combating corruption 1

Public Service Ethics in Ethiopia

PUBLIC SERVICE ETHICS

Introduction

Ethics is as a backbone for good governance.

No society can flourish without ethics.

The reputation of a thousand years is determined by the conduct of a single hour(Japanese proverb).

Ethic is the science of morality

5.1 Ethics Defined

Moral values or codes which a society believes to be right or wrong, good or bad character or disposition.

It refers to well based standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness.

Ethics is attached to the values associated with right or wrong, appropriate or inappropriate conduct with a professional or occupational setting (Rashid, 1995).

Two basic aspects in the definition of ethics: Ethical behavior and unethical behavior.

Ethical behavior represents the behavior that conforms to generally accepted social norms; whereas,

Unethical behavior refers to behavior that does not conform to generally accepted social norms.

Importance of Ethics

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To control that part of administrative power and discretion which can not be controlled by formal laws, methods and procedures.

To establish and promote the correct relations between the citizen and the civil service.

To promote the sense of administrative responsibility.

To stabilize and harmonize the relations between the civil servants and executives.

To preserve and promote social welfare, public interest, &common good.

To check the arbitrary activities of public servants.

To cultivate high standards of conduct among civil servants.

Generally ethics is important for Satisfying Basic Human Needs, Creating Credibility, Securing the Society, Improving Decision Making, Long Term Gains, Uniting People and Leadership.

5.2 Unethical Problems in the Civil Service: The Problem of C orruption

Corruption-A Global threat

Cost of corruption exceeds by far the damage caused by any other single crime:

WB-more than 1 trillion$ is paid in bribes a year

Asian Dev’t Bank-cost of corruption=up to 17% of GDP

The harm exceeds the proceeds-US$1 bribes=US$1.7 damage

CBE-paid 158.5 million birr for ordinary meal as Gold(899kg) from 2005-2007.

5.2.1 Definition of Corruption

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By Merwe(1997)

Corruption is defined as the abuse of public power for private gain or Profit. He put it in formula:

Corruption = Monopoly + Discretion – Accountability

Corruption equals monopoly of power plus discretion minus accountability.

World Bank

Corruption as an abuse of official position for private gain.

Transparency international

The misuse /abuse of entrusted power for private gain.

Corruption :_is both a major cause and a result of poverty around the world.

It occurs at all levels of society, from local and national governments, civil society, judiciary functions, large and small businesses, military and other services and so on.

It affects the poorest the most, in rich or poor nations, though all elements of society are affected in some way.

corruption undermines political development, democracy, economic development, the environment, people’s health and more.

CORRUPTION PERCEPTION INDEX(CPI):O -MOST COURRUPT;10- MOST UNCORRUPT

2011 RANK

COUNTRY CPI 2011 SCORE

CPI 2010 SCORE

CPI2009 SCORE

CPI2008 SCORE

1 NEWZEALAND 9.5 9.3 9.4 9.3

2 DENMARK 9.4 9.3 9.3 9.3

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2 FINLAND 9.4 9.2 8.9 9

4 SWEDEN 9.3 9.2 9.2 9.3

5 SINGAPORE 9.2 9.3 9.2 9.2

91 LIBERIA 3.2 3.3 3.1 2.4

120 ETHIOPIA 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.6

134 ERITREA 2.5 2.6 2.6 2.6

143 NIGERIA 2.4 2.4 2.5 2.7

154 KENYA 2.2 2.1 2.2 2.1

182 SOMALIA 1 1.1 1.1 1

182 KOREA(NORTH) 1 - - - TYPES OF CORRUPTION:

Grand corruption- High level, at policy formulation end.

Petty corruption- Small scale, bureaucratic or routine type occurs at policy implementation end.

Political corruption- any transaction due to held position.

Systemic (endemic)corruption- embodied in wider situation.

Sporadic corruption- occurs at individual level.

Legal and Moral Corruption- law is broken due to biased interpretation of corruption.

However, Grand and Petty corruption are well known.

REFLECTION QUESTION

o What are the symptoms that manifest the occurrence of corruption by some body?

