CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Human Resource, especially the skilled Human Resource is an important asset for the development of
one country. The political, economic and social-cultural development of any country is depending on
the number of qualified and skilled human resource in that country beyond all. More adequate supply of
physical and financial resources does not alone ensure the economic development of any country;
unless efficient and effective manpower is available in the country (Foot and Hook, 2005).Human
resources are people asset of the organization. Regarding this Haslinda (2009), says Human Resources
are organizations greatest assets without which, everyday activities such as managing public service,
communication and dealing with customers could not be completed alone. Similarly, Armstrong (2006)
defines human resources as the set of individuals who make up the organization. They are the
individuals or personnel or workforce within a country responsible for performing the tasks given to
them for the purpose of achievement of goals and objectives. They are professionals in organizations
that perceive successful corporate social responsibility as a key driver of their financial performance,
can be influential in realizing on that objective. Therefore the country or the organization should give
attention to proper managing of manpower in an organization, because it is significantly affecting the
development of the organization as well as country. Human resource management is functioning or
program in an organization that is responsible to manage those peoples resources of the organization
which different scholars define differently. Armstrong defines human resource management as a
strategic and coherent approach to the management of an organizations most valued assets; the people
working there who individually and collectively contribute to the achievement of its objectives.
According to Armstrong, the overall purpose of HRM is to ensure that the organization is able to
achieve success through people. Its aim is to increase organizational effectiveness and capability - the
capacity of an organization to achieve its goals by making the best use of the resources available to it
(Armstrong, 2006). According to Chandra (2009) HRM is the function within an organization that
focuses on recruitment of, management of, and providing direction for the people who work in the
organization. Similarly, as cited in Chandra (2009)Heathfield (2000) defines human resource
management (HRM) as the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as
compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits,
employee motivation, communication, administration, and training.
Also as Foot and Hook (2005) defines Human resource management as type of management which
concerned with planning, organizing, directing and controlling of the procurement and development of
human resources in the organization to achieve objectives established. This definition reveals that
human resource (HR) management is that aspect of management, which deals with the planning,
organizing, directing and controlling the personnel functions of the organization. Therefore, as we
understand from above different definition human resource management is functioning in organizations
concerned with managing people in the work place and is basic to the existence of the organization.
According to different scholars and literature this essential function, i.e., human resource management
practices was emerging during the industrial revolution in the 18th century when factories employed a
large number of people to operate machines. To emerge it passes many sequences or stage, which takes
many years. Human resource management is what called personnel management traditionally.
(DeSimon, and Werner, 2009, Aswathappa , 2005, Ferris and Buckley, 2009).

In context of Ethiopia, according to different literatures human resource management begins during the
era of Emperor Menilek (1889-1913) by the introduction of the modern civil service with establishment
of few ministries for the first time. Earlier in this the country was under a different traditional
administrative system in which they could exercise their absolute power (Adebabay, 2002, Paulos,
2001). Thus, this civil service established at that time passes through different challenges in different
regimes. During Menelikregime beyond the assignment of the cabinet and establishment of civil service
institution nothing is done (Ibid). During the regime of Haileselassie efforts are done to formalize and
consolidate the function of civil service which is reflected with enactment of civil service law known as
order 28 of 1962 which aimed at establishing efficient and effective civil service governed by specified
rule and procedures in the uniform way (Ibid). This law helps human resource management of the civil
service institution started to govern according to the regulation (Libanos, 2015). This law includes
issues of recruitment, training and development, salary increment, performance appraisal, job
evaluation and assessment and other duties and obligation of civil service; however, it is full of
politicization, neglecting of law and interference (Ibid). During the socialist era under the Dergue even
if there is an establishment of new government institutions and expansion of the public sector; merit
system and professionalism of HRM is undermined and politicization is dominated (Paulos, 2000).
Every position of department in organization was occupied by political assignees (Ibid). So, generally
civil service is failing to provide effective and efficient service in a competitive manner for customers
rather it was full of corruption and political interference. EPRDF, after coming to power in 1991
established a task force (Inter-Ministerial Committee) in 1994 that assessed the civil service in the
country. The main intention of this task force is to examine the main problems of civil service and
recommend ways reforms in that way of change in the country (Paulos, 2000). Based on the task force
recommendation, the government takes different measures and different civil service reforms to
improve the system. Later on in 1996 the civil service reform was launched in five sub-programs,
including HRM reform that was implemented through civil service institutions of the country including
TRS. The objective of the HRM program launched as a sub - program under civil service reform was to
improve different problems regarding HRM practices in the country.

1.2 Statement of the problem

In the 21st century the organization in the World is in competition to provide efficient and effective
service to their customer to satisfy and enhance their need. To achieve this, the organization should
utilize resources properly. Among the resources, human resource is of the essence and foundation for
other resources such as financial resource, physical & capital assets and technological resources. It is
the most critical one that makes a difference in an organizations performance (Kassa, et al, 2011).
According to (Allen & Wright, 2007) as cited by Seidu (2011) people and the management of people
are increasingly seen as key elements of competitive advantage. The extent to which a workforce is
managed effectively is a critical element in improving and sustaining organizational performance.
According to Chandra (2009) HRM has become even more important and often supports the word
strategy to make it; strategic HRM. From a lowly administrative support function, HRM has now
increasingly been recognized as a strategic function that together with other crucial functions such as
finance and marketing, helps accomplish organizational effectiveness and finance performance.
The study of Simachew (2004), on Tigray regional government on training and development reveals
that training and development programs; were ineffective in assessing training needs, setting
performance objectives, in searching aids for internal and external training and development, planning
training strategies and preparing training schedules and modules as well as assessing training and
development efforts. Especially, post training evaluation was not well conducted to get feedback for
their improvement.
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Also Gebre (2014) conducted studies on merit based human resource management in the Tigray
Regional state. As his findings show in the region merit base recruitment and selection is not fully
applied, there is a poor performance system that hampers motivation of employees and improper
application of merit based promotion and reward system in public sectors in the region. He concludes
that political interference, poor separation of power and poor accountability System was factored that
inhibited the effective implementation of merit based HRM. Also, he identifies unnecessary political
interference, lack of equal opportunity, poor recruitment planning, poor capacity of recruitment and
selection Committee and poor accountability as practical challenges of Human resource management in
the region Mohamed (2005), conclude on his study of the human resource management in the 21 st
century; foremost challenges of the today HR managers are workforce diversity, organizational
effectiveness, globalization, succession planning, recruitment and skill labor, training and development,
change management and compensation and benefit. Similarly to this also (Aswathappa, 2005) identifies
the five major challenges that face todays organization. These are workplace diversity, change
management, compensation and benefit, training & development and recruiting Skilled Employees.
However, in study area practice and challenges of HRM what the above researchers investigated are not
addressed. The findings of the above researchers are May or may not be applicable in the area due to
different factors. Also, there is no published work regarding HRM practice and challenge in the study
area. Therefore, depending on above finding and facts this research tries to investigate the practice of
HRM in context of Raya-AzeboWoreda public sectors and forwarding or suggest remedial action for
responsible bodies depending on the findings to be productive and competitive in this global world.
Thus, providing effective human resource management is required to enhance both employees and
organizational competitiveness and development.
Therefore the basic questions are :1. How is the structure of human resource management in public sector office in Raya Azobo
Woreda
2. How is the practices of human resource management in public sector office in Raya Azobo
Woreda
3.
What are the challenges that inhabit the practice of human resource management in Raya
Azobo Woreda
4. What are the possible solution to take problem of human resource management practices and
What are the possible solution for challenging human resource management in Raya Azobo
Woreda

1.3 Objective of the study

1.3.1. The general objective of this study is to explore the practice and challenge of Human Resource
management in the TRS focusing on Raya-AeboWoreda public organizations. More entirely,
1.3.2. the specific objectives of this study are:
1. To evaluate the structure of Human Resource Management in the public sector in Raya-AeboWoreda.
2. To examine the practice of Human Resource management in public sector in Raya-AeboWoreda
3. To identify major challenges that hinders practice of Human Resource management in the Raya-AeboWoreda.

4. To recommend the possible solution for practices of human resource management and challenges of
human resource management in Raya-AeboWoreda

1.4. Significance of the study

The study will aimed to examine the practice and challenges of human resource management in public
sectors in Raya-Aeboworeda. Investigation was significant:
to show practice of human resource management in the woreda,
to provide information for concerning bodies about the practice of human resource management
in woreda,
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to gives signal to the woreda civil service office and other responsible bodies to take remedial
action,
to allows policy making for future view of the Woreda by considering the current approach of
HRM in the woreda and focusing on the strengthening capacity regarding human resource
management in the woreda ,
help as a source of reference for those researchers who want to make further study on the area
afterwards and
It provides the researcher the opportunity to gain deep knowledgein contemporary practice of
human resource management and its challenges.

1.5. Scope of the Study(Delimitation of the study )

The study is limited to investigation of practice and challenges of human resource management in
Raya-AzeboWoreda public organizations. There is no intention to address all functions of HRM due to
the broadness of human resource management function, resource and time constraint. It only focused on
some aspects of human resource management functions, namely the practice of human resource
planning, recruitment and selection, training and development and performance appraisal system among
human resource management functions and challenges that hinders proper application human resource
management program in Raya-AeboWoreda.

1.6. Limitation of the Study

This study has tried to assess the practice and challenges of human reassure management in public
sector in Raya-Azebo woreda. Human resource management is a very broad concept. So, it may not
give exploitation of the overall function of human resource management. The samples those taken for
this study were restricted due to lack of resource and time scarcity to cover. Thus, it has its own impact
on the comprehensive of the study. To realize the proposed work and objective the researcher tries its
best. During the progress of the work, many limitation faces. As it was focused on all Woreda public
sector offices the researcher face difficulty of gathering relevant data. The respondent does not able to
return distributed questioners in time. Also Woreda leaders were busy with field work, which it takes
too times to meet with them for an interview. Absence of related work done concerning HRM and
documents in the Woreda that used in review literature was another limitation that faces during the
progress of the work.
1.7 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

1.7.1 Introduction
The purpose of this study was to examine the practice and challenges of human resource
management in public sector in Burji Woreda. Hence, this part tries to discuss
methodological aspects utilized for investigation of the study. It is the road map that
describes how research is systematically done. It includes, which research design was
utilized, what are sources of data, what instruments are utilized for collection data, what were
general population of the study, which sampling design used and sample size, how the data
were processed, how the data was analyzed and which tools were utilized to analysis data and
ethical considerations of the study. It also includes a description of the study area

1.7.2. Description of Study Area

The southern region is a multi nationality which consists of about 3 ethnic groups with their
own distinct geographical location, language, cultures, and social identities living together.
The Raya Azobo Woreda is one of the woreda that make up the Tigray regional state . Its location is in
southern part of the region. . The Azobo Woreda is bordered with Afar region in east ,with Raya
AlamataWereda in the south ,Ofla Wereda in the south west ,Endamohoni in the west and Hintalo
Wejerat in the north. The Woreda was organized in 22 kebeles. Mekhoni was served as the
4

administration center for Azobo Woreda which is locatedin the distance of 650 from the capital city of
Ethiopia; Addis Ababa and 126 km from Mekelle ; city of the region. It has infrastructures like mobile
service, clean water supply,
banking, 24 hour electric power and other services are available.The language
spoken by the people of Azobo Woreda is known as Tigrigna which spoken in Ethiopia and Kenya.
According to Ethiopian CSA report of 2007 the total population of the Woreda was 61,654 of which
31,854 were male and 28,400 were females and it was projected that in 2015 it would be 70,989 among
these 34691 were male and 36298 were females(CSA,2007).
The Woreda has Three Agro- ecological zones which are 98% Kola 2%Woinadega. The annual
rainfall ranging from 801 to 100mm per annual and the annual
temperature ranges from 27.10c to 37.50c. There are two productive seasons in Woreda that
are Belg and Mehare.Most of people in woreda are agricultural. Their main
agricultural products include Teff, Millet, Maize and others and vegetables produced in Kola part of
the Woreda. In addition, they keep livestock. Others are civil servants and private enterprises. They are
also limited trade activities and informal economic sectors in urban areas. As other parts of the country,
there is socio economic development progress in Woreda. As the structure of the Ethiopian government
there are 16 sector offices in woreda. . However, as the 2006/2014 annual report of Azobo Woreda civil
service office, totally there are 912 permanent civil servants currently working in the woreda in those 16
sector offices (Ibid).

1.7.3. Research Design

The research design is the conceptual structure within which research is conducted; it
constitutes the blueprint for the collection, measurement and analysis of data (Kothari,2008).
It is needed because it facilitates the smooth sailing of the various research operations,
thereby making research as efficient as possible, yielding maximal information with minimal
expenditure of effort, time and money (Ibid). In this regard; the research design which the
researcher employed to examine this study was descriptive or survey research design since
the descriptive research design helps to describe what happened and happening on the
problems under examination and helps to obtain information concerning the current status of
the phenomena under investigation.

1.7.4. Types and Source of Data

This study was employed both qualitative and quantitative data. Also the study was based on
both secondary and primary data sources to reach on valuable findings. The primary data was
collected from employees working currently in office, human resource managers and office
leaders regarding to their offices. The secondary data was obtained through the detailed
analysis of review of related literature from published and unpublished documents. To this
end; human resource management books, thesis related to human resource management,
articles and journals were reviewed

1.7.5 Instruments and Methods of Data Collection

Beside review of related literatures, to get detain information regarding human resource
management practices and challenges in the woreda the researcher prepared two types of
data collection instruments and used. These are questionnaire and interview instruments.
Questionnaires: the researcher employed this instrument because it has advantages in order
to gather large data and is also important to avoid pressure on the respondents. It is also free
from the bias of the interviewer; answers are in respondents own words (Creswell, 2008).
The Structured and Semi - structured questionnaire was prepared and administered for both
employees and human resource department managers that are taken as a sample for the
research from each sector office. The questionnaire for employees and human resource
5

managers was prepared in English language and was translated in working language, i.e., to Tigrigna
language that participants were easily understood it.
Interview: This instrument is important to allow participants to discussion that can lead to
increased insights into respondents outlook and attitude towards practice and challenges of
human resource management. Therefore unstructured or in-depth interview questions were
prepared for 40 management bodies; for 20 top managers or leaders of each office and 20
human resource managers of each office that were taken purposefully because they are the
key bodies of the organization. For cross checking human resource managers were asked interview
question in addition to administering questionnaires,

1.7. 6 Population and Sampling

A population can be defined as all peoples or items (units of analysis) with the characteristics
that one wishes to study. The unit of the study may be a person, groups, organizations,
community, country, object or any other entity that you wish to draw scientific inference
about (Creswell, 2008). The target population of this study was top managers or leaders of the
organization, human resource managers and employees in 20 government offices in Woreda
working currently in offices. Therefore the total populations of the study were 912 civil
servants; 665 males and 237 females (BWCSO, 2014).

