• Budget process reforms and MTEFs
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Public Expenditure Reviews
• Public Finance Diagnostics
• Public Service Reform, Capacity Building, Training
• • Human Resource Management and Development
  • Performance Management
  • Change Management
  • Training and Capacity Building
• Qualitative Research
• Quantitative surveys
• Statistical and econometric analysis

Human Resource Management and Development

Reform of systems of public administration and public service management has been recognised, in many developing countries and countries in transition, as an essential precondition for social and economic development and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. In turn, a key element of reform is often found to be modernisation of the way in which human resources are managed and developed in the civil or public services.

There is no single model for human resource management (HRM) which can be applied in all circumstances. Managing people in the employment of the state presents some particular challenges over and above those which face private sector organisations, arising largely from the complexities and sensitivities of the interface between the public service and the political leadership. Moreover, countries have different inherited systems and different sets of presumptions about the appropriate approach to tackling these issues, which will often be reflected in the constitutional or legal framework within which the public service functions. The public sector HRM context will thus be very different in countries with an Anglo-Saxon tradition of public administration, in those (as in Francophone Africa) with a civil code tradition, or in the countries of the former Soviet Union.

Nevertheless, there are a number of typical areas of weakness in HRM which often contribute to a government’s inability to formulate and implement effective policies for development and poverty, and which render the public service inflexible and ineffectual.These include:

• Low pay, coupled with the lack of a comprehensive policy on reward and remuneration which takes into account not only salary levels but also additional benefits to which a monetary value can be attached (such as pension, leave, allowances, etc), and other factors (the physical environment, leadership, management and decision-making capability, productivity, etc) which contribute to the attractiveness of the working environment. All of these elements will impact on the recruitment, retention and motivation for of staff; low pay also undermines the fight against corruption.
• Recruitment procedures which do not strike an appropriate balance between formal educational qualifications and practical capabilities and suitability for the role, do not protect the principle of recruitment on merit in the face of pressures to employ on the basis of political allegiance or kinship, or are prone to gender or ethnic bias. Inadequate establishment control systems can also lead to unauthorised recruitment which is not budgeted for or linked to operational needs.
• The absence of effective systems for setting objectives and tasks for staff members, or for appraising performance on a regular basis, imposing disciplinary sanctions on poor performers or those guilty of misconduct,recognising and rewarding good performance, and planning succession to senior positions. This failing can often be compounded by an institutional framework which does not strike an appropriate balance between the role of line managers and the responsibilities of central public service commissions or departments of personnel to safeguard the professional, meritocratic, non-partisan basis of the public service.

Weaknesses of this kind in HRM are more than likely to be accompanied by a lack of attention to human resource development (HRD). HRD is concerned with more than simply the provision of formal training; it should encompass a range of means for encouraging employees to learn and to develop their capabilities. The absence of HRD systems will detract from the ability of public sector organisations to adapt to changing circumstances and new roles, to motivate and enthusetheir staff, and to maximise their efficiency and effectiveness.

At OPM we see that getting these people management issues right is critical to successful modernisation and reform. We also believe that is important to understand the multiple interrelationships between the various factors, and to design approaches to public administration reform which reflect this complexity.

Project Examples