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5.2.2 Manifestations of Corruption

Acceptance of bribes or gifts: is the offering of something in order to gain an unfair advantage.

Kickbacks: person's payment for doing a job that he gives for getting someone the job.

Moonlighting: to be employed by two employers simultaneously.

Misrepresentation: it is untrue statement of fact that induces a person to enter a contract.

Greasing: is a form of bribery given to hasten some work.

Stashing - storing in a usually secret place for future use.

Unlawful usage of public assets for private ends

Over-invoicing and under-invoicing

Preparation of fake vouchers in accounts.

Ghost workers: Payment of wages to non-existent workers.

Extortion: is an act of obtaining money by an official from a person by force or threats.

Subverting the law to imprison or free individuals, reduce prison terms or fines.

Awarding contracts to incompetent firms

Air-supply: payment for goods not supplied or services not rendered.

Earning commissions for transactions illegally.

Misplacement or hiding of files & records for purposes of extortion.

The leakage of vital information to competing or unauthorized parties.

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Converts of public facilities for personal use.

Other wrong doings such as:

Excise tax fraud (dishonesty)

Import and export tax frauds

Embezzlement- cheating

Nepotism

Absenteeism

Partisanship –biasness

Election and electoral fraud

REFLECTION QUESTION

What are the causes of corruption?

5.2.3 Causes of Corruption

Corruption emanate from four broad categories: political, economic, socio-cultural, and institutional or administrative weaknesses.

The details include the following:

Lack of effective political leadership.

The prevalence of weak national interest.

Variation of rules and directives.

Disobedience by public servants.

Poor law enforcement which breeds neglect of duty by the police, judges and the judicial bureaucracy.

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Excessive politicization of public services (patronage, pressures and interference in the exercise of discretionary powers).

The concentration of power in the hands of one party or group.

Lack of public accountability and transparency.

High incidence of poverty and unemployment.

Low salary scales and poor compensation for the public servants.

Sense of insecurity: In terms of hiring and firing civil servants, inadequate or absence of insurance or retirement benefits, and the uncertainties of politics.

The influence of cultural traditions which allow offer and acceptance of customary gifts.

Lack of code of ethics or conduct for public officials.

Loose enforcement of auditing systems.

Lack of policy for regular monitoring of assets and liabilities of a high-rank government officials.

Minimal chances of detection of corruption by political or administrative apparatus, as well as weak punishments for criminals.

Ineffective mechanisms for administrative control and monitoring of daily performance and behavior of public officials.

Improper administrative procedures including red tape.

Lack of training in ethical behavior.

Lack of strategies to manage change

REFLECTION QUESTION

1.What are the impacts or consequences of corruption?

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5.2.4 Impact of Corruption

Corruption has a devastating effect from:

I. Political dimension

II. Economic dimension and

III. Administrative dimension.

. Political consequences

Under political dimension, corruption:

Endangers fragile democratic institutions and undermines. public confidence in government and political institutions.

Obstructs free and fair elections.

Paralyzes the controlling role of the legislative institutions on the executive power.

Constrains the independent judiciary activities.

Leads a government to use force so as to gain legitimacy.

Economic consequences :

Depletion of national wealth.

Channels scarce public resource to uneconomic projects.

A deterrent to investment.

Devastating long-term effects on developing nations.

Leads a country to unshakable poverty and bankruptcy.

Widens the gap between the haves and have nots.

It leaves majority of civil servants & armed forces without salary pay.

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Stifles private initiatives and free-market economy.

Cripples the country’s access to grant and aid opportunities.

Leads to other different socioeconomic predicaments such as: poor medical services, poor schools, delay in completion of projects, ruining of national assets, reduction of government revenue, reduction of production capacity in industry, agriculture, etc.

Administrative Consequences:

Corruption could bring about a devastating effect on the quality of public service administration system.

It leads to administrative inefficiency as organizational resources are usually misallocated or misappropriated by corrupted officials.

It breeds poor personnel management systems .

Frequent boycotting by quality personnel and increment in the number of unqualified personnel in public organizations.

Group Discussion

1.How do you see the incidence of corruption in Ethiopia?

