Shattering traditional governance
10 min read • viewpoint

Shattering traditional governance

Rethinking civil services in a changing world

By Dr. Raymond Khoury, Maurice Salem, Amr Kazimi, Raghed Saab, Reham Alnounou, Christopher Maalouf
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Dr. Raymond Khoury

Lebanon Middle East • Partner

Maurice Salem
Amr Kazimi
Raghed Saab
Reham Alnounou
Christopher Maalouf

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Civil services worldwide face pressure to respond to technological, demographic, and societal changes that require more agile and efficient delivery models. This Viewpoint gives an overview of some of the key challenges and opportunities for transformation, focusing on the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC’s) civil services transition toward becoming more modernized and performance-driven. It sets out five priorities for GCC governments to consider if they want to “shatter traditional governance” and realize their ambitious visions and goals.

GLOBAL CHALLENGES IN CIVIL SERVICES

Civil services worldwide are under increasing pressure. As the digital revolution, demographic shifts, and evolving citizen expectations reshape societies, traditional government models struggle to meet modern demands. Examples include:

  • Technological disruption. Governments in advanced economies like the US and the UK face a critical gap between available digital technologies and legacy public service systems. For instance, the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) digital initiatives have exposed the difficulties of integrating new technologies into long-established frameworks, highlighting the challenge of modernizing service delivery while maintaining efficiency.

  • Increasing demands. Many large countries such as Germany and Japan are dealing with aging populations that place increasing demands on public health and social services. Global trends such as climate change, the energy transition, geopolitical shifts, and cybersecurity threats are also greatly increasing the demands placed on civil services. In many countries, these demands occur when there is also pressure to stabilize or reduce public expenditure budgets.

  • Increasing public expectations. The public expects ever greater transparency from civil services to account for how effectively public money is being used. Countries such as Canada and New Zealand are responding to calls for more transparency by integrating participatory models in governance. However, the balance between inclusivity, efficiency, and data privacy remains complex. In the GCC, where the focus is on economic and social transformation through strategic visions (e.g., Saudi Vision 2030), similar challenges emerge in balancing centralized governance with new models of citizen engagement.

Transforming civil services toward more agile, citizen-centric models has become urgent. Moreover, the size and complexity of civil service organizations means that change is sometimes particularly hard to bring about.

OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES IN GCC 

Civil services in GCC countries fundamentally share the same issues as in the rest of the world, but a number of aspects create unique opportunities and challenges for the region.

The political establishment in power, especially in states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is more stable over time than in many Western countries, which enables easier implementation of long-term development visions. For example, Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and UAE’s Vision 2021 actively drive developments on the ground, emphasizing modernization, economic diversification, and citizen welfare. This also means that government intervention is much more central to economic and social development, allowing for simpler and more direct control of civil service programs and activities. In many GCC countries, the public sector is the primary employer. This dynamic shapes the workforce structure, providing job security but also creating challenges in fostering a performance-oriented culture. The age demographic is also very different in GCC countries; for example, the median age in Saudi Arabia is 28 years, compared to 41 years in the UK.

These unique features provide opportunities that GCC civil services can leverage, including:

  • Digital transformation. GCC governments are well positioned to accelerate digital transformation, including rapid integration of advanced tools such as AI, data analytics, and blockchain, due to major investments already being made in digital infrastructure. Generally speaking, legacy systems in GCC tend to be less diverse, complex, and entrenched than in major Western countries, so transformation is sometimes easier from a technical perspective. Budgetary pressures are often also less severe.

  • Younger generation. The younger, more tech-savvy demographic can be harnessed to create a more innovative, agile, and citizen-centric civil service, especially since GCC civil service careers are often fairly well paid.

  • Collaboration. The GCC’s open approach to international collaborations, through partnerships with leading global institutions, provides a platform to bring in best practices and expertise that accelerate reform.

