CASE STUDY

Strategic Planning in the Malawi Public Sector: Potential Tool for Progress or Regression?

Happy Mickson Kayuni1

Published online: 12 April 2016 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Abstract The process of developing strategic plans in the public sector is regarded as one indicator of positive reform in the system. The assumption is that strategic planning ensures that (just like in the private sector) public sector organizations’ operations should cost less but deliver better service. Ultimately the argument is that public sector institutional governance and responsiveness to the citizenry is not only seen but felt. However, strategic planning has to be done in an appropriate manner for it to deliver. For instance an analysis of the underlying motives, the role of leadership in the process as well as the relevance or viability of the guiding strategic planning model significantly affect the nature of expected results. In the early 2000s, the Malawi public sector embarked on a serious drive towards strategic planning process as part of its reform package. In order to ascertain it’s potential to transform the Malawi public service, this paper focuses at critically analyzing the strategic planning process in the Malawi public sector by among other things asking: who initiated and led the process? What approach determined the process? What is the possible potentiality of the adopted strategic planning approach in enhancing the reform agenda in Malawi? Based on interviews with senior officers in key Malawi public sector institutions, the paper concludes that the strategic planning process is ‘transitional and fluid’ hence lacks the clout to effectively enhance reforms in this sector. Another finding is that lack of effective leadership has largely contributed to the status quo.

Keywords Strategicplanning .Strategicmanagement .Publicsector reform.NewPublic Management . Leadership .Malawi

Public Organiz Rev (2017) 17:373–391 DOI 10.1007/s11115-016-0345-3

* Happy Mickson Kayuni [email protected]; [email protected]

1 Political & Administrative Studies Department, University of Malawi, P.O. Box 280, Zomba, Malawi

Introduction

This paper analyses the strategic planning process in the Malawi public sector so as to ascertain whether it has the potential to spearhead and sustain reform in the sector. Internationally, when strategic planning and management was introduced in organisa- tions in 1950s, the private sector fully embraced it as an essential organisational tool whilst public sector organisations completely ignored it and solely relied on national constitutions, laws and other strict regulations and procedures (Nartisa et al. 2012). When cost cutting measures and a quest for efficiency in the public sector became apparent through New Public Management (NPM) reforms, the rationale for strategic planning in the public sector was considered a priority. The temptation has always been to copy and paste practices from the private sector into the public sector domain. Although it is often argued that since the introduction of NPM “the greatest teacher of public administration is private sector”, it is not necessarily true that strategic planning approaches in the public sector have to conform to those applicable in the private sector because these organisations still operate in different environments (Nartisa et al. 2012: 241). Apart for the quest for reform, one of the reasons for adopting strategic planning in the public sector was a response to unpredictability in the environment which most public sector organizations faced in the late 1970s (Johnsen 2015). In this case, the change in the environment meant that some of the traditional planning models such as the Planning, Programming and Budgeting system (PPBS) were no longer deemed relevant (Table 1).

The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy II (MGDS) acknowledges the importance of the public sector hence in sub-theme four on ‘Public Sector Management’, the strategy mentions that its goal is “to deliver services to the public in an efficient, demand driven and effective manner” and one of the expected outcomes is “Enhanced implementation of Public Sector Reform programmes” (GoM 2011:68). Strategic planning is a core tool in this reform package and currently the Department of Human Resource Management and Development (DHRMD) plays a leading role in guiding Ministries in the process. Within the identified theoretical framework, this paper firstly analyzes DHRMD in relation to the strategic planning process and link this process to its potentiality to bring about positive changes in the sector. Secondly, the paper examines the extent or practicality to which strategic plans are interrelated to performance of employees in the sector.

Several studies have confirmed that public sector reform in Malawi is facing numerous challenges or even failing (Kayuni 2013; Tambulasi and Kayuni 2013; Tambulasi 2010; Tambulasi 2009 and Tambulasi 2007) but these studies have mainly focused on elements of reform and not the framework itself which this paper alludes to strategic planning process. Strategic planning is envisioned as setting the pace and tone of the reform process because it integrates the human, structural and other organisational resources in a focused manner (Kriemadis and Theakou 2007 and Nartisa et al. 2012). This entails that failure in strategic planning leads to failure of the whole reform process itself. Kriemadis and Theakou (2007) argue that a model that guide strategic planning in the public sector need not be uniform because public sector organisations are not the same and any strategic model or approach “should acknowl- edge the key differences that exist in that sector”. What has been observed in most public sector planning process, including Malawi, is that they tend to follow the exact

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blue print and this may not lead to achievement of the goals. More importantly, it is not simply undertaking a strategic plan that matters in the public sector but the nature of the approach adopted may guarantee its success or failure as well. This important element has not adequately been acknowledged and examined in the Malawi public sector reform literature. Based on Bunning’s (1992) observations (highlighted below), this paper asks the following questions in the Malawian strategic planning process: who initiated and led the process? What specific internal and external factors affected the process? Which approach or model guides the development of the plans?

