Achieving High Performance in the public sector in Zambia: Where are we and what needs to be done?

Abstract

What is the level of high performance in the public sector? What are the factors representing a significant challenge to high performance in the public sector in Zambia? This paper uses the HPO Framework developed by De Waal (2008) to identify the factors that are slowing down the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry departments in achieving high performance.  In November and December 2012 the HPO Questionnaire was distributed, via the internet, to all managers and employees of MCTI and four statutory bodies under MCTI. In total 171 completed questionnaires were received which constituted a response rate of 42.3%. Subsequently, a workshop was organized in Lusaka, with representatives of all departments of MCTI and the four statutory bodies. Therefore, this paper is based on results the HPO Questionnaire and the workshops that were conducted by the author and Dr de Waal, Director of HPO Centre, Netherlands. It was established that the public sector in Zambia did much better on all the characteristics of the high performance framework. However, two of the statutory bodies were focusing on different factors. The results further serve as a basis for adoption of the High Performance Framework in the public sector in Zambia. The research depicted areas for high performance in the public sector in a developing country which past research may not have been done. However, the key limitation was that the study one focused only on one ministry therefore, the results may have limited inference to other organisations in the Zambian public sector.

Key words: High Performance, Public Sector, HPO Framework