Management and Bureaucratic Effectiveness : Evidence from the Ghanaian Civil Service

Management and Bureaucratic Effectiveness : Evidence from the Ghanaian Civil Service

A burgeoning area of social science research examines how state capabilities and bureaucratic effectiveness shape economic development. This paper studies how the management practices of civil service bureaucrats correlate to the delivery of public...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rasul, Imran, Rogger, Daniel, Williams, Martin J.
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2018
Subjects:
CIVIL SERVICE
PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT
PUBLIC SECTOR PERFORMANCE
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
LABOR MARKET
PAY FOR PERFORMANCE
CORRUPTION
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/335361537384686708/Management-and-Bureaucratic-Effectiveness-Evidence-from-the-Ghanaian-Civil-Service
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30467
id okr-10986-30467
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-304672022-06-29T12:17:32Z Management and Bureaucratic Effectiveness : Evidence from the Ghanaian Civil Service Rasul, Imran Rogger, Daniel Williams, Martin J. CIVIL SERVICE PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT PUBLIC SECTOR PERFORMANCE HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT LABOR MARKET PAY FOR PERFORMANCE CORRUPTION A burgeoning area of social science research examines how state capabilities and bureaucratic effectiveness shape economic development. This paper studies how the management practices of civil service bureaucrats correlate to the delivery of public projects, using novel data from the Ghanaian Civil Service. This paper combines hand-coded progress reports on 3,600 projects with a management survey in the government ministries and departments responsible for these projects. The analysis finds that management matters: practices related to autonomy are positively associated with project completion, yet practices related to incentives/monitoring of bureaucrats are negatively associated with project completion. The negative impact of incentives/monitoring practices is partly explained by bureaucrats having to multi-task, interactions with their intrinsic motivation, their engagement in influence activities, and project characteristics such as the clarity of targets and deliverable outputs. The paper discusses the interplay between management practices and corruption, alternative methods by which to measure management practices in organizations, and the external validity of the results. The findings suggest that the focus of many civil service reform programs on introducing stronger incentives and monitoring may backfire in some organizations, and that even countries with low levels of state capability may benefit by providing public servants with greater autonomy in some spheres. 2018-09-28T16:21:05Z 2018-09-28T16:21:05Z 2018-09 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/335361537384686708/Management-and-Bureaucratic-Effectiveness-Evidence-from-the-Ghanaian-Civil-Service http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30467 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8595 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Ghana
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic CIVIL SERVICE
PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT
PUBLIC SECTOR PERFORMANCE
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
LABOR MARKET
PAY FOR PERFORMANCE
CORRUPTION
spellingShingle CIVIL SERVICE
PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT
PUBLIC SECTOR PERFORMANCE
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
LABOR MARKET
PAY FOR PERFORMANCE
CORRUPTION
Rasul, Imran
Rogger, Daniel
Williams, Martin J.
Management and Bureaucratic Effectiveness : Evidence from the Ghanaian Civil Service
geographic_facet Africa
Ghana
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8595
description A burgeoning area of social science research examines how state capabilities and bureaucratic effectiveness shape economic development. This paper studies how the management practices of civil service bureaucrats correlate to the delivery of public projects, using novel data from the Ghanaian Civil Service. This paper combines hand-coded progress reports on 3,600 projects with a management survey in the government ministries and departments responsible for these projects. The analysis finds that management matters: practices related to autonomy are positively associated with project completion, yet practices related to incentives/monitoring of bureaucrats are negatively associated with project completion. The negative impact of incentives/monitoring practices is partly explained by bureaucrats having to multi-task, interactions with their intrinsic motivation, their engagement in influence activities, and project characteristics such as the clarity of targets and deliverable outputs. The paper discusses the interplay between management practices and corruption, alternative methods by which to measure management practices in organizations, and the external validity of the results. The findings suggest that the focus of many civil service reform programs on introducing stronger incentives and monitoring may backfire in some organizations, and that even countries with low levels of state capability may benefit by providing public servants with greater autonomy in some spheres.
format Working Paper
author Rasul, Imran
Rogger, Daniel
Williams, Martin J.
author_facet Rasul, Imran
Rogger, Daniel
Williams, Martin J.
author_sort Rasul, Imran
title Management and Bureaucratic Effectiveness : Evidence from the Ghanaian Civil Service
title_short Management and Bureaucratic Effectiveness : Evidence from the Ghanaian Civil Service
title_full Management and Bureaucratic Effectiveness : Evidence from the Ghanaian Civil Service
title_fullStr Management and Bureaucratic Effectiveness : Evidence from the Ghanaian Civil Service
title_full_unstemmed Management and Bureaucratic Effectiveness : Evidence from the Ghanaian Civil Service
title_sort management and bureaucratic effectiveness : evidence from the ghanaian civil service
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2018
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/335361537384686708/Management-and-Bureaucratic-Effectiveness-Evidence-from-the-Ghanaian-Civil-Service
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30467
_version_ 1764472191074697216

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