What Does It Take To Achieve Successful Civil Service Reform Implementation? A Review of Relevant Empirical Studies
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63990/2017ajoldvol1iss1pp1-7Keywords:
Civil Service Reform, Implementation, Determinants, Literature ReviewAbstract
This paper reviewed relevant empirical studies on civil service reform, its implementation, as well as management in the case of public sector organizations. The finding indicates that, civil service reform implementation can be generally determined by four major areas: civil service reform design process, internal organizational factors, change management, and politico-administrative context. However, civil service reform studies, as reviewed in this paper, were dominated by qualitative and anecdotal analysis and thus lacked quantitative rigor. Literature on reform in the case of Ethiopia was underdeveloped and empirical facts were not established. Investigations on politico-administrative factors as well as issues of reform management were inadequate. Future research endeavor (including in Ethiopia) should focus on: quantitative studies, developing analytical tools for reform evaluation and analysis, further investigation on the effect of politico-administrative context has on reform design and implementation, and explore reform
management.
References
Alam, N. (2010).Managing for results: lessons from public management reform in Malaysia. International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 23 No. 1, 2010.doi: 10.1108/09513551011012312
Aufrecht, S. & Bun, L. (1995). Reform with Chinese characteristics: the context of Chinese civil service reform. Public Administration Review, Vol. 55, No. 2 (Mar. - Apr., 1995), pp. 175-182. Retrieved from JSTOR.
Bordia, P., Restubog, S., Jimmieson, N. & Irmer, B. (2011).Haunted by the past: effects of poor change management history on employee attitudes and turnover. Group & Organization Management, 36(2) 191–222. doi: 10.1177/1059601110392990
Brewer, G. & Kellough, E. (2016). Administrative values and public personnel management: reflections on civil service reform. Public Personnel Management, 2016, Vol. 45(2) 171–189. Doi: 10.11 77/ 0091026016644626
Chanie, P. (2001). The challenges of the civil service reform in Ethiopia: initial observations. Retrieved from http:/ /elibrary.ossrea.net/ collect/admin eassrr/archives/HASH01cd.dir/doc.pdf
Christensen, T. & Fan, Y. (2016). Post new public management: a new administrative paradigm for China? International Review of Administrative Sciences, 0(0) 1–16.doi: 10.1177/0020852316633513
Debela, T. (2012). Civil service in Ethiopia: the marriage between profession and politics. Retrieved from http:/ /unpan1 .un.org/ intradoc/groups/public/documents/un-dpadm/unpan044902.pdf
Edmonds, J. (2011). Managing successful change. Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol.43 Issue: 6, pp.349-353.doi: 10.1108/ 00197851111160478
Gilley, A., McMillan, H. & Gilley, J. (2009).Organizational change and characteristics of leadership effectiveness. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, Vol. 16 Number 1, pp.38-47.doi: 10.1 177 /15 48051809334191
Götz, A., Grotz, F. & Weber, T. (2015). Party government and administrative reform: evidence from the German länder. Administration & Society, 1–34. doi: 10.1177/0095399715597267
Hailemariam, G. & Common, R. (2006). Civil service reform in Ethiopia: success in two ministries. Retrieved from http://www2 .hull.ac. uk/ hubs/pdf/memorandum59.pdf
Huq, Z. (2005). Managing change: a barrier to TQM implementation in service industries. Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, Vol. 15 Issue:5, pp.452-469. doi: 10.11 08/09 6045 205 10617301
Jørgensen, H., Owen, L. &Neus, A. (2009). Stop improvising change management! Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 37 Issue:2, pp.38-44. doi: 10.1108/10878570910941217
Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA, 2007). Trade policy-making process in Kenya: the institutional arrangements and interaction of actors. Retrieved from https:// www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publicationsopinion files/1808.pdf
Kickert,W.(2014). Specificity of change management in public organizations: conditions for successful organizational change in Dutch ministerial departments. American Review of Public Administration, 2014, Vol. 44(6) 693–717.doi: 10.1177/0275074013483871
