Reforming a Broken System: A New Performance Evaluation Systemfor Pakistan Civil Servants

Extant literature informs that the modern state requires acivil service whose performance is accurately measured, evaluated andsubsequently rewarded (or punished). In this paper we use Pakistan as acase study of a country in which the performance evaluation system isobsolete and resistant to change. After analysing literature on theimportance of performance management systems in bureaucracies, weevaluate the present structure of the Pakistani performance evaluationsystem of civil servants and identify its major weaknesses. We thenpresent the results of a unique survey of senior civil servants whichinforms on how they viewed potential reforms of the current system.Based on this, we present a revised instrument to more accuratelymeasure the performance of Pakistani civil servants, which both adaptsthe existing instrument while being cognizant of the international bestpractices. Finally we look at some of the significant political economyfactors that could hinder the introduction of a new performancemanagement system. Keywords: Performance Evaluation, PoliticalManipulation, SMART, Political Alignment Performance Management, CivilService