1.7.7 Sampling Techniques

According to Kothari (2008) Sampling is defined as the selection of any part of an aggregate
or totality on the basis of which a judgment or inference about the aggregate or totality is
made. In other words, it is the process of obtaining information about an entire population by
examining only a part of it. A sample design is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given
population. It refers to the technique or the procedure the researcher would adopt in selecting items for
the sample(Kothari, 2008).
There are different types of sample designs based on two factors, the representation basis and
the element selection technique. On the representation basis, the sample is probability
sampling and non-probability sampling (Kothari, 2008, pp.58). So, this research focuses on
the representation base to employ both probability and non probability techniques.
Probability sampling: As described above in the woreda there are 20 civil government
offices with the total population of 912 civil servants; 665 males and 237 females (BWSCO,
2014). From this 167 sample participants were taken for this study. The probability
sampling technique is used to take an independent sample for each office to ensure equal
representation of each office because the office has a different number of employees. To do
this the researcher employed proportionate probability sampling techniques.
Also simple random sampling method was employed to take participants from each office
that determined through proportion since it provides an equal chance of being included in the
study. Non probability sampling: Non probability sampling was employed for selection of Human
Resource Managers and General Managers (leaders) of each office. From each office sample,
human resource manager and manager of the organization was taken by purposive non
probability sampling design because they are assumed as a source of information and
responsible bodies.
3.

1.7.8 Sample Size

To determine the sample size of the study, the researcher employed (Kothari, 2004) formula.
According to Kothrie (2004) during the determination of the sample size, level of precision
or acceptable error, standard deviation of the population, confidence or risk level and
standard variant at given confidence level should be considered. Therefore, by considering
these issues sample size for this research was determined.
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Therefore, 167 respondents were used as sample from 912 total populations for this study to
gather data. As described above the researcher take independent sample for each Woreda sector offices
to ensure equal representation through proportionate probability sampling technique because
each office have different number of employees.

1.7.9 Methods of Data Analysis

After the data was collected to solve the problem of incompleteness and inconsistency as
well as related problems; the collected data were edited. Then the data were analyzed
quantitatively and qualitatively according to the nature of the data. The data which are
quantitative in nature was analyzed by using descriptive statistics such as mean, standard
deviation, frequency and displayed in the table and figure using the SPSS computer software.
Qualitative data were analyzed by using qualitative techniques i.e., description as well as
narration and integrated to quantitative data. After the data was analyzed and finally
discussed the recommendation was drawn depending on findings.

1.7.10 Ethical Consideration

In research, ethical consideration is one of the most important points that deserve attention.
This is mainly due to: The necessity to strictly respect the consent of the participant whether
they are willing to participate in the research or not. Likewise, it is to assure to the subjects of
the study that they are free to withdraw from participating in the study whenever they found
it necessary, the necessity to protect the subjects of the study from possible dangers that
might be encountered, confidentiality, the actual names of participants in the study are kept
secret while the sex or age of respondents might be used where it seems appropriate. Thus,
the researcher secures that the research is strictly governed by the above ethical principles
and they are asking their willingness and they have also agreed. This was done during data
collection..

1.8. Definition of Key Terms

Human resource Management is a management function that helps managers recruit, select, train
and develops members of an organization.
Human Resource Planning is the process of systematically reviewing human resource requirements to
ensure that the required numbers of employees with the required skills are available when they are
needed.
Employment is ensuring that competent personnel at reasonable cost fill all positions.
Selection is the process of differentiating between applicants in order to identify and hire those with
greater likelihood of success in the job.
Recruitment is the process of attracting individuals on a timely basis, in sufficient numbers and with
appropriate qualifications and encouraging them to apply for jobs with the organization. It involves
identifying and attracting a pool of candidates, from which some will later be selected to receive
employment offers.
Training is a process designed to maintain or improve performance in the present job.
Development exists personnel to their full potential for attaining established performance standards.
Performance Appraisal is an objective assessment of an individuals performance against well-defined
benchmarks.

1.10Organization of the study

This study was organized into three chapters. The first chapter was dealing with introduction,
background of the study, a statement of the problem, objective, significance, scope of the study and
terminologies used in the study. The second chapter was about a review of the literature. It was
contained the overview of HRM, historical background of HRM, the objective of HRM, practice of
HRM in the public sector, function of HRM, conceptual framework and challenges of HRM. The third
7

chapter was about the analysis and interpretation and finally the last chapter was concern about the
conclusion and recommendation of the study .

CHAPTER TWO
8

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES

2.1 Introduction
This part of the study deals with the review of related finding of scholars and literatures related to
practical and the theoretical background of Human resource management programs. It helps to have
deep understood about the concept HRM. It include overview of human resource management,
historical background of human resource management, objective of human resource management,
function of human resource management, conceptual framework and major challenges of human
resource management that face todays organization .

2.2 Concept of Human Resource Management

Human resource management is the most important function of an organization that is related with
managing of people asset of the organization in productive and competitive manner.
According to Haslinda (2009) HRM is the process of managing human talents to achieve organizations
objectives. The process of managing human talents is said to include the process of recruitment and
selection, compensation and benefits, labor and industrial relations and also the management of
employees safety and health in organizations. As cited in Jhones& Bartlett (2009) Byars& Rue (2006)
define Human resource management as a system of activities and strategies that focus on successfully
managing employees at all levels of an organization to achieve organizational goals. Similarly,
according to Noe et al. (2003, p. 5), HRM refers to the policies, practices and systems that influence
employees' behavior, attitudes, and performance.
Also Deci (2010) cited in Nyameh and James (2013) define Human resource management (HRM) as
management methodology that involves the establishment and execution of policies, programs and
procedures that influence the performance, capabilities and loyalty of the employees of an organization.
Human resource management (HRM) refers to the policies and practices involved in carrying out the
human resource(HR) aspects of a management position including human resource planning, job
analysis, recruitment, selection, orientation, compensation, performance appraisal, training and
development, and labor relations). HRM is composed of the policies, practices, and systems that
influence employees behavior, attitude, and performance (Dessler, 2007 cited in Mohamed et al, 2010).
According to Nyameh and James (2013) Human Resource Management is core of personnel
management in+ the civil service, is of innermost significance to every nation civil service, as they
strive to govern well and deliver services effectively.

2.3 Characteristics of Human Resource Management

Human resource management is the most important asset of an organization. All organizations,
irrespective of size or scope of its resources, developed or developing, public or private, have people
(they have human resources). Organizations survive and succeed only because of the Concept of
Human Resource Management. So this important concept has some most important characteristics as
different scholars are identified.
1. Human resource is an art and a science: human resource is both an art and science. It is an art of
managing people to creative and innovative approaches and is science that it requires the precision and
accurate application of theory.
2. Human Focus: Is concerned with the people in an organization. It focuses on individuals possessing
energy and competencies. It is always concerned with developing and utilizing human potential .As
cited in Armstrong (2006) Beer et al (1984) focus on that people should be regarded as assets rather
than variable costs, in other words, treated as human capital. Also, Karen (1995) cited in Armstrong
(2006) holds that human resources are valuable and a source of competitive advantage
3. Human resource is pervasive: the development of human resource covers all levels and categories
of people, management and operational staff. No discrimination is made between any levels or
categories. All those who are managers have to perform HRM. Also, it required in every department of
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the organization in the world. All kinds of organizations, profit or non-profit making, have to follow
HRM.
4. Management Functions: HRM is a management function which involves acquisition, development,
motivation and maintenances of human resource. According to Armstrong (2006) it is can be described
as a central, senior management-driven strategic activity that is developed, owned and delivered by
management as a whole to promote the interests of the organization that they serve.
5. Continuous process: Human resource management is continuous function. The activities related to
HRM are continuously performed in an organization. it is always concerns with present and future HR.
6. Mutually oriented: HRM always tries to improve the relation between employees and employers by
integrating their goals.
7. Human resource is dynamic: Human resource management is dynamic function which is affected
by the change in the environment. It adapts to the changing forces in the environment (Armstrong,
2006, Aswathappa, 2009 and Pattanaya, 2009)

2.4 Historical background of human resource management

As historical background shows (Desimon and Werner, 2002) Human resource management emerged
from the activities of industrial welfare workers in the latter half of the nineteenth century. According
Wright and Ferris industrial expansion and emergence of labor union, which characterized the early
1900s, impose an organizational functional design to deal with labor union and union environment. In
response to this developments personnel departments were created. These departments emphasized
welfare capitalism as a means of convincing employees that union were unnecessary. The next few
decades saw added responsibility for the HRM function. Conditioned by the existence of tight labor
market during World War I and stimulated by work of several industrial psychologists, the function
began to engage in such personnel activities as employee testing training and performance appraisal
(Ferris and Buckley, 1996:pp.4). Intense business competition in the 1980s and 1990s, the introduction
of new production technologies which depended heavily on multi skilled flexible working practices
(frequently involving team working) and changing cultures at both the national and individual
enterprise levels, catapulted personnel management to increasingly critical positions within firms.
Personnel work became associated with wider business functions and with business strategy in the
round. Inevitably, therefore, personnel managers were more and more involved with general business
management and concerned with profit maximizing activities such as staff motivation, performance
management, empowerment of workers, total quality management (TQM), and organizational
modification and so on. Human resourcing decisions had to be at the very top level of management
within a Company (Noe and others, 2000).
In the 1930s and 1940s various academic theories of management and the integration of management
studies into general social science. By the 1960s, specialization has developed within the personnel
function, which itself had become recognized as a business and work situation. Company personnel
policies and procedures, new encompassed recruitment and selection, training, industrial relations, labor
planning, salary administration and employee appraisal (Ibid).

2.5 Objective of human resource management

Proper management of human resource in the organization is important to have a competitive
advantage. According to Aswathappa (2009) the primary objective of human resource management is to
ensure the availability of competent and willing work forces to an organization that are important to
achieve entire goal of the organization. In the same way as cited in Mohamed et al. (2010) Shumen
(2009) describe the goal of HRM is to maximize the productivity of an organization by optimizing the
effectiveness of its employees while simultaneously improving the work life of employees and treating
employees as valuable resources. Similar to this Armstrong (2006) stated that the overall purpose of
human resource management is to ensure that the organization is able to achieve success through
10

people. In addition to this they identified other objectives of human resource management such as
organizational effectiveness, human capital management, knowledge management, reward
management, meeting diverse needs, employee relation and bridging the gap between rhetoric and
reality( Armstrong ,2006:pp.9 , Aswathappa2009:pp.9).
Generally the main objectives of human resource management include.
Goal

achievement: - HRM makes effective utilization of human resources to achieve organizational

goals. It also helps achieve social goals by creating employment opportunities and meeting social needs
of employees.
Structure

maintenance: - HRM helps maintain adequate organization structure. It facilitates

improved working relationships among all members of the organization.
Goal

harmony: - HRM creates harmony between organizational goals and the personal goals of
employees. It recognizes and satisfies individual needs. It maintains high morale of employees.
Productivity

improvement: It continuously develops employees through training and development

as well as other opportunities. Better quality of human resources results in improved productivity
Efficiency

promotion: It ensures cost-effective utilization of human resources. This avoids waste

and promotes efficiency (ECSU, HRM module, 2008)

2.6 Functions of human resource management

Human Resource Management is a broad concept that is composed of different functions. It is also wide
in its scope. HRM functions in all organizations include the following; human resource planning, job
analysis & design, recruitment & selection, orientation (induction) and placement, training &
development, performance appraisal, compensation, safety & health and human resource research. This
study focuses only on Human Resource planning, recruitment & selection, training & development and
performance appraisal among other functions HRM functions that are described as follow.
2.6.1 Human resource planning (HRP)
HRP is the basic and begging of function of HRM. It is the process of systematically reviewing human
resource requirements of the organization to ensure that the required numbers of employees, with the
required skills, are available when they are needed. It is base of all activities of human resource
management. As Aswathappa (2005) ,define it is the process by which the organization ensures that it
has
the right number and kind of people, at the right place, at the right time, capable of effectively and
efficiently overall objectives. Also he define HRP is translate of the organizations objective and plans in
to number of workers needed to meet those objectives. Similarly Decenzo and Robbins (1999) cited in
Mohamed et al. (2010) define HR planning as the procedure by which an organization ensures that it
has the right number and kinds of human resources at the right place and at the right time. Also as
Mondy et.al (1999) defines HRP is the process of systematically reviewing human resource
requirements to ensure that the required numbers of employees with the required skills are available
when they are needed.
Human resource planning is determines the human resources required by the organization to achieve its
strategic goals (Armstrong, 2006).HRP is important function of HRM to identify and determine
required human resource for the organization. According to Bearnwell et al. (2004) HRP is the process
for identifying organizations current and future human resource requirements, developing and
implementing plans to meet and monitoring their overall effectiveness.
In line with the above described concepts, civil service proclamation of Ethiopia was seated, which all
civil service organizations are working. According to the proclamation the purpose of human resource
planning shall be to enable a government institution to take measure to meet the objective specified in
the strategic plan, to forecast its human resource demand, to acquire human resource in the right
number and type, to develop and properly utilize it, monitor and evaluate its result and make corrective
11

measures from time to time. Any government institution based on its strategic plan shall prepare and
implement short, medium
and long term human resource plan. Vacancies may be filled through recruitment, promotion, transfer or
deployment on the basis of the human resource plan and the organization shall issue detailed guidelines
on human resource planning (FDRE Proclamation No. 515/2007).
2.6.1.1 Objective of Human Resource Planning
Human resource planning is foundation for human resource management program. Therefore it has
much importances that depend on the context of organization. According to Armstrong the typical aims
might be to: attract and retain the number of people required with the appropriate skills, expertise and
competencies; anticipate the problems of potential surpluses or deficits of people; develop a welltrained and flexible workforce, thus contributing to the organizations ability to adapt to an uncertain and
changing environment;
reduces dependence on external recruitment when key skills are in short supply by formulating
retention, as well as employee development strategies; improve the utilization of people by introducing
more flexible systems of work. Generally as Armstrong put the proper HRP has the following
advantages.
Goal

achievement: According to Armstrong HRP is important to attract and retain the number of
people required with the appropriate skills, expertise and competencies which is focused on the
achievement of organizational goal and objective.
Reduce

uncertainty: anticipate the future problems of potential surpluses or deficits of human

resource and plan action to deal with the problems arising from shortages and surpluses.
Environmental

adaptation: Develop a well-trained and flexible workforce, thus contributing to the

organizations ability to adapt to an uncertain and changing environment.
Effective

and efficient utilization of human resource: Improve the utilization of people by

introducing more flexible systems of work. It also ensures that the organization acquires and retains the
quality and quantity of human resources it requires.
Human

