policies (job creation, planning, environment protection, and healthcare, education, culture, social insurance, etc.) Similarly, the Sweden distinctly divides public services by each governmental level undertakes, so, attention is especially paid to totally free welfare public services such as unemployment benefits, social allowances, etc.)

1.3.2 Human resource and Human resource activities in public service delivery agencies

Various researchers have declared different perspectives and research results on job motivation and job performance in many countries This part of the thesis focus on previous researches which have been conducted in foreign countries outside of Vietnam

As stated above, researchers have expressed significant interest in HR and HR practices in the past few decades, especially in public sector The main objective is

to link the influence of HR practices and job performance within an organization Citizens expect more from public service develiry agencies They require more polite and helpful employees As a result, public sector managers‟ key challenge is

to find out how the organizations can maximize performance and creativity while keeping the expenditures as lowest as possible (Combs, 2006)

Factors and models have been developed to act as a guide for managers to design

HR policies and interventions Jiang et al (2012) argues that HRM practices such as incentive rewards or training have a positive impact on both motivation and performance measurements The research also states that investing in HRM is a long-term investment and it can benefit the company in many ways HRM practices help the company to motivate and retain the best employees, thus decrease the possibility of internal employees to move for other companies or even competitors Buelens and Van den Broeck (2007) conduct a research to investigate the difference between job motivation and job performance between private sector and public sector organizations The data was collected from 3314 employees in private sector and 409 employees in public sector in Belgium The research confirmed the results from previous researches that public sector employees are less extrinsically motivated Therefore, in order to improve job performance in public sector organizations, managers should focus on improving intrinsic influencing factors Buelens and Van den Broeck also call for further research on the factor of

“empathetic environment” in public sector organizations

In “Intrinsic motivations of Public sector employees: Evidence for Germany”, Dur and Zoutenbier (2014) examines the comparison between public and private sector employees on the factor of “altruism” and “laziness” Using quesionnaire developed from the German Panel Study, the authors find out that public sector employees are significantly more altruistic and lazy than observationally equivalent private sector employees These behaviors are observed to be more dramatic in higher educated workers For practitioner purposes, the research addressed more evidence that public employees seek more altruistic and public-service-oriented rewards than private sector employees Moreover, it is also pointed out that incentive system reforms in various government usually focus too much on financial incentives According to Dur and Zoutenbier, such rewards are important but do not act as an absolute concern for public sector employees Therefore, HR managers in public

sector organizations should construct a job review system that concerns more with showing employees how their works have influenced others and on the society as a whole Such practices will improve the intrinsic motivation of public sector employees, thus lead to higher employee performance (Bullock, 2015)

Yair Re‟em (2011) published the research on “Motivating public sector employees” The research aimed at finding both theoretical and tactical factors to help public sector managers to enhance organizations‟ efficiency and effectiveness Primary data was first collected by analyzing both public and private sectors literature Secondary data was collected by interviewing 10 past and current public sector managers Re‟em proposed 14 motivational factors to improve employee performance: rewards, recognition, feedback, commitment, autonomy, job challenge, job growth, interesting works, important works, participation, interpersonal relationships, working environment, fairness, work-life balance Along with these 14 factors, the research also recommended 46 combinations of tactics for public sector managers

Pecikoza (2014) on “The role of HRM in improving public sector performances, a case study of banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina” describe the distinct characteristics

of public sectors in B&H as well as the history of reformation and key challenges of the sector The research also determines the factors that have an significant impact

on public sector performances: recruitment, job appraisal system, training and development, non-financial motivation, communication Non-financial motivation are first found by in-depth interviews with 10 employees, and are proved to be significant by analyzing questionnaires collected Non-financial motivation factors

in this research include attending social activities, healthcare privilege, cross-banks education and seminars attending opportunitites

1.3.3 Public non-business units and public employees characteristics in Vietnam

The term “public employee” was first developed in the United Kingdom in 1859, however there is not yet an official definition of the terminology Moreover, in different countries, “civil servants” (công chức) and “public employees” (viên chức) hold diverse dissimilarities in terms of: the scope, the characteristics and also the

civil service This part of the thesis explains the characteristics of public sector organizations as well as the comparison of civil servants and public employees (employers of such organizations) in Vietnam and other countries

Public service delivery agencies in Vietnam are a form of State-owned enterprises, therefore inherit the same characteristics as such organizations These agencies are economic organization which are owned fully or partly by the State under the conditions of shares or capitals It can be a sole proprietorship if the Vietnamese State owns 100% of the capital, or it can be owned by many parties if the government owns more than 50% but less than 100% In Vietnam, the one- party political institution trait is the main cause for the difference in the formation structure as well as the characteristics of State-owned organizations

In Vietnam, the public services sector has been divided into three categories:

1 Public administrative services: This is a kind of service associating

with state management functions to meet requirements of the people To perform these functions, the state has to carry out direct services, such as granting permits, certifications, registration, notarization, visas, resident records, etc (In some countries, public administrative services are different activities, not belong to the range of public services In Vietnam, some researchers also share this viewpoint.)

