Reforming the Public Sector: Can it be Done?

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Permalink Reply by Hannah J Cooper on December 5, 2011 at 10:45am

Dear Xolisa,

 

Thanks so much for your comment. You raise some interesting points.

 

Basically, there is a bit of a chicken and the egg type question: which comes first, public service reform or citizens demanding for reform? Can the public service reform itself on it's own accord?

 

To be honest, I am not sure what the answer is. As someone who has worked both in politics and in the public service, I have to say that I think that bureaucracies respond well to change/reform when it is mandated by politicans who are in charge of departments. Public service departments are (at least in my experience) fairly hierarchical. In my mind, reform takes place likes this 1) citizens demand better services, better value for money from their government; 2) politicians/governments respond  (motivated by the possibility of losing the next election) and 3) then politicans ask more from their public service - and institute/implement changes leading to, hopefully better service delivery.

 

But in order for citizens to demand better services they have to 1) have information about the quality and type of services that they are receiving and know that 2) they can ask for something better. What do I mean by this?

About a month ago, I saw Shanta Devarajan, World Bank Chief Economist, Africa Region speak at a conference on Open Data. He said that giving information to the poor about poor service delivery isn't news to the poor. However, what is news, is the fact that poor service delivery represents a systematic failure of government (not just a by-product of being poor). And sharing information about the fact that there not only isn't water in your water pipes - but that there is water in the waterpipes in your congressman/woman's neighborhood - can be powerful.

 

What do you think about this?

 

I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

 

Hannah

 

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Permalink Reply by Sylvia Siango Apreku on December 5, 2011 at 11:11am

Dear Hannah, Dr Sambo,  Kazungu, Xulisa,  and other CoP members,

Thanks for keeping the Public Sector Reform/PSR discussion live and running.

First and foremost, allow me to clarify that I have not attained my Doctorate yet, hence let us put the ‘Dr’ title is on hold.

Also allow me, to join the discussion in response to Dr Sambo (Motivation: A Panacea for Results); Saqid Kazungu (Meritocracy and Good Governance in Africa- A pipe Dream?); and Xolisa Jakuja (Can the Public Sector in itself lead such a reform?). These submissions raise tough questions, salient issues and propositions on the public sector in Africa, with almost no clear cut remedies. But the good news is, the ongoing Public Sector Reforms , daunting and slow as they may appear, seek to address these very issues and concerns…..key message here is, we need and have to painstakingly implement the reforms with precision.

Saqid Kazungu asks ‘how can we stop these malpractices of corruption, tribalism and favoritism’. Pretty tough practices to erode but there is some hope. For instance, following the commitments from the Commonwealth Forum of Heads of African Public Services held annually, there is a push for ethical leadership in the public service that ensures strong accountability institutions, systems and processes such as Anti-corruption agencies, functioning national parliaments, independent judiciary, strong and objective media, ombudsman and other oversight institutions. This is in recognition of the fact that ethical leadership is the foundation of a value-based public service, as it ensures proper use of financial and human resources and time, thereby slowly erasing corruption, favoritism and tribalism in the public service; and ultimately making meritocracy and good governance in Africa a dream come true. There is also an increasing clamor for ‘recruitments, promotions and discipline of civil servants’, particularly senior level based on a meritocracy system and strengthening the above accountability/oversight institutions, all in an effort to curb corruption, favoritism and tribalism. Good example is Kenya’s current practice of public recruitments for very senior government positions.

Xolisa Jakuja asks ‘can the public sector by itself lead such a reform, given societal values of fame and corruption’. Another tough one, which dovetails with Kazungu’s concern above and Dr Sambo’s below- in essence bringing more questions in mind: Do societal value systems perpetuate corruption in the public sector? What motivates people to join the public service? Should/does the cultural context play a role in devising strategies for motivating civil servants in a given country?