Resource Development: Reduces dependence on external recruitment when key skills are in
short supply by formulating retention, as well as employee development strategies (Armstrong,
2006:pp.368).
2.6.1.2 Process in Human Resource Planning
An effective organization is based on proper scanning and follows of steps of HRP. The human resource
plan is a process which has interdependent. According to Armstrong (2009) organization should follow
a series of steps during developing HRP. This includes: first organization should assess current human
resources; where organization looks at the jobs currently being done and the employees doing those
jobs. Second organization forecast demand of the organization: in this step organization estimates future
human resource needs in terms of quality and quantity based on organization's strategies and objectives
as well as revenue forecasts. Organization's strategies and objectives provide future direction to the
organization. Revenue forecasts are based on demand forecasts for the products/services. They are
translated into a forecast of demand for human resources. The demand is expressed in terms of number
of people required and the skills needed. In third step organization should forecasting supply: here the
organization estimate source of human resource supply from inside and outside the organization. The
supply of internal sources may be through promotion; transfer and employees returning from study
leave. Sources that can reduce supply can be resignation, retirement, dismissal, prolonged illness or
death. Regarding external sources it concerned with graduates from schools and colleges, people
entering job market, and other job seekers in the labor market. The forth step is Match demand and
supply of organization: in this step the organization matches demand and supply forecasts to determine
12

future shortages or surpluses of human resources in terms of quality and quantity. Additional staff will
be required to meet the shortages. Retrenchment will be needed for surplus staff. It can consist of early
retirement, lay-offs, leave of absence, work sharing, reduced working hours, etc. finally action plans
which is concerned with the preparation of action plans to deal with shortages and surpluses of human
resource
2.6.2 Recruitment and Selection
According to Beanrdwell et al. (2004) the recruitment and selection process is concerned with
identifying, attracting and choosing suitable people to meet an organizations human resource
requirement. They are integrated activities and where recruitment stop and selection begin is
controversial point. According to Tzafrir, (2006) cited in Mohamed et al (2010) the recruitment and
selection process determines the decisions as to which candidates will get employment offers. The aim
of this practice is to improve the fit between employees and the organization, teams, and work
requirements, and thus, to create a better work environment. Also as cited in Mohamed et al (2010) the
Sophisticated recruitment and selection system can ensure a better fit between the individuals abilities
and the organizations requirement (Fernandez, 1992).
Recruitment and selection are critical function of HRM that need care during processing.
According to Itika (2011) Managers responsible for recruitment and selection should be clear on the type
of employees they are looking for. Lack of clarity may lead to poor selection criteria and may result in the
wrong person being recruited for the job.
2.6.2.1 Recruitment
Recruitment is the process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply for the
job in organization. Recruitment is needed in all types of organizations to locate and attract potential
candidates to fulfill job vacancies. According to Mondyet.al(1999) recruitment is the process of
attracting individuals on timely basis , in sufficient number and with appropriate qualification and
encouraging them to apply for the jobs with an organization. Similarly Bartton and Gold (2007) defines
recruitment as process used to attract potential and capable applicants for employment in the
organization.
According to Foot and Hook (2005) the main objective of recruitment is to obtain a pool of suitable
candidate for vacant post, to use fair process and be able to demonstrate that process was fair, to ensure
recruitment activities contribute for organizational goal and desirable organizational image and to
conduct recruitment activities in an efficient and cost effective manner. According to Pattanayak(2009)
a planned recruitment program has the following basic components. It first should contain
Organizational goal and objective: why the organization exists, what are the goals and objectives to be
pursued? Second should design: what are the specific duties and responsibility of each employee? Third
Job success criteria: what distinguishes successful performance from unsuccessful and how it is
measured? Fourth Job specification: what traits and qualities in the individual is related to, successful
performance of the job? And finally Source of recruitment: what the source of the recruitment is
relevant and economical for the organization?
2.6.2.2 Selection
According to Mondy et.al (1999) selection is the process of choosing from a group of applicants those
individuals best suited for a particular position and an organization? It is a process by which an
organization chooses from a list of applicant the person or persons who best meet criteria for the
position available, considering the current environmental condition (Ivancevich, 2007). The Success for
most organizations depends on selecting the right employees with the required knowledge, skills and
attitudes help the organization in the realization of its strategic goals. It is concerned with hiring the
right person for the right job as well as rejecting the applicants (Ibid). According to Mondy et.al (1999)
selection is the most difficult and most important decision of managers because if affirm hires poor
13

performers, even if the organization have perfect plans, sound organizational structure and finely tuned
control system it cannot be successful long. Competent peoples must be available to ensure that
organizational goals are attained.
The effective selection process requires clearly spelled out the job description and job specification,
sufficiently large pool of prospective applicants, series of steps through which applicants pass, and
selection standards to be used in selection. Organizational effectiveness depends on the quality of
human resources. Right selection creates human capital, improves employer-employee relations,
increases productivity and commitment of employees, and facilitates environmental adaptation. On the
contrary, poor selection leads to increased employee turnover, absenteeism, accidents, job
dissatisfaction, high costs of training, and productivity losses (ECSU, HRM module, 2008).
2.6.3 Training and Development
Training and development is one basic concept in human resource management. It refers to any effort to improve
current or future employees skills, abilities, and knowledge (Aswathapp, 2008) cited in Mohammed et al (2010).
Training and development is an important function of human resource management in organization that ensures
the organizations have adequate human resources with capabilities needed for achieving goals effectively. It is
one of the main pillars for the development of capabilities, improve skills, update knowledge and increase
competencies and performance of employees in organization. Its aim is to increase employee's ability to
contribute to organizational effectiveness(Ferris and Bucley,1996 ).

According to Desimon and Werner (2002) training and development programs and interventions can be
used to address a wide range of issues and problems in an organization. They are used to orient and
socialize new employees in to the organization, provide skills and knowledges and help individual and
groups become more effective. So to do it well the organization should design training and development
program.
There are different types and ways of training and development .In order to improve productivity and
performance of employees, trainings of different modalities including pre-service and in-service
trainings are required to be prepared and delivered to employees. To ensure this, the responsibility of
updating staff knowledge and skill has to be discharged by HR Managers in a competent way (Kassa et
al, 2011). 2.6.3.1 2.6.3.1Training
Training will be understood as any learning activity, which is directed towards the acquisition of
specific knowledge and skills for the purpose of an occupation as task(Cole, 1999). According to
(Desimon and Werner, 2002) training is a typical involves providing employees the knowledge and
skills needed to do a particular task or job; this attitude change may also be attended. Most of the time
training is short term and is mainly focused on practice. As cited in Nyameh and James (2013) Training
can be used as a tool for developing knowledge and skills to enhance an individuals performance based
upon the criteria of efficiency and effectiveness, besides achieving competitiveness and productivity
(Cooke, 2000)
2.6.3.2 Development
According to Desimon and Werner (2002) Development can be defined as a set of systematic and
planed activities designed by an organization to provide its members with the opportunities to learn
necessary skills to meet organizations goal and objective. It is planned continuous effort by
management to improve performance of organization (Mondy et.al 1990). Development will be seen as
any learning activity, which is concerned more with the carrier growth than immediate performance
(Cole, 1999). Also it is activities that have a long-term focused on preparing for future work
responsibilities, while also increasing the capacities of employees to perform their current jobs
(Desimon and Werner, 2002)
2.6.3.3 Objective of Training and Development
14

Training and development program important for equipped employees with different skills and
knowledge to adapt and to be competitive in changing world. According to Bratton and Gold (2003) the
main objective of training and development program are enhancing the organizations ability to adopt
and use advance technology because of highly knowledgeable staff, building more efficient, effective
and highly motivated team which enhance the organizations competitive, ensuring adequate human
resource for expansion in to new technology and creating pool of readily available and adequate
replacements for personnel who may leave or move up in organization. Also training and development
program is important for filling the gap in the organization. As cited in Hintsa (2012) according to
Scarpello&Ledvinka, (1988) in most organization the process of recruiting, selecting, orienting and
placing employees to the organization and their jobs do not ensure success.
Usually, there may be gaps between employee knowledge and skills and what the job demands. The gap
must be filled through training and development program which attempt to sustain the competency and
increase their adaptability of the organization.
2.6.3.4 Process of Training and Development
According to Desimon and Werner (2002), effective training and development programs should involve

the process which includes 4 step sequences. These are need assessment, design, implementation and
evaluation
Need Assessment of training and development: as it is obvious training and development programs
are used to address some need or gap within performer or organization. A need can be either a current
deficiency such poor employee performance or a new challenge that demands a change in away the
organization operates. Therefore before application of training and development program the
organization should analysis the gap or need of organization in three major levels. First need should be
assessed in the Organizational level: here the organization examines the entire firms to determine where
training, education and development should be conducted. The firms strategic goal and plan should be
studied along with the result of HRP, second task level: which relies largely on the result of job analysis
i.e. the duties and responsibilities of the job and knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to perform them
are analyzed. Third the organization assesses need in personal level; here it focus on individual
employees i.e., the present deficiencies in specific skills, knowledge and attitudes on the part of
individual employee are assessed. It deals with two questions: who needs to be training and what kind
of training is needed? It compares employee performance with established standards.
Establish training and development objective. It is the second step in training and development
program. According to Desimon and Werner (2002), the clear and concise objective, must be formulated
for training and development program. Without the establishment of goal designing training and
development program is impossible to provide training and development program.
Designing training and development program: According to Desimon and Werner (2002 ), the third
step of training and development program is designing the human resource development program. If the
intervention involves some types of training and development programs the following activities carried
out; include selecting the specific objective of the program, developing or acquiring the appropriate
materials for
the trains to use, determining who will deliver the program, selecting the most appropriate methods to
conduct the program and scheduling the program
Implementation of training and development programs: The goal of assessment and design is to
implement effective training and development programs. This means that the program must be
delivered or implemented, using the most appropriate means or methods as determined the designed
step.
Evaluation of the program According to Desimon and Werner (2002), program evaluation is the final
phase of training and Development process. In this phase the organization measure the effectiveness of
15

the training and development program. Careful evaluation provides information on participants
reaction to the program, how much they learned, weather they use what they learned back on the job
and weather the program improved the organizations effectiveness. According to DeSimone and
Werner (2002) training and development professionals are increasingly being too asked to provide
evidence of the success of their efforts , increasing a variety of hard and soft measures that is both
bottom line impact as well as employee reaction. This information allows managers to make better
decisions about various aspects of the training and development efforts such as: Continuing to use a
particular technique in the future program, Offering the particular programs in the future, Budgeting and
resource allocation and Using some other HR and managerial approach to solve the problem
(DeSimone and Werener,2002)
2.6.4 Employee Performance Appraisal
An organizations goal can be achieved only when people put in their best effort. To determine whether
the peoples in the organization are on the track of best performance or not on a given job employee
assessment is one of fundamental job of human resource management. So, performance appraisal is
way of checking and evaluating who perform well and not as intended. According to Aswathappa
(2005) performance appraisal is formal, structured system of measuring and evaluating an employees
job related behavior and
outcome to discover how and why the employee is presently performing on the job and how the
employee can perform more effectively in the future so that the employee, organization and society
benefit. From this definition one can understand that performance appraisal is process of identifying
performance gap of employee and taking corrective action. Armstrong(2006) expressed performance
appraisal as the formal assessment and rating of individuals by their managers at, usually, an annual
review meeting that tended to be backward looking, concentrating on what had gone wrong, rather than
looking forward to future development needs of employees and organization. Similarly as cited
Sambasivam&Mulugeta (2013) Boswell (2002) describe performance appraisal as an indispensable
aspect of human resource development, which enables management to understand where their people
stand, what is expected from them, what they actually do, where they lack capacity, how they can be
updated, and so on. For Ferris and Buckley (1996) performance appraisal is a vehicle for motivating
and rewarding employees rather than as mandatory, bureaucratic exercise used only for judgmental or
manipulating purposes. It should be treated as an opportunity to communicate formally with employees
about their performance, their strength, weakness and their developmental possibilities (Ferris and
Buckley, 1996).
Performance appraisal helps managers in making different decisions based on the result of performance
appraisal. Organization in the real world has an annual work plan to achieve its objective. Performance
appraisal is a systematic process to evaluate the performance of an employee after a certain period
based on seated objective and goal in individual level or organizational level, which influences other
HR practices such as recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation, and employee
relations (Mohammed et al, 2010). Because based on evaluation of performance gaps of employee the
organization make the decision of hiring additional work force if necessary, or improving the skill and
knowledge of existing employee through training and development programmes and rewarding or
compensating those who perform better to motivate for the future. The performance appraisal program is
not an effortless process. It is the most central function of HRM which affect the numerous decision of in
the organization. Unless it is performedcarefully it leads to wrong decisions. Valid and successful
performance appraisal is important for developing valid personnel selection procedure, to distributing
merit awards appropriately to asses training and development needs of employee, to identifying
candidates for promotion ,to let employee know where they stand insofar as their performance is
concerned and to assist them with constructive criticism and guidance for the purpose of their
16