Table 1 Approaches or typologies of Strategic Planning in the Public Sector

Approach/Typology Brief description

1 Miles and Snow framework (Greenwood 1987 in Johnsen 2015)

Referred to as the Miles and Snow framework it was mainly for usage in the local government.

2 Strategic Intent approach* (Wechsler and Backoff 1988 in Johnsen 2015)

This approach identified four distinctive public sector strategies: developmental, transformational, protective, and political strategies.

3 Contingency framework (Nutt and Backoff 1995 in Johnsen 2015)

This was developed as a contingency framework where strategic leaders respond to environments and act producing five positive and three negative public sector strategies.

4 Strategic content & Strategic mode approaches* (Boyne and Walker 2004 in Johnsen 2015) and (Johanson 2009 in Johnsen 2015)

The strategic content approach classified acknowledged the specific constraints that public sector organisations face. While the strategic mode identified three elements for analysis: strategic design, internal strategic scanning, and strategic governance.

5 Strategic safari (Mintzberg 1990 in Johnsen 2015)

Developed the typology of ten strategic management schools of thought which were later revised in 2009 and referred to them as a Strategic safari

6 Rational approach (Christensen et al. 1973 in Favoreu et al. 2015) and (Ansoff 1987 in Favoreu et al. 2015)

This approach mainly focuses on the principles of the absolute rationality of decisions (objectivity) and the economic optimization of choices.

7 Political approach (Marsh and Rhodes 1992 in Favoreu et al 2015) and (Simon 1983 in Favoreu et al. 2015)

The approach argues that what guides strategy formulation and implementation is the logics of conflict and battle of interests in an organizational environment.

8 Collaborative strategic governance and Management approach (Bryson et al. 2010)

This approach adopts and integrates several concepts, ideas and principles from other approaches. It takes a strong participatory approach beyond the public sector realm.

9 Bunning’s framework (Bunning 1992)

The approach identified three different approaches used in public sector planning which also leads to different outcomes if applied. The fourth element, organisational learning, is what he recommended for the public sector.

Source: Author’s own construction based on works of Johnsen (2015) and Favoreu et al. (2015)

*Label coined by the author

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Institutionally, the paper mainly focused on the Department of Human Resource Management and Development (DHRMD) as well as the Public Sector Reform Unit in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC). The selection of these institutions was based on the fact DHRMD is the key institution in guidance and development of strategic plans for the whole civil service while the Public Sector Reform Unit oversees all reform plans hence directly benefits from plans developed by DHRMD. Other public sector institutions affiliated to DHRMD and which also plays a role in strategic planning were included in the study and these are: Performance Enhancement Department; Department of Statutory Corporations; and Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development. Selected 21 key informant interviews were conducted with staff from these key institutions followed by a comprehensive analysis of numerous key government publications related to strategic management and plan- ning in the Malawi public sector.

Concept of Strategic Planning and Management and its Relevance in the Public Sector

The paper acknowledges that although strategic management and strategic planning are often interchangeably used and regarded as the same, they are actually different (Poister and Streib 1999; Elbanna 2013). For instance Pina et al. (2011: 554) argues that “strategic management was a response to the shortcomings of strategic planning which produced plans but not actions or visible changes”. In this case, strategic management is more encompassing as is touches on the “behavioral phenomenon” which managers deal with such as entire management of planning, control and implementation of the strategy itself. Elbanna (2013: 246) argues that the terms strategic management is more often used in academia, whereas strategic planning is often used in the business world.Whilst recognizing the significance of these differences, this study follows other authors by interchangeably using these concepts because they are closely linked to each other.

According to Johnsen (2015) strategy in the private sector is mainly assumes “rivalry and competition in markets” but in the public sector it assumes the role of improving performance for effective and efficient public service delivery. Hansen and Ferlie (2014) point out that “It is only recently that strategic management has received attention within the public administration literature” and the concept itself, within public administration, is currently still developing (Johnsen 2015). In this regard, Pina et al. (2011) argues that the application of strategic management in the public sector is still a controversial issue which has many people supporting or rejecting the idea but the trend now is that there is a growing consensus towards the view that strategic management in the public sector is very important for enhanced performance (Hansen and Ferlie 2014). Specifically, Johnsen (2015) points out that critical analysis of strategic management and planning in the public sector, although not fully devel- oped, is rapidly expanding since mid-1980s. Initially the emphasis was on conceptual matters but the trend in 2000s has been on empirical studies that mainly focus on cases in the USA and UK (Johnsen 2015). According to Johnsen (2015) studies in the USA in 1990s showed that “strategic planning in government was a successful innovation that contributed positively towards improving the agencies’ performance”. Some

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authors such as Vinzant and Vinzant (1996) have on the other hand concluded that public sectors organisations are not meant to embark on strategic planning. However this paper agrees with Nartisa et al. (2012: 243), and the growing body of other authors, who argue that strategic planning is relevant and applicable in the public sector because “Public administration is becoming more flexible and transparent meeting the needs of customer instead of bureaucracy”.

