INSTITUTIONALISATION OF PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR OF GHANA

The changing nature of public services today and the expectations from the citizenry for high levels of efficiency and productivity from public servants have increased the pressure on governments to re-evaluate the... [ view full abstract ]

The changing nature of public services today and the expectations from the citizenry for high levels of efficiency and productivity from public servants have increased the pressure on governments to re-evaluate the contributions of public servants in the workplace. The public administrative machinery is now expected to be more efficient, effective, accountable, and responsive to the needs of citizens yet this remains a major challenge to the public sector worldwide. Consequently, scholars indicate that, governments continue to undertake major reforms in their attempt to identify an effective mechanism by which the performance of public servants can be managed and performance management is one of them. Ghana has in the last three decades undertaken various initiatives and administrative reforms to promote efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery in order to enhance productivity.  An important component of these initiatives and reforms was the introduction and establishment of a performance management system with the view of making public sector result oriented. The idea was that an effective performance management culture that sets objectives, targets and aligns staff performance to organizational and national development goals is what is needed if Ghana's developmental needs are to be met.

Following the footsteps of scholars who have and continue to use institutional theory to examine change, the study employs the institutionalisation framework propounded by Wooley and Cummings, (2008). It argues that for the public sector in Ghana to be successful in the institutionalization of performance management; and ensure high levels of efficiency and employee performance at work; there is the need for a shift from the traditional performance management process of setting standards and measuring actual performance for results. Public sector organisations are to give prominence to behaviours that workers exhibit during the institutionalisation process. The focus of this research is to expound on the institutionalization process in the performance management system to establish the changes that occur in the institutionalization process to see if learning does occur and how that reflects in the behaviours of public sector employees.