development, to making performance driven reduction in force decision , to improve communication, to

determine whether HR programs such as selection, transfer, training and
development have been effective or not(Ferris and Buckley, 1996, Aswathappa, 2005).
Generally the main objective of performance appraisal is to identify the gap of individual performer and
whole organization and fill those gaps through different managerial mechanism. According to Mondy
et.al (1999) the basic purpose of performance appraisal is to improve performance of individuals, team
and the entire organization. It also helps managers for to making administrative decisions. Morrissey
(1983) put benefits of effective performance appraisal both in organizational level and employees or
individual level. According to him performance appraisal is important for organization for improve
overall productivity, more efficient and effective use of personnel, improve organizational result, greater
attraction for potential new employees, improve potentials for future , reduce employees turnover,
reduce cost of litigation, reduce losses of organization resulting from ineffective performance and
recognized compliance with civil service reform acts and relevant legislations. For individuals or
employees it is important for improve performance, increase group morals and productivity, continuous
update of performance against those expectation, grater personal reward and recognition for meeting
those expectations , grater personal satisfaction, opportunity to increase capability and value through
agreed up development plan , opportunity to contribute more directly to organizational as well as
personal development , avoidance of possible loss of advancement and increased compensation.
Performance appraisal is ongoing process involves evaluating how well individuals perform
activities and duties which focuses on an individuals record of accomplishment or success that done
transparently, continuously and annually. It holds the following activities. First the organization should
set goal or objective of performance appraisal both in organizational aspect as well as an individual
aspect. Second organization Establish job expectation from each employee, i.e. informing employees
what is expected from him or her on the job.
Normally, discussion is healed with her or his superior to review the major duties and contained in the
job description. Third the organization should design appraisal program. The fourth is Appraise the
performance or implementation stage, which focuses on providing feedback on performance,
conducting informal progress reviews, updated objectives and where necessary, dealing with
performance problems and counseling. The last activity is the use of appraisal data; here the data and
information generated through performance evaluation must be used by HRM department and managers
of the organization used for different decision making (Armstrong, 2006, Ferris and Buckley, 1996)

2.7 Challenges of Human Resource Management

Human resource management is a broad and vital function in public as well as private organization.
This most significant function of management faces different challenges in present businesses and
organization. There are many challenges in present business circumstances, including globalization,
workforce diversity, technological advances and changes in political and legal environment change in
information technology. Irshad (2008) on his research on challenges on human resource management in
large organizations in Pakistan identified different challenges of human resource management,
including inappropriate training and development program, Low job satisfaction and lack of motivation
due to lack of proper compensation and benefit, inability to create a conducive working environment,
high rate of turnover, technological knowhow and globalization. Also Ikemefuna and Mbah (2011) on
their research finding in Nigeria identified diversity of work place, the effect of technology on
workplace, upgrading the skill of professional
(professional development), training and development program, human resource management and
politics (polarization of HRM), business change and globalization as challenges of human resource
management. All these challenges increase the pressure on HR managers to attract, retain and cultivate
talented employee who copes with these challenges. It is difficult for human resource managers to pay
17

no attention to these challenges rather they have to design and execute innovative mechanisms of
developing skills and competencies of human resources to prepare them to accept the emerging
challenges. The role of the Human Resource Manager is developing with the change in competitive
market environment and Human Resource
Management must play a more strategic role in the success of an organization (Narkhede& Joshi, 2011,
Muhammad, 2012 and Srivastava&Agarwal 2012). Among different challenge of human resource
management some of them are:
1. Workplace Diversity: in diversified countries like Ethiopia the major challenge of HRM is
managing the workforce diversification. In work place peoples are diversified in different aspects. This
may consist of issues involving age, education, ethnicity, gender, income, marital status, physical
limitations, religion, sexual orientation, or any number of other things. This diversification needs
effective management to overcome challenges that rise due to difference. According to Muhammad
(2012) workforce diversification means to effectively manage the workforce difference that come from
different backgrounds with respect to regions, cultures, race and gender. So the effectiveness of the
organization is depends on effective management of this differences. According to Narkhed and Joshi
(2011) the success of any organizations relies on the ability to manage a diverse body of talent that can
bring innovative ideas, perspectives and views to their work. Consideration of the factors that may be
faced by the interaction of any of these diverse groups, as well as the required openness of the
organization toward such groups, will help human resource
managers to provide assistance in training employees to work with those they may consider different.
According to the Ikemefuna and Mbah (2011) The HR practitioner must ensure that no group of
members has an advantage or disadvantage over the other in the workplace. Besides he/she must also
ensure that the productivity, creativity and commitment of the workforce are maximized while meeting
the needs of their diverse interests.
2. Change Management: another factor that influences human resource management in this era is
change management. According to Coffey et.al (1997) change is the process of alteration or
transformation of individuals, groups, and organizations undertake in response to internal and external
factors. No matter where we work and whether we are in the public sector or private sector, change has
become a fact of life in todays workplace. In line with the changing environment and technology, the
need and wants of customers also change. The organization should able to adapt and should change with
the changing environment if it should want to cope this change. Understanding change required is the
first step toward accepting the change.
3. Compensation and Benefits: compensation and benefit, as a function of human resource
management are important mechanism or way that motivates employees to enhance their productivity
and effectiveness for the future based on their present performance through different type of rewards.
According to Nyameh and James (2013) properly developed reward strategy persuades existing
employees to stay with an organization, and attract new people to join it. Also, according to Snell
(2004) effective compensation and benefit leads the performers to improve their focus on achieving
business goal, improve their competence
or skill, to focus on customer needs, create competitive advantage through work force and reinforce
corporate values. As Schuler and Huber (1990) in Libanos (2015) compensation and benefit that include
financial and nonfinancial rewards are important for the organization to attract potential applicants,
retain competent employees, gain competitive advantage and motivate employees. However, there are
problems in practical in organizations regarding compensation and benefit program implementation due
to lack of resources and different factors. This leads the institutions to poor performance and inability to
retain and attract qualified employees.
18

4. Recruiting Skilled Employees: In an area of rising unemployment, it would seem that finding
qualified workers would be easier than ever. But thats seldom the case. Many organizations are facing
dire needs for employees with acceptable skills and the required training or degree. One of the greatest
challenges of human resource management today is tocreate HR Capabilities that increase and sustain
organizational performance. The ability to attractand retain talent is a core HR capability that is critical to
achieving sustainable businessperformance
5. Training and Development: the objective of training and development programs in organization is
for enhancing, improving and developing skills, knowledges and awareness of employees to increase
their performance and increase productivity of the organization. According to Muhammad (2012) the
absence of adequate and relevant training and development program is another challenge that HR
managers and personnel must deal with more frequently. With the need to cut training costs, training
itself often suffers. Yet the skills an employee needs must still be taught. Many organizations are
meeting this challenge by providing learning opportunities that allow employees to receive the training
they need without the expenses associated with travel, on-site trainers, hours away from their jobs and
high-priced materials.
6. Mobility of Professional Personnel: Mobility of employees has its own impact on the performance
of employees as well as productivity of the organization. One of the interesting facts will be an increase
in the mobility of various managerial and professional personnel between the organizations. As the
individual develops greater technical and professional expertise, their services will be greater demand
by the organization in the environment.
7. Technological advances: Embracing new technology is another challenge of human resource
managers in the modern world. It is difficult task to adapting workplace to rapid technological growing
changes which influence the nature of work and generate obsolescence. According to Ikemefuna and
Mbah (2011) Information technology has made the world smaller and faster through the internet. Ideas
and large amount of information now move freely and constantly. The challenge for the HR Managers is
to make good use of what information technology offers and to make it to be a viable productive part of
work setting and tool. According to Snell (2004) advanced technology has influenced human resource
in three basic ways. The first is its operational impact; that is automating routine activities, alleviating
the administrative burden, reducing costs and improving productivity of human resource function. The
second is a rational impact which enhances service by providing line managers and employees with
remote access to HR databases, supporting their human resource decisions and their ability to connect
with the other parts of the organization. The third is the transformational impact that expanding the
scope and function of human resource department. According to Muhammad (2012) advancement of
technology creates new-new working technology. In this situation organizations have to change its
technology. New technology creates unemployment and in other hand, there comes scarcity of skilled
manpower. Like this, technological change brings difficulties and challenges in the organization.

CHAPTER THREE
19

DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

3.1. Introduction
This study tries to investigate the practice and challenges of human resource management in
public sector in Raya Azobo woreda. This part of the study deals with the presentation, analysis and
interpretation of the data gathered through instruments of data collection, namely,
questionnaires and interview from employers, human resource managers and leaders in the
office in line with state objective help to drown conclusion and recommendation. It includes
response rate of participants, respondent characteristics in terms of sex and age, by marital
status and educational level and by work position and work experience, the structure of
human resource in the Raya Azobo Woreda, practices of human resource management which
include practice of human resource planning, recruitment and selection, training and
development and employee performance appraisal system and challenges of human resource
management in the Raya Azobo Woreda

3.2 Response Rate of Participants

In general 167 respondents were participated in this study. Among them, 20 were leaders of
the Woreda offices and they are asked structured and unstructured or in-depth interview
questions. For 147 employees (127 experts and 20 human resource managers) open ended
and close ended questionnaires were distributed through simple random sampling and
purposive sampling technique. The distributed questioners were returned with the response
rate of 100 percent. To supplement their responses to interview questions were presented to
key bodies of the offices. To manage work the woreda sector offices are divided in to three
categories. The distribution and response rate of the questioner was presented as follows in
table in three categories, i.e., Economical category sectors, social categories, sectors and
administrative category sector offices. For better understanding the full information
regarding response rate in respect to each sector offices was attached in Appendix G.
Table 3 .1 Response Rate of participants
S.N Categories of respondents
Number
of Questionnarie
Questionnarie
o
sectors
in distributed
returned
category
1
Administrative category
4 sectors
14
14
2
Economic category
8 sectors
39
39
3
Social category
8 sectors
94
94
Total
20sectors
147
147
Source: Field survey, 2016

Response
Rate
100%
100%
100%
100%

3.3 Respondents Characteristics

The first part of the questionnaire contains the characteristics of the participants. Thus,
analysis of demographic characteristics of the respondents was presented by using percentage
and frequency. It mainly focuses on personal and professional information of respondents,
including sex, age, marital status, education level; work position and work experience that
are presented as in the following tables below. The first table, table 4.2 shows respondents
characteristics by sex and age.

3.3.1 Respondents Characteristics by Sex and Age

20

Table 3.2 Respondents characteristics by sex and age

Respondents characters tics
Categories Frequency
Sex
Male
127
Female
20
Total
147
Age
20-30
27
31-40
69
41-50
37
Above 50
14
Total
147

Percent
86.4%
13.6%
100%
18.4%
46.9%
25.17%
9.5%
100%

Source: Field survey, 2016

The above table 3.2 illustrates the response characteristics in terms of sex and age. From the
table it is easy to understand the following facts. The majority of the respondents were
males; 127(86.4%) and the rest 20(13.6%) were females. This implies that the Woreda
offices were dominated by male employees and females participation was low relative to
male. Another thing in the table is regarding the age group of the respondents. In this
regard, the majority 69 (46.9 %) of the respondents in the Woreda office were found in the
age interval of 31-40 years, which signifies that the office have mature and well experienced
staffs who have productive and potential projection. Following 37 (25.17%) of the
respondents were found in the age interval of 41-50 whereas the remaining 27 (18.4%) and
14 (9.5%) of the respondents fell under the age category of 20-30 and above 51 respectively.
3.3.2 Respondents Characteristics by Marital Status and Education level
Table 3.3 Respondents characteristics by Marital Status and Education level
Respondents
Categories
Frequency
Percent
characteristics
Marital Status
Single
23
15.6
Married
123
83.6
Divorced
1
0.68
Widowed
Total
147
100
Education level
Certificate
21
14.3
Diploma
48
32.7
Degree
75
51
Master and above
3
2
Total
147
100
Source: Field survey, 2016
Also the above table 4.3 illustrates respondent characteristics in terms of their marital status
and educational level. With regard to marital status, as it is indicated in the table above, the
majority of the respondents 123 (83.6%) were married and the rest 23(15.6) and 1(0.68%)
were single and divorced. From this we easily assume that the presence of a large portion of
married employees decreases the turnover of employee and help to stay permanently.
Practices and Challenges of Human Resource Management in Public Sectors in SNNPRS: The Case of Burji Woreda
Masters Thesis By: UMEA CHEKOL MPM, IPMDS Page 45

On the basis of their educational level majority of respondents 75 (51%) were first degree
holders where as 48 (32.7%) of them were diploma and 21 (14.3%) were at certificate level.
Only 3 individuals respond educational level of Masters and above.3.3.3 Respondents characteristics
by Work Position and Work Experience
21

Table 3.4 Respondents characteristics of work position and work experience

Respondents characters tics
Categories
Frequency
Percent
Work position
Experts
76
51.7%
Process owners
71
48.3%
Total
147
100%
Work experience
1 year and below
3
2%
2-6
41
27.9%
7-10
30
20.4%
Above 11
73
49.7%
Total
147
100%
Source: Field survey, 2016
Table 4.4 above as well shows respondents characteristics in terms of work position and
work experience. Concerning work position of employees out of 147 participants 76 (51.7%)
were experts and 71 (48.3%) of them were process owners including human resource
managers. Concerning work experience of the respondents as indicated in table the large
portion of the respondents 73(49.7%) were work experience of above 11 years. Following
41(27.9%) were the work experience of range 2-6 years. The remaining 30(20.4%) and3
(2%) were have the work experience of range 7-10 years and 1 and below year work
experience respectively.