As compared to the private sector, few studies have examined strategic planning and management in the public sector in general (Poister and Streib 2004 and Nartisa et al. 2012). Although there has been a growing interest in empirical research in public sector strategic management and planning there are still several areas that need to be examined systematically (Ugboro et al. 2011)- especially in developing countries’ context. For instance, the following selected studies demonstrate a sample of a myriad of gaps in the field of public sector strategic management and planning: Poister et al. (2010:522) point out that although there is an increase in the public sector literature focusing on strategic planning and management “there has been little effort to synthesize what has been learned… how they are implemented, and the results they generate”. In this case Poister et al. (2010) argues that there is need for comprehensive studies on how strategic planning affects performance and outcome. Johnsen (2015) also calls for future research to focus on “how different theories and thinking underpin public sector strategic management”. On the other hand, Bryson et al. (2010) calls for more studies that examine the link between strategic planning and organizational learning. Boyne and Walker (2010) argues that what is required in the field is more understanding on how different strategic approaches relate to different dimensions of performance as well as “how different national and public sector contexts affect strategic management”.

Approaches of Strategic Management and Planning in the Public Sector

This paper agrees with Johnsen’s (2015) observation that “the literature on strategic management in the public sector has so far not produced any overarching framework of theories in use” but several typologies or models have been developed. Based on a literature survey, Johnsen (2015) and Favoreu et al. (2015:1) identifies the following typologies or models which are prevalent in the public sector strate- gic planning and management:

Bunning’s Framework

This paper uses the conceptual frame developed by Bunning (1992) in order to determine the potential of a public sector planning process to achieve the desired effects. The approach by Bunning is arguably very much relevant because it does not only capture some of the core elements highlighted in the other approaches above but it also convincingly explains the motives and its corresponding potential outcome of strategic planning approaches in the public sector. Since this paper is (among other things) meant to address the potentiality of the adopted strategic planning approach in enhancing the reform agenda in Malawi, Bunning’s approach is very much ideal since this is one of core questions it intends to address.

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Based on his vast experience as public sector strategic planning consultant, Bunning in his classic work notes that the most serious problems in establishing an effective strategic planning system in the public sector is derived from the underlying approach which it may adopt. In this case, Bunning (1992:55–56) identified three different approaches in the public sector planning which also leads to different problems: First, strategic planning is taken as a ritual- “to meet the expectations or demands of others” hence focus is to produce something on paper and implementation is not a serious concern. Once the plan is made efforts are scaled down and employees’ attention is drawn to other non-essential things. The underlying activity is conformity and/or pessimism. Second, strategic planning is taken as a decision-making process- “the purpose of which is to resolve what should be done” and attention to the political, social and technical system as an interactive entity is not considered hence when difficulties emerge they tend to surprise the planners because their planning process was narrow and myopic. The underlying activity is rigid “rational, impersonal goal setting and decision making”. Third, there is what is known as the consensus-seeking process and in this case “the purpose of which is to identify a strategy which is not objectionable to any of the major power holders who would be affected”. The needs of the public and clients are not seriously considered but the plan is sensitive to the needs of power holders. The underlying activity is in this scenario is “political bargaining and contracting”. Bunning suggests that the best approach in the public sector is a learning approach which enhances organisational learning and it is “a very powerful self- correcting mechanism and guidance” and has several advantages when applied (See Appendix 1 for more details).

Bunning’s framework tallies with Favoreu et al. (2015) who asks important questions in their study- in relation to public sector adoption of strategic plans. Favoreu et al. asks:

Is strategy formulation in the public sector based on: formal, rational and deductive processes; or, conversely, policy approaches tinged with compromise, negotiation and power games, leading to incremental changes of limited scope; or, again, a mixed design, combining long-term strategic intent and ‘as we go along’ strategy building (Favoreu et al. 2015:1).

The emphasis in this paper is to analyze the nature of strategic planning adopted (process) and then project its possible consequences in either progressing or regressing public sector reforms in the country. As Bryson et al. (2010) argues, in the public sector, the process of developing and implementing the plan is at least as important as the expected result of the process.

Role of Professional and Political Leadership in Public Sector Strategic Management

Apart from use of the above mentioned model, the paper also specifically focused on the role of leadership in strategic planning and management in the public sector. Fard, et al. (2011:386) observes that “successful implementation of strategic management in public organizations depends upon the presence of a strong leadership” (emphasis

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added). Furthermore, Kriemadis and Theakou (2007: 35) point out that “the way that a strategic plan is developed depends on the nature of the organization’s leadership, culture of the organization, complexity of the organization’s environment, size of the organization, expertise of planners, etc” (emphasis added). These elements need to be considered when discussing strategic management and planning in the public sector. More importantly, Fard et al. (2011:386) brings in the political dimension of leadership by arguing that:

Since the public sector is highly influenced by political and economic entities, a given strategic management system can easily end at the next election cycle. Because of political influence, the length of the appointed term for political managers in public organizations is relatively shorter than in private organizations.

