Performance Appraisal and Its Use for Individual and Organisational Improvement in the Civil Service of Ghana: The Case of Much Ado about Nothing?
| Author | Frank L. K. Ohemeng,Hamza B. Zakari,Augustina Adusah‐Karikari |
| Published date | 01 August 2015 |
| Date | 01 August 2015 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.1718 |
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL AND ITS USE FOR INDIVIDUAL AND
ORGANISATIONAL IMPROVEMENT IN THE CIVIL SERVICE OF
GHANA: THE CASE OF MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING?
FRANK L. K. OHEMENG
1
*, HAMZA B. ZAKARI
2
AND AUGUSTINA ADUSAH-KARIKARI
3
1
University of Ottawa, Canada
2
University for Development Studies, Ghana
3
Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Ghana
SUMMARY
Recent efforts to modernise public sector institutions have led to the adoption of performance management systems worldwide.
The belief in performance management is that information generated can be used to help individuals improve themselves in terms
of what they do in their organisations, which will subsequently impact positively on the organisation. An instrument for collecting
performance information (PI) is performance appraisal (PA). Since the early 1990s, the Ghanaian government has attempted to
develop a systematic appraisal system as a strategy to obtain PI in the civil service (CS). In spite of this, the CS continues to per-
form below expectations despite individuals getting promoted every year. What has been the effect of PA in the CS? How has the
collected information been utilised to improve performance? What are the main barriers to the use of PI, and what practices can be
put in place that might encourage the effective collection of PI and its use in the CS? We argue that the PA system is much ado
about nothing. In analysing why this is so, we will look at the impediments that continue to affect the collection and usage of PI
and to suggest ways that will help improve the system. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
key words—civil service; Ghana; individual performance; organisational performance; performance appraisal; performance
information; performance management
INTRODUCTION
Recent efforts in both developing and developed countries to modernise public sector institutions, particularly the
civil service (CS), have seen performance management (PM) systems adopted. So pervasive has PM become in
public sector reforms that some scholars have referred to the past 20 or so years as the PM era. A principle of
the movement is that information produced by the system can help individuals improve their contribution to their
organisation, with further organisational benefits (Nielsen, 2014).
Collecting and using performance information has therefore attracted enormous attention in discussions on PM
and borne a significant literature (Moynihan and Hawes, 2012; Van Dooren and Van de Walle, 2008). To collect
such information, various mechanisms have been devised by policy makers as components of their PM systems. A
key instrument is performance appraisal (PA). In fact, PA is deemed by some to be ‘at the heart of the whole PM
system’(Bititci et al., 1997). It is seen as the most important technique for, an individual’s promotion in their or-
ganisations, inasmuch as the appraisal system reveals employee performance. Study of appraisal case details allows
each organisation to select the elements and scores on which it intends to concentrate. PA is, then, seen as the ul-
timate means to improve organisational performance (DeNisi and Sonesh, 2011). How performance information is
obtained, analysed, interpreted and communicated influences its impact on organisational decisions and perfor-
mance (de Lancer Julnes, 2008). PA’s importance in the entire PM system, therefore, cannot be underestimated.
*Correspondence to: F. L. K. Ohemeng, School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa, 120 University Private, Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5,
Canada. E-mail: fohemeng@uottawa.ca
public administration and development
Public Admin. Dev. 35, 179–191 (2015)
Published online in Wiley Online Library
(wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/pad.1718
Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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