3.4 Human Resource Structure in the Raya Azobo Woreda

The Ethiopian government, with the aim of modernizing the civil service in an attempt to
develop an effective and efficient civil service launched civil service reform in five subprograms
including HRM reform in 1996. The objective of reforming program is improving
the public sector service delivery system. The government sponsored a lot of management
training programs to enhance the capacities of civil service employees and to implement
Result Based Performance Management System in all of its civil service organizations.
Since 2004, the government has also endorsed Business Process Reengineering (BPR) as a
foundation for strengthening Result Based Performance Management System in the Civil
Service (Tesfaye, 2009). In the world begging from 1990s, BPR has become one of the
management tools to improve the performances of modern corporate organizations and
government organizations (Ibid). Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is basically its own
concept, ideology and principle how to improve performance.
To implement its principle properly to provide effective and efficient service there should be
equipped, organized and fulfilled human resource is needed in organizing. This is why it puts
minimum requirements of human resource for the organization. At country level when PBR
designed for each sector's structure of the sectors is restructured i.e. How many core
processes, supportive process and human resources are needed for each core process and
supportive process are studied in reference to BPR. Then BPR put the minimum human
resource requirement for each sector and departments within sectors. According to the
requirement in the context of our country to achieve its objective and provide efficient and
effective service to public each sector should fulfill as a minimum 75% of human resource
among other resources. In the context of Raya Azobo Woreda as PBR design for overall structure,
there are generally 16 core processes and 90 sportive processes which need 1651 permanent
employees beside temporary employees (BWCSO, 2015). However, in woreda it doesnt
fulfill the minimum requirement of the BPR. The practical situation is presented in the
following table 3.5. For better understanding see Apendex H for each sector's structure
human resource.
22

Table 4.5 Human resource structure in Raya Azobo Woreda

Sector
by Number of Process in a Human
Human Resource Gap between
Category
office
in Category
resource
Currently
available And
category
required
Available
Required
Administrative 4Sectors
9 cores and 23 103
57
46
category
supportive
Economic
8Sectors
44 cores and 477
253
224
category
37supportive
Social category 8Sectors
23 cores and 1071
602
468
30supportive
Total sectors
20Sectors
16cores and 90 1651
912
738
supportive
Source: Raya Azobo Woreda civil service office (2016)
The above table 3.5 illustrates the Human resource needed and available in the Woreda for
the overall structure. As it shows on table in most sector offices human resource available is
below 50 percent. Only one sector reaches the minimum requirement of BPR. When we see
in woreda level the overall human resource needed for all structure is 1651. However the
available human resource is only 912 that is 55.2 percent. It is believed that human resource
is vital for development of organization and effective provision of service for the citizens.
Since it is vital and foundation for development and change is should be given attention.
Believing this the Ethiopian government launched human resource reform as one program
under civil service reform and takes different remedial action through different mechanism.
This reform program practically improves problems regarding human resource programs in
some extent. However, when we see the practice in the study area the human resource, still
there is problem concerning human resource and should not have value as it is an essential
asset. From the illustration of the above table 4.5 shown one can easily understand this;
mean, how much it loses the attention of concerned bodies and the practice is below
intended.

3.5 Practice of Human Resource Management in Public Sector in Woreda

According to Deci (2010) cited in (Nyameh & James, 2013), human resource management
is a management methodology that involves the establishment and execution of policies,
programs and procedures that influence the performance, capabilities and loyalty of the
employees of an organization. It is systematic and strategic process of managing people at
work place that focus on successfully managing employees at all levels of an organization to
achieve organizational goals. Similarly Haslinda (2009) describe HRM as the process of
managing human talents to achieve the organizations objective which includes the process
of recruitment and selection, compensation and benefits, labor and industrial relations and
also the management of employees safety and health in organizations. The study collected
data from participants regarding the practice of human resource management in the Woreda.
This section presents the description and explanation of human resource management
practice based on human resource planning, training and development and performance
appraisal is presented, interpreted and discussed.
3.5.1 Human Resource Planning
Among practices of human resource management, human resource planning is the begging
and the foundation. To done recruitment, training and development, reward, promotion,
transfer and other programs in office; the organization first should have a human resource
23

Percent
reached
55.3%
53%
56.2%
55.2%

plan. According to the federal proclamation of civil service (Proclamation No. 515/2007) the
purpose of human resource planning shall be to enable a government institution to take
measures to meet the objective specified in the strategic plan, to forecast its human resource
demand, to acquire human resource in the right number and type, to develop and properly
utilize it, monitor and evaluate its result and make corrective measures from time to time.
Any government institution based on its strategic plan shall prepare and implement short,
medium and long term human resource plan. Human resource managers determine human
resource gaps from different departments in an organization within the organization by using
different forecasting techniques through need assessment. Human resource plan is prepared
based on internal gaps and based on the strategic plan of the organization. Vacancies may be
filled through recruitment, promotion, transfer or deployment on the basis of the human
resource plan and the organization shall issue detailed guidelines on human resource
planning. In this section, participants reaction towards the practice of human resource
planning is presented as follows in table 4.6.
Table 3.6 Practice of human resource planning in public sector in Woreda Planning indicators
planning indicators
Responses in term of frequency and Total
Percent
Yes
No
In some No Idea
extent
Human resource planning in the organization
110
19
18
147
74.9% 12.9
12.2
100%
Need assessment before planning Process
29
55
40
4
147
19.7% 36.7
27.2%
2.4%
100%
%
The plan implemented according criteria and 9
69
49
147
6.1%
54.3
38.6%
100%
planed time
%
Source: Field survey, 2016
The above table 3.6 illustrates the respondents response about the practice of human
resource plan of their office. As it was shown in the table there is the presence of the plan in
their respective sectors, from the 147 participants the large portion 110(74.8%) of them
respond as their office have a human resource plan. The rest of them replies No 19(12.9%)
and in some extent 18(12.2%). From this it is possible to recognize that in the Woreda
offices there is good practice of human resource planning. During development of a human
resource plan the organization should assess the need of human resource in different level.
According to Armstrong (2006) during HRP organization should assess need of organization,
i.e. assess current human resource, forecast demand, forecast supply and much demand and
supply of human resources. This is the responsibility of human resource manager. The
human resource manager in the organization should do the deriving the human resource
number and qualities from the strategic plan or the human resource inventory activities.
Then, follow the assessment of the overall needs of the organization and the existing human
resource inventory. Then based on gap brings for discussion with the concerned bodies in
the organization. However, regarding to this from the 128 respondents who replies yes and
in some extent majority 55 (36.7%) replies No, mean there is no needs assessment in the
organization. Following 40 (27.7%) replies in some extent and 29 (19.7%) yes. These show
that; even if there was a human resource plan in offices there was no proper need assessment
24

practice during planning. Therefore the plan is not based on the human resource gaps in the
organization. Unless is fulfilled and based on the gap it should not improve the problem of
organization. This has its impact on organizational development. The main reason for
improper need assessment in sector office as some response from in-depth interview with
human resource managers most employees who work in human resource management
position are not human resource professionals or experts. They have no known, how about
the human resource process. As the information from human resource managers in woreda
civil service offices from 20 sector offices only 9 (nine) sector offices have legal professional
recruited human resource managers. The remaining 11(eleven) sector offices assign
representative experts from another department on human resource position with additional
responsibility. So, the assigned expert has failed in proper functioning of the program
because it is not his profession.
Another indicator of HRP that table 4.6 above reveal was regarded to the application of the
plan according to the criteria and planed time. Simply planning is nothing unless the plan
implemented accordingly. Concerning this out of 127 respondents, the majority 69 (54.3%)
of participants repels negative response and 49 (38.6%) responds In some extent.
However the remaining 9 of them responds positive response. This shows that in the Woreda
offices the plan of human resource was not applied according to the criteria and planned
time. Besides, the information gathered through unstructured interviews from human resource
managers and leaders of organizations shows the similar findings with the information
obtained through a questionnaire. In this regard, participants suggested that there is a human
resource management plan in their office, however the plan is not based on need assessment
and it was not applied as intended. Therefore, this implies that in the Woreda sector offices
there is a human resource plan, however, during plan, there is no needs assessment for
planning and is not applied or implemented as planned. Problem of many organizations is not having
plan of human resource management in practice rather application of the plan. The above evidence from
participants show in Woreda many based on needs assessment and it was not applied as Inhuman
resource managers and office Application of the plan depends leaders and managers, participant
begging to end. Kandula (2003) identifies three major barriers for effective HRPimplementation. These
are lack of top managementskill among human resources managers and lack of financial support of
HRM program.
3.5.2 Recruitment and Selection Process in Public Sector in Woreda
The ability of the organization to attract competing applicants is base for the organization to
be productive and provide effective service. Therefore the organization or managers should
give attention for recruitment and selection. According to Itika (2011) Managers responsible
for recruitment and selection should be clear on the type of employees they are looking for. Lack
of clarity may lead to poor selection criteria and may result in the wrong person being recruited
for the job. According to Foot and Hook (2005) the main objective of recruitment is to obtain
a pool of suitable candidate for the vacant post, to use fair process and be able to demonstrate
that process was fair, to ensure recruitment activities contribute for an organizational goal
and desirable organizational image and to conduct recruitment activities in an efficient and
cost effective manner. So the proper systematic recruitment process helps the organization to
get or obtain suitable candidates. If the organization has positive and good background it has
potential to attract competitive employees. In Ethiopia after decentralizations of civil service
each sector has authority to post their vacant position. As cited in Tegegn(2008) according to
the DNG 2002 article 14 (1 and 3: 5) of the region, each regional, zonal and woreda level
government office has the right to advertise every vacant position. So, in line with this each
25

woreda sector offices has the authority advertise every vacant position in their offices. The
table below shows response related to recruitment and selection procedure in the Woreda.
Table 3.7 practice of recruitment and selection

Recruitment and selection practice indicators

Responses in term of frequency and

Percent
Yes
No
In some No
extent
Idea
The organizations ability to attract suitable applicants to 27
63
54
3
18.4% 42.9% 56.7%
2%
fill vacancy
How well the current recruitment procedure allows 57
47
38
5
38.8%
32%
25.9%
3.4
organization to recruit the right person to the right job
Selection is based on merit
62
43
33
9
42.2% 29.3% 22.4%
6.1%
Source: Field survey, 2016
Human resource plan, have an objective for having the right level of talent, skill and attitude
in the right job at the right time performing the right activities to achieve right objective for
fulfillment of organizational purpose. To achieve this purpose after examining the inventory
of human resource, the next step or process was seeking, attracting and identifying the pool
of qualified applicants. Regarding the practice of recruitment and selection as shown on
above table 4.5 majorities of respondent in woreda offices 63 (42.9 %) were replies negative
response for the ability of their office to attract suitable applicants to fill vacancy. Also 54
(36.7%) participants were replies our office has ability to attract suitable applicants in some
extent where as the only 18.3% of them replies positive response. This shows that in the
Woreda sector offices have no ability to attract suitable applicants to fill job vacancy.
As Ivancevich (2007) Selection is a process by which an organization chooses from a list of
applicant the person or persons who best meet criteria for the position available in the
organization. So from this we perceived that selection has its criteria, seated and sequential
procedure followed which is mainly merit based. Any organization which strives for
competitive and to provide effective service to their customers should follow merit based
selection. According to Mondy et.al (1999) selection is the most difficult and most important
decision of managers because if affirm hires poor performers, even if the organization have
perfect plans, sound organizational structure and finely tuned control system it cannot be
successful long. Therefore, it should be merit based. According to Adebabay (2011),
selection should be merit based which involves dealing with people based on their
knowledge, skills and other capabilities rather than irrelevant characteristics. Also, as cited in
Libanos et.al (2014) according to United States of America civil service, merit principles
include fair and open competition; fair and equitable treatment of employees; equal pay for
equal work as well as rewarding excellent performance. In line with this Ethiopian civil
service ratified legal ground for recruitment which states the vacant position shall be filled
only by a person who meets the qualification required for the position and scores higher than
other candidates (FDRE Proclamation No. 515/2007). Because competent peoples must be
available and essential to ensure that organizational goals are attained. However, in practical
many organizations in public sector face difficulty of proper application of merit based
selection principle. In the study area as shown in the above table 4.6 concerning selection,
merit based process majority of participants 75 (51%) reply that selection of candidates is not
based on merit only. Following 39 (26.5%) participants of the Woreda civil servants replies
26

Total

147
100%
147
100%
147
100%

in some extent it is the merit based. Only 28 (19%) participants out of 147 replies the
selection procedure is based on merit. From this we understand in Woreda sector offices;
selection was influenced by other factors rather merit principle. Tegegn (2008) on his
research on human resource management function on SNNRS found that the selection of
candidates in the region is not based on merit rather other personal factor supports this
research finding. Similarly the study conducted in Oromiya regional state by of Libanos et.al
(2014) shows similar finding that the recruitment and selection process is not based on merit
principles, and there is a tendency of violating the guidelines in the implementation manual.
This is mostly due to lack of attention from concerned bodies, lack of commitment as well as
skill gap of the implements or human resource managers regarding the program. According
to Ivancevich (2007) the success of most organizations depends on selecting the right
employees with the required knowledge, skills and attitudes that help the organization in the
realization of achieving its strategic goals. There should be hiring of the right person for the
right job if one really has a desire to be productive. The proper and effective selection
process has its impact on organizational performance. Therefore if there is not merit based
selection, there is a poor selection process which leads an organization to fruitless.
,As it is believed that good human resource management practiced is achieved by its open and
transparent competition-based recruitment and selection that assures merit based principle
However, as discussed above different factors. According to principle of human resource
were highly inhibited by unnecessary political interference, poor separation of power, poor
accountability system, i.e. Selection process is full of personal
candidates who catered to officials or to party (TPLF) members.

