CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
With the coming of globalization era,
government organizations around the world will face the challenges in the new
century of complex governance from both internal and external
environments. The spillover effect of
functions, the linking effect of issues and the involving of pluralistic actors
have appeared in a number of new public issues and public affairs. The effects not only increase the complexity
of public governance but also cause public organizations, within the
pluralistic governance ability to ensure the delivery of quality services. In
this regard, the civil service is an institution saddled with the
responsibility of designing, formulating and implementing public policy, and
discharging government functions and development programmes in an effective and
efficient way. In many African countries
especially Nigeria, development efforts and government policies are threatened
by the incompetency and ineffectiveness of the civil service. As a result of this, successive governments
in Nigeria (from post-independence era to the contemporary times), have
embarked on articulated patterns of reforms aimed at improving the efficiency
and effectiveness in the civil service (Salisu, 2001:1).
Performance management has its roots
in the early 1900s with special attention on this practice in the United States
of America, and United Kingdom military for evaluating officers (Hartog et al., 2004). Performance management
can act as a bridge between corporate strategy and concrete interventions in
the process of goal achievement (Boselie, 2010). The gap between justification
of pay and the development of skills and knowledge became a huge problem in the
use of performance management. This approach of managing performance was
developed in the United Kingdom and the United States much earlier than it was
developed in Australia.
The
New Performance Management approach was
adopted by American’s Vice President Al Gore’s National report, from Red Tape
to Results: creating a Government that works better and costs less, explicitly
sought “a new customer service contract with the American people, a new
guarantee of effective, efficient, and responsive government” (Gore, 1993).
The American Vice-President, Al-Gore,
called for the following steps, among others: putting customers first, making
service organizations compete with one another, creating market dynamics, using
market mechanisms to solve problems, empowering employees to get results,
decentralizing decision making power, streamlining the budget process,
decentralizing personnel policy, and streamlining procurement. (Gore, 1995).
Armstrong (2008:4), pointed out that
the application of performance management is to improve the organization
member’s performance by developing the capability of the team and its members
through a strategic and integrated system which can encourage organizations to
operate successfully. Since 1980s, government reinventing movements around the
world have initiated the ‘new public management’ trend. Therefore, various
theories, definitions and methods based on performance management have
eventually become significant political tools for improving the performance of
public organizations and the quality of public services. Meanwhile, the
performance-based government operation has become fundamental to implementing
the essence of new public services and strengthening national competitiveness.
In order to realize the goals of
social service delivery and development, capable workforce is required. These
are products of employee recruitment and retention strategies of the civil
service to achieve performance. According to Olowu and Adamolekun (2005), it is
becoming more essential to secure and manage competent human resource as the
most valuable resource of any organization, because of the need for effective
and efficient delivery of goods and services by organizations, whether in
public or private sector. Therefore, for an organization to realize its goals,
appropriate strategies for employee recruitment and retention are sine-qua-non for enhanced performance.
According to Armstrong and Baron
(1998), performance management is both a strategic and an integrated approach
to delivering successful results in organizations by improving the performance
and developing the capabilities of teams and individuals. The term performance
management gained its popularity in early 1980’s when total quality management
programmes received utmost importance
for achievement of superior standards and quality performance.
Organizations are established in both
private and public sectors for some basic objectives, for which reason such
organizations were established. The basis
for assessment of such organization’s success is on the achievement of the
objectives. It is of note that the important role of the government is carried
out by the Civil Service. Ofuebe (2005:1), quoting Abati (2005), states thus:
As a people,
we must insist on the need for the state and its custodians to expand the role
of the public sphere. This means making the governance process more transparent
and accountable with less empty rhetoric that produces moral turpitude. The
crisis of democracy does not point ultimately to the failure of democracy but
to the failings of its managers. Every society faces its own crisis, how the
crisis is resolved is where the difference lies. To retain legitimacy, the
Nigerian government must do business differently.
Onah (2001: 8), emphasized the need
for workers to be highly motivated in order to perform well. This assertion was
made vivid when he was discussing the strategies for mass mobilization. He
continued that mass mobilization will be a herculean task in a situation of
abject poverty.
As Margret (1976: 55) pointed out,
whether or not workers live up to expectations of their employers depends on
management success in motivating them adequately at work. Adedeji (2001: 6)
opined that Nigerian Civil Servants are the most demoralized in West Africa. He
stated that a demoralized worker cannot perform optimally because he is faced
with emotional and psychological trauma which affects his performance and
unless and until he is induced, the organization he represents will continue to
record minimal success.