Favoreu et al. (2015:1) extensively argues for special leadership characteristics in ensuring that strategic management works by highlighting the relevance of bringing together what he calls a ‘rational logic’, a ‘political logic’ and a ‘collaborative logic’ which would assist “public managers to build skills in the development and manage- ment of inter-organizational networks and interpersonal relationships”. In other words, leadership is a critical ‘silent’ link to ensure that a public sector institution ably adopts and implements a strategic plan. More importantly, it may also explain why a particular plan is being adopted.

Contextual Issues: Political Transitions and Public Sector Reforms in Malawi

According to the latest National Population and Housing Census of 2008, Malawi has a population 13.07 million (NSO 1998) and over 80 % of the population live in rural areas. The economy is largely agro-based. Politically, Malawi became independent from British colonialism on 6th July 1964 with Dr. Banda of the Malawi Congress Party as the country’s head and the country adopted a constitution which recognised one party system of governance with Dr. Banda as Life President. His reign ended in 1994 when Malawi embraced the multiparty system of governance after a referendum which showed an overwhelming majority advocating change. Bakili Muluzi of the United Democratic Front (UDF) became the next president of the country under a newly drafted constitution which limited presidential terms to two terms of five years each. After his third term bid failed, he appointed his successor, Bingu wa Mutharika, who managed to win the 2004 presidential elections under the UDF ticket, but later resigned from the party to form his own Democratic People’s Party (DPP) after experiencing an internal party power struggle with the former president. In the 2009 elections, Bingu had a landslide victory with his party retaining a majority number of seats in parliament. Soon after winning his second term, Bingu fell out with his Vice President, Mrs. Joyce Banda, and she was fired from the ruling party but she could legally not be fired as Vice President; she later formed her own party, the People’s Party (PP). On 5th April 2011 Bingu died and Joyce Banda succeeded him as President to complete the remainder of his term and practically her party became the ruling party. In

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the May 2014 national general elections, Mrs. Joyce Banda lost to Peter Mutharika of DPP (by a simple majority vote of 36.4 %). Mrs. Joyce Banda trailed third at 20.2 % while the runner-up was Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi Congress Party (MCP) at 27.8 %.

According to Tambulasi and Kayuni (2013), Public sector reforms in Malawi can be categorised into two: The first- generation reforms and the second-generation reforms. The first-generation reforms refer to those reforms implemented in the Banda era while the second- generation reforms are those implemented in the democratic era. First generation reforms, in the post-independence period, were epitomised by the Commission led by Thomas Skinner. Its main task was to recommend the proper establishment of a Malawian rather than British oriented civil service and the commission recommended a new salary structure and some changes in the conditions of service. The implementation of the Skinner report, among other things, contributed to the cabinet crisis of 1964 because it was resented by most cabinet ministers and the civil service in general. Another major reform was the outcome of the the Civil Service Review Commission (also called the Herbecq Review Commission) which was instituted in 1985. The Herbecq Review’s recommendations focused on human resources management and fi- nancial management (Msosa 1998:24).

In relation to second generation reforms, there were many forces that contributed such as the as socioeconomic, political, and administrative. After the new democratic dispensation of 1994, the new UDF led government felt that the Banda era was too oppressive and perpetuated poverty in the country hence wanted to focus on poverty alleviation programmes. Inspired by NPM reforms championed by World Bank, the government felt that one of the best ways to combat poverty would be to ensure that the civil service is reformed. As is the case with all NPM inspired reforms the following were introduced: privatisation, decentrali- sation, public sector performance management, new financial managements and salary restructuring. In 1996, a civil service reform plan was introduced referred to as the Civil Service Action Plan (CSAP). The plan was meant to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the civil service and financial management. The CSAP recommended the following reforms:

& Rationalisation of institutional mandates and their realignment with policy objectives;

& Improvement in governance and public sector ethics, by establishing an ACB with oversight and investigative powers;

& Improvements in civil service performance, through reforms in personnel manage- ment and public sector pay;

& Decentralisation of service delivery and development management functions through the creation of representative Local Government in rural areas;

& Strengthening public expenditure management focusing on improvements in re- source allocation and expenditure control through the implementation of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) where the budget becomes out- come oriented;

& Contracting out some services such as security, cleaning office equipment, and maintenance to the private sector (Tambulasi and Kayuni 2013).

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This plan was followed up with another 2002 called the Public Sector Management Reform Program (PSMRP). The current overarching development policy for Malawi, the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS II) paper, recognises the role of reforms hence commits itself to establish and sustain efficiency and effectiveness in public sector management.

Soon after winning the May 2014 elections, the DPP led government placed public sector reforms high on its agenda. In June 2014, the president appointed a Public Service Reform Commission chaired by the Vice President Saulos K. Chilima. The aim of this Public Service Reform Commission is to facilitate the creation of an effective and efficient Public Service in the country. On 11th February 2015, the president launched its report. Among other things, the report recommends creation of new structure which will monitor public service reforms and also change in the process of hiring senior public service managers.

