decentralization in ghana: the impact on organizational effectiveness of management training among...

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Decentralization in Ghana: The impact onorganizational effectiveness of management trainingamong district and regional‐level officialsDennis M. Warren a & Peter Blunt ba Professor of Anthropology , Iowa State University , Amesb Senior Lecturer in Management , University of Adelaide , South AustraliaPublished online: 21 Sep 2007.

To cite this article: Dennis M. Warren & Peter Blunt (1983) Decentralization in Ghana: The impact on organizationaleffectiveness of management training among district and regional‐level officials, Journal of Contemporary African Studies,3:1-2, 35-58, DOI: 10.1080/02589008308729419

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Journal of Contemporary African Studies, Vol. 3, No. 1/2, October 1983/April 1984, pp. 35-58

Decentralization in Ghana: The Impact onOrganizational Effectiveness of

Management Training among District andRegional-Level Officials

DENNIS M. WARRENand

PETER BLUNT

AT present the theoretical advantages of decentralized decision-making in government in Africa enjoy wide acceptance: so much sothat according to at least one observer1 decentralization is now thefashion in development administration. But in Africa, as with somany ideas that seem good in theory, the realities of implementationinvariably fall a long way short of desired objectives.2 Unfortunately,being in vogue has never been enough to ensure that good intentionsare translated into worthwhile accomplishments and there are fewplaces where this truism applies with greater force than it does inpresent-day Africa. There are good reasons for the observed gapbetween theory and practice, however.3 These frequently include alack of commitment on the part of the political leadership of thecountry concerned to the actuality of decentralization, that is, a re-luctance at the centre to relinquish control of certain decision-making zones; insufficient co-operation from senior officials and ma-nagers in the organizations affected, that is, an unwillingness at the

1 Conyers, D., "Decentralization: The Latest Fashion in Development Administration", inPublic Administration and Development (Vol. 3, No. 3, July-September 1983), pp. 97-109.

2 For instance, see International Labour Organization. Zambia: Basic Needs in an Economyunder Pressure, International Labour Office, Addis Ababa, 1981; Rondinelli, D. A., "AdministrativeDecentralization and Economic Development: The Sudan's Experiment with Devolution", inJournal of Modern African Studies (Vol. 19, No. 4, December 1981), pp. 595-624; and Warren,D. M. and J. D. Issachar, "Strategics for Understanding and Changing Local Revenue Policiesand Practices in Ghana's Decentralization Programme", in World Development (Vol. 11, No. 9,September 1983), pp. 835-844.

3 For a fuller discussion of the issues involved, see Blunt, P., "Conditions for Basic NeedSatisfaction through Decentralized Forms of Decision-Making in Africa", in Journal of AppliedBehavioural Science (Vol. 20, 1984, forthcoming).

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36 DENNIS M. WARREN AND PETER BLUNT

micro-level to countenance genuine participative methods whichentail the devolution of power;4 the absence of clearly and simplydefined organizational structures, role relationships, responsibilitiesand lines of authority, and hence widespread ignorance and misun-derstanding among those affected; and, finally, inadequate trainingor, more likely, no training at all in participative methods andbroader management skills.5

This article focuses on these latter issues and attempts to assessthe impact on organizational effectiveness of action-orientated ma-nagement training6 in Ghana's decentralization programme. Thediscussion falls into four parts. First, an overview of local govern-ment in Ghana and its background is provided. This section bringsout the need for training among district and regional-level officials inGhana's decentralization programme and the general demand forimproved organizational effectiveness. Second, the broad aims andspecific learning objectives of a management training programme de-signed to satisfy these needs are set out. Third, parts of the contentof the training programme are described,7 as are several potentialand actual areas of conflict identified by participants during trainingsessions, and some suggestions for resolving these conflicts are made.And fourth, some major effects of the training programme are pre-sented and discussed.8

4 Following Pateman, C , Participation and Democratic Theory, Cambridge University Press,Cambridge, 1970.

5 A recent extensive survey of management training institutions and methods in forty-threeAfrican countries and territories, conducted by Safavi, F., "A Model of Management Educa-tion in Africa", in Academy of Management Review (Vol. 6, No. 2, April 1981), pp. 319-331, led tothe conclusion that "the inability of the African nations to train capable managers for their in-dustrial, commercial and service organizations has been the main inhibitive factor to realeconomic and social development".

