Author:

Keywords:

reforms, performance, government, organizations

Abstract:

This dissertation addresses the overall research question about the extent to which structural reforms and performance management systems co-exist in Pakistan. This research question aims at addressing major trends in the formal organization of the Pakistani state, both at a macro (organization of the entire government, including the relationship with the country's different regions) and a meso level (state organizations, their creation and changes); as well as the political decision makers' use of performance information on (different types of) state organizations. It provides a comprehensive picture of administrative reforms in the context of Pakistan, a case of a developing country. One of the main rationale and motivation of the dissertation is to assess whether established concepts, models and theories that have been used to study developed countries are meaningful in a developing context; and more specifically how context affects the dynamics of structural reforms and performance management. Both analytical concepts and theories are used to structure this empirical material, meanwhile, the dissertation also partially expands and adopts existing analytical tools to the specific country context. The development of the Pakistani State Administration Database (PSAD) for the systematic analysis of structural changes in a developing context, along the lines of similar efforts in other developed countries remains significant in a country context that might largely considered a "terra incognita" in comparative public administration and management research. The dissertation covered an extended period by going back to the country's creation in 1947 for elaborating a "bigger picture" and then proceeds to a more fine-grained analysis in later chapters. Mostly primary data has been used for the research with the use of both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Analytic insights into structural changes and reforms in Pakistan are generated through this research with the major insight that structural change in Pakistan to a large degree mirrors political change and turbulence. In a context dominated by power struggles between different groups in society, which use primarily hierarchical mechanisms to gain control over the administrative apparatus, any effort at administrative reform is likely to be considered an attempt of pursuing group-specific interests (reform actors and positions ranging from military, religion, judiciary alongside politics and administration). This makes attention to the political/power context a main concern when engaging with reforms, for instance from the perspective of external donors/development organizations. With frequent restructuring in the government and less embedded performance management systems, it was obvious that structural reforms and performance management although co-exist, however, they are not well aligned. Embedding restructuring in conjunction with performance management systems for accountability, control, learning and resource allocation could help the government in effective management of state units. Moreover, the use of Western models and theories revealed that context specific factors contribute to the explanations of the theory, taking realities of the context into account is mandatory for explaining reform process. While international reform trends are brought in to the developing context, however, the presence of particular reform actors and positions in a country affects the overall intensity and variety of reforms. Furthermore, no overall theory can answer multiple public administration and reform questions, based on the context specific realities of developing world western models and theories get supplementary explanation.