Kim, S.& Han, C. (2015).Administrative reform in South Korea: new public management and the bureaucracy. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 2015, Vol. 81(4) 694–712.doi:10.11 77/00 20852314558034
Kotter, J. (1995).Leading change: why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, March – April 1995, Reprint 95204.Retrieved from http://camgraham.com/HBR%20Leading%20Change%20%20Why% 20Transformation%20Efforts%20Fail.pdf
Kpessa, W. (2011). The politics of public policy in Ghana: from closed circuit bureaucrats to citizenry engagement. Sage publications, 27(1): 29–56.doi: 10.1177/0169796X1002700103
Levasseur, R. (2010). People skills: ensuring project success—a change management perspective. Interfaces, Vol. 40, No. 2 (March-April 2010), pp. 159-162. doi:10.1287 /inte.l090.0473
Miruts, G. &Asfaw, M. (2014). The implementation of civil service reforms in Ethiopia: the woreda-net as a sole promoter to implement civil service reform of Tigray national regional state. Civil and Environmental Research, ISSN 2225-0514 Vol.6, No.5. Retrieved from www.iiste.org
Miruts, G. (2015). Civil service reform and leadership role in Ethiopia: the case of Tigray regional state. Public Policy and Administration Research, ISSN 2225-0972 Vol.5, No.1. Retrieved from www.iiste.org
Ngok, K. & Zhu, G. (2007). Marketization, globalization, and administrative reform in china: a zigzag road to a promising future. International Review of Administrative Sciences, Vol 73(2):217–233. doi:10.1 177/0020852307077972
Nigussa, F. (2014). A critical analysis of the conceptualization and implementation of citizens’ charters: case studies from UK, India, South Africa, and Ethiopia. Public Policy and Administration Research, ISSN 2225-0972 Vol.4, No.1. Retrieved from www.iiste.org
Ohemeng F. (2015).Civil society and policy making in developing countries: assessing the impact of think tanks on policy outcomes in Ghana. Journal of Asian and AfricanStudies, 50(6) 667–682. doi: 10.1 177/ 0021909614535917
Olowu, B. (1999). Redesigning African civil service reforms. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 37, I (I999), pp. 1-23. Retrieved from JSTOR
Olushola, J. (2016). Reforming Nigeria’s federal civil service: problems and prospects. Sage Publications. doi: 10.1177/0974928415618755
Peled, A. (2002). Why style matters: a comparison of two administrativ reform initiatives in the Israeli public sector, 1989-1998. J-PART 12(2002):2:217-240. Retrieved from http://jpart.oxfordjournals.org
Peus, C., Frey, D., Gerkhardt, M., Fischer, P. &TrautMattausch,E. (2009).Leading and managing organizational change initiative. Management Review, Vol. 20, No. 2, Special Issue: Management of Change (2009), pp. 158-175.doi: 10.1688/1861-9908_mrev_ 2009_02_Peus
Pollitt, C. & Bouckaert, G.(2011). Public management reform: a comparative analysis – new public management, governance, and the neo–weberian state (3rd Ed.) Oxford University Press, Oxford
Samaratunge, R., Alam, Q. &Teicher, J.(2008). The new public management reforms in Asia: a comparison of south and South East Asian countries.International Review of Administrative Sciences, Vol 74(1): 25–46 doi: 10.1177/0020852307085732
Sezen, S. (2011).International versus domestic explanations of administrative reforms: the case of Turkey. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 77(2) 322–346.doi: 10.1177/0020852311399229
Sharma, R. & Sahoo, C. (2014).Education, empowerment and communication (EEC) as drivers of managing change. Management and LabourStudies,39(2) 174–186. doi: 10.1177/0258042X14558183
Shih, M., Sun, M. & Wang, G. (2012). The historical institutionalism analysis of Taiwan’s administrative reform. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 78(2) 305–327.doi: 10.11 77/ 0020 852 312 438523
Spector, B. (2010). Implementing organizational change: theory in to practice (2nd Ed.). Pearson Education Incorporation, USA, New Jersy
Stanleigh, M. (2007). Effecting successful change management initiatives. Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 40 Issue: 1, pp.34-37. doi: 10.1108/00197850810841620
Sutanto, J., Kankanhalli, A., Raman, J. & Tan, B. (2009).Change management in interorganizational systems for the public. Journal of Management Information Systems, Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 133-175. doi: 10.2753/MIS0742- 1222250304
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2017 Abraham Hagos Gebreyohannes, Worku Negash Motbainor

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.