PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION The Recent amendment of the Public Service Act seeks to strengthen the regulatory function

of the Public Service Commission; laying effective implementation of Open Performance Appraisal System (OPRAS) and harmonizing the recruitment procedures and systems to mention a few. Since PSRP I focused on installation of performance management systems, evidence available in PSRP I report (2008) shows that the broader setbacks and challenges are:(i) Continued weaknesses in the management of the HR function in the public service. These were reflected in the way MDAs failed to undertake strategic HR functions such as HR planning, training needs assessment and development plans; Reference: Public Service Commission (2008); improvement of the efficiency and effectiveness of the public service as an essential componenet of development efforts: an overview ot the tanzania experience: workshop for enhancing the performance of the african public service commissions and other appointing commissions/authorities, kampala, uganda, 7 11 april 2008 FROM PUBLIC SERVICE MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYMENT POLICY Among other aspects, the prevailing employment and management practices have been identified as major contributing factors to current problems in Government Service Employment. The problems and concerns identified include the following: The performance appraisal system current ly used is too subjective, non participatory and is poorly managed to be of any assistance in the adopted results-oriented and merit-based civil service management. Staff development programmes have not received due at tent ion in the Public Service. Training programs carried out are not related to work improvement. Performance Appraisal 5.17 Every organisat ion within the Public Service shall be required to operate a performance appraisal system for all its employees. Performance appraisal systems may vary from organisat ion to organisat ion, and from level to level, but shall have the following common elements: every employee, including Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Independent Departments, shall be given a j ob descript ion incorporat ing specific, measurable obj ect ives for the results they are to achieve in the following 12 months. The j ob descript ion and performance obj ect ives shall be drawn up in consultat ion with the employee, and shall include personal and skill development objectives as well as operational objectives;

employees shall be given feedback at regular intervals of not less than six months on their performance against the obj ect ives, and shall be given advice and support to improve any shortcomings; a writ ten performance assessment shall be completed each year, and its contents discussed between the employee and his or her reporting officer. The assessment interview shall provide the opportunity to discuss the employee s training and career development needs, as well as to recognise good performance and to examine the reasons and agree on remedial act ion where performance has not matched the required standard;

5.20 Every employee shall have a personal t raining and development programme, annually during the performance appraisal process. Reference: (1999). URT, Public Service Management and Employment Policy

Reference; Theophilus Tebetso Tshukudu; A MODEL FOR EVALUATING TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES IN THE BOTSWANA PUBLIC SERVICE: Thesis for DOCTOR TECHNOLOGIAE: HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT in Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, February 2009 Chepkilot (2005, p.85) indicates that the emphasis on training in recent years has led to many organisations investing substantially in employee training and development. He notes that the need for training has been necessitated by technological advancement and organisational change and the realisation that organisational success is dependent on the skills, competencies, and abilities of employees. This has been underscored by the rise in human resources management with its emphasis on the importance of people and the skills they possess in enhancing organisational performance. Goldstein and Ford (2001, p.2) note that training and development programmes are enormous business in terms of both effort and money spent. For example, the following are illustrations on how much training and development costs. The American Society of Training and Development in its report estimated that $55 billion was spent on formal training by employers. The survey, known as the Human Performance Practices Survey (HPPS), was based on a random sample of 540 organisations with more than 50 or more employees. In another survey conducted by the same company involving 500 firms, it was found that 91% of the firms provided training for middle management, 75% for sales training, 56% for secretarial training, 51% for executive development, and 44% for technical training. Foxon and Lybrand (2005) state that there is ample evidence that evaluation continues to be one of the vexing problems facing the training fraternity. Marsden (2005, p.43) observes that training managers have given evaluation a low priority in the instructional process. However, in the current economic environment and in the light of a training guarantee, training managers are faced with a hard economic decision about the viability and value of the training programmes they offer. In the minds

of many practitioners, evaluation is viewed as a problem rather than a solution, and an end rather than a means.
Ramaphosa (1997, p.67) urges the public service to move away from simplistic notions that paying workers less and working longer hours will increase productivity. He further notes that the public service needs to examine the structural, institutional and managerial shortcomings in the economy, and develop better approaches to effectively provide service delivery. He urged companies to invest in training and development in order to remain in business and competitive. The benefits of a performance management system