2 Public non-business services: Including activities providing necessary

social welfares to the people, such as: health care, education, culture, science, physical training and sports, insurance, social security, etc Such activities are mostly undertaken by state bodies and organizations, or partly socialized

3 Public interest services: Being activities of economic characteristic

carried out by enterprises, in line with the state‟s requirements, to serve the people, such as water and electricity supplies, environment sanitation, social infrastructures Of which, a majority is undertaken by state-owned enterprises, for instance water and electricity supplies in cities, transportation, and postal services There are some activities in localities

carried out by the private sector, such as: environment sanitation, waste and rubbish collection and transports in some small cities, pure water supply in some rural area, etc

Comparing to other types of organizations, public non-business units in Vietnam in general and IBST in particular have the following distinctive traits:

- It is an organization established under law by a competent state agency, a political organization or a socio- political organization It has its own legal status

- It can act on behalf of the State when engaging in legal relations with the purpose of exercising their legal rights and obligations for the benefit of the public Such authorities include the rights to promulgate legal documents such as decrees and decisions

- It has a relatively independent organizational structure

- It is established and operated based on the basis of State law but has its own functions, duties and powers The distinct feature of these units is that they have coordinated relationships with other State-owned associations These relationships are also defined by certain jurisdictions of the law

- The main personnel force of these organizations are also recruited, appointed or elected based on State law Such employees in Vietnamese public sector organizations have their own word in Vietnamese of “công chức” or “viên chức”, translated as civil servants/civil workers and public employees in English The difference between these two concepts will be described next

- Public business units include autonomous organization and autonomous organization IBST is an autonomous unit where it is assigned with absolute autonomy in task performance, finance and personnel planning

non-In public sector agencies in Vietnam in general, in IBST specifically, employees are called “viên chức” in Vietnamese and public employees in English Before examining the factors that affect such employees‟ job performance, first it is

essential to understand the distinctiveness of public employees in public business organizations in Vietnam

non-On the scope:

Public employees are Vietnamese citizens recruited according to working positions They work in public non-business working units under working contracts and their salaries are retracted from the organization‟s self- fund

In summary, public employees and civil servants in Vietnam are different in these traits:

(Công chức)

Public employees (Viên chức)

Function To perform administrative tasks for

the government

To perform based on working positions

To work at administrative government organization

To work at public business units or other social welfare units Recruitment Elected, approved, appointed to hold

non-posts or titles

Recruited based on the lack

of professional position Working under the regime of "biên

chế"- Vietnamese payroll system

Working under contracts

Categorized by rank Categorized by professional

titles Compensation Salary paid from state budget Salary paid from unit's

budget Forms of

Figure 1: The different between public employees and civil servants

1.3.4 Past examples and experiences from some Vietnamese researches

In Vietnam, recent years have obtained many researches in relation to HR and job performance in numerous industries Understanding factors that can influence the employees is of great importance to both academic development and practical approaches

Nguyen Thi Phuong Dung and Nguyen Hoang Nhu Ngoc on “The correlation between job motivation and job performance behaviors- The case of office workers

in Can Tho city” determines 5 factors that are significant to Can Tho office workers: training and development, feeling of proud of the company, manager support, feeling of recognition, working conditions The research also brings up a challenge of further explaining the factor “Union support” Even though qualitative research indicates strong influence of such factor, quantitative research part of the research goes against the hypothesis

Mr Trinh Hoang Lam, "Some solutions to improve the quality of human resources

in Vietnam in the context of integration," Journal of Labor and Social 29/9/2016 This paper presents characteristics and current status of human resources in Vietnam At the same time, there are various solutions to improve the quality of human resources in Vietnam in the future Even though the research demonstrates some solutions for Vietnamese organizations, it does not mention the difference

between private and public sector

Dr Nguyen Dac Hung, "Current situation and some solutions to improve the quality

of human resources today," Journalist Propaganda 20/6/2016 The article mainly focuses on the current situation of human resources through training and human resources in current industrial parks and export processing zones in Vietnam The author also addressed the shortcomings in HR activities and the causes of such weaknesses to propose solutions to improve the quality of training factors in improving HR functions