However, there are also some particular challenges, including:

  • Efficiency and productivity. Given that GCC civil services are often the largest employers in a country, there is less commercial and market pressure to streamline and implement efficiency and productivity improvements. Consequently, there are often substantial hierarchies, bureaucratic processes, and entrenched organizational cultures that have a high degree of inertia and act as barriers to change.

  • Attracting, retaining, and developing the right talent. This remains a challenge in the public sector. While the sector is an attractive employer in terms of job security and compensation, it often struggles with incentivizing performance and innovation. Entrepreneurial and innovative individuals may not be attracted to a civil service career.

  • Inclusivity. From the citizens’ point of view, there is a risk of marginalizing segments of society that may not easily adapt to digital services, such as the elderly or rural populations. Ensuring inclusivity while driving greater efficiency remains a challenge. 

EMBRACING A NEW OUTLOOK FOR GCC CIVIL SERVICE

Through extensive work helping GCC civil services along the transformation journey move into future archetypes across sectors, Arthur D. Little (ADL) has identified five priorities for governments to consider if they are serious about shattering traditional governance.

1. Clarify current status & ambition

The starting point is making an honest and objective assessment of the current status of civil service system evolution and defining a series of stepwise transformation goals. For this purpose, it is helpful to recognize the different archetypes that exist along the spectrum toward the ultimate goal of a fully citizen-centric, immersive government (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Government archetypes
Figure 1. Government archetypes

The Traditional Government archetype represents rigid structures, centralized control, and a focus on compliance; this model is seen in early civil service systems globally. It emphasizes uniformity, procedural consistency, and hierarchy, often resulting in limited adaptability. The next stage, Online Government, improves service efficiency and the public interface. As this moves into the E-Government archetype, digital services become increasingly customer-centric, ubiquitous, and secure — backed by a less rigid, more results-driven culture. Next, the Digital Government archetype reflects further digital integration of all citizen and back-end services across the board. The final stage, Immersive Government, involves even greater flexibility, innovation, transparency, and citizen engagement and uses leading-edge technologies to provide a seamless service. 

In the GCC, particularly Saudi Arabia, the civil service has historically leaned toward the traditional bureaucratic model but is rapidly transitioning toward a hybrid of the e-government and digital governance models. This transition materializes through ambitious national visions such as Vision 2030, which emphasize modernization, efficiency, and citizen-centric services.

In practice, these archetypes may partly coexist in different areas of large civil service organizations, depending on circumstances, government priorities, and history. Heat maps can be a useful tool for defining current status and development gaps for digitalization across different functions, processes, and/or departments.

2. Adopt a phased transformation approach 

In situations where legacy systems and institutional cultures are barriers to change, phased approaches are essential for transformation. They help prevent major disruptions and paralysis during key parts of the transition period. Using pilot programs for e-services with limited digitalization of back-end processes is recommended prior to nationwide scaling. New technologies such as AI have multiple applications and use cases, not just for lower-value productivity improvements (e.g., documentation and communications) but also for introducing predictive tools and enhancing planning and decision-making. For instance, Saudi Arabia’s public health sector can use AI to predict health trends and efficiently allocate resources.

One of the most important enablers for digitalization, especially the integration of AI tools, is the enhancement of data quality, structure, and access. This will typically require much more than one-off data cleanup programs and may involve setting up new data governance systems and organizational approaches. 

3. Evolve toward a performance-oriented culture

While easy to say but hard to achieve, evolving toward a performance-oriented culture is a prerequisite for success. At first, this usually means making painful changes to employment contracts and conditions, moving away from guaranteed job security, and introducing performance-based elements linked to career development and compensation. Flexible employment models with greater upside potential can help attract more talent from the private sector.

Investing in training and upskilling programs is essential. Programs that focus on digital skills, project management, and innovation provide employees with needed capabilities; “soft skill” training enables them to effectively work in a less autocratic and more empowered environment. Many GCC civil services, such as Saudi Arabia’s, can benefit from international partnerships that offer best practices and expertise in these areas.