Evolution of Strategic Planning in the Malawi Public Sector

Strategic planning in the public sector was initially not mandatory. It largely depended on the preferences of particular leadership in their respective Ministry, Departments or Agency (MDAs) to either initiate the process or not. Before the year 2000, less than 5 % of government institutions had developed their own strategic plans. Things started to change in 2000 when government started implementing the more comprehensive public sector reforms packages. Specifically, through the donor funded projects, government initiated the per- formance related contract scheme for all officers in the senior scale which were graded S4/P4 and above. What is meant was that all officers above this scale were no longer regarded as permanent officers but had to be under a specified contract which could only be renewed upon satisfactory performance. This was deemed as another way of enhancing productivity in the civil service. In the process, as an incentive to the said officers to increase the performance and look forward to have their contract renewed, their monthly salaries were significantly raised.

The problem that emerged was that there was a need to establish the specific performance indicators for the contractual officers. These indicators were meant to be used as a bench mark to determine whether their contracts were to be renewed or not. In order to develop objective and relevant performance indicators, there was a need for availability of institutional strategic plans from which these indicators could be drawn. Realizing this problem the government through a circular numbered HRMD/4/1/65/18, dated 5th September 2000, directed that all Ministries and Departments should develop strategic plans.

Although not every government institution managed to immediately develop their plans, what became clear was that there were stark difference in the format and presentation of these strategic plans. In other words, there was no standardized format of presentation across public sector institutions. Since most government ministries are meant to complement each other in service delivery, it was important that the plans should be able to speak to each other and not be completely mutually exclusive. One of the reasons for these differences was the process of developing these plans. There were

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three different processes that were used in order to develop these plans. In the first cases, some government institutions engagement with private sector consultants who facilitated the development of strategic plans that were more geared towards achieve- ment of private goals and did not have a public sector ethos attached to it. In the second cases, public sector institutions involved their own internal officers but the problem is that most of them lacked the proper skills and guidance to develop a comprehensive strategic plan. In other cases, the Department of Human Resource Management and Development (DHRMD) through the Public Sector Management section was engaged in the development of strategic plans. Although DHRMD comparatively was better suited to carry out the task, there was no proper generic guidance on how to carry out the task hence the officers’ own intuition and interpretation determined the output.

With funding from World Bank through the Financial Management, Transparency and Accountability Project (FIMTAP) (in 2003), a Strategic Planning Process Handbook to guide ministries and departments to develop standard strategic plans was developed. The DHRMD was now given the mandate to lead the process of guiding, coordinating and facilitating the process of developing strategic plans in each Ministry and Department. This meant that strategic plans were not only going to be professionally done but would be in line with government policies and reforms. However, it was noted that the 2003 guide had the following problems: Firstly, the overarching development policy document for Malawi, Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) was not linked to the strategic plan. What it meant was that there was a risk that the various government institutions might end up implementing programmes and projects that were not aligned to the overall government developmental direction. Secondly, there was too much emphasis on specific ways of developing a vision, a mission and strategic objectives but less on how the Ministries and Departments were going to achieve these. In other words, the guide was deemed to be too theoretical and not practical.

In 2007 another revised handbook entitled ISI Planning Handbook was developed with financial and technical support from Canada-Malawi Government Assistance Project (CIDA-GAP). The new guide had the word ‘Integrated’ added to its title due to various reasons. Some of the reasons were that: Firstly, it aligned itself to the MGDS hence integrating all government Ministries and Departments to main policy direction with HIV/AIDS as well as gender mainstreamed; secondly, the strategy and implemen- tation components were also integrated; thirdly, the guide provides a linkage to the development of ‘output-based budgets’ which facilitate an accurate prediction of the resources required for implementation; and finally, the guide provides for integration with government’s reporting, monitoring and evaluation cycle. According to the guide, the key areas for the process are to establish the mandate of the government institution followed by its identification with the specific area within the MGDS and then the budgeting process.

Explaining the Malawi Strategic Planning Approach or Model

This section attempts at examining critically the nature and relevance of the current strategic planning in the Malawi public sector and starts by arguing

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that the ritual approach in Bunning’s model may not necessarily apply to this sector.

Discounting the Ritual Approach

The paper argues that the Malawi public sector strategic planning is manifesting more characteristics of a ritual approach as argued by Bunnings in his model but at the same time it is moving out of this categorization to embrace a typology that does not fit in Bunning’s model. Some observations to discount ritualism in the approach are:

Quest for Performance Enhancement

To enhance the strategic planning process, the GoM has of late introduced OPA’s (Organizational Performance Appraisals) which is basically a document summarizing yearly organizational goals, objective, outputs as derived from the Strategic Plans. All MDAs are now required to draw OPAs derived from their Strategic Plan. The OPAs are then signed between the Chief Secretary and the Controlling Officers/Responsible officer of MDAs. Government institutionalized an independent Performance Appraisal Committee comprised of eminent personalities, professionals and academi- cians which assesses MDAs progress on OPAs and strategic plans. This committee assesses quarterly progress reports on OPAs by looking at whether MDAs are achieving their targets or not. Assessment is also based on whether the MDA have a signed OPA or not. Grades are then awarded. This is the committee which is responsible for giving yearly rankings to MDAs based on set criteria among which, is the requirement to have a signed OPA. At this committee, MDAs are required to explain why they failed to achieve set targets in their OPAs. All this is aimed at ensuring that there is an improvement in service delivery to citizens. More importantly, promotions in the public sector are done at three levels namely; at ministry level through the Appointments and Disciplinary Committee; at the Civil Service Commission level; and at OPC level. At OPC level, no individual performance assessment can bemade without reference to his/her performance activities drawn from strategic plans.

