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Towards Institutionalizing Results
Based Management (RBM)
in the Public Service in Africa:
What Roles for Policy Makers and
Policy Implementers?
Mrs. Florence N. Wachira
Director, Recruitment& Selection
Public Service Commission of Kenya
P.O.Box 1023-00200
Nairobi, KENYA
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Introduction
New Public Management of the 1980’s led to reforms of the 1990’s. The most central feature of the reforms has been emphasis on improving performance and ensuring that government activities achieve desired results.
RBM has now been adopted as a proven and acceptable approach for improved public service, accountability, effectiveness and efficiency.
RBM is a political process with technical dimensions.
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Cont.
Successful implementation requires strong political will, strong managerial leadership and strong institutional capacity.
Both Policymakers and policy implementers have distinct but complementary roles to play .
Policy makers provide political leadership while the policy implementers provide functional leadership.
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Cont.
Both need to understand this division of responsibilities in order to act as partners on a developmental mission;
administrators as the technical people are supposed to be politically neutral, give non partisan advise to the politicians and execute decisions to the best professional standards
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ROLES OF POLICY MAKERS
Policy makers are politicians elected on a ‘popular’ vote to be the voice of citizens in government.
They set the Government agenda for the socio-economic development of the country
pass laws to regulate public life
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Providing Political Leadership
National Visions -embody citizen’s goals and aspirations for development.
Gives a big picture view -a national vision to have the desired effect should enjoy grassroots support
Needs transformative leadership that focuses it more on people
But, What probability is there that the next person you meet would tell you what their country’s vision is about?Whose vision is it?
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Providing Political Leadership cont.
Policy makers should engages the citizens to ensure a shared vision
Provide political will,Political Leadership and support
Secure Vision from succession politics-
A change in Government only changes the service providers and not the goods and services a government provides to its citizens.
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Involvement of stakeholders
Creation of Public value- harness the adaptive potential of the public sector to create Public value.
Public value is created by Government through services, laws, regulations and other developmental activities.
public value is ‘created’ not ‘delivered’ Solutions to citizens problems rely partly
on them and their capacity to take shared responsibility for positive outcomes
need for co-production of public value
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Involvement of stakeholders cont.
Development of partnerships with stakeholders is paramount to effective formulation and implementation of public sector reforms, policies and strategies for service delivery
Policy makers should empower and engage citizens in decision making :-to improve their ability to control their own resources - to unleash their creative and productive energies to achieve sustainable improvement in their living standards.
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Involvement of stakeholders cont.
Helps to define their priorities and empowers them to take responsibility for implementation of planned actions
Africa has a youthful population –– possess unique skills, new ideas and enthusiasm,
-are useful in entrenching digital literacy, social networking and social media;
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Involvement of stakeholders cont.
- are great at dealing with technology because they have grown up with it.
-Bring personal knowledge of their own market
-often in touch with latest education, learning methodologies and technology and would add value to
RBM in the public service.
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Providing enabling
legal/Regulatory/Structural Frameworks
Public service hierarchy makes it difficult to adapt particularly due to practices of generalism, delegating upwards, inward focus and mechanistic thinking.
-is prone to ‘penetration’ by party politics and leading to politicization.
-Politicization demoralizes public servants and impair their effectiveness
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Providing enabling Legal/Regulatory/Structural
Frameworks
Policy makers :
-should embrace a shift in perspective to re-define their role as supporters not drivers of adaptive processes of change.
-establish appropriate legislative/regulatory frameworks for operation that clarify lines of accountability
- ensure that services are organized and operated in a way they are responsive on a sustainable basis to changing political environments and demands of public at large
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Providing enabling Legal/Regulatory/Structural
Frameworks cont.
- Creates a system of Government that delivers results
-widely distributes and clearly delineate the decision making responsibilities
-empowers policy implementers
-supports strategic thinking, innovativeness, forecasting and planning and
-fosters systemic change not incremental or piecemeal reforms.
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Ensuring good Governance
Good governance is epitomized by:- predictable, open and enlightened
policymaking;- professional ethos, - transparent processes and - a strong civil society participating in Public
affairs massive re-orientation of Government
cannot be achieved without a clear moral and political vision
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Ensuring good Governance cont.
The policymakers should adhere to and support ethical principles
create an environment where incorruptible civil service can function and
ensure systems can address issues of breach purposively, fairly and with speed to deter complacency and stem widespread occurrences.
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ROLES OF POLICY IMPLEMENTERS
Reforms have had a high failure rate partly because of a poor record of implementation (Kiggudu (1998), Caiden (1991).
policy implementers should play leading roles in :-entrenching the right culture for implementation, - aligning strategy towards National goals & objectives-promoting professionalism,- instituting strategic management of people and -proper performance management in the Public service.
