Public sector personnel management in three African countries: Current problems and possibilities
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230120206 |
| Author | Harry Taylor |
| Date | 01 May 1992 |
| Published date | 01 May 1992 |
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, VOL. 12,193-207 (1992)
Public sector
personnel
management in three African
countries: current problems and possibilities
HARRY TAYLOR
University
of
Manchester
SUMMARY
Following visits to three less developed countries (LDCs) in Sub-Saharan Africa (Tanzania,
Kenya and Zimbabwe) to study public sector personnel systems, the author offers a review
of personnel practice in Civil Service and parastatal organizations. In the main, despite a
recognition that personnel issues were crucial to organizational success and thereby, ultimately,
to economic development, the personnel function was found to
be
a largely reactive administra-
tive operation, often combined with non-personnel ‘housekeeping’ roles and lacking a strategic
role within the organization. Reasons for this restricted role are suggested and include a
lack of alternative models
of
best personnel practice, the historical legacy of colonial adminis-
tration, and the continuing need for administrative controls in the face
of
favouritism and
corruption. Prospects for reform are considered in the light of current conditions and the
view is advanced that changes in the personnel practices and policy are most desirable and
urgent in the parastatal sector, and that a reformed parastatal sector might serve as a model
for selective improvements to personnel management in the Civil Service.
INTRODUCTION:
THE
RESTRICTED ROLE
OF
PERSONNEL
MANAGEMENT
Efficient management of the public sector has increasingly come
to
be recognized
as one key component of the economic development of
LDCs,
and the effective
utilization
of
‘human resources’ is seen as a major determinant of such efficient
management. The organizational manifestation of the concern for human resources
is
usually a personnel function or department. Unfortunately the personnel function
in public sector organizations in LDCs has rarely possessed the status and credibility
necessary to play a major influencing role in organizational change. This problem
was well documented by Osgediz several years ago:
‘In most developing country governments, personnel departments play
a relatively passive (sometimes even negative) role, administering these
(mostly outdated) rules rather than actively developing and pursuing poli-
cies for improving public sector management’. (Osgediz,
1983,
p.
42).
Since the publication of that report it is apparent that the problem still exists and
continues to act as a brake
to
administrative reform and improvement. The analysis
by the World Bank
(1989)
of the problems and prospects of Sub-Saharan Africa
Harry Taylor is Lecturer in Personnel Management in the Institute for Development Policy and Manage-
ment, University of Manchester, Precinct Centre, Manchester,
UK.
027
1-2075/92/020193-15%07.50
0
1992
by
John Wiley
t
Sons,
Ltd.
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