Oh Seung-rok, Nowon District Mayor, Demonstrates Leadership in Resolving Communication Issues with Field Workers

Remove rank and affiliation barriers to find solutions through collaboration
Thorough follow-up management with comprehensive report meetings on suggestions and proposals
Direct communication by checking project sites of direct management, consignment facilities, and affiliated institutions outside district office departments

Nowon-gu, Seoul (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) announced that it is actively improving administrative services through communication with field workers.

This is to have the mayor and senior officials at the bureau and division chief level from related departments directly check the sites where various projects are carried out closest to the residents and derive improvement measures.

Since March 4, the district has started the 2024 on-site work reports by facility for communication-centered work inspections.

The targets include ▲ facilities directly operated by the district such as Nowon Math Culture Center ▲ district-run community spaces operated by local communities such as Gongneung Happiness Power Plant ▲ facilities entrusted and operated by district-invested and funded institutions such as Nowon Eco Center ▲ and welfare facilities receiving district subsidies.

The work reports are conducted by sharing the promotion plans and progress of major projects for 2024 by facility, listening to the facilities’ requests and proposed projects, and holding discussions.

After the work reports are completed, a comprehensive report meeting will be held in April to prepare countermeasures through review by related departments of the district office regarding the requests and difficulties raised on-site. This is to not merely have the mayor and senior officials visit the sites but to prepare practical improvement measures.

This field-centered communication approach is not unfamiliar to the district. A representative example is the direct inspection of 246 senior citizen centers and 65 social welfare facilities in the region in 2019.

Since then, the district has inspected themed sites whenever opportunities arose, including childcare centers and other care facilities.

During this process, many cases of reflecting actual field opinions and improving difficulties have emerged. For example, difficulties related to parking large buses at welfare facilities were resolved by linking with the district’s ‘School Parking Lot Opening Project’ to allow the use of nearby high school bus parking lots. Regarding poor working conditions of workers, the district reexamined wages and allowances and continuously held workshops to promote communication and cooperation among similar facilities. Also notable is that inefficiencies caused by the lack of professional personnel during construction such as facility improvements were addressed by providing consultation from the district office’s architecture department.

Typically, the mayor receives reports through department heads and other senior officials, and institutions and facilities that actually perform the district’s work usually conduct work consultations with the responsible officials of related departments.

A district official explained, "This on-site work report acts as a catalyst to enhance collaboration and communication among members beyond communication between the district office and facilities."

Meanwhile, the district is also striving to resolve the lack of communication caused by rank differences within the district office. A representative example is last year’s participation of project managers in each department’s work reports, providing opinions and having time to converse with the mayor.

Oh Seung-rok, mayor of Nowon-gu, said, “The mayor, each department, and facility staff work for the residents with the same purpose, so every voice from the field is also a precious voice of the residents. Based on field-centered meticulousness, I will listen more carefully to communicate with various stakeholders so that the district’s policies can operate effectively.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.