Civil service reform in developing countries

Civil service reform is a deliberate action to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, professionalism, representativity and democratic character of a civil service, with a view to promoting better delivery of public goods and services, with increased accountability. Such actions can include data gathering and analysis, organizational restructuring, improving human resource management and training, enhancing pay and benefits while assuring sustainability under overall fiscal constraints, and strengthening measures for performance management, public participation, transparency, and combating corruption. The academic literature on civil service reform has provided arguments and counterarguments clarifying how several approaches to reform affect the overall performance of the civil service. The increasing availability of empirical data allows to test the effectiveness of specific reforms in a given context. While designing effective civil service reforms is a tremendously complex task considering that the right mix of corruption control and performance improvements may vary greatly across and within countries, empirical as well as qualitative research can contribute to the body of evidence-based knowledge on civil service reforms in developing countries. Max Weber's model of the ideal type of public administration has been an influential approach to civil service reforms in the 20th century. The bureaucratic type of administration contrasts with the patrimonial type in its underlying organizing principles. Weber's organization of the public administration relies on a clearly defined hierarchical structure with a system of subordination and supervision, a division of labor and specified positions with assigned responsibilities. Contrary to the patrimonial system in which there is no distinction between private and public domains, the Weberian bureaucracy is defined by its impersonal and impartial character. Civil servants operate according to a set of rules and procedures they must observe.