6 By action-orientated management training is meant to imply that more emphasis (than isusual) was placed on applying newly acquired knowledge and skills to actual problems facedby participants in their day-to-day working lives. As Safavi, F., op. cit., p. 326 has noted, mostmanagement training in Africa suffers from theory overload.

7 Several other components of the training programme and their effects have been describedelsewhere by Warren, D. M. and J. D. Issachar, op. cit.; and Warren, D. M., "Anthropologyand Rural Development in Ghana", in Horowitz, M. (ed.), The Anthropology of Rural Develop-ment in West Africa, Westview Press, Boulder (Colorado), 1984.

8 The investigative methods employed in this study were essentially qualitative in nature,and while these limit to some degree the generalization of the findings, as Morgan, G. andL. Smircich, "The Case for Qualitative Research", in Academy of Management Review (Vol. 5,No. 4, October 1980), pp. 491-500 point out, they offer insights into organizational functioningand behaviour which quantitative methods cannot, and for this and other reasons are particu-larly suited to organizational research in Africa - see Blunt, P., Organizational Theory andBehaviour: An African Perspective, Longman, Harlow, 1983.

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MANAGEMENT TRAINING OF OFFICIALS IN GHANA 3 7

Many Ghanaians have expressed intense dismay, particularlysince the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) action in1979, about the ways in which their resources had been mismanagedunder the Acheampong military government. The desire is strong forimproved equity in the distribution of goods and services forGhana's population, for stronger systems of control and for the ac-countability of civil servants and elected officials. These desires*coincide with the expressed aims of the Economic and Rural Deve-lopment Management programme (ERDM) which is assistingGhana, particularly at the district level, to reachieve the stabilityand rapid progress that marked its efforts from independence in 1957until the fall of the Second Republic in 1972. The ERDM pro-gramme was initiated in 1977 by Ghana's Ministry of EconomicPlanning with the co-operation of the US Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID) as a governmental system-wide national ap-proach to integrated development. It was designed to facilitateimplementation of the 1971 Local Government Act, legislation whichallows decentralization of development planning and budgetingdown to the district level. By October 1979 every elected districtcouncillor and every district and regional-level head of departmentin Ghana had had the opportunity to participate in the first cycle ofintensive three-week management, team-building, and developmentplanning training courses. A strong focal point of these courses wasimproved horizontal and vertical co-ordination and improved com-munications linkages among civil servants and elected officials, andbetween officials and local populations. This article outlines theseefforts and assesses their effects.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN GHANA: AN OVERVIEW

Local government in Ghana began with the so-called indirect rule ofthe colonial administration, the central government reaching localpeople through the chiefs. After World War II a number of commis-sions were appointed to make recommendations for a more effectivelocal government system. Most commissions, as well as the legis-lation based on their reports - such as the 1951 Local GovernmentOrdinance - emphasized administrative decentralization. By 1956,26 district councils, 14 urban councils and 238 local councils hadbeen established, but the units were found to be too small and finan-cially insecure to be effective. The Greenwood Commission (1956)

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continued to recommend decentralization, but through the establish-ment of larger administrative units; this proposal was not imple-mented until 1971. In 1961 the Local Government Act established104 district councils, 139 local councils, 12 urban councils, one mu-nicipal council and 3 city councils, with 8 regional authoritiesinterposed between the central government and the district councils.After the fall of the First Republic in 1966 the Siriboe Committee(appointed in 1967) proposed a three-tier system of regional coun-cils, district councils, and area, town and local councils, with thedistrict councils as the main administrative units. The SiriboeReport and that of the Mills-Oddoye Commission of 1967 are themain bases for the 1971 Local Government (Local Administration)Act which is based on a four-tier system of regional councils, districtcouncils, local, area, urban and municipal councils, and town/villagedevelopment committees.

