Ayenew, Meheret (PhD)Amare, Alazar2018-07-092023-11-042018-07-092023-11-042008-06http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/7126Like 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 forwardeden-USBahir dar city administrationDelivery reform implementationThesis