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FOREWORD
I present the Performance Management System Philosophy Document for the Botswana Public
Service to our stakeholders, customers and the Public Service. This document mirrors the past,
current and the intended future state of our Public Service. It outlines the reality with respect to
Public Service performance management since independence, a period over which a number of
performance improvement initiatives were implemented, some of which achieved their intended
objectives. The document also touches on the current reforms and explains the linkages of
these reforms with PMS. It further expands on the aims, objectives and expected benefits of
PMS.

PMS is a change and quality management process that facilitates a comprehensive management
of performance at all levels in an organisation. Its major objectives are, to improve individual
and organisational performance in a systematic and sustainable way; to provide a planning and
change management framework which is linked to budgeting and funding process; to enhance
Government capacity; and to inculcate the culture of performance and accountability to manage
at higher levels of productivity so as to provide efficient service delivery. The starting point in
the implementation of any performance initiative is to align Public Service management style to
make it compatible with the challenges of the competitive world. Public Service Managers must
change their mindset and those of their surbodinates and design a new paradigm that sets a
clear cause for better management.

The PMS is expected to be rolled out to all ministries/independent departments by the year
2004. Essentially, the PMS involves coming up with a vision, a mission and value statements
that will guide the whole public service. This has been developed and published as “Botswana
Public Service Vision Statement”. This was followed by the development of Strategic Plans, by
all ministries and departments. From strategic plans, ministries/departments developed their
Annual Performance Plans (APP). To date, the development of APPs at ministries is at different
levels. It is gratifying to note that whilst some ministries are refining their APPs, some started
implementing theirs from 1st April 2001.

The implementation of PMS involves setting of target outputs and agreements between the
supervisor and those being supervised. This is to be followed by regular progress reviews for
supervisors to know areas of problems and take timeous action. The result should enhance
productivity and a keen interest in the job.

In conclusion I would like to urge all of public officers to execute their functions in accordance
with the Public Service values, and ensure that attitudes of the past are shed in favour of
embracing the new ones as clearly articulated in the Public Service Vision statement. I call upon
stakeholders to read this document in order to assist the Public Service to focus on the desired
achievements.

M L Selepeng
Permanent Secretary to the President
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THE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AS AN INSTRUMENT

TO ENABLE GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES AND DEPARTMENTS
TO CONSCIENTIOUSLY WORK TOWARDS OPTIMUM
DELIVERY OF SERVICES TO THE NATION.

PERFORMANCE OF GOVERNMENT MINISTRIES AND DEPARTMENTS TO DATE.

Since Botswana attained independence on the 30th September, 1966, National

Development Plans, which covered periods of five years each, have been drawn up as
instruments to be followed in the orderly and prioritised delivery of services to the nation.
Packages of priorities that each ministry had indicated they could tackle within the five year
period were listed and funding sought for their execution within the Plan period. Adequate
manpower resources were at the same time provided to enable the projects to be executed
and, after execution, maintained.

2. Execution of all the individual projects for the purpose of delivering services to the
nation, however, did not have firm commencement and completion dates. With no target
dates set for the commencement and completion of delivery of the services to the nation,
some projects were executed to fruition whilst others were not, necessitating their carry-
over from one development plan to the next. The reasons for this have been many and
varied, but the crucial one had been weak planning at ministry or department level. There
were no detailed operational plans in place to guide ministries in their effective delivery of
projects. This, more often than not, resulted in major and somewhat uniform
implementation problems.

3. Any Government’s agenda often would change in response to the demands and
expectations of the nation it is serving, including other internal obligations, and the external
environment, in particular the competitive world. The Government of Botswana and
indeed the public service has nevertheless, on the other hand, achieved a lot over the past
years since independence. A number of reforms or performance improvement initiatives
were implemented during this period, some of which achieved their intended objectives.

The Training and Localisation Commission was established immediately after

independence with the aim of ensuring that jobs are placed in the hands of Batswana.
Over the years localisation has succeeded in providing some of the best local workers in
the country, and continues to do so, without any compromise to efficiency. The financial
and manpower ceilings, introduced in the late seventies, have served a most useful purpose
in that we do not have unaccounted for posts, ghost posts and ghost employees in the
public service. The Job Evaluation exercise, introduced to ensure that remuneration was
commensurate with job responsibility, has sustained the pay-structure of the public service
for many years up to date. Organisation and Methods (O&M) reviews were introduced to
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facilitate the establishment of clear goals and objectives by ministries and departments.
Other reforms included parallel progression, enhanced employer/employee relations and
the WITS programme.

4. However, the achievement referred to above was also not without problems, which
eventually made the public service inefficient. The current state of affairs, described below,
has earned the Government and the public service a bad reputation compounded by a
perceived insensitivity to public demands, non performance and the overall lack of
accountability and discipline.

