Problem 1: Civil service reform (CSR), which implies developing the capacity of the civil service to fulfil its mandate, defined to include issues of recruitment and promotion, pay, number of employees, performance appraisal and related matters, still constitutes the main part of countries’ public administration reform programmes. CSR has historically focused on the need to contain costs of public sector employment by retrenchment and restructuring, but has broadened towards focusing on the longer-term target of creating a government workforce of the right size and skill-mix, and with the right motivation, professional ethos, client focus and accountability.
The entire cost of the civil service remains a valid concern, of course. Addressing the causes of and reversing the rising civil service wage bill experienced by many countries in 1970s and 1980s remains a primary concern. More recently, added to these problems, a number of others have been better understood that relate more to the quality of civil service and their motivation, such as:
1. Poor performance management, leading to insufficient incentives to perform well.
2. Recruitment and promotion systems that poorly reflect the realities of country, are often overly concerned with formal education, and fail to attract or promote qualified staff.
3. Politicization of the civil service.
4. Lack of a mission or the respect of public
Question1. What is the mandate of the civil service? Elaborate your answer with few exmples.
Question2. How does civil service reform help to contain the rising cost of its wage bill?
Question3. Why do you think that the civil service in many developing countries fails to attract qualified staff?
Question4. Explain why there has been a lack of public respect for the civil service.