Hoang Thi Hong Loc and Nguyen Quoc Nghi (2014), “Employee motivation and performance in Public sector of Vietnam” intends to build a theoretical framework

to investigate factors that can have an impact on motivation and performance of

public service agencies in Vietnam The framework is based on Maslow‟s hierarchy

of needs but with adjustments for the specific situation of Vietnam The research specifies 5 levels of motivation with 26 elements in total

Action Program No 19-CTrHĐ / TU dated 31/10/2016 of the Party Committee of

Ho Chi Minh City on the implementation of the Resolution of the 10th Party Congress of the City People's Program on improving the quality of human resources

in the period 2016-2020 The program has identified tasks and solutions to improve the quality of human resources in Ho Chi Minh City in the period 2016 - 2020 Accompanying with that is the specific programs to improve the quality of human resources as required

Nguyen Thi Hong Hai (2013), “Motivating government workers to improve public service agencies‟ performance” points out general recommendations for public sector managers:

- Ensure a reasonable salary system;

- Ensure to assign reasonable and appropriate jobs;

- Ensure to identify practical goals and objectives for each individuals

- Ensure to provide promotion opportunities for employees

- Ensure to recognize the achivements of employees

In conlusion, there have been numerous studies on job performance as well as factors affecting performance However, the majority of researches are conducted in foreign countries with very different situational environment in comparison to the working environment of Vietnam Researches in Vietnam have somehow concentrate on private sectors and neglect the importance of understanding factors that may have an impact on public sector workers As a result, a literature gap is

presented for this thesis to explore

1.4 Research frameworks and hypotheses

After synthesizing and evaluating previous researches as well as assessing the situation of Vietnamese public sector organizations and public employees‟ characteristics, the author may generate the following conclusions on factors that affect job performance of public service delivery agencies in Vietnam:

- Analysis and design of work:

This HRM activity provides employees with detailed description about the job assigned Understanding fully the job goals and comprehending how to achieve such goals are very important to performance of workers Since this factor is presented in many researches, the author comes to a hypothesis:

Hypothesis 1: There is positive relationship between analysis and design of work and IBST employee performance

- HR Planning

Despite the fact that this factor exists in various foreign models on performance factors, after considering the situation of Vietnam public organizations and also with the characteristics of public employees, the author believes this factor is insignificant to this thesis‟ research objectives

HR planning represents the overall plan for multi-year human resources strategies for the whole company This plan may be common in foreign companies‟ practices but in the case of Vietnam, it is not yet developed However, the factor will still be reexamined with interviews and focus

groups to eliminate the probability of individual bias

- Recruiting

Recruiting is the activities of finding potential employees for the organizations In the case of Vietnam, especially in public service delivery agencies, employees are not involved in this activity Therefore, the factor is eliminated from influencing factors However, the factor will also be reevaluated with interviews and focus groups

- Selection

Like recruiting, selection activities are common in foreign companies and may appear in some non-government organizations but not in Vietnamese public organizations Selection refers to the action of continuously finding the best-fit person for one job, even when it means rearranging the position

of employees In Vietnam, public employees are typically assigned to one job and will spend a long period of time on that job hierarchy It is quite rare

for Vietnamese public employees to move back and forth between positions within an organization As a result, the author finalize that this factor is insignificant Again, this factor will be rechecked with interviews and focus groups before completely eliminated from the research framework

- Training and development

Training and development has been proved to be very important factor in motivating employees Various researches both in foreign countries and in Vietnam have pointed out the dominant effect of this factor on performance Therefore, the author comes to a hypothesis:

Hypothesis 2: There is positive relationship between training and development and IBST employee performance

- Compensation

As mentioned above, compensation is a controversial factor where some of the research have pointed out the conclusion that compensation is not significant to public employees These results are argued in the situation where public employees‟ performance are more influenced by “intrinsic motivation” but not “extrinsic motivation” However, since the factor has been proved to be significant in various researches for Vietnamese non-government companies, the author still keeps it as an influencing factor:

Hypothesis 3: There is positive relationship between compensation and IBST employee performance

- Performance management

Performance management concerns with employees‟ review and development In Vietnamese public sector organizations, besides the decision

to be promoted or not, annual performance review also influences employee

in many other work aspects Public employees in Vietnam are commonly evaluated to be “satisfied” or “dissatisfied” Being “dissatisfied” in Vietnamese government is a serious concern and may affect job performance

Hypothesis 4: There is positive relationship between performance management and IBST employee performance