At present Ghana is divided administratively into nine regions(Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Central, Eastern, Greater Accra, Northern,Upper, Volta and Western), and each region is divided into districts.Each of the sixty-eight districts is further divided into wards, each ofwhich - along with the town/village development committees withinit - is represented on the district council by a popularly elected dis-trict councillor from the ward. The 1980 Local Government Actmaintains and strengthens the provisions of the 1971 Act.

According to the 1971 Act the regional councils - which have yetto become fully functional - are to act as agents for the centralgovernment's national programmes to co-ordinate region-wide orcross-district development projects; to examine and approve fi-nancial estimates for district councils; to allocate central and re-gional moneys to district councils; and to supervise and co-ordinatethe functions of the district councils. The regional councils are toinclude two members elected from each district council in the regionand two chiefs elected by the regional house of chiefs. The regionaladministrative officer (from the regional organization) and any otherregional heads of department (so long as their total does not exceedhalf of the total membership of the council) are to be ex officiomembers. The regional commissioner is to serve as chairman of thecouncil.

District councils are designed as the basic units of administrationand the sole rating authorities at the district level; the councils are toprovide public services and perform development functions. Accord-

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MANAGEMENT TRAINING OF OFFICIALS,IN GHANA 3 9

ing to the provisions of the 1971 Act nearly one hundred differentkinds of rates, fees and tolls can be collected by district councils andretained in the district treasury to assist in the internal financing ofdistrict-level development projects. The membership of the districtcouncil is comprised of: first, district councillors, two-thirds of thempopularly elected, one from each ward in the district, with the re-maining one-third appointed as representatives of traditionalcouncils in the district; second, the district chief executive, the ad-ministrative head of government agencies represented in the district;third, the council chairman (elected by the district councillors fromamong themselves for single year terms), whose function is compa-rable to the chairman of the board of directors of a corporation; andfourth, district heads of "decentralized" departments as ex ojficio,non-voting members.

The area, municipal, urban and local councils are all subordinateto the district councils and perform functions delegated to them bythe district councils, including the provision of volunteer labour forprojects, assistance in the maintenance of local-level projects and thecollection of special levies. Finally, the town and village developmentcommittees act as agents of development in towns and villages, andassist in district-level revenue collection.

Each district council is required to maintain three permanentcommittees. The executive committee offers advice and guidance tothe district chief executive, examines the first budget draft before it ispresented to the council, monitors monthly progress reports on de-velopment projects, acts as a tender board for the award ofcontracts, and examines expenditures, monthly revenue returns andthe reports of external auditors. The education committee is respon-sible for planning the establishment, construction, equipping andmaintenance of all primary and middle-level schools within the dis-trict. The planning committee is responsible for drawing up thedistrict development programme and assuring its execution as ap-proved by the regional council.

Implementation of the 1971 Local Government Act — along withdecentralization - has remained a matter of rhetoric rather thanreality. Although some ministries were "decentralized" according tothe 1971 Act, in fact all ministries, both "centralized" and "decen-tralized", continue to operate in a highly centralized fashion. Centralgovernment agencies at the district level continue to functionwithout clearly defined areas of responsibility and they are some-

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4-O DENNIS M. WARREN AND PETER BLUNT

times characterized by duplication, inefficiency and wasted re-sources. District administrative units must clear everything but themost mundane matters with either the regional or central govern-ment, resulting in long delays and making local initiatives indevelopment frustrating and eventually self-defeating.9 Some of therelationships identified by ERDM training participants as producingconflict in the present administrative set-up are outlined later in thisarticle.