A. Civil servants perspective

B. Senior officials (Politicians) perspective

C. Society perspective

2.What should be done in order to combat corruption?

5.2.5 Mechanisms of Combating Corruption

Legislative and institutional framework reform.

Property and wealth declaration system by officials.

Full legal Sanction and energetic policing system.

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Provide joint control: coalition to combat corruption.

Encourage investigative journalism.

Diffusion of knowledge about the government activity-transparency.

Establishing independent bodies like the Ombudsman ,Ethics and anticorruption Commission.

Decentralization and delegation of power to lower units.

Creating complete and simple purchase procedures.

Mechanisms of Combating Corruption…

Articulating code of conduct for public officials.

Strengthening the police and courts machinery.

Providing salaries and compensations at least to meet minimum basic needs.

Incorporating ethics in schools' curricula.

Identifying corruption prone organizations and introducing strict control.

Empowering people to disclose and condemn any abuse of power by public officials.

5.3 Public Service Ethics in Ethiopia

The Ethics sub-component of the Ethiopian Civil Service Reform Program articulated code of ethics which include twelve principles:

1. Integrity

2. Loyalty

3. Transparency

4. Confidentialit

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5. Honesty

6. Accountability

7. Serving the public interest

8. Exercising Legitimate Authority

9. Impartiality

10.Respecting the Law

11.Responsiveness

12.Leadership

1.Integrity

Civil servants and public officials shall conduct their public, professional and private lives in a manner that will maintain and strengthen the public’s trust and confidence in government.

2.Loyalty

Civil servants and public officials will dedicate themselves to upholding the constitution and the laws, and trusted to discharge their duties by fellow public officials.

3.Transparency

Basically defined as openness and accountability for decisions made and information access in public sector.

In all areas of business, Civil servants and public officials should be open for their decisions & actions.

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4.Confidentiality

Civil servants and public officials must refrain from disclosing any secrete information in their official duties without authorization.

5.Honesty

Civil servants must keep the promises that they have made, be sincere and be free from deceit, fraud or corruption.

6. Accountability

Civil servants and public officials are held responsible for their decisions and actions, ultimately by the governed.

They must be ready to give an account of their decisions &actions and submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate.

This can be done through auditing and reporting

Serving the public Interest

Civil servants & public officials should make decisions and act solely in the public interest and not in their private interests.

The sole criteria for decisions &actions should be the public interest.

8.Exercising Legitimate Authority

The entrusted power and authority should be exercised legitimately within the authority of office.

Civil servants & officials must not abuse their power& authority.

9. Impartiality

Decisions should be fair and equitable-without discrimination.

Choices should be made on the basis of merit.

Respecting the Law

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Civil servants and public officials should obey the Law and should comply with any enactments, Proclamations appropriate to the performance of their duties and as instructed to do so by the relevant authority.

11. Responsiveness

Civil servants and public officials should listen and respond to the needs of their key stakeholders, in a timely manner, treating them with respect and courtesy.

12.Leadership

Civil servants and public officials should promote and support these principles by taking the lead and setting examples, demonstrating the highest standards expected of role models.

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CHAPTER SIX

FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION

CHAPTER OUTLINE

Meaning of Financial Administration

Sources of Public Finance

Budget Concept

Types of Budgeting

Budgeting process in Ethiopia

Ethiopian Budget Cycle

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FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION

Introduction

Nothing can be done without expenditure of many or any other commitment.

Finance in fact, is the fuel for the engine of public administration.

It keeps the administrative machinery in its wheel.

It is the life-blood of public administration system.

The success of administration depends on the availability of finance.

The management of finance is therefore on the first and one of the inescapable responsibilities of administrators.

6.1 Meaning of Financial Administration

Financial administration is the management of the finance of a state or of a public authority endowed with taxing and spending powers.

Efficiency and economy are the two watchwords (mottos) of public finance.

Pubic financial administration is the process by which government:

1. Employs the means to obtain & allocate resources/money based on articulated priorities-Revenue and Expenditure

2. Utilizes methods and controls to effectively achieve publicly determined ends-Application of accounting and auditing systems

It involves the activities of four agencies: The Executive-needs &expends funds, The Legislature- grants & appropriates them, MoFED-controls the expenditure and The Audit- sits in judgment over the way in which the funds have been spent.