Awareness of Mandate

The paper established that in terms of realizing the mandate of their institutions, there is a move towards the right direction in the public sector. In this case, almost all interviewees generally agreed that strategic planning has enlightened senior officers and re-oriented the focus and direction of government institutions unlike in the past where planning was generally haphazard. In this regard, there is an opportunity now that development goals would be achieved with the new focus in results-oriented planning. More specifically, strategic planning has helped some government institu- tions to become aware of their mandates, organization objectives, targets and national development goals. It was highlighted by most senior officers that the Ministry of Health can be regarded as a good example of a success story through strategic planning. The Ministry of Health, with its partners, had managed to reduce maternal death and HIV transmission rate due to proper planning.

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Towards a ‘Transitional and Fluid’ Approach

As mentioned above, the results of this paper provide a new perspective to understand- ing of strategic planning in the public sector. Specifically, the Malawi experience provides some doubt on whether its process may easily fit in the categories as suggested by Bunnings. In this regard, the Malawi strategic planning process does not have exact distinguishing marks that could fit in only one category of Bunnings model. It can be said that the Malawi experience calls for an additional element to Bunnings model which this paper calls the Transitional and Fluid process. It is “transitional” because it is in the process of coming out of the ritual but with numerous forces trying to preserve the status quo. Although certain elements of decision-making or consensus seeking do manifest, they are negligible in nature hence the whole process lacks a clear contextualized category as highlighted in Bunning’s model. This lack of a proper identity makes the process attain the “fluid” description (See Appendix 1).

The inherent nature of the public sector ultimately does affect the way implemen- tation would be carried out. Rigidity is one of the factors affecting strategic planning. It has been observed that in the public sector, there is too much emphasis on following rules and procedures. This removes elements of creativity. One officer even said that “In government, people stopped thinking along time ago yet they expect different results”. Thus, strict following of rules and procedures affect adoption of ideas in strategic plans. In other words, strategic planning is in a ‘transitional and fluid’ scenario because of the following reasons:

Absence of Plans or Updated Plans

Although the directive to develop strategic plans was circulated in the year 2000, it has been observed that some Ministries and Departments are still operating without strategic plans. This implies that 15 years after the directive, and many efforts to develop guiding handbooks, there are still other government institutions which have not yet decided to develop these plans. The working environment in the public sector does not provide the much needed incentives for public officers to commit themselves to the formulation and implementation of strategic plans. When the Public Sector Commission was meeting heads of Parastatals in April 2015, it was noted that most of them either had outdated plans or did not have plans at all. Consequently the commission gave them 30 days to bring a summary of their revised plans (Daily Times, 16th April 2015).

Donor Driven Agenda

Taking into consideration that 40 % of Malawi’s recurrent budget is donour funded, it puts Malawi at a difficult position to clearly set its own agenda in some key reform areas. One of the major concerns highlighted by almost all senior officers interviewed is that the concepts in the strategic planning process are mainly drawn from donor partners such as CIDA (helped DHRMD) and in the process the timing and direction is determined by donor conditionality. For instance, government is currently implementing a 2012–2016 capacity building program across Ministries and Departments to build various individual and institutional capacities as one way of

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enhancing strategic planning efforts. This is sponsored by UNDP which is offering technical and financial assistance to the program. But the respective ministries are not being given room to maneuver in terms of implementation plan because the donor has already clearly determined these.

No Linkage to Work Plans

In the Malawi public sector individual (personal) work plans derived from strategic plans are not usually drawn hence promotions, rewards or punishments are not linked to individual work plans as expected. In terms of performance management, which is derived from strategic plans, the ideal is that no employee should be called for promotional interviews without being appraised. However, according to one senior official, “performance appraisals in the public sector are done on humanitarian grounds”. This is the case because supervisors and their subordinates never meet to discuss tasks and performance.

Lack of Competences

Despite the highly acclaimed strategic plan guide, it was also noted that most public sector institutions were still struggling to develop strategic plans- mainly due to lack of competences. For instance, most employees find it difficult to differentiate immediate strategic results and the change that may be derived from such an immediate strategic result. In other words, strategic planning requires competence, skills, knowledge and understanding of concepts involved in the process such as outputs, outcomes and other elements. As one senior government official commented, there is need for “capacity building especially in planning across the board so that all public officers become aware of the importance of strategic planning, unlike the current situation where planning is only left to economists” (Interview with Senior Officer, Public Sector Reform Unit).

