Browsing by Author "Amare, Alazar"

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    Effectiveness of Public Service Delivery Reform Implementation in Bahir Dar City Administration (A Case Study of Barhir Dar City Service office)
    (Addis Ababa University, 2008-06) Amare, Alazar; Ayenew, Meheret (PhD)
    Like many in Africa, the Ethiopian Civil Service has not been able to effectively carry out government policies and programs as well as to organize and deliver cost effective service for so long years due to a broad set of deficiencies. Consequently its role in promoting economic and social development remains limited. Recognizing this fact, the government has being implementing Civil Service Reform in general and Service Delivery Reform (SDR) in particular in all government institutions – i.e. at Federal, Regional and City Administration Levels - since 2001. This research takes interest in assessing the effectiveness of the SDR. It also takes note of the achievements recorded and the challenges Bahir Dar City Service Office witnessed. For this purpose, the methodology used for the research was qualitative method supported by simple quantitative measurements, expressed in the form of percentages and tabular illustrations. The instruments used to gather data were observations, interview and questionnaires. The major findings of this study were observed in respect to preparation made, achievements recorded and challenges encountered. Regarding preparation made to implement the SDR, it was found out the those elements of preparation that attracts theoretical support as prerequisites for successful realization of customer focused service delivery particularly that of capacity building and empowerment of employees were not practically considered at the beginning of the reform implementation in the office. With respect to achievements recorded from SDR implementation, it was found out that despite the policy of SDR, which was intended to bring significant improvements in various dimensions of service quality particularly in attitudinal change, information openness, service accessibility and compliant handling, the achievement recorded so far in the aforementioned dimensions of the service quality in the Office of City Service remains limited. Similarly the actual impact of the SDR interms of raising of client satisfaction and institutional core competence found yet to be realized. The major challenges hindering the effectiveness of SDR implementation in the office emanate from weak institutional capacity, poor management practices and poor working ethics of employees. Specifically, the challenges encountering the SDR in the office are lack of enough budget, shortage of skilled man power, lack of training, insufficient awareness, lack of consultation, lack of incentive, ineffective result oriented evaluation, inadequate authority delegation, mismanagement of time, high resistance of employees and low motivation. Finally the recommendations forwarded are those that seek solutions for the challenges mentioned above. Among others, the need for consistent and continuous training, capacity building, strategic management practices, political commitment and result oriented performance are stressed in the recommendations forwarded
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    An Investigation into the Relationship Between Administrative Culture and Institutionalization of Performance Management Reform In Amhara National Regional State Civil Service by Using the Fedrral Reform Project As A Term of Reference
    (Addis Ababa University, 2015-05) Amare, Alazar; Abagissa, Jemal (PhD)
    Although the new public management (NPM)-inspired performance management reform has been embraced in Ethiopian civil service since 2001, no attempt has been made by scholars and practitioners to empirically investigate the institutionalization status of such an intervention and its relationship with the administrative culture that is presumed to shape and influence civil servants behavior within the civil service. In other words, those extant empirical studies on performance management reforms in Ethiopia have rarely made references to the nature of administrative culture and its relation with the institutionalization process of performance management reform. Where there have been some references, they often based on no more than anecdotal evidence and as such do not provide a systematic basis for assessing the real influence of administrative culture on the institutionalization of the reform. This research was thus undertaken to look for empirical evidence of the nature of administrative culture and its relationship with the institutionalization status of the performance management reform in the Ethiopian civil service with a particular focus on the state level civil service of the Amhara National Regional State (ANRS). In so doing, the study has adopted a cultural approach to studying the administrative reforms and defining administrative culture as values, beliefs, norms, and practices of civil servants; and principally a quantitative methodology that incorporates to some degree the qualitative approach was employed in investigating the administrative culture within the civil service in question. The institutionalization level of each aspect of the performance management reform, including the overall performance management reform, was also assessed and the relationships between this reform institutionalization measures and the administrative cultural orientation of civil servants were examined. The analysis of the data revealed that performance management reform failed to take root within the civil service of ANRS partly because the administrative cultural orientations of the majority of civil servants appeared incompatible with the reform requirements. The research particularly revealed that high power distance, strong uncertainty avoidance, and collectivistic orientation were incompatible with the performance management reform which sought to manage individual performance without considering the unequal distribution of power, collectivistic orientation and fear of innovation or new ways of doing things. The research has also demonstrated that the low performance orientation culture and political patronage in the civil service were the other stumbling blocks to the performance management reform to take root in the civil service of the ANRS because they were opposed to meritocracy which is the central element of the performance management reform. The findings of this research support the thesis that administrative culture matters and sustained applicability of a Western-rooted performance management system cannot be taken for granted in a non-western context. It is therefore recommended that in order for the performance management reform to take root, the reformers should engage in the redesign of the reform to comply with the hard to change aspects of the prevailing administrative culture within the civil service. At the same time, they should come up with a cultural change program with the purpose of weeding out obstructive elements of the administrative culture within the civil service in question