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6.2 Sources of Public Finance-Revenue

Tax sources :- main source of public finance or revenue

direct tax- levied on self-employed property: income tax(personal-pay roll, corporate),property tax( personal, real estate) and

indirect tax – levied on taxable transactions :taxes on goods & services (sales tax, VAT, excise tax).

Non tax sources: user charges and fees-benefit cost principle, penalty, public contribution, sales of securities, print money, and borrowing.

Grants/aids-money/inputs given by donors to support development programs/humanitarian works.

6.3 Budget

A budget is a description of a financial plan.

Budget is a quantitative plan used as a tool for deciding which activities will be chosen for a future time period.

An estimate of costs, revenues, and resources over a specified period, reflecting a reading of future financial conditions and goals.

Budget refers to a financial document, giving a complete statement regarding the government revenues and expenditure of the past financial year and an estimate of the same for the next financial year.

A budget is a financial report of statement and proposals are periodically placed before the legislature for its approval.

It is a balanced estimate of expenditures and receipts for a given period of time.

One of the most important administrative tools, a budget serves as a (1) plan of action for achieving quantified objectives, (2) standard

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for measuring performance, and (3) device for coping with foreseeable adverse situations.

Types of Budgeting

Budgeting is a process- a number of activities performed in order to prepare a budget.

Budgeting is aimed at gathering legislative support for government proposals.

There are various methods of budgeting; the major ones are:

Line-Item budgeting,

Performance based/Program budgeting,

Incremental budgeting and

Zero based budgeting (ZBB).

(A)Line-Item Budgeting:

Listing down expenditures based on line-items or cost category (salary, overtime pay, postage, fuel & oil, office supplies,etc).

Financial statement items are grouped by cost centers or departments.

Budgets items could be aggregated into broad categories as operating (recurrent) and capital budgets.

Limits discretion of administrators for transferring budget from one category to the other.

Relatively easy to use and understand ,and are attractive to the legislative officials.

Is effective from the view point of public accountability.

It focus on input/means or activity side rather than output/result side.

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B) Performance Budgeting

Also called program or result based budgeting.

It is done by presenting government operations in the form of functions ( agriculture, industry, health, education, etc.), programs, projects, and activities.

Each functional category is divided in to "programs” for instance health may be divided as primary health, child health and public heath.

Programs can be broken down in to projects like rural child health projects and urban child health projects.

Projects in turn divided in to activities; the work loads in each projects are determined; then based on these work loads, inputs are calculated and expressed by money.

Serves as a basis for efficiency and work measurement qualitatively and quantitatively.

It shifts the emphasis from the means of achievement to achievement itself.

Put clear the relationship between inputs and outputs.

Links the budget/expenditure with performance/out puts.

Differs from line item budgeting in that it considers inputs and what to do with that input but line-item budgeting focus on the units of inputs used than actual output.

Steps

1. Indicate the organizational structure and the objectives of an agency,

2. Draw up financial requirements of the organization using tables mainly consisting of three elements: a program & activity classification, objective-wise classification, and sources of financing.

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3. Provide an explanation of the financial requirements. The purpose is to provide performance indicators of the organization-assumptions.

Merits

It establishes linkages b/n policy and performance, inputs and outputs,

It would improve the budgetary processes and related fiscal policy-making coupled with the analysis of actual governmental performance,

It would help to evolve a better system of financial accountability and legislative control,

It would facilitate the process of audit of governmental operations,

It would make effective result-oriented assessment of the long-term development policies of the government,

It would help to eliminate waste and inefficiency in the financial transactions of the government, to be more developmental-oriented.

It fixes responsibility very precisely, and gives a clear picture of revenue and expenditure alternatives.

De-merits/limitations

Government performance is not always easily quantifiable and may not have clear visible results; for example law and order is a government activity whose result or performance cannot be objectively measured,

The difficulty relates to the lack of cost-accounts. Many assets of the government agencies cannot be accounted for in terms of unit costs,

A problem in adopting the performance of budgetary procedures is the arduous /tough or hard task of linking accounting heads with development heads.