3.5.2 Training and Development Practice in the Public Sector in the Woreda
Training and development program in an organization is an important function of human
resource management that focused on improving and developing skills and Knowledge of
existing employee of the organization to improve their performance. As Ferris and Bucley
(1996) it is one of the main pillars for the development of capabilities, improve skills, update
knowledge and increase competencies and performance of employees in an organization.
Government and organization prepare a program for employee believing that training and
development improves the performance of employees and the productivity of the
organization. According to the federal civil service, proclamation of Ethiopia (Proclamation
No. 515/2007) a Civil servant shall be trained to improve his capability and attain better
performance or to prepare him for higher responsibility based on career development. This
section presents the reaction of the respondents regarding the practice of training and
development program in the Woreda.
For the analysis and interpretation purpose, the researchers decided response Agree (Strongly
Agree + Agree) as a success, Somehow Agree as medium and Disagree (Disagree + Strongly
Disagree) as a failure. The researcher uses these for all Likert- scale questions, i.e. questions

27

Table 3.8 Practice of training and development

Training and development practice indicators

Response type S
strongly
disagree
72
48.3%
54
36.7%
41
27.9%
31
21,1%
8
5,45%
8
4.5%
34

Disagr
ee
47
32%
54
36.7%
48
32.7%
32
21.8%
12
8.2%
94
63,9%
70

Total
Some
what
18
12.2%
32
21.8%
39
26.5%
45
30.6%
67
45.6%
22
15%
30

Agree

Strongly
Agree
1
0.7
7
4.8%
10
6.8
4
2.7%
-

The office has good training and Frequency

10
Percent
6.8
development Programs
The office assesses employee training Frequency
7
Percent
4.8%
needs before the training
The selection of trainee is free and Frequency
12
Percent
8.2%
fair
The training is relevant for practical Frequency
29
Percent
19.7
work
The office Sets performance goals Frequency
56
Percent
38.1
and objectives of training program
Implementation based on stated goals Frequency
23
and objectives
15,6%
Percent
Assessing the available aids for Frequency
13
internal and external training and Percent
23%
47,6% 20.4% 8,8% development
Planning, developing strategies for Frequency 42
43
50
8
4
Percent
28.6%
2.3%
34%
4,5%
2.7%
training Programs
There is a means of monitoring and Frequency 42
66
34
2
3
Evaluating of training efforts
Percent
28.6%
44.8% 23%
1.4% 2%
Source: Field survey, 2016
As cited in Nyameh and James (2013) Training can be used as a tool for developing
knowledge and skills to enhance an individuals performance based upon the criteria of
efficiency and effectiveness, besides achieving competitiveness and productivity (Cooke,
2000). So, the organization should which tries to be productive should give attention of
developers. As shown in table 4.8 above for the question the office has good training and
development program; out of 147 participants 118 (80.3%) of them disagree with while 18
(12.2%) agree somehow. Only 11 (6.7%) participants agreed with the statement the office
have good training and development program. From this it is possible to infer that in Woreda
sector office training and development program which help employees to upgrade skill and
performance is poor.
The table 3.8 also shows that the participants opinion concerning the practice of need
assessment of training and development. Need assessment is a very important activity in the
organization before the provision of training programs. Before the provision program the
organization should know where the gap is. According to the federal civil service,
proclamation of Ethiopia a government organization shall have the duty to identify the
training needs of the institution and the civil servants and to prepare plans and budget for
training and thereby ensure that civil servants receive the necessary training(Proclamation
No. 515/2007). Need assessment show where the gap exists which need training. It should be
done in organization level, in task level and personal level. The proper needs assessment
leads to the proper provision of training and development programs. Regarding this Majority
of participants 108 (73.4%) were dissatisfied with training needs assessment in Woreda
28

147
100%

147
100%

147
100%

147
100%

147
100%

147
100%

147
100%

147
100%

147
100%

sector offices. Only 7 participants were agreed with a need assessment before the training
program while the remaining 32 (21.8%) participants replies somehow agree. According to
Nancy (2012) cited in Simachewu (2014) training needs assessment can determine the level of
optimal performance and standards for excellence, evidence of individuals actual performance
level, attitudes affecting performance and root causes of performance problems. By
systematically, analyzing needs organizations can identify solutions to performance problems
that will provide the best return on training and development investment. However the finding in
sector offices implies poor practice of training needs assessment.
The third point in table 4.8 was about the selection of employee for internal and external training.
64 (42.9%) of participants disagree with fair and free selection of employee for internal and
external training. Following 45 (30.6 %) were Agree in somehow while the remaining 39 (16.5)
were replies Agree. Therefore from participants response it is possible to say there is no practice
of fair and free selection of employee for external and internal training program because majority
of participants in Woreda office were replies disagree and selection is full of bias.
Another point that table 4.8 above illustrate is about setting performance goal and objective of
training and development programmes. Concerning this majority of participants 67 (45.6%)
were replies somehow agree. Also 56 (38.1%) participants were agreeing with setting
performance goal and objective of the training program. According to Desimon and Werner
(2002), the clear and concise, objective must be formulated for training and development
programmes. Without the establishment of goal, designing training and development
program is impossible. However, in Woreda the practice as the finding shows is not such
much productive. So as finding implies the offices set the goal and objective of the training
program in some extent. Regarding the implementation of seats goal and objective of training
and development program majority of participants 102 (69.3%) replies disagree. Therefore, this
shows even if there is the practice of setting performance goal and objective in some extent it
fails during implementation. This may reduce office effectiveness and efficiency.
In the table above 4.8 the seventh point is shown about the trend of assessing the available aids
for internal and external training and development program. Concerning this out of 147
participants, 104 (70.6%) were reply disagree where as 30 (20.1%) were replying somehow
agree. Only 13 participants were agreed with the trend of assessing the available aids for
internal and external training and development. This implies that there is no trend of
assessing the available aids for internal and external training in the Woreda sector offices.
Planning, developing strategies for training is one important thing in training and
development program that we see in above table 3.8. As indicated in table 85 (57.9%) of
participants were disagreeing with their office trend of planning developmental strategies for
training program which play a principal role to build the employees latent. 50 (34%) were
replies somehow agree whereas only 12 (8.1%) participants were agreed. From this
perspective the sector office are not courageous in planning good development strategies.
The inference is that unless the Woreda sector offices are designing good developing
strategies for training, programs and modules; that it would be impossible to make their
office successful and provide service in a competitive manner. The last but not the least point
concerning training and development program in the above table 4.8 is about monitoring and
evaluation of the training effort. Monitoring and evaluation is the final phase in training and
development programmes. In this phase the organization should evaluate and monitor the
effectiveness and success of provided training and development program. According to
Desimone and Werner (2002) training and development professionals are increasingly being
moreover asked to provide evidence of the success of their efforts, increasing a variety of
measures that is both end result impact as well as employee reaction. This information allows
29

managers to make better decisions about various aspects of the training and development
efforts such as; Continuing to use a particular technique in the future program, offering the
particular programs in the future, budgeting and resource allocation and using some other
HR and managerial approach to solve the problems. Regarding the practice of the woreda
offices as shown in table 4.8 majority of respondents 108(73.5%) were disagreed with proper
means of monitoring and evaluation of training efforts. Following 34 (23.1%) participants
were responding somehow agree. Based on this finding, one can conclude that the Woreda
offices were very indisposed in evaluating the effectiveness, the efficiency and the relevance
of training and development program given to the employees that helping them to get
feedback for their improvement.
Similar information gathered from key informants thorough, in-depth interview shows there
is gap in practice of training and development program in the Woreda. As they says training
and development program is ineffective in improving and developing skills and capacity of
employees. There is no programmed internal and external program in the Woreda. As their
response in woreda level, there are no practice and experience of budget allocation for
training and development programmes. There were top down training program from a zone
or regional Bureau in which sometimes responsible bodies were not participating due to
unfair selection. In the development and changing world, to compete with change and adapt
to changing world the organizational development is vital. The development, education and
training of employees in an organization are essential which enhance employees skill,
knowledge, attitude, ability and competency to be competitive. However, in Woreda the sector offices
have not sufficient training and development programs; likewise they were
unsuccessful in assessing training needs, the selection of trainee for training and development
program was poor, fails in searching aids for internal and external training and development,
ineffective in planning training strategies and monitoring and evaluating training and
development efforts or program provided. This finding is comparable to the study of
Simachew (2004), on Tigray regional government on training and development program
which reveal that training and development programs were ineffective in assessing training
needs, setting performance objectives, in searching aids for internal and external training and
development, planning training strategies and preparing training schedules and modules as
well as assessing training and development efforts.

3.5.3 Employees Performance Appraisals Practice in Public Sector in Raya Azobo Woreda
Performance appraisal is about performance management. Each employee is measured and
evaluated to know how well they performed, where the gap exist and how the gap should be
filled. According to the Federal civil service proclamation of Ethiopia(Proclamation No.
515/2007) the objective of performance appraisal is to enable civil servants to effectively
discharge their duties in accordance with the expected level, quality standards and time and
expense , to evaluate civil servants on continuous basis and identify their strengths and
weaknesses with a view to improve their future performance , to identify training needs of
employees , to give reward based on result and to enable management to make its
administrative decisions based on concrete evidence. This section present the reaction of
participants concerning the practice of performance appraisal system in the Woreda

30

Table 3.9 Frequency and percentage of employees performance appraisal practice in Woreda
Indicators of employee performance appraisal practice
Response type S
strongly
disagree
There is periodic performance appraisal
system in office
The office seat goal or objective of
performance
appraisal
both
in
organizational level and individual level
The office establish job expectation for
employees
Evaluation what expected from each
employee
Performance appraisal has improved the
performance of the employees of office
A positive performance appraisal leads to
reward

1
0.7%
4
2.7%

Disagr
ee
29
19.7%
53
36.1%

Some
what
53
36.1%
15
10.2%

3
2%
9
6.1%
20
13.6%
37
25.7%
22

25
17%
77
52.4%
71
48.3%
51
34.7%
71

52
35.4%
27
18.4%
36
24.5%
17
11.7%
36

63

Percent

15%

48.3%

Frequency
Percent
Frequency
Percent

21
14.3%
42
28.6%

73
49.7%
83
56.5%

Frequency
Percent
Frequency
Percent

Frequency
Percent
Frequency
Percent
Frequency
Percent
Frequency
Percent
Performance appraisal identity and fill the Frequency
gap of employees and organization
There is transparency & continuous follow
up when evaluating employees
There is a strong link between outcome &
reward in your office

Agree
60
40.8%

69
46.9%

Strongly
Agree
4
2.7%
6
4.1%

147
100%

147
100%

147

12

4
2.7%
2
1.45%
4
2.7%
8
5.4%
6

24.5%

8.2%

4.1%

100%

43
29.3%
21
14.3%

10
6.8%
1
0.7%

147

42.9%

32
21.8%

16
10.9%

34
23.1%

Source: Field survey, 2016

As clearly understood from above table 3.9 regarding performance appraise the first question
is about the existence of periodic performance appraisal program. Concerning this; majority
of participants 64(43.5%) were respond that they were agreeing with the presence of periodic
performance appraisal program in the office. Following this 53(36.1%) of participants replies
somehow agree. This shows that there is a periodic performance appraisal program in Woreda offices.
Also the response of interview with human resource managers and leaders of the office
shows similar thing. As their replies in most offices there is a quarterly performance
evaluation system begging from the application of the BSC.
The second point in the above table 3.9 is about setting a goal or objective of performance
appraisal both in organizational level and individual level. According to Armstrong (2006)
Performance appraisal is continuous or ongoing process which begins with the setting of the
goal or objective of performance appraisal both in organizational level as well as individual
level. Similarly, according to Mondy et.al (1999) identification of specific goal is the starting
point for the performance appraisal process. From this one can perceive that first the
organization should set goal or objective of performance appraisal. Therefore, management
should select a specific appraisal, goal that can be realistically archived. Regarding this from
the table, we see that the large portion of participants 75 (51%) were replies agree where as
57 (38.8%) of participants replies disagree. The remaining 15 (10.2%) participants are
somehow agreed. This implies in the Woreda sector offices there was a practice of seating
goal and objective of performance appraisal in organizational and employee level.
31

Total

100%

147
100%

147
100%

147
100%

147

100%
147
100%

Also Armstrong (2006) points out the organization's establishment of job expectation from
each employee, i.e. informing employees what is expected from him or her on the job.
Discussion is held between and they are superior to review the major duties and
responsibilities expected from. Also, as Mondy et.al (1999) after a specific appraisal, goal
have been established workers and team must understand what is expected from them in their
task which greatly facilitate when the employees have had an input into established goals.
Concerning this 67 (45.1%) of respondents' replies Agree while 52 (32.4%) participants were
replies somehow agree. This shows in Woreda the sector offices establish job expectation
from each employee. This finding goes in line with the above statement of Armstrong.
The next point in the above table 3.9 is about evaluation of what's expected from each
employee. As we see it from table majority of participants did not agree with the evaluation
of what is expected from each employee; i.e., 86 (58.5%) participants respond disagree. From
this we understand that even if in the Woreda offices has seat goal and establish what
expected from each employee, fails in the evaluation of what is expected from each
employee. The practice of evaluation is poor. This finding is similar to the finding of Simachewu (2014)
on human resource development and the challenge on Tigray regional
government.
Effective and proper performance appraisal system, improve the performance of employee
through different coercive action based on result of the appraisal. The Fourth point is about
the impact of performance appraisal on employees. 91 (61.9%) of participants were
disagreeing with the statement performance appraisal improves the performance of the
employees. This implies the performance appraisal practice in Woreda is not improving the
performance of the employee. This is because poor practice of evaluation; as discussed above
the offices does not evaluate what expected from each employee. Unless evaluation depends
on expected job and objective from each employee it is difficult to improve their
performance.
Another point that can see from the above table 4.9 is positive performance lead to reward.
Based on the result of performance appraisal the organization makes different decisions.
According to Mohammed et al (2010), based on evaluation of performance gaps of employee
the organization makes the decision of hiring additional work force if necessary, or
improving the skill and knowledge of existing employee through training and development
programmes and rewarding or compensating those who perform better to motivate for the
future. Pertaining to this as shown in table out of 147 participants 88 (60.4%) respond
disagree. From this it is possible to conclude that positive performance didn't lead to reward,
there is no practice of reward and motivation system based on performance.
As it is also shown in the table 4.9 above, the seventh point is about performance appraisal
identifies and fills the gap of employees and the organization. Out of 147 participants large
portion of respondents 93 (63.3%) were replies disagree. This implies that the performance
appraisal is not identified and fills the gap of employees and the organization in Woreda. In
the same way, as shown in table 4.9., more than 60% of the respondents reply that,
transparency and continuous follow up during the evaluation were not that much. In addition,
the majority of the respondent also replied that there is no strong link between performance
and reward in their office. In reality, motivating employee based on their performance is one
factor of enhancing performance. The practice in Woreda was in contrast. However, as the
proclamation of federal civil service of Ethiopia (2007) says the objective of performance
appraisal is to give reward based on performance. The research conducted in regional level in
SNNPRS by Tegegn (2008) concluded that in the region transparency and continuous follow
32

up is so weak and there is a loose attachment between performance and reward. This might
be due to lack of participation, inconsistent implementation and lack of resource. Also, as
cited in Tegegn (2008) a study conducted at country level by Solomon (2005) showed that,
the performance appraisal system suffers from lack of transparency, weak follow up and the
linkage between performance and reward system is loose.
The information gathered through interviews with human resource managers and leaders of
the organization concerning the practice of performance appraisal confirmed that there is a
periodic performance appraisal practice in their office and the objective of performance
appraisal is to identify and fill the gap of performance as well as for taking different coercive
measure based on the result. Also, they say due to resource scarcity and lack of attention the
link between performance and reward is such much.