The use of this system enhances the effective management of training and development in ministries through focused and specific training on identified needs emanating from strategic requirements; Through the PMS, any training and development initiatives will support and be related to the strategy;

As training often occurs in a haphazard manner, thereby reducing its effectiveness of the activity, it is imperative that any training undertaken should be well planned, structured and directed towards a real need. Provision must also be made to ensure that transferability of new skills into the work environment takes place. The skills challenges facing business include international competition from companies that have highly skilled employees, the need to increase productivity, the need to improve performance and service quality, a skills shortage, the need for skilled employees, poor quality education and training, the need to develop affirmative action candidates and the need to increase diversity. Those companies that are able to meet the challenges well and become responsive will gain competitive advantages over those that struggle or fail to meet the challenges. For a company to meet these challenges, skills development must be fully aligned to business strategies and objectives, as well as to employee performance levels. From the employees point of view, the only valid objectives of skills development are competencies and performance management Armstrong (2003, p.527) concurs with other authors in defining training as a planned and systematic modification of behaviour through the learning event, programme and instruction which enable individuals to achieve the levels of knowledge, skill and competencies needed to carry out their work effectively. All managers and supervisors should provide training and development for their people. Training develops people, it improves performance, raises morale; training and

developing people increases their health and organisational ability and raises the productivity levels of the organisation. Develop a performance management system There is often confusion about the role of performance management and performance appraisal. It is therefore necessary to understand the difference between the two. In order to clear the confusion about the two concepts, brief definitions of performance management and performance appraisal will be provided. Performance management is an overall strategy to improve performance in an organisation. According to Bacal (1999, p.3) and Viedge, Schultz, Bagraim, Portgieter and Werner (2003, - 103 - p.78), performance appraisal is a sub-component of an overall performance management system. The isolation of performance appraisal from other performance management processes will render the entire performance management system inadequate and incomplete. The main difference between performance management and performance appraisal is that performance management is a continuous process while performance appraisal is performed once or twice a year (DPSM 2001, p.12). Training and development cannot improve both employee and organisational performance if there is no performance management system in place. There is a need for organisations to continuously manage and appraise employee performance in order to have effective training and develop programmes addressing issues of poor performance. Both performance management and performance appraisal determine the type and the quality of the training programme to be delivered Training and development in the Botswana public service Training and development is used by many organisations to enhance the performance of their employees. The availability of training and development opportunities is a motivating factor for employees in the organisation. Most importantly the objective of training and development in the public service context is aimed at improving products and the service delivery to the citizens. and team work at every level of the organisation. Strategic objectives are achieved through committed and collective effort by all, and everyone becomes an important part of the whole process; The use of this system enhances the effective management of training and development in ministries through focused and specific training on identified needs emanating from strategic requirements; Through the PMS, any training and development initiatives will support and be related to the strategy; This system also gives public officers the opportunity to attain and use more effective tools, techniques and skills to improve performance and management generally; and

Through the development of strategic goals and plans ministries are able to objectively justify their budget and funding requirements in any given period (DPSM 2002, p.7).

The main principle of performance management that relates directly to the problem statement of this thesis is that performance in the public service has been unsatisfactory regardless of vigorous training and development initiatives undertaken by the Botswana government to improve the same. It is apparent that training and development initiatives undertaken without proper implementation and evaluation will not produce the anticipated results as far as performance improvement is concerned.