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C) Incremental Budgeting

Also known as traditional approach of budgeting.

Method of budgeting which uses previous year's budget as baseline.

It may also depend on actual performance as basis with incremental amounts added for the new budget period.

When departments need more money than the previous budget, they have to be able to justify the extra expenses.

If a department does not use its budget currently, then the next period's budget will be reduced.

Often leads to wasteful spending by employees because they do not want to lose their budget.

Advantages:

The budget is stable and change is gradual.

Consistent operation within departments .

Relatively simple to operate and easy to understand.

Minimum Conflicts if departments treated similarly.

Co-ordination between budgets is easier to achieve.

The impact of change can be seen quickly.

Disadvantages:

Assumes activities and methods of working will continue in the same way.

No incentive for developing new ideas.

No incentives to reduce costs.

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Encourages spending up to the budget so that the budget is maintained next year.

The budget may become out of date and no longer relate to the level of activity.

The priority for resources may have changed since the budgets were set originally.

There may be budgetary slack built into the budget, due to absence of revision.

(D) Zero-Based Budgeting (ZBB)

This method begins a new budget from zero, and estimates every expense that will incur during the course of business.

Managers are required to justify all budgeted expenditures, not just changes in the budget from the previous year.

The starting point/ base line is zero rather than last year's budget.

Utilizes much more detail and makes everyone accountable for their necessary expenses.

It requires much more work and it is often unpopular with employees.

Advantages of zero based budgeting:

Efficient allocation of resources, as it is based on needs and benefits.

Drives managers to find cost effective ways to improve operations.

Detects inflated budgets.

Useful for service departments where the output is difficult to identify.

Increases staff motivation by providing greater initiative and responsibility in decision-making.

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Increases communication and coordination within the organization.

Identifies and eliminates wasteful and obsolete operations.

Identifies opportunities for outsourcing.

Forces cost centers to identify their mission and their relationship to overall goals.

Disadvantages of zero based budgeting:

Difficult to define decision units and decision packages, as it is time-consuming and exhaustive.

Forced to justify every detail related to expenditure. The research and development (R&D) department is threatened whereas the production department benefits.

Necessary to train managers. Difficult to administer and communicate the budgeting because more managers are involved in the process-it’s costly.

In a large organization, it’s difficult to understand huge volume of information.

Honesty of the managers must be reliable and uniform.

In summary :

Four organs of government exercise financial control in a parliamentary democracy:

The Legislature,

The Government (executive),

The Finance Ministry, and

The Audit Department.

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Audit would be the most effective means of financial control since it is an integral part of the parliamentary control of public finance.

Auditing is an external control over administration, which seeks accountability to the parliament.

Generally, budget can be categorized as ; revenue budget, expenditure budget , recurrent/operating budget and capital budget.

REFLECTION QUESTION

1. Which of the above budgeting approach is:

A. Mostly practiced in your organization?

B. Usually used in Ethiopian public sectors?

C. Assumed to be the best ?

Budgeting Process in Ethiopia

The allocation of scarce resources through the medium of budget is believed to have begun to be conceptualized in Ethiopia in 1944.

In the Ethiopian budgetary process, there are two competing processes: political and administrative.

Public budgeting is both political and administrative tool for planning,coordinating,and controlling the effective utilization and equitable allocations of resources.

As political instrument:

Politics about who won or lost what, when and how

Shows which policies are currently in ascendancy/dominance

Involves in the allocation of scarce resources among competing interest

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As Administrative/management instrument

presents a meaningful plan showing both ends and means so that it can also be used as a control device.

Uses as one of its major functions; the presentation of a plan for government action.

Establishes cost of programs and the criteria by which these programs are evaluated for efficiency and effectiveness.

The Ethiopian fiscal or budget year and the budget cycle runs from July 7 of one year to July 6 of the following year.