- Employee relations

Although some international theories such as Herzberg‟s two-factor theory refuse the importance of this factor, in collectivism culture as of Vietnam, the author believes this factor to be significant However, since the factor holds different perspectives, it will be discussed further and deeper in interviews and focus groups

Hypothesis 5: There is positive relationship between employee relations and IBST employee performance

In conclusion, the author has proposed the following model of factors affecting job performance in Public service delivery agencies in Vietnam:

Figure 2: Model of factors affecting job performance 1.5 Methodology

This section of the thesis indicates reasons for choosing research approach (deductive approach) and research method (quantitative and qualitative method) of this study In addition, this part presents methods of collecting data including sources of data (both secondary data and primary data), tools of data collection (questionnaire and interviews), total sample (surveying employees of Vietnam

Job Performance

Compensation

Performance management

Training and development

Analysis and design of

work

Employee relations

Institute for Building Science and Technology (IBST)- Ministry of Construction), sampling technique and tool of data analysis (SPSS software)

1.5.2 Research methodology:

According to Biggam (2008), and Vanderstroep and Johnson (2010), two widely used research methods are quantitative method and qualitative method Quantitative method relates to measurement and then data of quantitative research is numbers In contrast, qualitative method relates to analysis of people‟s behavior, attitudes and thoughts and then data of qualitative research is text data and other non-numerical data Bogdan and Biklen (1992) and Denzin and Lincoln (1994) indicate that quantitative method handles research questions of what and how while qualitative method handles an additional research question of why This research uses a mixed method including quantitative method and qualitative method because it provides numerical data collected from questionnaires to test hypotheses associated with the

relation between factors and provides non-numerical data such as text data collected from interviews to deepen research issues (Altinay and Paraskevas, 2008; Saunders

et al., 2009)

1.5.3 Research plan:

Step 1: Reviewing past research and systemizing literature review

Before exploring specific factors, it is crucial for the researcher to understand the background of the specific research Thesis‟s research framework is based on synthesizing, analyzing and comparing past relevant research First, related terminologies are defined and reviewed Based on previous knowledge and explorations, the research framework is selected among various frameworks The independent variables are also selected and studied Primary data includes international and local research, theses, reports on relevant subjects

Step 2: Qualitative research: In-depth interviewing and focus group discussions

Since the purpose of the research is to validate former framework in a specific case

of IBST, an exploratory research is needed to assure that all of the variables are relevant in the actual context Besides, in-depth interview may also reveal other particular factors that might affect job performance of IBST that are not yet analyzed in previous studies

Although there are many tools of data collection such as interviews of individuals, focus group, observation, questionnaire, etc, this study uses questionnaires and interview as tools of gathering data Reasons for using data collection tool of questionnaire are that the questionnaire enhances the capability to express true answers

of respondents thanks to its anonymous characteristic and it collects uniform data and reaches more respondents but the time of conducting the survey is short and cost of conducting the survey is low (Foddy, 1993; Cargan, 2007; Biggam, 2008)

10 IBST employees are chosen to participate in in-depth interviews Through the interview, the researcher uses open-ended questions to ratify current factors and to find out other possible elements for the questionnaire

Focus group method is also used in parallel with in-depth interviews The rationale behind the use of both methods is that in the context of research, discussing in groups may create interactions between peers and bring up ideas/ information/ factors that are not yet investigated in in-depth interviews 2 focus group discussions are organized

Step 3: Quantitative research: Constructing questionnaire and pretest

After interviews and focus group discussions, irrelevant factors are eliminated and relevant factors are added (if any) At this moment, independent variables have been fully understood and will be used to develop questionnaire Questionnaire research method is used because it is capable of translating IBST employees‟ opinions and thoughts into statistically significant means The questionnaire variables and components are initially gathered from previous research; thesis; other widely accepted sources and adjusted based on results collected from interviews discussions The questionnaire is translated into Vietnamese and is pretested to note down general comments on grammar/ structure or any other possible confusion of questions

Step 4: Formal questionnaire data collection

The final questionnaire will be spread out to all IBST employees Both online and paper version are sent out for participants to choose more preferable channel

Step 5: Data presentation and analysis

Data collected from questionnaire are analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics Although there are a lot of software packages that support an analysis of quantitative data such as SAS, Microsoft Excel, AMOS, SPLUS, BMDP and SPSS However, this study uses the SPSS as a single technique of data analysis because it is considered

as one of the most user-friendly software packages (Argyrous, 2005; Muijs, 2011)

In particular, the SPSS software is used to undertake descriptive statistics of demographic information of respondents, to undertake reliability test of a scale, and

to undertake multiple regression analysis of the Factors affecting job performance at Public Service Delivery Agencies in Vietnam In addition, the research uses qualitative data analysis method called narrative analysis to analyze the information collected from interviews