4.5.4 Challenges of Human Resource Management

Things are changing daily due to globalization. Technological advancement in global world
brings changes which lead to positive and negative challenges in social, political and
economic dimension. Unless managers have the ability to cope with those changes it is
challenging. This part of the study assesses and examines the major challenges that delays
human resource management practices in Woreda. As it was discovered from the
questionnaire and interview and other secondary sources, there were some challenges that
face Woreda sector office in the practice of human resource management as shown in Table3.10 below.
Table 3.10 Challenges of human resource management
Indicators of challenges

Response type S

Total

Lack of proper merit System

Frequency
Percent
Frequency
Percent
Frequency
Percent
Frequency
Percent
Frequency
Percent
Frequency

strongly
disagree
13
8.8%
9
6.1%
7
4.8%
15
10.2%
14
9.5%
13

Disagre
e
54
36.7%
26
17.7%
17
11.6%
21
14.3%
14
9.5%
27

Somew
hat
37
25.2%
41
27.9%
53
36.1%
38
25.9%
25
17%
35

Developing a positive work environment

Percent
Frequency

8.8%
8

18.4%
14

Percent

5.4%

Frequency
Percent
Frequency
Percent
Frequency
Percent

2
1.4%
3
2% %
5
3.4%

Managing workplace diversity

Recruiting skilled employee retaining
Attracting qualified personnel
Inadequate training and development
Lack of compensation and Benefit

Change management
Paying
attention
to
professional
development
Accepting the challenges of modern
technological changes Officials influence
Source: Field survey, 2016

Agree
23
15.6%
51
34.7%
43
29.3%
52
35.4%
53
36.1%
47

Strongly
Agree
20
13.6%
20
13.6
27
18.4%
21
14.3%
41
27.9%
25

147
100%
147
100%
147
100%
147
100%
147
100%
147

23.8%
48

32%
52

17%
25

100%
147

9.5%

32.7%

35.4%

17%

100%

20
13.6%
35
23.8%
28
19%

40
27.2%
39
26.5
23
15.6%

51
34.7%
51
34.7%
56
38.1

34
23.1
19
12%
35
23.8

147
100%
147
100%
147

As it clearly indicated in above table, 3.10 different human resource management challenges
33

are illustrated. The first point is about managing workplace diversity. According to
Muhammad (2012) workforce diversification means to effectively manage the workforce difference
that comes from different backgrounds with respect to regions, cultures, race and gender. As shown

in table 67 (45.5%) participants were disagreed with managing workplace diversity as

challenge of human resource management. This implies managing workplace diversity is not
challenge of human resource management. However 71 (48.3) participants were agreeing
with statement recruiting skilled employees as challenge of human resource management in
their offices. From this it is possible to conclude recruiting skilled employees is challenging
in Woreda sector offices. This is not due to the absence of skilled employee in the Woreda
rather skill gap of recruiting process and focusing on other factors.
The ability of the organization to attract and retain competent and qualified employees is the
foundation for improving service delivery and competitiveness. However, as shown in the
above table 3.10 the majority of participants 70 (47.7%) agree with attracting and retaining
qualified personnel as challenge of human resource management. This implies that in
Woreda sector office attracting and retaining qualified personnel is challenge of human
resource management.
The fourth point in the above table 4.10 is regarding training and development. As illustrated
in table above 73 (49.8%) of participants replies agree as the practice of training and
development programmes is inadequate. Following 38 (25.9%) participants respond
somehow agree. However the remaining 36 (24.5%) were disagreeing as inadequate training
as a challenge. This implies that inadequate training and development program is challenges
of human resource management in the Woreda sector offices. It is known that well
programmed and adequate training and development program enhances skill, knowledge,
ability and competency and ultimately improve workers' performance and productivity of an
organization. If there is inadequate training and development program the reverse is true.
Compensation and benefit important function of human resource management that motivates
employees to enhance their productivity and effectiveness based on their present
performance throng different type of rewards. In practice many organizations miss proper
application of compensation and benefit due to different factors that lead performers to poor
performance. According to Testfaye (2003) the main problem of inefficiency in the public
sector is not redundancy in the number of employees, but the lack of motivation,
helplessness, and low salary that leads people to become careless, negligent, indifferent and
corrupt. Regarding to this the current practice in the Woreda as participants replies large
portion of participants 94 (64%) was agreed as lack of compensation and benefit is one
challenge of human resource management. While only 19% participants disagreed with lack
of compensation and benefit as challenge of human resource management. Therefore, this
finding implies lack of compensation and Benefit is one major factor that identified as the
challenges of human resource management in the Woreda. Similar to this information that
gathered from management bodies (leaders of Woredas and human resource managers)
support the same thing. As they replies employees are careless, have no motive for work
rather they need leaders or supervisor's order to perform activities due to lack of
compensation and benefits that is because of lack of resource in Woreda. Also, as interview
respondents are replies most employees are not satisfied with their current salary system.
Most of they get below what they should be paid due to PSA determination at the Woreda
level.
Another point in above table 3.10 regarding the challenges of human resource management is
lack of proper merit system. As cited in Roa (2013) Merit-based recruitment and predictable,
34

rewarding career ladders improve civil servants capability and performance and are valued
by citizens as an accountability mechanism (Anderson et al. 2003, McCourt 2000). It can
help to attract well-educated individuals which are significant as higher educational
attainment among civil servants that linked to higher performance. Similarly, as cited in Roa
McCourt (2007) notes that governments can promote merit-based appointments in the civil
service through an organizational arrangement. He finds that governments can take other key
steps to promote merit-based systems: declaring adherence to merit principles, specifying any
exceptions, auditing existing practice, and establishing a good selection procedure. Because
unless human resource management is merit based it is difficult for organizations to be
productive and deliver service for customers in an effective way. 71(49%) participants were
agreed with statement lack of merit system is one challenge of human resource management
in the Woreda.
The eighth point in table 3.10 is regarding change management. According to Coffey et.al
(1997), change is the process of alteration or transformation of individuals, groups, and
organizations undertake in response to internal and external factors. No matter where we
work and whether we are in the public sector or private sector, change has become a fact of
life in todays workplace. Organizations must change because their environments change.
They must continually change and adapt to changing environments. Unless organization
change continuously and adapt the changing environment, it is difficult to provide effective
service for their customers whose need and demands are changing with a changing
environment. Success of the organization and managers is compared to how they best can
adapt or manage change. Concerning this as shown in above table 73 (49.6%) participants
agreed with change management is challenge of human resource management. This implies
change management is challenge of human resource management if sector office of Woreda.
According to Ikemefuna and Mbah (2011) Information technology has made the world
smaller and faster through the internet. Ideas and large amount of information now move
freely and constantly. The challenge for the HR Managers is to make good use of what
information technology offers and to make it to be a viable productive part of work setting
and tool. Human resource in the organization should have ability to adapt new technology to
be competitive in this modern world. As illustrated in table 4.8 above concerning accepting
the challenges of modern technological changes 46.9% of participants agreed where as 25.5%
agreed somehow as it was challenges of the Woreda office.
Professional development is one aspect in human resource management organization that should
give attention. According to Snell (2004) the idea that the organization compete through people
highlights that fact that success increasingly depends on the organization's ability to professional
development. Managers of organization should continue to develop superior knowledge, skill
and experience within their workforce. Concerning this the reaction of participants at the base of
practice in the Woreda as illustrated in the above table, over a half percent of participants
(57.8%) agree as paying attention for professional development was challenge of human
resource management in the Woreda. The remaining 27.2% and 14% participants replies
somehow agree and agree respectively. This finding implies professional development in the world has
no gain attention and is challenge of human resource management as response of the
participants.
Generally, as we recognize from finding above, different human resource managements
challenges are identified which include:, managing workplace diversity, recruiting skilled
manpower, attracting and retaining qualified personnel, inadequate training and development
program, creating a positive work environment, change management, paying attention to
35

professional development, accepting the challenges of modern technology change and

officials influence.
As well, the information gathered through in-depth interview from management bodies
shows similar findings with the information obtained through a questionnaire. Some of these
major challenges suggested by participants were lack of sufficient budget for training and
development programmers, creating a conductive work environment, lack of commitment to
implement procedures, lack of emphasis for professional development, change management
and accepting modern technological changes. In addition , they adds that the restriction of
PSA at Woreda level and the restriction of career development and career structure after the
application of BPR were the main factors that reduce the motivation of employees that are
the challenges for managers. Also they replies that employees are not satisfied with current
salary system of governments because the current salary system of government was not cope
with the current market demand.

CHAPTER FOUR
36

4.SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION ANDRECOMMENDATIONS

4.1. Summary of Findings
The effective and efficient utilization of human resources is imperative for the productivity
and competitiveness of organizations. The objective of this study is to explore practice and
challenges of human resource management in public organization in Burji Woreda. To do
this the researcher employed descriptive research design and using quantitative and
qualitative data from both primary and secondary sources. The result of the study reveals that
in the Woreda;
The human resource available in the Woreda for overall structure is below the
minimum requirement. The minimum requirement of human resource required for
each sector office, according BPR design was 75 percent. However, in woreda,
human resources available in almost all sector offices are below 50 percent.
There was practically of HRP however, it was not based on needs assessment and it
was not implemented accordingly seated criteria and time scheduled due to scarcity of
resource, absence of need assessment and lack of commitment of concerned bodies.
There

was inadequate recruitment and selection process. Each sector office has
authority to employ both internal and external sources of recruitment to fill vacancy.
However Sector offices have no ability to attract suitable applicants to fill job
vacancy. Also, there was interviews response show determination or restriction of
PSA (professional science) influences some sector officials to hire the right person for
the right position. The selection process is not merit based only, but it was influenced
by a skill gap of the selection process, external influence and benefits.
Training

and development program is imperative for improving and developing skill,

knowledge and capacity of employees. The sector offices do not have sufficient
training and development programs; correspondingly, they were ineffective in
assessing training needs, setting performance objectives and goal of training and
development programmes, in searching aids for internal and external training and
development, planning training strategies and preparing training schedules and
modules as well as monitoring and evaluating training and development efforts.
Regarding to performance appraisal, there was a periodic performance appraisal
practice which attempts to assess the performance and behavior of the employees.
However, it fails in identifying and filling gaps of organization and employees, it
lacks objective performance criteria and lack of commitment, there was not linked
between good performance and reward due to lack of resource and lack of attention.
Moreover, transparency and continuous follow up was so weak.
Different human resource managements challenges are identified which include:,
recruiting skilled manpower, attracting and retaining qualified personnel, inadequate
training and development program, creating a positive work environment, change
management, paying attention to professional development, accepting the challenges
of modern technology change and officials influence.
Also limit of PSA for a job position in the Woreda level and the restriction of
curer structure and career development after application of PBR have an impact on
the motivation of employees for work who were many year experiences.

4.2. Conclusion
37

Manpower; particularly skilled manpower is an engine for every institutional development in

the country and particularly in the Woreda. So, utilization and accurate management of it
should gain attention of concerned bodies exceeding all. The overall objective of this
research was to examine the practice and challenges of human resource management in Raya Azobo
Woreda public organizations. To the achievement of the seated objective the researcher
consumed descriptive or survey researcher design. In doing accordingly the study tries to
analyze the data that have been collected from secondary through critical review of literature
and primary sources from sample of participants from Raya Azobo Woreda civil servants. The
findings reveal that there is a gap between what manpower needed for overall structure and
what man resource available at present to achieve the intended objective as BPR design. The
commitment of civil service office in the word that considered as agent to realize HRM
program is not going away such much distance. Similar to this commitment to implement the
function and understanding of leaders toward HRM in the Woreda is poor. On the other
hand, even if it does not based on needs assessment and is not implemented in line with
seated criteria and planed time schedule there is a practice of HRP in Woreda. In preparation
of HRP concerned bodies are not participated and are not supported with budget. As given
mandate by regional civil service Bureau each sector offices have authority for the practice of
recruitment and selection process. However in Woreda sector office there is no merit based
recruitment and selection practice. The recruitment and selection practice was not based on
merit principle rather it was influenced by other different factors.
The practice of training and development programs is ineffective for improving and
developing skills and capacity of employees. The sector offices in the woreda have not
sufficient training and development programs; correspondingly, they were ineffective in
assessing training needs, setting performance objectives and goal of training and
development programs, in searching aids for internal and external training and
development, planning training strategies and preparing training schedules and modules as
well as monitoring and evaluating training and development efforts. However, attempts have
been made to assess the performance and behavior of the employees, but, the performance
appraisal system suffers from lack of transparency, weak follow up, unable to identify and
fill the gap of employees and the linkage between performance and reward system is loose.
Different human resource managements challenges are identified which include:, managing
workplace diversity, recruiting skilled manpower, attracting and retaining qualified
personnel, inadequate training and development program, creating a positive work
environment, change management, paying attention to professional development, accepting
the challenges of modern technology change and officials influence. In addition to this limit
of PSA for a job position in the Woreda level and the restriction of career structure and
career development after application of PBR have been identified as factors that influence
on the motivation of employees. Based on the above findings the following
recommendations are forwarded.

38

4.3.