Budgeting Process

A standard budgeting process has the following major steps:

1. Budget Call

2. Budget Preparation

3. Budget Review

4. Budget Hearing

5. Budget Approval

6. Budget Execution

7.Budget Control and Reporting

1. Budget Call

Every year, at least three months before the end of the fiscal year the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED)issues annual call letter for recurrent and capital budgets to different institutions.

At regional levels, the Finance Bureaus issue the budget call letters to different public bodies in their respective regions.

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The existing economic conditions of the country and the priority areas, tentative budget ceiling and the prescribed formats to be used are stated and/or enclosed with the call letter.

2. Budget Preparation

Budget preparation is done by different sections of the organizations.

The Administration and Finance Department prepares the recurrent budget while the Department for Plan and Project prepares the capital budget.

The draft budget of the institution is discussed and reviewed by top management of the respective organization.

Finally, the budget proposal that won the support of the officials is prepared being broken down into programs, subprograms and expenditure items.

The budget proposal that is revised and accepted by the senior officials is, sent to the respective Finance Bureau or Ministry of Finance and Economic Development.

This budget proposal must be substantiated and supported by relevant documents; if the proposal shows variations from budget ceiling, explanation for the variation needs to be given.

3. Budget Hearing

The proposal shall be presented to the Budget Hearing Committee where they will be subjected to discussion and negotiations in the presence of officials of the budget proposing body.

The officials then defend their budget before the Committee.

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4- Budget Approval

Budget proposals of the concerned units are compiled into one budget document.

Then the compiled budget proposal is submitted to the Council of Ministers for review and discussion.

After possible recommendations, Council of Ministers will forward the budget document to the Council of People's Representatives for approval.

Finally, the Council of People's Representatives, approve it by July 6 and notify all public bodies by July.

If the approval is delayed, the previous year budget will be used on a monthly basis until the Annual Budget is approved.

Then Budget of the country will be proclaimed and published in the “Negarit Gazetta”.

5. Budget Allocation

Following the approval, the Budget is published in the “Negarit Gazetta”- this shows only the headings, sub-headings, and expenditure items of the budget and not the allocation of the budget to different branches within the respective public bodies.

Once the public body gets the budget allocated under each sub-heading from the concerned Finance Bureau, it allocates the budget under sub-headings and branches at different levels.

This may involve the revision of plans of action accordingly, for proper execution of the budget.

6.Budget Execution

Actual utilization of the approved budget to carry out predetermined programs, plans and activities.

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E.g., hiring of personnel, purchase of capital &operation goods, equipments, machines, furniture, stationary , etc.

During execution; there could be budget shortage or surplus both necessitating the transfer of budget.

Transfers are allowed:

From recurrent to capital budget

From one sub-heading to another within the recurrent budget

From personal services to non-personal services

Not allowed from the capital to recurrent budget

7.Budget Control and Reporting

Subject to the directives of the MoFED, the heads of public bodies shall maintain a register of appropriations, authorized transfers and allotments for each budgetary heading and sub-heading and for each capital project.

Each institution ;local or central should prepare and submit monthly statement of cash receipt and expenditure.

At this stage, institutional compliance to the budget, economic and effective application conformity with the government accounting system will be verified.

Respective finance bureau or the internal audit unit or external auditors could make the verification.

Federal Auditor General or the Regional Audit Bureaus are the external auditors.

The Ethiopian government accounting system uses cash basis; having cashbook as principal book of accounts of all government departments.

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CHAPTER SEVEN

PUBLIC PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION

CHAPTER OUTLINE

The Concept of Career Civil Service

Merit system vs. Patronage system

Major Functions of Personnel Administration

Human Resource Planning

Recruitment and Selection

Personnel Development: Training &Education

Compensation and Benefit

Performance Appraisal

Promotion

Some Issues in Personnel Administration

Civil Service Neutrality

The Generalist-Specialist Controversy

Integrity in Public Administration


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7.1 Introduction

Personnel administration or management is concerned with the management of people at work.

The central concern of personnel management is the efficient utilization of employees of an organization.

Personnel administration(HRM) is the process of achieving an organizational goals by aquiring,developing,retraining and maintaining appropriate human resources.

Successful achievement of public objectives is possible if there are qualified and trained, committed and motivated personnel in addition to other resources.