More specifically:

­ There is a perceived general waste of resources and inefficiency in managing

these resources in ministries and departments. Lack of proper planning and
management of funds have repeatedly resulted in non completion of key
projects, more funding for some projects and this greatly affected the fiscus.
Inefficient management of the human resources has at times resulted in
some unwarranted posts in some Ministries.

­ Batswana are generally not involved in the decision making processes,

particularly with regard to their demands and aspirations. The public service
is often viewed as being insensitive to what really matters to the public in
terms of the services provided.

­ The National Development Plans (NDPs) present a macro plan for ministries
and departments to follow, but often times there is little or no operational
plans at organisational level to ensure delivery. There are no strategic plans,
key goals and objectives coupled with very little information on performance
and achievements of strategic obligations.

­ There is a general lack of confidence on the public service by the nation

compounded by unending pubic disquiet about the Government as an
ineffective and inefficient service provider. The tax payer is convinced more
and more that they are not getting their Pula’s worth.

­ The wind of change is continually sweeping across the globe and compels
countries and their nations, often with limited choices and resources, to
become competitive if they are to survive and sustain themselves. Botswana
is no exception to this global frenzy and the public service is no doubt the
main driver of this important transition.

THE NEED FOR CHANGE

5. What started off as murmurs by the public about non-delivery of services by

Ministries and Departments of Government has now become loud accusations of
“insensitivity” against the Government at large, including local authorities. Government
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has for a long time been worried about this situation and from 1994 to 1997 it conducted
investigations into what steps could be taken to put things right. The outcome of the
investigation was the recommendation that a completely modern system be adopted to
improve the existing public service way of management, if productivity of the service were
to be restored. The recommendations included, among others, the introduction of three
reforms, namely:
DECENTRALISATION
COMPUTERIZATION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Government has approved these three recommendations.

6. The reform of DECENTRALISATION is meant to ensure that Permanent Secretaries

have the power to control the staff working under them. They will now have the power to
recruit, appoint, promote, demote, send on training courses, discipline and dismiss, all
persons working under them up to the grade of the D.1. In order for the Permanent
Secretary to perform these duties expeditiously to avoid delays similar to those that used to
be experienced when these functions were exercised by the Directorate of Public Service
Management, COMPUTERISATION OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS is under
way to enable information regarding all officers serving in a Ministry to be stored in
computers in that ministry so that it is readily available to action officers at the push of a
button. A mainframe computer will be kept in the Directorate of Public Service
Management. It will contain information on all persons employed by Government serving
in all ministries and departments, and will be interlinked with the computers in Ministries.
Where certain data relating to a particular officer in a Ministry is found missing, such
information will be obtained from the DPSM mainframe computer at the push of a button
and within seconds such information shall have been obtained. The very long delays that
took place when Ministries used to write letters to the Directorate of Public Service
Management to make recommendations of one kind or another will no longer occur. We
will thus have self-contained Ministries. This has been arranged in order to be able to
introduce the PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, which is an instrument of change
that could not successfully be introduced before Ministries had been empowered.

WHY THE PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM?

7. It is for the reasons described in paragraphs 3 and 4 above, and many others that a
new system, a new way of carrying out public service and Government business was found
necessary. The status quo described above cannot be allowed to prevail for we risk serious
repercussions if we did. If we continue the way we have, we will probably get the same
unsatisfactory results, we will not compete effectively and in the long run our existence as a
nation may be threatened. We desperately need to “leap frog” and forge ahead, and the
PMS has been identified as the appropriate system to facilitate this necessary transition. This
follows the recommendations by the consultants AED from their investigations on the
public service performance and evaluation of past reforms.

8. The Government intention for introducing the Performance Management System

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(PMS) in the public service is to ensure the latter delivers on set and agreed plans, improves
and sustains productivity at all levels, and inculcates a culture of performance,
accountability and focus on results or outputs. It has been realised that the public service
needs a holistic and sustainable approach to improve productivity, manage performance
and achieve set goals and objectives.

In addition the PMS is necessary for the following reasons, which are not exhaustive:

­ The system will address previous fragmented “one-shot” productivity

improvement initiatives like O&M, Job Evaluation, WITS, Parallel
Progression etc. These initiatives dealt mostly with specific aspects and
problems of ministries and departments rather than address all areas of the
organisation. The PMS provides a holistic framework that facilitates the
employment and integration of some of the above initiatives like WITS.

­ The PMS will enhance focus and direction by ministries and departments on
priority areas in the delivery of their national plan obligations. Ministries,
through their strategic management process will not only develop clear goals
and objectives, but will also be able to objectively justify their budget and
funding requirements mostly emanating from the Annual Performance Plans
(APPs).

