Promotion in Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS)

Promotion is the advanced of an employee’s rank or position in an organizational hierarchy system. The primary purpose of promotion is to fill a post through the selection of the most suitable person for the selection of the position or grade that is vacant.

Recruitment and Selection in Bangladesh Civil Service (BCS)

Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization (Flippo and Edwin 1984: 141). No element of the career service system is more important than the recruitment policy” (Commission of Inquiry on Public Service Personnel, 1935:37, quoted in Stall 1962:51). Recruitment is the cornerstone of the whole personnel structure. Unless recruitment policy is soundly conceived, there can be of little hope of building a first rate staff (Stall, 1962: 51). Broadly, there are two major methods for recruitment to civil service: (a) merit system through competitive examination and (b) spoils system. Under the typical civil service law, the central personnel agency commonly called Public Service Commission is responsible to conduct competitive examination. Spoils system (also known as a
patronage system) is an informal practice where a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its voters as a reward for working towards victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party—as opposed to a system of awarding

Structure of Civil Service Commission of Bangladesh

Basic information about structure of civil service

Type	Number
Number of Cadres	28
Number of Class-1 Officers	40000
Number of Ministries	31
Number of Divisions	52
Number of Departments	254
Number of Statutory Bodies	173

Source: Ministry of Public Administration, Government of Bangladesh 2009

The Structure of Bangladesh Civil Service

The government of Bangladesh has a two-tier administrative system. The upper tier is the central secretariat at the national level consisting of the ministries and divisions to provide policies and to perform clearinghouse functions. The other tier consists of ‘line’ departments/directorates attached to the ministries and divisions that are mainly responsible for general administration, service delivery to citizens and implementation of various government development programs at the sub-national level. (Ahmed: 2002). At present, the Bangladesh civil service has more than one million civil servants in 31 ministries, 52 divisions, 254 departments and 173 statutory bodies (MOE:2010). The internal organization structure of a ministry reflects a hierarchical order. A minister is in charge of a ministry and is normally the “political head” of that ministry.

Human Resources Management (HRM) in Bangladesh Civil Service

In the years of East India Company’s rule, the system of civil services was first established in the Indian Sub Continent. With its slight modification, this system with colonial legacy continued through both in Pakistan and India after partition of the Indian Sub-Continent in 1947, and is designated Bangladesh Civil Service after the emergence of Bangladesh. At the early stage of British rule in India, two exclusive groups of civil servants were working with the central government, such as (a) Covenanted Servants signing an agreement with the East India Company, (b) Uncovenanted Servants not signing the agreement.