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Role in Culture change
A focus on results requires a total overhaul of ‘how business is run” -Culture is the seedbed for reforms and the right culture is required to support long term performance
Policy implementers should:- institutionalize change management initiatives -transform mindsets of public servants to focus
on results not processes -enhance trust, empower employees, ensure
effective delegation, be consistency and mentor others
-set support systems/ mechanisms to allow employees empower themselves and flourish to increase their own effectiveness.
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Ensuring clarity and proper alignment to
RBM
Policy implementers should:- clarify and align the mission and goals of their organizations to the National vision. -ensure that work plans, programs and projects undertaken are aligned with the objectives of Government programs and services -maintain a strong focus on linkages between performance, policy making and resource mobilization. -promote and reinforce cross-sector partnerships and interactions with other Government departments/agencies and the private sector.
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Promoting good Governance and
Professionalism
Success of a government in achieving an increased measure of good governance depends on the professionalism, discipline, neutrality and impartiality of its public service.
lack of professionalism undermines economic development as well as the enjoyment of rights by Citizens.
Policy implementers must establish
- appropriate systems of administrative policies and management practices.
-oversight mechanisms and agencies that provide incentives and penalties to encourage public servants to carry out their duties professionally and observe high standards of ethics in Public service.
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Enhancing Management capability and
capacity
Senior Government managers are pivotal in almost all aspects of reforming the state-they shape ideas incubate them to policies and help to advance them to programs and projects.
Empirical research in Africa has shown that senior managers and leaders in Government are ‘conservative’ preferring an unacceptable present to an unpredictable future and are inward rather than outward looking
If reform initiatives do not go hand in hand with a drive to enhance management capability, it will remain as rhetoric.
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Enhancing Management capability and
capacity
Managers development should be centrally concerned with organizational values and with attitudinal change (Lippit, 1983). ‘It is impossible to develop new ways of organization and management while continuing to think in old ways’ (Morgan, 1993).
Governments should be looking to review how managers and leaders are developed across the public service to ensure public money is invested effectively and necessary skills delivered.
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Strategic People management
Knowledge , skills , networks and attitudes of people in the public sector are at the heart of performance by Government.
HR policies and practices should be linked with the strategic objectives.
Adaptive responses require cooperative styles of working between frontline workers across organizations and between professionals within organizations.
Policy implementers should ensure that their styles of management utilize and develop the Human potential and cultivate commitment, flexibility, innovation and acceptance of change.
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Ensuring Effective communication with
stakeholders
Too often, government talks down to its citizens about intended projects and programs which are then viewed as ‘that government project’
Government misses on the opportunity to get support/ appropriate feedback to improve future planning and decision making.
The policy implementers should address issues of message/audience/sender and channels of communication on government development initiatives:
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Ensuring Effective communication with stakeholders
- establish multilateral communication channels and two-way power relations among government, policy makers, private sector and civil society organizations at all levels.
- develop capacity of local communities to communicate effectively with Government
- maximize the use of ICTs to transform relationships with its stakeholders and within government/ improve citizen engagement /increase free flow of public information and increase citizen participation in their development
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Conclusions
Results Based Management (RBM) has not yet been fully institutionalized as the way to do business in the Public Service in Africa
Politicians and administrators must continue to work in partnership to entrench RBM
Politicians providing National political leadership , set up legislative/regulatory and Institutional frameworks that ensure good governance and support entrenchment of RBM.
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Conclusions
Policy implementers role is to entrench a results oriented culture, align activities with National goals and objectives and strengthen professionalism
Both policy makers and implementers should continuously engage the citizenry so that their decisions and plans are guided by feedback
Government should establish effective communication with all stakeholders and intensify use of ICT.
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Example:
How should the Government tame
frequent workers’ strikes?
Two journalists posed the above question to several leaders in Kenya and got the following Answers
They should harmonize salaries using Institutions created by the Constitution (Minister)
Government should not make promises it cannot deliver. It should work very closelywith Kenyans ( MP)
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How should the Government tame
frequent workers’ strikes? Cont.
Workers need proper information on what
Government is doing to address the problem
(MP)
Government should listen and be
sympathetic to welfare of Kenyan workers/
ensure proper remuneration. Our problem is
corruption (Former MP)
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How should the Government tame
frequent workers’ strikes?cont.
Government should put in place mechanismsto address the problem, address imbalances. Government should be educated on new dynamics in the Labour market, social rights of employees and how to handle employer-employee relations (Chair of Private Sector alliance-KEPSA)
All stakeholders should work together to ensure minimal crisis in the labour sector (Director in a private sector organization)
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How should the Government tame
frequent workers’ strikes? Cont.
It is important for the Government to note that only a well catered for Human Resource pool can be productive ( Chair, Teachers union)
Government should engage both private and public sector to address labour laws. It should have systems to ensure high labour productivity (Secretary, National Economic and Social Council (NESC)
Makabila, S. & Waitathu, N. The Standard Newspaper, Wednesday, 9th January, 2013