CHAPTER 2: CURRENT SITUATION OF HRM AND JOB

PERFORMANCE IN IBST - MINISTRY OF CONSTRUCTION

2.1 Overview of Construction Science and Technology Institute – Ministry of Construction

2.1.1 History and Development of the organization

Full name: Vietnam Institute for Building Science and Technology (IBST)

Address: 81 Tran Cung, Nghia Tan Ward, Cau Giay district, Hanoi, Vietnam

Tel: 84.24.37544196 – Fax: 84.24.38361197

Website: www.ibst.vn

Vietnam Institute for Building Science and Technology (IBST) operates with the model of non-business units under the Ministry of Construction, Hanoi, Vietnam The Institute is a leading research and consulting Institute, which carries the state management duties for Construction Industry

Historically, IBST was first founded on 18th November, 1963 with the original name of Institute of Testing construction materials and was originally under the management of Ministry of Architecture In 1974, the Institute was renamed into Institute of Science and Technology for Basic Construction This year also saw the shift of the Institute from being managed by Ministry of Architecture to being managed by Ministry of Construction In 1988, after the merge with another institute under the State Committee for Basic Construction, the Institute was restructured and given the present name of Institute for Building Science and Technology (IBST) The Institute was governed and funded by the State Committee until 23rd May 2007 when Ministry of Construction issued the Decision No.789/QD-BXD to approve the Project of transforming IBST into a self-funding organization Since 2007, IBST has been operating as an autonomous scientific and technological institute but still under the orientation of State Government (Decree No.115/2005/ND-CP of Prime Minister)

2.1.2 Functions of the organization

IBST under Ministry of Construction, Vietnam is a leading research and consulting institute and is responsible for the following functions and duties:

- Researching, developing, preparing codes and construction standards;

- Managing several National construction projects;

- Setting up tender documents and evaluating bidding documents;

- Carrying out new construction, restructure and maintenance of ancient historical monuments and buildings;

- Instructing and awarding PhD programs on technological and laboratorial degrees

- Providing training courses on laboratorial duties, project supervisors, valuation professional training, various specific technological areas, construction standards and other specifications;

quality Inspecting the quality of materials, products to be used for other construction works, construction displacement; piles; soils; structures and structural components;

- Supervising construction and equipment installation;

- Cooperating with other national and international organizations on specific assigned functions and tasks

IBST is certified as a scientific and technological organization with enterprise code

0100408233 on 23rd March, 2015 and as a registered business organization in science and technology No A-735 according to Decision No 980/QD-BXD on 9thOctober, 2013

2.1.3 Structure of the organization

IBST has the following structure:

Figure 3: Structure of IBST Source: Vietnam Ministry of Construction

(1) Board of Director:

- IBST has 1 general director and currently 3 deputy general directors;

- General Director (GD) is the head of IBST and has the responsibility for the overall functions and activities with Ministry of Construction and with Vietnamese government Besides, GD is also responsible for managing human resource management activities, settling financial issues for the institution The distinctive characteristic of public sector organization in Vietnam in general and in IBST specifically is that GD is also responsible for

HR planning process In other words, he is in charge of planning, selecting,

recruiting and also discharging functions of IBST‟s employees This trait may have a significant impact on the motivation as well as the performance

of IBST‟s employees

- Deputy General Directors have the responsibility to assist GD in general management or in specific tasks assigned for each Deputy GD Currently, Deputy GD represents GD when he is absent from IBST

- The selection, reselection, dismiss, alteration, reward or punishment

of GD and Deputy GD are managed by Ministry of Construction

(2) 3 Departments:

- Department of Personnel & Administration

- Department of Planning and Technical management

- Department of Finance & Accounting

(3) 4 Institutes and 8 Centers (as shown in Figure)

(4) 2 Committees:

- Committee of Science

- Institutional committee for Academic appointments

2.1.4 Achievements of the organization

IBST has been awarded with various state awards:

- The honor award of “Hero labor in innovation period” (1995-2004)

- Independence medals: Third class medal in 1998, second class medal

in 2003 and first class medal in 2008

- Labor medals: Third class medal in 1978, second class medal in 1985 and first class medal in 1993

- Numerous emulation flags from Vietnamese government, from General Confederation of Vietnamese Labor, from Ministry of Construction, from Union of Vietnamese Construction Labor…

- Numerous merit award from Prime Minister, from Ministry of Public Security, and from Vietnam General Confederation of Labor

- 7 national building codes have been published;