Although DHRMD was given the mandate to coordinate the process, there are several challenges which have been noted. For instance several officials pointed out that since many government institutions are not fully aware on how to formulate strategic plans, there is too much pressure on DHRMD to train these institu- tions. In the process, the high demand has affected the department’s normal operations as there are only a few who can ably be available to provide the guidance required. Related to the problem of human resource is also that of financial and other resources to facilitate the process.

Bulky Guide

The observation of most officers is that the strategic planning guide is too bulky and this also makes the actual plans themselves to be bulky as well hence a lot of employees do not refer to them. Some even proposed on the need to divide strategic plan documents into two parts: one containing strategic issues and the other part containing implementation plan issues. It also transpired that since the development of strategic plans are in accordance to the issues (proposed national outcomes) raised in the MGDS policy document- which is also perceived to be bulky, it naturally follows that the guide

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should be bulky as well. One official commented that “this is why Malawi as small as it is has so many national outcomes as compared to the Republic of South Africa which has only 15 national outcomes”.

No Individual Job Evaluation

It also emerged from the interviews that in the public sector, though there is insufficient monitoring activities done, there is no evaluation of the strategic planning process. Yet this activity is supposed to be incorporated at the initial planning phase. When assessing strategic plans in MDAs, the department are supposed to use Organization Performance Agreements (OPAs) as drawn from outputs of the strategic plans but this is currently not happening. In other words, performance management systems for individual officers in the public sector are not working and have not been fully institutionalized. One officer mentioned that “I just hear about them” and cited his own personal experience that he has risen from the position of Administrative Officer (Grade PO) to the position of Undersecretary, (Grade P5) without being appraised yet it has taken him over 8 years of working in the public sector to reach at that level.

Disjointed Planning

Another problem is that strategic planning is disjointed and that some planning does not even contribute to the MDGS. There is need for joint strategic planning sessions in the public sector especially for MDAs with similar mandates. The major challenge is that there is no linkage and coordination among MDAs which has led to disjointed strategic planning process in the public sector even though all MDAs aim at achieving the MDGS and vision 2020. It was observed that MDAs tend to work in ‘silos’ or in isolation even when their mandates, goals, objectives or targets requires input and support from each other to extent that at times, strategic plans have conflicted. This negatively affects the attainment of national development objectives. For instance the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Developing, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Irrigation, Agriculture and Food Security and the Ministry of Lands as some of the ministries which needed not to be working in isolation in terms of formulating and implementing their Strategic Plans. One of the views raised by technical experts to the Public Service Reform Commission was that there is disjointed development of Strategic plans (GoM 2015).

Financial Constraints

Limited availability of financial resources is a crucial factor affecting the strategic planning process in the public sector. This negatively affects the implementation of activities contained in strategic plans. It was pointed out that even where financial resources are available, sometimes implementation of activities in the strategic plans is based on routine or adhoc activities not highlighted in the strategic plan. Sometimes too much attention is given to issues that just crops up in MDAs to the neglect of issues contained in strategic plans. In other words, inadequate resources affect the process because it leads to narrow consultations such that input into the process from relevant stakeholders is limited. This affects the quality of the plans themselves.

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Leadership as a Critical Explanatory Factor for ‘Transitional’ and ‘Fluidity’ Status

As mentioned above, leadership in the public sector is at two levels: political and technocratic or professional. According to the observation made by Fard et al. (2011), the political environment or leadership is the one which makes management in the public sector unique. It is this attribute also that reduces the sector’s ability to effec- tively implement its strategic plans. More importantly, political leadership affects the term of managerial leadership of the public sector and leads to what Fard et al. (2011) referred to as ‘managerial myopia’. Due to unexplainable reasons, political leadership frequently changes or shifts the positions of top technocrats in the public sector- before they have fully internalized the system or what is required.

These generic observations are also replicated in the Malawi public sector. In relation to problem of political leadership, the seriousness of this issue is reflected in the Malawi Public Service Reform Commission report. Specifically, the first issue or challenge which the Public Service Reform Commission highlighted in their report was a call for the de-politicization of the sector (GoM 2015). The report mentions that since 2004, senior public managers are not assured of their job security because the political leadership either fires or shifts them without regard to merit or performance. The issue has not been fully resolved because even the report itself does not highlight a mean- ingful recommendation over the matter but suggests that “There is a need to continue exploring options as to how the tenure of service in prominent public offices can be secured” (GoM 2015: xviii).

Apart the aforementioned report, the ISI planning handbook does also identify the political issue as important when developing strategic plans; especially in assessing the external environment of a government institution (GoM 2007:22). For instance, among other things, it mentions that political stability, impact of elections and role of politicians are some political factors that need to be considered when developing a strategic plan. However the guide falls short of properly operationizing these identified elements.

According to observation of some government officers, political demands which fall outside the strategic thinking of MDAs have a negative impact on MDAs operations and the implementation of strategic plans. One interviewee said “politicians demand things not incorporated in the strategic plans” hence this affects the implementation process. Another officer observed that, “the process of developing strategic plans is usually influenced or initiated by a political hand...however, the challenge is that this political hand cannot whip…thus, the political hand lacks enforcement mechanisms such that some directives are not even followed up”.