­ The system, will promote a new focus and emphasis on performance and
results, enhanced qualify service delivery and public (customer) satisfaction.
The system facilitates the development and achievement of set and agreed
goals and objectives at ministry and individual levels, development and
effective utilisation of measures, as well as making public officers and
ministries accountable for their results.

­ Introduction of the PMS does not disrupt the present management structures,
but rather it builds on them. The main difference or change is that it equips
ministry executives and management with more disciplined tools to manage
and enhance performance in their organisations. Through their ownership
and use of the system managers will ably lead the change process.

­ The system is designed to be a permanent process in ministries and

departments, and will be enhanced by self-sustaining and self-reinforcing
characteristics built in it. The PMS ability to integrate with all other
improvement initiatives makes it a more sustainable process. In the same
vein it is able to reinforce itself and thus enhance the process to continuously
improve performance and achieve results.

IMPLICATIONS FOR THE PMS

9. The design of the PMS is such that it is able to integrate other performance
improvement initiatives like re-engineering , restructuring, performance related pay system,
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WITS, etc. In fact experience has shown that PMS and strategies such as WITS are
inseparable.

10. The WITS programme facilitates problem solving through the use of specially trained
teams, and the teams normally have the authority to determine how they handle and solve
each problem. In other words, WITS are problem solving tools employed by ministries to
deal with various problems and make worthwhile recommendations to management.

11. On the other hand PMS facilitates the development of strategic goals and objectives
by ministries and department. It is from these strategies that ministries will often identify
problems which, if not resolved, will result in the non achievement of intended goals and
objectives. A greater obligation is therefore created for such problems to be resolved, and
in this way the role of WITS becomes more of a necessity than an option.

12. A process of solving problems through useful structures such as WITS has not only
proven cheap for organisations when compared with the engagement of consultants. It has
also been a motivation factor to the majority of employees who become a part. There is
normally greater fulfilment by team members who will readily identify with the
organisation and its aspirations, as they contribute in their respective ways.

13. The PMS also facilitates and encourages team effort at all levels in the achievement
of goals and objectives within an organisation or ministry. There is a necessity for more
public officers at various levels to be provided with skills on team building and
management, problem solving techniques, innovation and continuous improvement.
Through ownership and use of the PMS by everybody in the organisation, employees
become change agents. WITS will therefore play a key role in providing such skills to
empower officers to continually solve their own problems as well as assist others.

BENEFITS OF THE PMS.

14. Normally, a well-implemented performance management process is beneficial to the

organisation, its managers and employees. The organisation is able to grow and satisfy
both customers and the shareholders. Management directs and manages the organisation at
a higher level of efficiency, characterised by performance management and sustenance
skills and values. Employees develop a sense of belonging and attachment since they view
themselves as an integral part of the organisation.

­ But more specifically, the PMS is beneficial in that there is integration in the
organisation, characterised by a shared vision, common values,
communicated strategy and a universal focus on outputs. Everybody knows
and understands where the organisation is going, why and how it is taking
that direction, how they fit into the picture, and what is expected from them.

­ There are clearly defined set of standards or requirements for ministries,

departments, divisions, units and individual employees. They all know what
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is expected of them in terms of performance or achievement. There are no

surprises for anybody at any given time.

­ The system facilitates and encourages open communication in the

organisation. Communication between management and employees is
enhanced, and more importantly, they jointly derive outputs and plans of
action.
­ Customer/client needs are addressed and there is a greater and committed
effort to satisfy these needs. The organisation is responsive, through a
regular feedback process, to the needs and aspirations of the customer. The
organisation thus provides the required service, and not what it perceives the
customer wants.

­ Due to the fact that PMS is holistic, integrated and self sustaining in design
and approach it therefore facilitates the use of IT and other performance
improvement initiatives like re-engineering, restructuring, performance
related pay, WITS, etc, in the organisation.

­ The system encourages and supports team building and team work at every
level in the organisation. Strategic objectives are achieved through a
committed and collective effort by all, and everyone becomes an important
part of the whole process.

­ The use of this system enhances the effective management of training and
development in ministries through focused and specific training on identified
needs emanating from strategic requirements. Through the PMS, any
training and development initiative will support and be related to the
strategy. The system also will enable public officers the opportunity to attain
and use more effective tools, techniques and skills to improve performance
and management generally.

­ Through the development of strategic goals and plans ministries will be able
to objectively justify their budget and funding requirements in any given
period. This will result in a new way of planning and budgeting by
ministries, which can easily be incorporated in national plans as well as
assist in presentation before parliament.

WHAT IS IN IT FOR THE CUSTOMER, THE MINISTRY/DEPARTMENT, THE EMPLOYEE

AND THE COUNTRY.