The link between performance management and training and development is crucial. It can almost be seen as parts of an unbroken cycle. If performance management is not implemented correctly, it will not influence the management of the skills and competence gap. Training priorities will not be determined according to the detrimental needs, but will be based on individual perceptions of what is lacking and what is appropriate. Without the strategic link between performance management and training, neither individual nor departmental training goals nor objectives will be achieved. The Department of Public Service Management (2003, p.34) stipulates that all performance agreements should contribute to the achievement of departmental objectives highlighted in the strategic plan of the department. In order to address the gap between current capacity and required competencies, a personal development plan should be part of the performance management system. The personal development plan will consist of a training and development plan specifically designed for the individual employee. The training and development needs will not only be identified through performance assessments, but also upon appointment when a work plan is developed (Mogalakwe 2004, p.69).
The performance assessment report is the main source of training information for the organization. Employees are able to identify shortcomings in knowledge and experience. The performance contract should stipulate an individual development plan. In order to address the gap that may exist between the required competency profile and the actual competencies, a training and development plan should be designed by means of a collaborative process between the manager and subordinate(s). The principle of including a personal development plan as part of the performance contract of all employees, is in the process of being implemented (DPSM 2003, p.34). The outcome of the Ernst and Young report (DPSM 2003, p.36) suggests that currently the performance management system does not inform training and development and that when training has been received, the programme is not evaluated against pre-determined training objectives. Thus, training takes place for the sake of being able to show that employees have had access to training and development opportunities, but it could be argued that the

provisioning and implementation of training programmes are not evaluated or strategically linked to enhancing individual or departmental capacity. Van Dijk (2003, p.163) adds that in most cases, training takes place for the sake of individual fulfilment and that does not necessarily concide with departmental training priorities. For instance, senior managers could decide that they need to further their educational qualifications, something that might take three to five years. However, according to their performance contracts, they have only been appointed for a period of three years. Thus, the training does satisfy individual development needs and if they finish their qualifications, it would also benefit the department, but finishing their qualification might not happen during the period of their employment. Their department can therefore, not justify spending resources on individual development if the development is not aligned with the departmental goals and objectives.

Reference: Theresia Dominic & Severine Kessy; An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Training and Development Function in Public Service Management Office in Tanzania: Repositioning African
Business and Development for the 21st Century Simon Sigu (Ed.), Proceedings of the 10th Annual Conference 2009 IAABD

The purpose of this paper is to present finding on assessment of effectiveness of training and development function carried out in Presidents Office, Public Service Management (PO-PSM) in Tanzania. Data were collected through structured questionnaires, unstructured checklists and review of organizational documents within the Office. Despite a well designed training programme, the findings established that inadequate and poor allocation of training funds, unclear criteria for trainees selection, and inability to determine type of training needed by trainees were considered as problems of implementing training programme within the Public Service Management Office. Furthermore the results show that training and development is not frequently evaluated in order to determine what benefits it brings to the organization. From these findings it is recommended that current training programme needs to be re-analyzed and improved in order to promote transparency as well as practical implementation of training plans.

Reference: URT, Prime Ministers Office Regional Administration and Local Government (May, 2010); TRAINING STRATEGYFOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES Prime Ministers, Dar es Salaam. While staff training is only one element of human resources management (HRM), it is a key for overall capacity development of the personnel. Staff training needs to be closely

linked with other elements of HRM, including staff recruitment, appointment, promotion and other incentive mechanisms, in order for staff training to lead to enhancement of job performance and improved service delivery. Second, closely linked to the first point above, the Capacity Building Plans are presently not developed based on solid training needs assessment (TNA) of all staff, which are linked to the performance goals and planned activities for the year. While most of the LGAs appear to be implementing OPRAS system for goal setting of individual staff members, TNA is not conducted at the same time. Thus, training needs is being derived from somewhere other than performance needs. In fact, Council staff at large, is not involved in the Capacity Building Plan development process. Training needs are often determined by Departmental Heads without consultation with the staff members. Staff members are largely assigned to participate in certain training by their supervisors and they have little room to exercise their initiatives. A system to link organizational performance goals with individual goals and training needs should be established. At the same time, the absence of a coherent training management information system needs to be addressed.

Third, there is prevailing inequity in terms of access to training opportunities among LGA staff, which affects staff morale. At the Council level, certain cadres of staff (e.g. Heads of Departments, Planning Officers) are seen as prioritized for training opportunities. Both at the Council and Lower Local Government (LLG), staff members in health (particularly clinical officers) and agriculture sectors have reasonable access to training opportunities to update technical knowledge and skills through respective central Ministry-led programs, while others have little access to opportunities for updating and upgrading their working knowledge and skills. LLG staff, including Ward Executive Officers (WEOs) and Village Executive Officers (VEOs) needs more training opportunity to enable them to execute their duties.