It was pointed out that during consultations for the development of plans, the practice is to usually consult stakeholders who are in tune with the current political agenda and not necessary those criticizing government or offering contrary opinions. Planning is therefore usually suited to the current political agenda ignoring alternative views. When there is regime change, the trend is that the new government always changes the orientation or priorities in development policy which consequently affects strategic plans. At times, new governments have demanded a complete abandonment of order plans all together. In other words, some reforms in the public sector are politically motivated and may negatively affect strategic plans which are meant to last for 5 years. This is because politically motivated reforms usually aim at achieving short term goals

Strategic Planning in the Malawi Public Sector 387

to the neglect of long-term development goals. For instance, there was a directive stating that all principal secretaries should have new vehicles. This directive as a reform could have an impact on already planned activities in a 5 year strategic plan. Thus new programs and initiatives come in with new governments which have to be incorporated into already planned activities. For instance, when Joyce Banda took over as president in 2012, she introduced Mudzi Transformation Fund which was not planned earlier on- although the fund was not in mainstream public sector, its implementation involved the public sector in many ways.

Due to negative influence of leadership, it is to some extent felt that planning is mainly intended to fulfill the wishes of the authorities. The comment raised by one interviewee, which was also highlighted by many others, aptly captures the general observation:

Most government employees operate in a ‘business as usual’ manner and don’t really care whether strategic plans are in place or not. In most Ministries and Departments, strategic Planning is done just to please the authorities in government. Many Ministries and Departments have strategic plans which are not followed.

In relation to technocratic leadership, the paper established that some Principal Secretaries who are meant to champion the process, are resistant to strategic planning because they are used to routine issues. It was also noted that strategic planning is taken as a routine activity “where bosses initiate the process, get allowances and leave the rest to economists to finish” (Interview with Senior Officer, Public Sector Reform Unit). The other internal factor is lack of commitment from top or senior public officers. The tendency is that most senior officers who are supposed to be fully involved in order to provide guidance and leadership do not commit themselves to the process. Mostly, they just appear at the very early planning stages (sometimes just to get allowances) and then disappear, leaving the planning process to be handled by a few junior or middle officers usually economists. As such, even when the strategic plans are formulated, they are viewed as a tool for economists and not for the whole ministry. Furthermore, another observation was that “to date, there are only a few technocrats who are aware of the process yet strategic planning requires input from all public officers including junior officers”.

This paper to some extent also agrees with Poister and Streib (1999:310) who argued that “Government units have been slower to implement full-fledged strategic manage- ment processes, in part because they require a substantial investment in time and resources as well as a sustained commitment over time”. If technocratic leadership is not provided with meaningful opportunity and time to focus on their goals and strategies, what it means is that strategic planning will never make serious headway but be caught up in the cauldron of managerial myopia. Hence one of the arguments of this paper is that it is the leadership which has significantly affected numerous aspects of public sector planning leading to the Transitional and Fluid status.

Conclusion

Malawi just like many other African countries has been implementing NPM inspired reforms for a considerable period of time. One of the key reform area has been

388 H.M. Kayuni

introduction and implementation of strategic plans. The paper agrees with the general literature that strategic plans form one of the key enabler for meaningful reform is properly done. Using Bunning’s model, the paper notes that although reform in Malawi has largely been ritualistic, there is a move towards an approach which cannot easily be categorized- which this paper refers to as the Transitional and Fluid status. According to the findings, leadership (political and professional) has significantly played a role in the failure of strategic planning and management to achieve it goals. The paper argues that the current status of strategic planning and management in the public sector may not effectively enhance reforms as envisaged- it does not in the meantime have the potential to progress the much hailed public sector reforms.

Appendix

Table 2 Bunning’s model of strategic planning approach in the public sector with an added element of ‘Transitional & Fluid’ approach

Type of strategic planning

What it means Results or underlying activity

1 A ritual • The exercise is meant to please some people.

The underlying activity is conformity and/or pessimism.

• Focus is to produce something on paper and implementation is not a serious concern.

• Once the plan is made efforts are scaled down and employees’ attention is drawn to other non-essential things.

2 A decision making process

• The main goal is to determine what exactly needs to be done.

The underlying activity is a rigid “rational, impersonal goal setting and decision making”.

• Attention to the political, social and technical system as an interactive entity is not considered.

• When difficulties emerge they tend to surprise the planners because their planning process was narrow and myopic

3 The consensus seeking process

• The main goal is to come up with a strategy that will not be rejected by powerful key stakeholders affected by the decisions.

The underlying activity is in this scenario is “political bargaining and contracting”.

• The specific needs of the public or clients are not seriously considered.

• The plan is sensitive to the needs of power holders.

4 As organisational learning process

• This is suggested as the best approach in the public sector.

The underlying activity is in this scenario is that employees regard the plan as a “self-

Strategic Planning in the Malawi Public Sector 389

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Happy Mickson Kayuni is Associate Professor and head of the Political and Administrative Studies (PAS) department of the University of Malawi. His publications are in the areas of public governance and management, international relations, gender, trans-border ethnic mobilization and development in general.

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