15. The primary objective of the PMS is to simultaneously improve individual and
organisational/ministry performance in a systematic and sustainable way. Naturally, it
follows that organisational performance is a direct consequence of individual or people
effort, and it is people who make things happen.

(a) The Customer/Batswana

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­ Batswana will be provided with the services they need, and not what
ministries perceive are their needs. This will ultimately translate into
customer satisfaction as ministries and departments will be providing the
required services to fulfil their aspiration.

­ The customer will be a key player in the public service or Government

planning processes. Regular feedback and interactions between ministries
and their customers will facilitate a transparent and honest environment in
which Batswana would have the opportunity to critic as well as help
improve the operations of the public service.

­ Botswana will ensure value for money in that they will ascertain the public
service delivers on key results areas as contained in the strategic plans. They
will be able to objectively assess the timeliness, cost effectiveness and
quality of service rendered by ministries and departments. Furthermore,
Batswana will ensure that the public service takes full accountability for
service delivery.

(b) The Ministry or Department.

- Every ministry or department will develop and have comprehensive vision

and mission statements, clear strategic plans with achievable goals and
objectives, key performance and results areas, set standards and objective
strategic measures. In other words, every organisation will follow a very
clear program of action with all the necessary components such as resources,
training, external factors, and so on.

- Every budget or funding requirement by any ministry or department will be

directly related to and support the strategic obligations for the organisation.
Ministries will make use of better planning and efficient utilisation of
resources.

- Ministries and departments will deliver required services to the public, and
this will be enhanced by their sensitivity and responsiveness to the needs
and aspirations of the nation.

- Managers in every ministry or department will lead the change process to

ensure there is improved performance and delivery of services to the public
as well as facilitate a culture of continuous improvement in their respective
organisations.

(c) The Employee.

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­ The individual employee will immensely benefit from a shared vision,

strategies, goals and objectives of the ministry or department. They are fully
aware and understand the intentions and aspirations of their organisation,
how they fit into the picture and what is expected of them. The PMS
facilitates and encourages collective effort in developing and executing
strategic objectives.

­ Clearly defined set of performance standards and strategic measures will

guide individual officers, units, divisions, departments and indeed ministries,
on key performance areas and how they will measure their efforts.

­ The system will enable ministries and departments to use quarterly

performance review as evaluation and assessment tools for individuals. The
supervisor and their subordinates are expected to meet every quarter to
review performance and discuss areas for improvement. This will be a
positive and beneficial development because the reviews will be a key
component of an objective appraisal for individual employees. There will be
no surprises at the end of every appraisal period, since individuals would
also be able to assess their performance prior to such review discussions.
This process will also be enhanced by the introduction of a performance
based pay system, which largely relates pay to individual performance.

­ The introduction of the PMS provides an opportunity for individuals at

various levels to learn new skill and techniques to perform their obligations
effectively and produce expected results. Managers and supervisors require
a new set of skills and styles of management to effectively lead the change
process. All employees require innovation and team work tools to
collectively achieve their objectives and benefit from a culture of continuous
improvement to sustain the performance improvement effort. Everybody
becomes a change agent and thus require certain skills and techniques to do
their best.

(d) The Country.

­ There will be greater focus and commitment by the public service on the
delivery of necessary services and other obligations with improved
efficiency.

­ The public service will optimally use the scarce resources at its disposal to
further the aspirations of Government and Batswana. Prudent utilisation of
resources will facilitate the execution of other priority national projects.

­ Generally, Botswana’s economy delivery will improve through an efficient

public service. In this way the Government will become efficient and may
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look towards the realisation of the country’s vision 2016.

­ As the Government operates in a more efficient and business-like manner,

this will translate in an efficient Botswana which can ably compete globally,
with regard to the provision of quality products and services, and in its efforts
to attract foreign investment.

16. WHERE HAS THE PMS PROGRAMME BEEN USED BEFORE.

Performance Management System is not a new concept that has recently been
developed and being tried. It is a system which has been widely used and tested by many
successful and world leading organisations and governments.

Among the governments which use the system are the New Zealand Public Service,
the United States Federal Government and the US Postal Services. New Zealand public
service is a model public service which has influenced many countries to start the process
in their respective governments to improve service delivery to their nations. Even the
United States Federal Government, which has fully employed the system supported by a
Performance and Results Act (1993), was motivated by the New Zealand success story. A
lot of world leading companies (fortune 500) have used and continue to use the system to
maintain or improve their competitive advantage.

Locally, we have two of our major parastatal organisations which have introduced
the system in their operations. Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) started a
couple of years ago and their successes have continually been noticed in our local media.
Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) started not so long ago and they are beginning to
turn the corner in terms of efficiency and service delivery.
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