THE ERDM PROGRAMME

ERDM was designed by Ghana's ministries of local government andeconomic planning and USAID/Ghana as a vehicle to facilitate thefull and effective implementation of the 1971 Local Government Act.The Act provides for a decentralization of authority that, when exer-cised, will allow Ghanaians, through their district councils, to havesubstantive control over development activities within their own dis-tricts. Specifically, the purpose of this programme is to establish thecapacity within each region to provide mobile training and consul-ting services in development planning and management for districtand regional-level officials and for popularly elected district and re-gional council members. Such training is aimed at developing theskills and providing the tools necessary for administrative units atthe district level to exercise the authority required to carry out thedecentralization process effectively.

It it expected that citizens' participation in development decisionsand programmes will increase as their own elected representativesbecome more substantively and comprehensively involved in the de-velopment process. The district councils will be expected to movebeyond their traditional concern with limited social amenities to abroader concern with development needs. In this process the coun-cils will take up the exercise of their legal but dormant function ininitiating development activities. This is a significant change fromthe current situation in most districts where the cbuncils have only alimited role in the implementation of projects that have been decidedupon by others.

9 Similar problems have been encountered in the decentralization programmes of the Sudan(see Rondinelli, D. A., op. cit.) and Zambia (see Blunt, P., "Conditions for Basic Need Satis-faction through Decentralized Forms of Decision-Making in Africa", in Journal of AppliedBehavioural Science, op. cit.).

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ERDM training programmes are aimed at increasing the institu-tional capacity of district councils to carry out these new roles. Thisinvolves increasing the management skills of district departmentheads and elected district councillors, improving communication,and building the basis for improved co-ordination of developmentprogrammes. These are the necessary building blocks from which in-tegrated district development programmes can be launched. Themajor intended impact of these programmes will be to bring about achange in the perception and the reality of local government. Priorto the 1971 Local Government Act, local government was seen pri-marily as an administrative function. In 1971/72, for example, only7,7 percent and in 1972/73, only 7,3 percent of district councilmoneys in Ghana was spent on development. The new Act, however,places emphasis primarily on the development function of local go-vernment. The task of ERDM is to develop the capacity and thechannels necessary to bring district-level budgets and programmesinto the national development process. The change, then, will be oneof moving from a situation where projects are centrally allocated tothe districts to a situation in which integrated district programmesare forwarded to regional development committees and the centralgovernment for approval.

During the inauguration of the ERDM National Co-ordinatingCommittee in Accra in 1978, Dr. Robert Gardiner, then Commis-sioner for Economic Planning, defined the following objectives forERDM:

to increase the emphasis on the development of rural resources;

to facilitate the decentralization of development planning, co-ordinationand decision-making to the district level;

to increase the effective involvement of rural people in the developmentprocess, and hence to improve the generation of local projects and activitiesas a result of the effective application of improved ideas and techniquesoriginating from ERDM training programmes; and

to provide the institutional capacity for the development of co-ordinateddistrict plans executed jointly by district councils and district developmentdepartments working as integrated district development teams.

In addition to five USAID technicians (one acting as projectmanager and also taking responsibility for the National Secretariatin Accra and training activities for the Greater Accra Region, andthe other four each assisting in the co-ordination of ERDM activities

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4 2 DENNIS M. WARREN AND PETER BLUNT

in two of Ghana's regions), ERDM secretariats have been estab-lished in each of the nine regional capitals. Each regional secretariathas a team of three Ghanaian management and development plan-ning trainer/consultants, along with a staff including an adminis-trative assistant, a typist, a driver and a messenger. These positionswere made permanent civil service positions in February 1979 by theEstablishment Secretariat; hence the functions of the regional teamsand the roles they play are permanent and not limited to the fiveyears during which USAID participates in the programme. Each re-gional team of trainer/consultants is responsible for:

preparing and conducting on a periodic basis management training semi-nar/workshops for regional and district-level officials and district councilmembers (the Cycle 1 course outline is set out in Table 1);

providing mobile consulting services in the districts on rural developmentplanning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation;

continually reassessing and redesigning the training programmes to bettermeet the expressed desires and needs of each individual district council;

facilitating the co-ordination of actions required to implement the new de-velopment role assigned to the district councils; and

assisting in the practical field training of district-level economic planningofficers due to begin master's degree level training at Kumasi University ofScience and Technology in the 1980s.

