The study was conducted in 1996 in order to review the progress in the implementation o f the Zimbabwe Civil Service Reform Programme with a specific focus on the implementation of performance management and a performance based salary increment and bonus. The study established that the introduction o f performance management was strongly resisted by teachers in the civil service and most staff associations on the grounds that:

(1) the employees concerned were not consulted in the formulation o f the programme;

(2) performance management is results-oriented and is not compatible with public administration which focuses on social services;

(3) civil servants cannot be held responsible fo r non-attainment of targets, when they do not control the resource inputs. Indeed, the civil service top managers, the permanent secretaries, rejected the concept o f their being put on a contract by government because o f the uncertainty in resource mobilisation and control; (4) performance management was introduced at the same time government was carrying out economic reforms, which .entailed the reduction of the public service employees by 25% in order to enhance efficiency and effectiveness. The performance management programme was perceived by the staff associations as a means to downsize the civil service;

(5) there was a strong apprehension amongst the civil servants that some o f their members would need comprehensive training in order to survive performance management, as they had been recruited with inadequate skills and knowledge, as a result of the 1980 government affirmative action intervention in the form o f the Presidential Directive

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