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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Environmental turbulence and institutional responses in African public services |
Author: | Lungu, Gatian F. |
Year: | 1998 |
Periodical: | Lesotho Social Sciences Review (ISSN 1028-0790) |
Volume: | 4 |
Issue: | 2 |
Period: | December |
Pages: | 1-15 |
Language: | English |
Notes: | biblio. refs. |
Geographic terms: | Subsaharan Africa Africa |
Subjects: | political conditions civil service Management, Public Administration public administration Political problems economic conditions Organizational change Resistance to change |
Abstract: | This discussion addresses the failure of African civil service systems to adequately transform themselves for tasks and performance in the postindependence era against the backdrop of environmental turbulence. Environmental turbulence, such as high rates of population growth, volatile economic performance, and rapid turnover of governments and political systems, has pushed many African civil service systems towards insulation, a typical form of organizational response when under pressure. The consequence of such a reactive posture is to entrench conservatism. African civil service systems have generally tended to manifest a conservative orientation at a time when they were expected to shed off their colonial trappings and transform themselves into effective instruments of national development. Countries that are now attempting to democratize their governing systems have several lessons to learn from the civil service history of the past. Administrative reform and innovation cannot be successfully implemented without a stable political and economic environment. Bibliogr., sum. |