Figure 2: Desirable relationship between training needs, performance evaluation and incentive mechanisms Organizational goals and plans Performance & service delivery enhanced

Motivation enhanced

Go

Staff Performance Agreement

Desired relationship between TNA, Evaluation and Incentive Mechanism

Promotions/othe r forms of rewards

TNA Training

Performance Evaluation

As illustrated in Figure 2 above, training needs of the staff members need to be logically derived from the organizational performance needs. Under the present performance planning system of the Public Sector in Tanzania, each organization is required to develop a Medium-term Strategic Plan, from which the Annual Activity Plan is developed. Thus, each Division or Section of the organization shall develop its Annual Activity Plan based on the overall Plan of the Council, which would be the basis for individual Plans of staff members, as reflected in OPRAS. The knowledge and skills gap of each individual staff member would be identified in this process (please see detailed discussion on conducting TNA under 4.3.1 of the Strategy). In this manner, Councils shall be able to ensure that individual staff members training needs are directly linked to service delivery needs at the organizational level.

An effort to link training needs of staff with organizational performance needs shall be exerted hand in hand with an effort to ensure equitable opportunities to access necessary training for all staff. This, in turn, means a need for a dramatic expansion of the number of training opportunities for LGA staff. So, what does this actually mean? Clearly, it is unrealistic to expect an equally dramatic expansion of the financial resources for capacity building within the short span of time period for implementation of the Strategy. Thus, it requires innovative and flexible thinking on the part of all parties involved. Training is not necessarily limited to those courses and programs offered by professional training institutions in a proper classroom set up. A wide variety of training modalities and opportunities shall be considered in a flexible manner.

Establishing a system for training needs assessment (TNA) Training needs of each staff member of LGAs shall be assessed against their job descriptions, and in more immediate terms, the goals and plans of activities to be implemented during the coming year. Thus, logically speaking, under the present HRM system of the public service in Tanzania, TNA has to be implemented at the time of goal setting under the OPRAS system. Under OPRAS, the supervisor and the staff have to jointly agree on the goals, the necessary actions as well as required resources to achieve those goals at the beginning of each financial year. Each staff member is held accountable under this performance assessment system to implement the activities in order to achieve the agreed-upon goals. Thus, if some of the actions appear challenging to implement with the existing knowledge and skills of the staff member at the time of goalsetting, they become his/her training needs. In other words, the TNA shall be conducted in conjunction with OPRAS goal-setting. Again, under the existing HRM system in place in Tanzania, it is clear that there is no better moment for TNA to be conducted. This means that the staff member is held accountable for achieving the goals provided that the necessary training is offered and required resources are allocated to that particular individual in a timely manner. In other words, the supervisor (or the LGA) is held accountable for provision of the necessary training opportunity and resources for the staff member. The challenge lies in how to ensure that the identified training needs maybe followed up properly and that necessary training may be provided to the staff member. The first step to face this challenge is how to ensure recording of the TNA results (together with the entire result of OPRAS). There is a need for HRMIS for each individual staff to maintain the record of OPRAS, including the results of TNA in an easily accessible manner. Such information also has to be duly reflected on the Capacity Building Plan of the Council. The second step involves a solution to expand training opportunities so that all employees are able to access necessary training within a short period of time. As has been already pointed out in the Strategy, this requires innovative thinking and actions with a view to dramatically expand in-house and locally based low-cost, basic training opportunities (e.g. basic computer training, secretarial skills training, etc.) as well

as accessing available distance learning opportunities. The conventional view, which focuses on limited and high-cost -based training shall be fundamentally reconsidered. Establishment of a vastly improved and thorough TNA system would most probably dramatically increase the actual need for training. Thus a means to respond to such demand has to be ready at the time of the establishment of the new TNA system. Without a clear commitment on the part of PMORALG and LTI to face this challenge, establishment of a better TNA is meaningless. (Please also refer to 4.1.2 of the Strategy).