4. Strengthen citizen engagement & inclusivity

Greater engagement with citizens builds trust and ensures that ongoing reforms reflect citizen needs. Setting up citizen councils and/or focus groups to engage in dialogue on policy issues can facilitate such engagement. One effective approach used in the UK is the “citizens’ assembly” model: broadly representative groups of around 50-150 members of the public chosen by lottery to discuss and make recommendations on a specific policy question. An assembly is different from a focus group and has three core phases: (1) learning, (2) deliberation, and (3) decision-making. In the learning phase, the assembly receives detailed information about the issue at hand from a range of experts, stakeholders, and advocates.

Apart from committees, assemblies, and focus groups, it is equally important to provide multichannel communication and service platforms, comprising both traditional channels (e.g., phone, mail, face-to-face) as well as digital online channels. The multichannel model ensures that while digital channels are promoted, no one is left behind. 

5. Institutionalize public-private partnerships

Partnership with the private sector has many benefits, including infusion of expertise, resources, and innovation into public service delivery. This is especially relevant in sectors like healthcare and transportation, where public-private partnerships (PPPs) have demonstrated efficiency and improved quality. Some PPP models are also effective in unlocking private sector funding for asset and infrastructure development, effectively removing it from the public sector balance sheet. On the downside, care must be taken to ensure that PPPs don’t ultimately result in more expensive service provision and a hollowing out of in-house civil service capabilities. Moreover, adequate controls must be in place to ensure that private third parties continue to provide quality services. 

Involving the private sector can also help drive innovation. There are several ways to incentivize this, including providing financial incentives to meet specific targets for new or improved services or creating vehicles for collaboration innovation, such as sandbox programs, start-up infrastructure, ecosystem facilitation, risk sharing/capping, award schemes, or direct subsidies.


UAE’s civil service transformation: A model for modern governance

The UAE has undertaken significant reforms to modernize its civil service, aligning with Vision 2021 and 2031 to create agile, citizen-centric governance. A key focus has been “Emiratization,” which increases the participation of Emirati nationals in public sector roles. This is achieved through initiatives like NAFIS, which offers scholarships and career advancement. Simultaneously, the government invested heavily in digitization, launching platforms such as the Dubai Now app to streamline public services, streamlining efficiency and accessibility for citizens. The UAE also implemented innovation labs and the Government Accelerators program to foster entrepreneurial thinking within public agencies, emphasizing rapid results through 100-day sprints. These efforts, however, face challenges, including resistance to change among employees, difficulties balancing innovation with bureaucracy, and managing workforce dynamics between local talent and expatriates.

Despite these hurdles, the reforms have shown measurable success, with increased public satisfaction, enhanced agility in governance, and improved Emirati participation in civil services. The UAE’s transformation offers valuable lessons and actionable insights for other GCC nations, including Saudi Arabia. Both countries share similar goals under Saudi Vision 2030, such as reducing reliance on expatriate labor, building digital-first government ecosystems, and promoting workforce localization. Saudi Arabia can benefit from the UAE’s experience by adopting agile governance frameworks and strengthening talent development programs while balancing expatriate expertise. The UAE’s success demonstrates the importance of aligning innovation with public service delivery and ensuring reforms address both short-term and long-term objectives.


Conclusion 

THE PATH FORWARD: VISION + ACTION

GCC countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, stand at a pivotal point in their civil service evolution. While ambitious visions provide a clear roadmap for modernization, the journey toward them involves tackling deep-seated issues such as resistance to change, talent management, and the need for inclusive service delivery. The path forward requires bold approaches to new technology adoption and a fundamental reimagining of governance models to ensure that civil services can become more agile, efficient, and responsive to the dynamic needs of society. By implementing phased digital transformations, fostering a performance-driven culture, and leveraging public-private collaborations, GCC nations can build civil services that are future-ready and aligned with the evolving expectations of their citizens. 

 

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