The Experience and Perceptions of Public Officials in Guyana
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The experience and perceptions public officials in Guyana Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. 1 Executive Summary ............................................................................................................ 2 Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 5 1. Profile of public employment.......................................................................................... 6 1.1 Background ............................................................................................................... 6 1.2 Composition of the public sector .............................................................................. 6 1.3 Personnel management responsibilities in the public sector..................................... 7 1.4 Public Sector Reform during the nineties ................................................................. 8 1.5 Shape and size of public employment....................................................................... 9 1.6 Fiscal weight ........................................................................................................... 11 2. The survey of public officials in Guyana...................................................................... 13 2.1 Why were public officials surveyed?...................................................................... 13 2.2 Survey design ......................................................................................................... 14 2.3 Sampling features................................................................................................... 15 2.4 Survey administration ............................................................................................. 16 3. Survey findings ............................................................................................................. 18 4. Looking for points of entrythe impact of institutional environment on performance ........................................................................................................................................... 26 4.1 The model used for analyzing WBNPP surveys ..................................................... 26 4.2 Measuring the institutional environment................................................................. 27 4.3 Implications for organizations................................................................................. 31 4.4 Measuring Performance .......................................................................................... 35 4.5 The Connection between Performance and Institutional Environment .................. 37 4.6 Where are the Opportunities for Reforms? ............................................................. 39 4.7 Institutional rates of returns (IRRs)......................................................................... 40 4.8 The implications for interventions .......................................................................... 43 5. Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 44 5.1 Findings on the public sector .................................................................................. 44 5.2 Some organizations to watch................................................................................... 45 5.3 Tentative Recommendations................................................................................... 46 Bibliography...................................................................................................................... 48 Draft for Consultation ii Appendices........................................................................................................................ 50 Appendix 1. Details of public sector organizations ...................................................... 50 Appendix 3. Institutional Environment Indicators........................................................60 Appendix 4: Performance indicators............................................................................. 69 Appendix 5: Connection of performance and institutional environment...................... 76 Appendix 6: Econometric and analytical issues............................................................ 79 List of Tables Table 1. Personnel management responsibilities in different parts of the public sector..... 8 Table 2. Variation of benefits and allowances around the average................................... 11 Table 3. Trends in personnel expenditure ......................................................................... 12 Table 4: Key dimensions probed in the survey................................................................. 14 Table 5 Common assertions tested.................................................................................... 18 Table 6. Drivers of high and low institutional environment scores .................................. 33 Table 7: Reform Interventions and anticipated performance pay- offs in the public sector of Guyana .................................................................................................................. 41 Table A 1. List of ministries............................................................................................. 50 Table A 2. Lists of Semi-autonomous Agencies.............................................................. 50 Table A 3. List of Constitutional Agencies....................................................................... 50 Table A 4. List of Public Corporations ............................................................................. 51 Table A 5. List of regions.................................................................................................. 51 Table A 6. Grades and pay-scales ..................................................................................... 52 Table A 7. Questions used for calculating rule credibility in Guyana .............................. 62 Table A 8 Rule credibility indicator and its components in Guyana ................................ 63 Table A 9 Questions used for calculating policy credibility in Guyana ........................... 64 Table A 10 Policy credibility indicator and its components in Guyana............................ 65 Table A 11 Questions used for calculating resource adequacy and predictability in Guyana ...................................................................................................................... 66 Table A 12. Indicator of institutional environment and its components in Guyana ......... 67 Table A 13. Institutional Environment in Guyana (standardized) .................................... 68 Table A 14 Questions used for calculating results focus in Guyana................................. 69 Table A 15. Indicator of results focus and its components in Guyana............................. 70 Table A 16. Questions used to calculate accountability indicator in Guyana................... 71 Table A 17. Accountability indicator and its components in Guyana .............................. 72 Table A 18. Questions used for calculating employee morale in Guyana ........................ 73 Table A 19. Employee morale indicator and its components in Guyana.......................... 74 Table A 20. Indicator of performance and its components in Guyana ............................. 75 List of Figures Figure 1. Composition of Guyanese public sector by type of organization........................ 6 Figure 2. Structure of executive government in Guyana .................................................... 9 Figure 3. Employment in Guyanese civilian government (excluding police)................... 10 Draft for Consultation iii Figure 4: Some characteristics of sample distribution ...................................................... 16 Figure 5. Reasons why officials join the public sector ..................................................... 20 Figure 6. Ways in which officials supplement salaries..................................................... 20 Figure 7. How do officials rate the quality of lives they lead? ......................................... 20 Figure 8. The most exits from the public sector take place at which level? ..................... 20 Figure 9. Education levels of surveyed officials............................................................... 21 Figure 10. Part of the formal training that officials applied to their jobs.......................... 21 Figure 11. Officials who were assured of obtaining their jobs even before they applied. 22 Figure 12. Officials who were recruited on the basis of written examination .................. 22 Figure 13. Officials’ perceptions of whether politicians’ interference is a significant problem...................................................................................................................... 22 Figure 14. Officials’ perceptions of whether politically well-connected colleagues are treated better.............................................................................................................. 22 Figure 15. Intervention that can contribute most to improving organizations’ performance ..................................................................................................................................