Onah (2008:4), had observed that the
efficiency with which an organization can perform will depend to a large
extent, on how its human resources can be managed and utilized. Every manager must,
therefore, be able to work effectively with people and also be able to solve
the various problems the management of people may entail. He noted that most
organizations are becoming more complex in nature and, therefore, leaders in
these organizations are expected to have greater technical competence and a
better understanding of human behaviour.
Enugu State Government recognizes that
in order to establish best practices in providing service to the citizens; the
central focus should be the service provider who attends to the citizens at the
service windows. It was clearly
identified that if the public servants are repositioned to deliver best
service, the citizen will not be
shortchanged but will be assured of his or her rights with regard to receipt of
government services.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Since the inception of Nigerian
public/civil service and before the efforts of the Obasanjo administration,
there have been 14 previous major attempts through commissions, committees and
teams, beginning with Hunt’s Commission of 1934, at addressing the state of the
service, incorporating both conditions of service, staff performance and
service delivery (Adegoroye 2006 and Salisu 2001). Underlying the various
efforts is the need to create a holistic perspective in government management,
one that would match the comprehensive outlook applied in economic planning,
while at same time ensuring that the service is staffed with the right caliber
of personnel.
Each attempt at ‘reforming the
Nigerian public service has usually been premised on some justifications to
portray government’s moves as altruistic. The Obasanjo administration almost
immediately at inception initiated the reform process. The first step in this
direction was the organization of a 10-day Seminar for Permanent Secretaries in
the employment of the Federal Government. This was followed by a series of
similar seminars organized for officers at the Directorate level. The
communiqué issued at the end of the seminar raised issues that are being addressed
by the reform measures. Some of them, highlighted by Adegoroye (2006) are:
- The
need to address the massive expansion in the size of the service which had
risen to 350 per cent between 1960 and 1999, compared with a national
population increase of 160 per cent over the same period;
- Dealing
with the decline in the institutional capacity, efficiency, effectiveness and
commitment of the service;
- Focusing
more on ethical and moral issues, and in particular, addressing the popular
perception that the civil service was corrupt;
- Restructuring
and streamlining the service.
According
to Kerslake (2013: 3):
Improving our
approach to performance management is about being the best that we can be, both
as an organization and as individuals. Strong staff performance is crucial to
the creation of a more efficient and effective civil service with the
capability to deliver more for less, and ensuring that we are all delivering to
the best of our ability is a big part of that. Achieving the civil service
Reform Plan’s goals relies on a workforce that is constantly seeking to
improve, at each and every grade or level.
The most important
part of improving performance is to receive honest feedback from our managers,
our colleagues, our partners and our customers. Without this, it is hard to
focus our efforts on the right areas to improve. The new performance system
rightly focuses on both ‘what’ we do and ‘how’ we do it. As with all new
systems, we are taking stock of how it has worked and where it can be
strengthened.
The rising expectations coupled with
spending cuts means the civil service needs to change to meet the long term
challenges that all economies are facing. Civil servants themselves want
change: better performance management; more active development of careers; and
better leadership of change. At the same time, the economic and financial
challenges, public service reform and rising consumer expectations mean
government needs to operate differently.
Robinson and Robinson (1995)
reiterated that the most significant direct benefits of training and manpower
development are clarity in job duties and responsibility as well as increases
in employee’s competence among others. Also, Onuoha (2000) pointed that the
best way of managing depends on the specific circumstances and environments. He
maintained that training and manpower development are the products of given
situations, such that no training method, technique or style is the best for
all trainees under all conditions.
The basis of the public sector’s
effort to improve its efficiency and effectiveness is performance measurement,
or what some analysts prefer to call “performance indicators”, on the grounds
that the term “measurement” implies an ability to precisely measure policy
outcomes, even though such precision is rarely attained in the messily human
arena of policy implementation (G. Gaither et
al. 1994). If resource allocation questions were the only use of public
programme evaluations, they would provide more than adequate justification for
conducting then, but there often are deeper motivations for initiating programme
evaluations. As Riecken (1977 page 5) noted:
Evaluation
research can be invoked for a variety of purpose, not only as a means of
improving programmes. Sometimes evaluation is undertaken to justify or endorse
an ongoing programme and sometimes to investigate or audit the programme in
order to lay blame for failure, abolish it, change its leadership, or curtail
its activities.
Also,
performance appraisals have gained greater attention as governments at all
levels have been under public pressure to be more efficient, economical,
effective, and responsive.