Yes, it is difficult as the case is, because countries in need of the reform lack technical, administrative capacity and/or ethical prerequisites to manage the reform. But unfortunately, for two reasons, the public sector is the ‘necessary evil’ that can and should by itself lead a Public Sector Reform: first, it may appear that actually it is a ‘given mandate’ for governments (synonymous with public sector) to play the lead role in managing such reforms; and second, the benefits are immeasurable as it allows for the much needed local/national ownership and sustainability of the reform and the reform results. Again, the good news here is that there are deliberate efforts to include within the reform agenda interventions to address this concern. In most PSR reform programmes, we see reform components of recent focusing on ‘strengthening national institutional capacity to lead and coordinate the reform’. We also experience prudent mobilization of ‘top level political leadership, will and commitment’ taking the form of high level Presidential Launches of the PSR programmes; designating a high ranking political figure to champion the reform agenda; and most popularly, locating the PSR Institutions and programme implementation in the Office of the President or in some countries in the Prime Minister’s Office. All these are geared towards making the public sector by itself lead the reform.

Dr Sambo asks ‘Taking into consideration peculiarities in Africa and indeed your country, how do you think we can motivate civil/public servants’…. A good one, Sir.

I am not a motivation expert but allow me to make some assertions by answering the following questions: what is motivation? What are the telling signs of a de-motivated civil service? What factors contribute to de-motivating public/civil servants? How can we motivate public/civil servants?.

Motivation is generally defined as a driving force that initiates, guides, directs and maintains goal-oriented behavior. The dictionary defines motivation this way ‘The psychological feature that arouses a human being to action towards a desired goal, the reason for that action’. Very interesting here is the emphasis on ‘goal’ in the definitions.

Building on the definition of motivation, the concern then is why are public/civil servants not goal-oriented, without the driving force to initiate-direct-maintain….that is to say, what are the telling signs of a de-motivated civil servant: indecisiveness, lack of initiative, not proactive, not creative and always waiting for and following the boss’s instructions and clearance, always taking advantage of the bureaucracies, no sense of urgency, and doesn’t take the extra mile to do something.

But what makes/keeps public/civil servants de-motivated? From informal discussions and observation, the following are a contributing factor in one way or the other to de-motivation in the public/civil service: unclear organizational vision-mission, mandate and key results; unproductive and in some cases inexistent management meetings; routine activities and non-challenging tasks; tolerance of mediocrity and inadequate performance measurement mechanisms; poor information flow within and between organizations; organizational politicking; low pay and remuneration ; and unclear career growth and opportunities.

How then, can we, should we and have we motivate/d public/civil servants. Following the classical theory, can the use of money as the major incentive serve as the magic wand to energize, kick start and sustain civil servants commitment to service delivery results? On the contrary though, Non-classical theory asserts that ‘money alone’ cannot keep motivating employees in general. The appeal here is, if we do the right mix and balance; focusing and strategically implementing ‘intrinsic motivation’ interventions, we can go a long way in achieving a deeper and long-term effect on civil servants and clear the fallacies of motivation. Some of these interventions include: improving civil servants office environment and work environment with ICT enabled technologies; all-inclusive regular reviews and communication of organizational vision-mission,  mandate and key result areas; performance contracting for senior and middle level civil servants leading to improved responsibility and challenges; career growth/succession plans/leadership development for middle level civil servants; targeted trainings both short-term and long-term, within and outside the country; recognition and performance linked rewards  . In addition, aspects like improved retirement pension policy; health insurance schemes, housing and car loan schemes for civil servants have a very high retentive value and ultimately very motivating. In a nutshell, extrinsic motivation that deals with direct monetary issues like pay increases etc, have an immediate and powerful effect but given the human nature of employees, does not last long-simple reason, the more pay we get the more we want and hence the less motivated we become, since we are not getting the ‘more’ that we want.

 

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Permalink Reply by Hannah J Cooper on December 14, 2011 at 2:41pm

 Dear Sylvia,

 

Thank you for bringing up the question of incentives for motivating the public service.

I think that this is really a key issue. This also came up during our Annual Meeting in Kenya.

I think that some of the items that we discussed then are worth bringing up again in the context of this discussion.

