Abstract
This article is part of a doctoral project entitled “Results-Based Management and Performance of Civil Servants in Kenya”. The purpose of the article is to determine the influence of performance appraisal on performance of civil servants. During the last three decades performance appraisal has become a popular instrument in public sector reform agenda under the New Public Management which is results-driven. Its application has since become an important human resource management practice in the public sector performance management systems. The underlying aim is to foster organizational and individual efficiency and effectiveness in the public sector. Applying both descriptive survey and case study designs with a mixed research strategy, the study found that performance appraisal has a significant positive influence on performance of civil servants in Kenya. This means that, when performance appraisal process is effective, civil servants learn about themselves; gaining sense of personal worth, become more knowledgeable about their tasks, and more imperatively they learn about what are mostly valued by the employer. The study recommends for pragmatic use of performance appraisal since has significantly and positively influenced the performance of civil servants in Kenya.
Highlights
Since the 1990s the New Public Management (NPM) has had significant influence in public sector management reforms globally
Kenya picked up NPM public sector reforms in 2004 by introducing performance based management practices in the public service [4],[5]
The National Performance Management Framework (NPMF) provides a platform for institutionalizing Results Based Management (RBM) as well as spelling out the roles and responsibilities in which public institutions and individuals are to be held accountable for achieving better results to the citizens [6]
Summary
Since the 1990s the New Public Management (NPM) has had significant influence in public sector management reforms globally. Underlying NPM is the incorporation of private sector ethos into the public sector [1]. The reception of these techniques in the public service was to create fundamental cultural changes in this sector that were presumed to result in efficiency and effectiveness [2]-[4]. Kenya picked up NPM public sector reforms in 2004 by introducing performance based management practices in the public service [4],[5]. To actualize this reform, a number of polices were developed including the National Performance Management Framework (NPMF). The government took further steps by setting Competency Development (CD) aiming at strengthening needed skills, attitudes, knowledge and abilities of civil servants to enable them improve performance [6]
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