Obi and Chukwuemeka (2006: 12)
observed that it is obvious that inefficiency of civil service is a discredit
to the democratic government in Nigeria. They are caused by the strict
adherence to the bureaucratic rules by the civil service thus, leading to poor
and belated policy making and subsequently Methuselah age to be implemented,
all in the name of due process, while the populace which consumes the outputs suffers
at the end. This obviously differs from military administration, where the
military administrator gives order to the civil service and it shall be carried
out. Example was the military regime of Mike Torey in Enugu State.
According
to a guide to Enugu State Service Compact (SERVICOM) and Performance
Improvement Bureau (PIB), Service Standards and Operations, the Enugu State
established it in conjunction with British Government during Dr. Chimaroke
Nnamani’s tenure for the improvement of the lapses in the civil/public service.
Governor Sullivan I. Chime highly
favoured a 4-point agenda for development.
These include: physical infrastructure, economic expansion and empowerment,
rural development and service delivery.
Governor Chime’s led administration as captured in the 4-point agenda
(2012) on encouraging service and accountability asserts:
“The public service must provide services to the people of the state; and every public servant, including political office holders, must be accountable to the people for the services for which he has been employed to render.”
The Enugu State Government 4-point
agenda which is “Service Delivery and Good Governance” was the driving force
that propels the Government determination to having a model and functional
public service. Enugu State was poised to give immediate attention to ensuring
re-orientation, training, retraining and development of her staff including
training on legal issues and Internet Communication Technology (ICT).
Government was also concerned on how to organize retreat for political
office-holders on Public Service Rules and Financial Instructions. Government
was also poised to consider the improvement of the condition of service of
civil/public servants. The Enugu State government had also the problem of
improving the work environment to sustain confidence and trust of the citizens.
The resuscitation of housing and car loans were considered. Government of Enugu
State is making an effort to stem favouritism in the service and entrench a
transparent reward system in the service.
The following key performance
indicators are germane to any public enterprise. These include: Elected administration leaders
who are able to improve the political control in the civil service system
through carrying out performance management; Establishment of the principle of
accountability in the democratic system through performance management; Having
managers within the civil service system who could utilize performance
management to strengthen the efficient management of administration processes,
to improve the quality for administration services and increase the competence
of public organizations; For civil service officials who carry out policies,
performance management may have a steering navigation effect and ensure that associated
members understand the work requirement and essential responsibility required
by managers.
As a result of these key performance
indicators, we pose the following research questions:
- What are the problems of performance
management of civil service in Enugu State?
- Does performance appraisal impede
performance management of civil service in Enugu State?
- What measures can be employed to
enhance performance management in Enugu State civil service?
The general objectives of this study
were to examine the performance management of civil service in Enugu State
1999-2011. The specific objectives were to: –
- ascertain the problems of performance
management of civil service in Enugu State;
- find out the effect of employee
performance appraisal on performance management of civil service in Enugu
State;
- examine the measures that can be
employed to enhance performance management in Enugu State civil service.
1.4 Significance of the Study
This study has both theoretical and
empirical significance that served as justification for the study. This work
uncovered the causes of poor performance management system of Enugu State civil
service. It will also help students of
Social Sciences and other disciplines in understanding relevant issues in
performance management system in organizations.
Empirically, this work will enable
managers of organizations to translate organization and project objectives into
individual contribution. It will enable managers to assess delivered
performance against targets. It will also help job holders to clarify
understanding of objectives and identify issues pertaining to their schedule of
duties. This project will enable managers of organizations for performance
planning which is pivotal for effective performance reviews and assessments. It
is with good quality, agreed objectives can the management of performance be
fully effective. The scripture categorically stated that: ‘my people perish
because of lack of wisdom’. (Hosea 4: 6).
This research will enable managers of organizations
to give out the new civil service competency framework to all civil servants
across all grades. This will set out how the people in the civil service are to
work. This work will enable policy makers to make policies that will
communicate rewards, rationale and criteria to the workers. This work will be of
immense help to the workers themselves as this will enable them do what they
ought to do. It will bring to limelight that fact that they are stakeholders of
the organizations and as such their success to meet the organizational goals
will invariably determine the success of their own personal interest or needs.
In addition, this work would enable government and private or non-governmental organizations to treat people as unique individuals that had varied needs that should be met in the work place. Human behaviours are determined by what motivates them. Since an individual’s performance is a product of motivation, a concerted effort should be made by government to provide the driving force that would enhance job satisfaction.
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT OF CIVIL SERVICE _IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA, 1999 – 2011