Recommendation

In this part based on the findings of the study recommendations are forwarded to
alleviate the problems.
Manpower; particularly skilled manpower is an engine and foundation for change and
development. As discussed above from the report of the Woreda civil service office,
questionnaire and interview of participants it has been found that in the Woreda
human resource management lack attention of concerned bodies. Leaders of the
sector offices are not committed for proper application of human resource
management. Therefore first and foremost the human resource management program
in the Woreda should get greatest emphasis while it is the base for other resources
and is the foundation for development.
The study also founded that human resource available for structure in almost all
sector offices in Woreda were under 50 percent. The minimum requirement of human
resource management, according BPR design was not meted. Therefore, strongly
recommended that each sector office in the Woreda should meet the offices human
resource need. They should fill vacant positions through hire and transferring skill
man power. The responsible bodies should try to fill the minimum requirement of
human resource for structure, believing as it is vital for development.
From the study it has been found that the sector office has HRP that was not based on
needs assessment, lack participation of all concerned bodies and not applied
accordingly seated criteria and scheduled time. Thus, its recommended that the
sector offices should have strategic human resource management which is based on a
needs assessment that prepared by participation of all concerned bodies. The plan
should be supported with budget and other resource capacity of the organization
that enables them to implement their plan accordingly. So, the Woreda cabinet
should allocate the appropriate budget for human resource programs similar as
other programs and functions.
The

study founded that in the Woreda recruitment and selection process was not
merit based and not based on criteria. However, from review literature, it has
been found that merit based recruitment and selection is a foundation for
organizational development and efficient and effective service provision. Thus,
it is recommended that to improve poor service provision and enhance
organizational development, recruitment and selection process in Woreda should
be merit based and should be follows directive and the procedure of civilservice. Recruitment and
selection is based on merit principle, i.e., which involve dealing with people based on their knowledge,
skills and other capabilities as well as based on fair and open competition; fair and equitable treatment
of employees; equal pay for equal work and rewarding excellent performance. To do
this, proclamations, directives, procedure, regulations and manuals of human resource
management that emanated from civil service authority should be applied properly.
From review of literature, it has been found that training and development
program is imperative for updating, improving and developing skill, knowledge and
capacity of employees to cope with changes in technology advancement and
competition in an environment to provide efficient and effective service. However,
the study reveals that in sector offices in the Woreda there is not sufficient training
and development programs and the practice is poor. In this modern era, we are living
in a continuously changing and dynamic environment that directly or indirectly
affects affected by the rapidly changing information technology. Therefore, it is
39

strongly recommended that there should be well organized training and development
program focusing on updating, improving and developing skill, knowledge and
capacity of employees. There should be long term and short term education, training
and development program which focus on building the capacity of an employee.
Training and development program should be effective in assessing training needs,
setting performance objectives and a goal of training and development programs, in
searching aids for internal and external training and development, planning, training
strategies and preparing training schedules and modules as well as it should be
monitoring and evaluating training and development efforts.
The study found that there was a periodic performance appraisal practice which
attempts to assess the performance and behavior of the employees that fails in
identifying and filling gaps of the organization and employees, lacks objective
performance criteria and commitment, lacks linked between good performance and
reward as well as transparency and continuous follow up was so weak. To be
effective, it is recommended that performance appraisal system of employee should
be identifying and filling gaps and weakness of employees, it should be focused on
objective performance criteria and done with commitment, there should be linked
Practices and Challenges of Human Resource Management in Public Sectors in SNNPRS: The Case of Burji Woreda
Masters Thesis By: UMEA CHEKOL MPM, IPMDS Page 78

between good performance and reward and there should be transparency and
continuous follow up.
From the study it has been founded that recruiting skilled manpower, attracting and
retaining qualified personnel, inadequate training and development program, creating
a positive work environment, change management, paying attention to professional
development, accepting the challenges of modern technology change and officials
influence as challenges of human resource management. Thus, it is recommended that
the managers should reduce those challenges through hiring skilled human resource
professionals, applying directive, manual and regulation of human resource
management and civil service, proclamation properly, allocation of proper resource
(budget) and through education and communication, participation and involvement,
facilitating and supporting.
The study also reveals that the restriction of PSA for a job position in the Woreda
level has impacted on the motivation of employees for work who were many year
experiences. The maximum PSA level in Woreda or Woreda level in study area
is PSA 7 to 7 years work experience. With this many of employees were not
happy. This is not appropriate for those employees who have many year work
experiences. Therefore, for policy makers it is recommended that the PSA level
for the position in Woreda level should be modified based on workload and job
description by considering working experience.
As well the issue of career structure and development has been founded as
complain in the woreda. Beginning from the application of BPR career structure
and career development is restricted for civil servants except in education sector
for teachers, in health sector for health center employees and in the agriculture
sector for development agents.

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PPENDICES
Appendix A
43

INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF PUBLIC MANAGENT

DEGREE PROGRAM
Questionnaire to be filled by Employees
Dear Respondents, I would like to express my deepest appreciation for your generous time,honest and
prompt responses.This questionnaire is designed to gather data about human resource management
practicesand challenges in public organization. The information will be used my research I am
conducting as a partial fulfillment of Masters Degree in PublicManagement at Ethiopian Civil Service
University. The data you provide are believed tohave a great value for the success of this research. I
assurefor academic purpose only. As a result, you are not exposed to any harm because of
theinformation you provide. Finally, this research is to be evaluated in terms of itscontribution to our
insight about hin the study areas in particular and the country at large.Thank you in advance for your
honest cooperation!!
General Instructions
No need of writing your name
In all cases where answer options are available please ticks()in the box provided
For additional response and suggestions use space provided
Part I: Personal Information
1. Sex MaleFemale
2. Age: 20 -30 31-40 41-50 above 51
3. Marital status: SingleMarried Divorcedwidowed
4. Education level: Certificate Diploma Degree MA/MSC and above
5. Work experience (in years):1 and below 2-6 6-10 311 and above
6. Current position: process coordinator expert
Part II. Practice of Human resource Management
1. Is there human resource plan in your organization?
a)Yes b) No c) In some extentd) No idea
2. If your response for question no.1 is Yes is there need assessment beforeplanning process?
a) Yes b) No c) In some extentd) No idea
3. Is a plan implemented accordingly to criteria seated and time scheduled?
a) Yes b) No c) In some extentd) No idea
4. If your response for question no.3 is No, what is the major problem?
a) Concerned bodies are not participated b) Budget problem
c) Due to need assessment problem d) other problems
if any other
5. Is your organization is able to attract suitable applicants to fill vacancy?
a) Yes b) No c) In some extentd) No idea
6. Do you believe that the current recruitment procedure allows your office torecruit the right person to
the right job?
a) Yes b) No c) In some extentd) No idea
7. Do you believe selection is based on merit?
a) Yes b) No c) In some extentd) No idea
8. If your response for question no.7 is No, what are the factors that affectselection?
a) Favoritism b)External interference c) Based on benefits d) Skill gap of selection process
9. Do you believe that civil service office is committed to properly implementhuman resource
management directive, regulation and guideline?
a) Yes b) No c) In some extentd) No idea
10. Is the selection criteria set by regional Civil Service bureau is useful?
44

a) Yes b) No c) In some extentd) No idea

11. If your response for question no.10 is No what is the major problem? Specify
Please state your level of opinion for each given statement using the following Scales:
1= strongly disagree 2= disagree 3= neutral 4= agree 5= strongly agree
Training and development practice indicators
Agreement scale
1
The office has good training and development Programs
The office assesses employee training needs before the training
The selection of trainee is free and fair
The training is relevant for practical work
The office Sets performance goals and objectives of training program
Implementation based on stated goals and objectives
Assessing the available aids for internal and external training and
development
Planning, developing strategies for training Programs
There is a means of monitoring and Evaluating of training efforts
There is periodic performance appraisal system in office
The office seat goal and objective of performance appraisal both in
organizational level and individual level
The office establish job expectation for each employees
Evaluation what expected from each employee
Performance appraisal has improved the performance of the employees
of office
A positive performance appraisal leads to rewards
Performance appraisal identify and fill the gap of employees and
organization
There is transparency & continuous follow up when evaluating
employees
There is a strong link between outcome & reward in your office

45

Part III. Challenges of human resource management

No Human resource management challenge
Agreement scales
1
Developing a positive work environment
2
Recruiting skilled employee
3
Attracting and retaining qualified personnel
4
In adequate training and development
5
Lack of compensation and Benefit
6
Lack of proper merit system
7
Managing work place diversity
8
Change management
9
Paying attention to professional development
10 Accepting the challenges of modern technological changes
11 Officials influence
15. what are major challenges you exprince in appliction of human resource management
program in Woreda? - - - -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------16. What strategies can be used to overcome the challenges of human resource management?
Do you suggest? - - - - --- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Appendices B
46

INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC MANAGENT
Questionnaire to be filled by Human Resource Managers
Dear Respondents, I would like to express my deepest appreciation for your generous time,
honest and prompt responses.
Objective of questionnaire
This questionnaire is designed to gather data and challenges in public organization. The information
will be used as primary data inmy research I am conducting as a partial fulfillment of Bachelor Degree
in Public Management at Ethiopian Civil Service University.The data you provide are believed tohave a
great value for the success of this research. I approve you that all data will be used for academic
purpose only. As a result, you are not exposed to any harm because ofthe information you provide.
Finally, this research is to be evaluated in terms of itscontribution to our insight about human resource
management practices and challengesin the study areas in particular and the country at large.
Thank you in advance for your honest cooperation!!
General Instructions
No need of writing your name
In all cases where answer options are available please tick () in the box provided
For scale typed questions please tick () preferred level of agreement
Part I: Demographic Information
1. Sex MaleFemale
2. Age: 20 -30 31-40 41-50 above 51
3. Marital status: SingleMarried Divorcedwidowed
4. Education level: Certificate Diploma Degree MA/MSC and above
5. Work experience (in years):1 and below 2-6 6-10 311 and above
Part II. Practice of Human resource Management
1. Is there human resource plan in your organization?
Yes No In some extentNo idea
2. If your response for question no.1 is Yes is there need assessment before
planning process? Yes No In some extentNo idea
6. Is a plan implemented accordingly to criteria seated and time scheduled?
a)Yes
b)No
c)In some extent
d)No idea
4. If your response for question no.3 is No, what is the major problem?
a) Concerned bodies are not participated b) Budget problem
c) Due to need assessment problem d) other problems if any other - - - - - 5. Is your organization is able to attract suitable applicants to fill vacancy?
a) Yes b) No c)In some extent d) No idea
6. Do you believe that the current recruitment procedure allows your office to recruit
the right person to the right job?
a) Yes b) No c)In some extent d)No idea
7. Do you believe selection is based on merit?
a)Yes b) No c)In some extent d)No idea
8. If your response for question no.7 is No, what are the factors that affectselection?
a)Favoritism b)External interference
c) Based on benefits d) Skill gap of selection process
9. Do you believe that civil service office is committed to properly implement
human resource management directive, regulation and guideline?
47

a)Yes b)No c) In some extent d) No idea

10. Is the selection criteria set by regional Civil Service bureau is useful?
a) Yes b) No C) In some extent d)No idea
11. If your response for question no.10 is No what is the major problem? Specify
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Please state your level of opinion for each given statement using the following Scales:
1= strongly disagree 2= disagree 3= neutral 4= agree 5= strongly agree
No Training and Development agreement scale
Agreement scales
1
2 3
4
1
The office assesses employee training and development needs before
training
2
The selection of trainee is free and fair
3
The training is relevant for practical work
4
The office Sets performance goals and objectives of training and
development
5
The office has good training and development Programs Implementation
based on stated goals and objectives
6
Assessing the available aids for internal and external training and
development
7
Developing strategies for training, Programs and Modules
8
There is means of monitoring and Evaluating of training effort
9
Performance appraisal Agreement scales
Part III. Challenges of human resource management
10human resource management

Agreement scale

1
1
2
3
4

Managing workplace diversity

Recruiting skilled employee retaining
Attracting qualified personnel
Inadequate training and development

Lack of compensation and Benefit

6
7

Lack of proper merit System

Developing a positive work environment

Change management

Paying attention to professional development

9
10 Accepting the challenges of modern technological changes Officials influence
15. what are major challenges you exprince in appliction of human resource management
program in Woreda? - - - --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------16. What strategies can be used to overcome the challenges of human resource management?
Do you suggest? - - - - --- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - APPENDICES C
48

INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC MANAGENT MASTERS PROGRAM
Interview questions for Human Resource Managers
1. What is understands of your organization about human resource management
Is he value human resource management as other department? How is his commitment to apply human
resource management program?
2. Do you believe that skilled human resource is vital for organizational change?
3. How do you think the practice of human resource management in terms human
resource planning, recruitment and selection, training and development, and
employee performance appraisal practice in your office?
4. Is their practice of training and development and employee perf
5. What is the objective of training and development program?
6. What is the objective of employee performance appraisal?
7. What is the base for employee performance appraisal in your organization?
8. For what purpose your organizations use the appraisal?
9. What are the challenges that you observe in the practice of human resourcemanagement in your
organization?
10. Would you please suggest if there is anything to be changed with regard to the current
human resource management practices?

APPENDIX D
49

INSTITUTE OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC MANAGENT MASTERS PROGRAM
Interview questions for Managers
1. What is your understanding about the concepts of hum
2. Do you believe that skilled human resource is vital for organizational change?
3. How do you think the practice of human resource management in terms of human
resource planning, recruitment and selection, training and development, and
employee performance appraisal?
4. Is there training and development program in your office?
5. If yes what is the objective of training and development program?
6. How do you evaluate training and development administration in terms of need
assessment, design and identify objectives, implementation and evaluation?
7. Is there practice of employee performance appraisal system in your organization? If no why?
8. If there is employee performance appraisal system, what is the objective of performance appraisal?
9. What is the base for employee performance appraisal in your organization?
10. For what purpose your organization use result of employee performance appraisal?
11. What are the challenges that you observe in the practice of human resource
management in your organization?
12. What strategies can be used to overcome the challenges of human resource management?
13. Would you please suggest if there is anything to be changed with human resource management
practices ?
14. Are there anything related to human resource management practices and challenges
which have not covered that you consider as very important?

50