Surveying Public Officials

Sixteen country surveys involving a total of 7,000 public officials have been undertaken over the past 18 months, funded by the World Bank-Netherlands Partnership Program (BNPP).

The results of the public officials surveys in Albania, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Guyana and Indonesia are now available at the following link: http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/civilservice/surveys.htm.

Survey findings have been interpreted within the World Bank by Nick Manning, Ranjana Mukherjee and Omer Gokcekus with inputs from inputs from Gary Reid and Jana Orac (Albania); Don Winkler and Jeffrey Rinne (Argentina); Kapil Kapoor, Pierre Landell-Mills and Phil Keefer (Bangladesh); Yasuhiko Matsuda and Suzanne Dove (Bolivia); Raj Nallari (Guyana) and Bert Hofman (Indonesia).

Results of surveys in Bulgaria, East Caribbean states, Kenya and Moldova have been prepared and are now being discussed with World Bank staff that managed these surveys.

To open up the debate on interpretation of survey findings, an e-mail discussion was managed by Ranjana Mukherjee. Participants in this January 2001 discussion included academics, in-country NGOs, staff of the Bank and other multilateral organizations. Performance orientation emerged as the most compelling issue. Participants generally agreed that higher salaries would not necessarily encourage a results focus in civil services. They advocated performance evaluation and linking it to the career paths of public officials.

Full results are available at http://www1.worldbank.org/publicsector/civilservice/surveys.htm.

Why were civil servants surveyed?
The public officials surveys were an innovative approach to finding out about public organizations' poor performance. Rather than relying on external consultants and external experts, officials themselves were asked about what signals they receive from policies, how they viewed rules in their organizations, and how resources actually flow. What do officials believe will happen or not happen as a result of following or not following formal rules?

Funding was received from the Bank Netherlands Partnership Program to survey more than seven thousand public officials in sixteen countries. Based on the premise that officials' actions depend on their perceived incentives from their institutional environment, an analytical framework was developed which explored the connection between officials' performance and their institutional environment. The analysis went a step further to propose which reform interventions held the most promise of raising performance.

How were the surveys conducted?
In this program managed by Nick Manning, a basic survey template was developed by Bert Rockman of the University of Pittsburgh, and this was tailored to each country's context by Bank staff managing the surveys in that country. Surveys were administered by local organizations. Survey results were prepared by Omer Gokcekus, Ranjana Mukherjee and Nick Manning with inputs from Bank staff working on that country.

What new information did the surveys provide?
Each country's civil service environment was analyzed. The surveys showed that across countries, institutions matter for public officials performance. Other cross-cutting themes showed up across countries.

The surveys provided evidence of several commonly believed ideas about public officials' work-habits. Equally, some common assertions were found to be incorrect.

Country Reports
Albania
Albanian officials believe that Public employees do not want to move to the private sector; corruption is rarely punished; government puts low emphasis on service delivery; the civil service is politicized; and training does not improve officials' performance. Click here for the complete results.

Argentina
Argentine officials believe that corruption is a significant problem. Click here for the complete results.

Bangladesh
Bangladeshi officials believe that bad performance is seldom formally punished; control is not delegated sufficiently; Class I (highest category) officials are a well-organized interest group; public officials make more than their official salaries; and organizations' budget management is weak. Click here for the complete results.

Bolivia
Bolivian officials believe that public employees are poorly prepared for their jobs; the recruitment process is neither merit-based, nor transparent; officials' morale is low; and corruption pervades the public sector.
Click here for the complete results.

Bulgaria
Key findings: Job security is the most attractive feature of public sector jobs; there is no clear performance evaluation system in place; rewards and punishments are not merit-based; budget resources are inadequate or unpredictable; and corruption is a serious problem in the public sector.
(Data not yet posted)

East Caribbean states
Key findings: Officials in Antigua-Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia and in St. Vincent and Grenadines believe that many functions are performed by government at the national level. These functions are not appropriately located, and they could be moved to the private sector. Officials in 3 of the six surveyed East Caribbean countries (Dominica, Grenada, and St. Lucia) believe that Government is focused on results. Government's efficiency is acknowledged only by officials in St. Kitts and Nevis. Officials in Antigua-Barbuda, Dominica , and St. Kitts & Nevis believe that the existing mechanisms of oversight of the public sector are effective.
(Data not yet posted)

Guyana
Guyanese officials believe that public sector jobs are attractive; there are no incentives for good performance and few disincentives for bad performance; decision-making in the public sector is characterized by poor communication and low employee participation, corruption pervades the public sector, and budget management remains weak. Click here for the complete results.

Indonesia
Indonesian officials believe that job security is the most attractive feature of public sector jobs; officials are not performance-oriented via a merit-based system of rewards and punishments; and corruption reduces the effectiveness of public sector organizations.
Click here for the complete results.

Kenya
Key findings: Officials believe that job security is the most attractive feature of public sector jobs; the existing record keeping system is not effective; funding is neither adequate nor predictable; and curbing corruption will improve organizations' performance.
(Data not yet posted)

Moldova
Key findings: Officials believe that public sector pay is low; there are few rewards for good performance, and bad performance is seldom punished; the civil service is politicized; budget management is weak; and corruption pervades the public sector.
(Data not yet posted)

Cross-cutting issues
Institutions matter. In each surveyed country, institutional environment and performance of public sector organizations were measured and regressions were run between performance and institutional environment. In all surveyed countries, survey data analysis provided evidence supporting the theory-based assertion that institutional environment drives performance.

Public officials receive few rewards. In 15 out of 16 countries surveyed public officials reported that excellent performance is not rewarded.

Politicization is bad for the civil service, but incentives work even in politicized environments

We look forward to your interpretation of the results! The results of the public officials surveys have posted on the Bank's website. We look forward to your feedback challenging or confirming our interpretation of the survey results.

The analytical framework and survey findings have been used in training World Bank staff on institutional assessment. The results of surveys in Albania, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Guyana and Moldova have been used in the Bank's dialogue with government and been inputs in Bank's operations.

A selection from the survey findings is being reported by Transparency International's Global Corruption Report.

World Bank publications related to this study are:

• Manning, Nick, Ranjana Mukherjee, and Omer Gokcekus, 2000. Public Officials and their Institutional Environment: An Analytical Model for Assessing the Impact of Institutional Change on Public Sector Performance. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 2427. Washington D.C.: The World Bank.
  
  
• Gokcekus, Omer, Nick Manning, Ranjana Mukherjee, and Raj Nallari. 2001. Institutional Environment and Public Officials' Performance in Guyana. World Bank Technical Paper No. 506. Washington D.C.: The World Bank.
  
  
• Mukherjee, Ranjana, Omer Gokcekus, Nick Manning, and Pierre Landell-Mills. 2001. Bangladesh: The Experience and Perceptions of Public Officials. World Bank Technical Paper No. 507. Washington D.C.: The World Bank.