 

First, Ernest Surrur, Director General of the Sierra Leone Human Resources Management Office, detailed his ongoing efforts to motivate civil servants, in a country which lost its talented public service staff before and during the war. Due to several factors, including low salaries, the public service fails to attract and retain young graduates who are absorbed in the private sector. In the civil service, a culture of absenteeism, callousness, alternative employment, rent-seeking, and low productivity exists. Additionally, the lack of benefits discourages rather than encourages performance.

 

In response to these stark challenges, Sierra Leone recently:

-       Introduced a Performance-Based Accountability System (P-BAS) to tie performance to pay quality, promotion and training opportunities, based on a yearly evaluation;

 

-       Undertook a comprehensive pay and grading reform, making recruitment based on a set of categories, avoiding discretionary appointments;

 

-       Started the hiring of specialists – such as human resources, monitoring and evaluation or procurement officer –, moving away from recruiting generalists.

 

-        Launched an award system rewarding the ministry, department or agency of the year;

 

-       Provided a conducive working environment with the necessary office supplies and facilities for civil servants;

 

-       Rebranded the civil service, creating a sense of pride, ownership and belonging through a set of measures aimed at, among others, raising the awareness of individual civil servants‟ role in achieving organization level targets.

 

Following M. Surrur’s presentation panelist and participants talked about two levels of incentives, at the individual and organizational levels.

 

Incentives at the individual level:

-       There was a broad agreement that for incentives to be effective, management systems need to clearly spell out roles and responsibilities. Logical institutional structures and training opportunities need to be in place as well as opportunities for promotion.

 

-       Issues related to the retirement age and pension, employment security, moral and intellectual security managerial support, as well as salary security were also raised by participants. It was emphasized that many African civil servants are not paid on a regular basis. A recent UNDP study found that 80% of Niger government employees earned less than the basic amount of $240 per month deemed necessary to lead a life in dignity. In that context, participants noted the challenges to motivate a workforce to achieve development results. Likewise, this is one of the main factors hampering the African countries from attracting and retaining skilled civil servants.

 

-       Participants listed a series of non-monetary incentives, which they identified as critical to ensuring that workers deliver against the expected results. Government employees can be motivated through being empowered to achieve important tasks, being recognized for the work accomplished and offered an increased level of responsibility. This provides a sense of career and purpose instrumental in gearing an organization toward results.

 

-        Leadership from senior management can set the pace for an entire organization through setting an example. Demonstrating a personal commitment to excellence goes a long way to changing organizational culture and behavior.

 

Incentives at the institutional level:

-       Uganda, and most recently Zimbabwe, spearheaded the use of performance contracts (PCs), passed between sector ministries and central authorities, often at the Prime Minister or Ministry of Finance level. Every institution is given targets and accountable to achieving them.

 

-       Independent regulatory agencies constitute also an incentive to increasing service delivery with dedicated staff. Those bodies are public authorities responsible for exercising autonomous authority over some area of public affairs. Those agencies exist due to the need for rapid action, complexity of issues and to avoid political interference. This type of structures enables the hiring of staff based on a salary scale and benefits which differs from the ones of civil servants. The downside is that it doesn’t permit the civil service to retain its skilled staff tempted to move to better paid jobs in those agencies.

 

Dear Colleagues, what do you think about this? Does this list sum up the list of incentives that can be used to help motivate the public service and create impetus for reform?

Furthermore, do you think that Public Sector Reform has improved your government’s processes, methods and governance (i.e. launched or stimulated the implementation of RBM, new standards and procedures, put government data online, etc?)

In your country, has public sector led to increased decentralization? Do you think this will this lead to better management of local government services?

How was public sector reform in your country led to improvement in human resource capacity? Have more modern human resources management initiatives been put in place?

Has public sector reform had an impact on communications with citizens?

Am really interesting in hearing from you! Please share your thoughts below!

 

Many thanks,

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Permalink Reply by AMOUZOU bedi on January 11, 2012 at 5:39pm

Yes it can be done. kindly use google translate to explore the resume of my last publication regarding private sector in the africa development strategies.

http://amouzoubedi.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html

Thanks&regards,

Amouzou Bedi

Blog: http://amouzoubedi.blogspot.com/

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