The key to survival and success of an organization.

7.2 The Concept of Career Civil Service

The civil service: is a "professional body of officials, permanent, paid and skilled".

A civil servant may be understood as a "servant of the general public (not being the holder of a political or judicial office), who is employed in a civil capacity and whose remuneration is wholly paid from the budget provided by the parliament or any legitimate body of the government".

The basic task of the civil servants is to transform politics into action.

Excludes members of armed forces and judicial services.

It stands for the continuity of government service to the nation.

constitutes the "permanent" executive in the modern state.

Career civil service :is "A system that offers :

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equal opportunities to all citizens to enter the government service,

equal pay to all employees doing work requiring the same degree of intelligence and capacity,

equal opportunities for advancement,

equal favorable conditions and equal participation in retirement allowances and

makes equal demands upon the employees".

Characteristics of Career civil service

High prestige and status attached to government service

Appropriate recruitment procedures,

Broad avenues for promotion and transfer of personnel,

Clear pay scales, and

Adequate retirement and pension system (US Commission ,1933)

Permanency of tenure and stability of service

Equal opportunity of computing for government services

Merit as sole criteria for recruitment and promotion system

Fairly large opportunity for employees to enlarge their scope of activity and improve their avenues for promotion

Provision of adequate in-service trainings to keep civil servants in touch with latest trends and changes

Merit system vs. Patronage system

Merit system:

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The system of appointing and promoting civil service personnel on the basis of competence rather than political affiliation or loyalty.

Patronage system:

It refers to appointing persons to government positions on the basis of political support and work rather than on merit, as measured by objective criteria.

The use of public offices as rewards for political party work; is also known as the “Spoils System”.

7.3 Major Functions of Personnel Administration

Personnel administration involves a number of tasks that range from recruitment to retirement and pensioning.

The most identifiable tasks are:

Human Resource Planning

Recruitment and Selection

Personnel Development: Training &Education

Compensation and benefit

Performance Appraisal

Promotion

7.3.1-Human Resource Planning

The process of determining necessary manpower in order to meet current and future human resource need.

Human resource may be the most valuable asset because other resources can not function with out use of human skill.

Why we undertake human resource planning?

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Future Human Resource Requirements

Cope with Change

Foundation for Human Resource Functions

Decreasing/ Increasing Growth of Organizations

7.3.2 Recruitment and Selection

Recruitment :

Is the process of attracting individuals on a timely basis, in sufficient numbers and with appropriate qualifications, and encouraging them to apply for jobs with an organization.

Selection:

Is the process of choosing from a group of applicants the individuals best suited for a particular position (Mondy and Noe, 1990).

The recruitment and selection process includes a number of different steps:

Develop/obtain accurate job description

Defining the ideal candidate

Announcement of vacancies (invitation of candidates)

Short-listing of the most appropriate applicants

Holding of examinations for testing

Selecting the best or eligible candidate

Placement or appointment of selected recruits

Induction or orientation of the employee

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One of the main problems in the recruitment system is laying down proper qualifications.

Broadly, there are two types of qualifications required of public servants; general and special.

General qualifications relate to the civil status, domicile, sex and age, while

Special qualifications may include educational background, technical experience, and personal qualifications.

A public servant is required to posses many personal qualifications like integrity, resourcefulness, tact and sincerity.

There are various ways of determining qualifications:

Personal judgment of the appointing authority,

Certificates of character, ability, and educational qualification,

Record of various experiences-educational and occupational,

Examinations (written, oral, practical or performance and demonstration),

Psychometric tests, written tests(Ability tests, Achievement tests, Aptitude tests).

7.3.3 Personnel Development: Training and Education

Personal development includes activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitates employability, enhance quality of life and contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations.

Training and education are development activity but slightly differs.

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Training as “oriented towards the needs of the organization, specific to the employee's work situation, aimed at making workers more effective in their jobs, relatively short in timescale, and often fairly narrow in content”.

Education as “oriented to the needs of the individual, more abstract in nature, geared to the needs of the individual and to the society generally, generally a long-term process in terms of timescale, and widely drawn in content”.

