Strengthening the Civil Service Merit System through Assessment Center Governance and the Utilization of Assessment Results

The merit system is central to Indonesia’s bureaucratic reform agenda, which seeks professional, objective, and competency-based civil service governance. The assessment center is among the principal instruments developed to support it, yet many local governments still struggle to ensure that assessment results actually inform personnel decisions. This study analyzes the relationship between assessment center implementation and the utilization of assessment results in strengthening the civil service merit system in the Palembang City Government, and formulates a governance model integrating the two. A qualitative multi-case design was used. The first case examined assessment center implementation at the Palembang City Civil Service and Human Resources Development Agency; the second examined the utilization of assessment results. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, observation, and documentary analysis of regulations, official reports, and institutional records, and their credibility was established through source triangulation. The data were analyzed using thematic cross-case synthesis. The findings indicate that assessment center implementation is supported by institutional arrangements, regulations, and relatively adequate assessment mechanisms, but that assessment results are not yet fully utilized in personnel decision-making, resulting in a gap between the institutional capacity of the assessment center and the utilization of its outputs within the merit system. The study proposes an integrated assessment governance model comprising institutional capacity, competency intelligence, governance integration, and merit system strengthening, and offers it as a reference for competency-based talent management policy and for sustaining merit system implementation at the local level.

Sistem merit merupakan inti agenda reformasi birokrasi di Indonesia yang menghendaki tata kelola aparatur sipil negara yang profesional, objektif, dan berbasis kompetensi. Assessment center menjadi salah satu instrumen utama yang dikembangkan untuk mendukung agenda tersebut, tetapi banyak pemerintah daerah masih menghadapi kesulitan dalam memastikan hasil penilaian kompetensi benar-benar menjadi dasar pengambilan keputusan kepegawaian. Penelitian ini menganalisis hubungan antara penyelenggaraan assessment center dan pemanfaatan hasil penilaian kompetensi dalam penguatan sistem merit aparatur sipil negara di Pemerintah Kota Palembang, sekaligus merumuskan model tata kelola yang mengintegrasikan keduanya. Penelitian menggunakan desain kualitatif multikasus. Kasus pertama menelaah penyelenggaraan assessment center pada Badan Kepegawaian dan Pengembangan Sumber Daya Manusia Kota Palembang; kasus kedua menelaah pemanfaatan hasil penilaian kompetensi. Data dikumpulkan melalui wawancara mendalam, observasi, serta telaah dokumen berupa peraturan, laporan resmi, dan arsip kelembagaan, dengan kredibilitas data diperkuat melalui triangulasi sumber. Data dianalisis menggunakan sintesis lintas kasus secara tematik. Hasil penelitian mengindikasikan bahwa penyelenggaraan assessment center telah didukung oleh penataan kelembagaan, regulasi, dan mekanisme penilaian yang relatif memadai, tetapi hasil penilaian kompetensi belum sepenuhnya dimanfaatkan dalam pengambilan keputusan kepegawaian sehingga terdapat kesenjangan antara kapasitas kelembagaan assessment center dan pemanfaatan keluarannya dalam sistem merit. Penelitian ini mengusulkan model tata kelola penilaian terintegrasi yang mencakup kapasitas kelembagaan, inteligensi kompetensi, integrasi tata kelola, dan penguatan sistem merit, sebagai rujukan bagi kebijakan manajemen talenta berbasis kompetensi dan bagi keberlanjutan penerapan sistem merit di tingkat daerah.