7.3.4 Compensation and Benefit

The attainment of organizational objectives largely depends when employees are motivated to work.

Employees in turn are motivated to work when they are provided with a fair financial and non-financial compensation for the work they rendered.

Compensation is reward employees receive in exchange for their performance.

Compensation is concerned with wages and salaries, pay raises, and similar monetary exchange for employees’ performance (Holt, 1993).

A well-designed compensation system enables the organization:

To attract qualified employees

To retain and motivate the existing workforce

To facilitate performance towards goal achievement.

Benefit can be a payment, entitlement, an insurance policy or employment agreement, assistance program, recognition or more generally, something of value or usefulness.E.g.Health&transport service

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7.3.5 Performance Appraisal

Is a formal system of periodic review and evaluation of an individuals job performance.

Evaluation of the performance of the employee against agreed upon standards.

objectives of performance appraisal may include:

To help improve current performance,

To set objectives for individual performance,

To assess training and development needs,

To assess future potential for promotion,

To give employees feedback on their performances,

To counsel employees for career opportunities,

To rate employees' performance for salary review purposes,

To know the factors that influence the performance of employees, managers’ leadership style and behavior.

There are different types of appraisal systems:

Personality based (trait-based) appraisal-largely depends on the judgments of managers.

Performance based (result-based) appraisal-based on the actual performance of an employee.

Critical incident appraisal - an ideal type, hence seldom used in practice. Rating an employee when an extra-ordinary result is assumed; that is not part of normal task.

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7.3.6 -Promotion

Promotion is an upward movement of an employee in terms of pay, responsibility ,position and status level.

Promotion occurs when an employee is moved from a job to another position that is higher in pay, responsibility, and organizational level.

It is a reward to an employee, which entails a change in position & status in the organizational hierarchy & pay scale. Promotion retains the ablest employees.

Civil services lay down certain eligibility criteria or principles for promotion.

Two main principles have been fixed for promotion;

The seniority Principle: widely used in government services & automatic, but fails to select the best performer- demotivates the best ones.

Merit principle: ensures that the best person is promoted to the higher post based on specified criteria alone.

7.4 Some Issues in Personnel Administration

A. Civil Service Neutrality

B. The Generalist-Specialist Controversy

C. Integrity in Public Administration

A. Civil Service Neutrality

This theory was developed in England to maintain the continuity of the civil service within the unstable political system due to periodic elections and the resultant change of government.

It is an idea of non-partisanship and impartiality.

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Limitations to classical theory of neutrality

I. The process of policy decision making is no longer confined to the political executive.

II. In the context of large-scale welfare governments, neutrality is neither possible nor desirable.

III. In the sphere of policy advice and execution, modern bureaucracy takes an active part.

IV. As a human being, civil servant cannot be psychologically neutral on issues and problems, which confront them.

B.The Generalist-Specialist Controversy

The generalist-specialist classification of civil servants is mainly implemented mainly in those countries, which follow the British model of civil service administration.

It means the dichotomy of the civil service into a "higher administrative class and subordinate technical services", making subordination of the specialist to the generalist.

The generalist occupies the superior position, which comprises the policy-making levels.

The specialist or technical officer is the incumbent of a supervisory position, which calls for specialized skills and for which a technical or professional qualification is laid down.

The specialized services are also called "functional services".

C. Integrity in Public Administration

The problem of administrative corruption is perhaps older than the problem of public accountability.

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Administrative male practices are universal phenomena with different degrees and forms of existence.

The most common institutional devices are the following:

I. Administrative Courts or Tribunals : French system of administrative courts set up to deal with disputes b/n administrators and individual citizens .

This method has been practiced in Ethiopia since 1962 with the establishment of the "Central Personnel Agency-CPA“.

II. The Procurator :-

its most significant function is “general supervision”.

III. The Ombudsman:

is a Swedish word that stands for an officer appointed by the legislature to handle complaints against administrative and judicial action.

Ombudsman can investigate all cases of administrative malpractices and improper use of authority, complaints against administrative decisions or actions as well as complaints of inefficiency and negligence.

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combating corruption 1

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