TABLE I : ERDM District-Level Management and Development PlanningTraining Course, Brong-Ahqfo Region, iQ7g, Cycle 1

Week One: Participants - All District Heads of Department (DOs), the District Chief Execu-tive (DCE) and his staff

Day

Monday

Tuesday

WednesdayThursdayFriday

8.00- 12.00 a.m.

t. Introduction(Fill out Personnel Sheets)

2. Local Government Act

Situational Management

Situational ManagementMotivation and ProductivityCommunications

2.00 — 5.00 p.m.

Nominal Group Technique: Vertical/Horizontal Organizational ManagementConstraints/Difficulties/Recommenda-tions as Related to the Local Govern-ment ActSituational Management

Team-Building/Group InteractionsMotivation and ProductivityNominal Group Technique:Job Enrichment Plans for (a) Selvesand (b) Subordinates

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Week Two: Participants - All District Heads of Department (DOs), the DCE and his staff *

Day 8.00-12.00 a.m. 2.00 -5.00 p.m.

Monday Problem Identification; AlternativesDevelopment; Decision-Making;Priority Setting

Tuesday Management by Objectives (MBO)

Wednesday MBO; Brainstorm: Personal and Ad-ministrative Unit Work Objectivesand Linkages/Integration of WorkObjectives across Administrative Units

Thursday Work Committees,' Rural Road Build-ing Practical Exercise

Friday Continued (with processing)

Brainstorm: District DevelopmentProblems/Goals/Objectives; RevenueEarning Projects (Force-Field Analy-sis)MBO; Programme Techniques (forexample, Gantt)Work Committee's Action Plans:1. District Development Handbook;2. Integrated District Development

Plan;3. Revenue Data Collection; and4. Development Planning Operations

RoomContinued (into evening)

Evaluation and Cycle II Planning

* Participants will be expected to produce the following outputs for the course report: job en-richment plans, departmental work objectives for the financial year, and plans for co-ordination of planning efforts across departmental boundaries.

Week Three: Participants - All Councillors, District Council Chairman, the DCE and ex qfficiomembers of the District Council"*

2.00-5.00 p.m.

Local Government ActDevelopment CommunicationPriority SettingObjective WritingUnitary Budgeting and Conclusion

** Participants will be expected to produce the following outputs which will be included in thecourse report, copies of which will be sent to the Central Government, the RegionalCouncil, the Regional Administrative Officer, and all Brong-Ahafo Regional Officers aswell as to all participants: constraints and recommendations for implementing the 1971Local Government Act, prioritized district revenue-earning projects, format for a DistrictDevelopment Handbook, and plans for organizing a District Economic Planning Opera-tions Room and a District Integrated Development Plan.

Day

MondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFriday

8.00- 12.00 a.m.

IntroductionGroup DynamicsProblem IdentificationAlternatives DevelopmentDevelopment Programme Techniques

Cycle I ERDM training goals include updating, improving andfurther developing the managerial and planning skills of districtcouncillors (DCs), district officers (DOs) and district chief execu-tives (DCEs); and acquainting the combined district council with abroad range of management tools and techniques. The specific learn-

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ing objectives for participants in ERDM training programmes in-clude the following:

to become aware of one's own style of management and method of leader-ship and to learn to practise management style flexibility;

to develop greater skill as a manager in handling inter- and intra-group dy-namics;to build an awareness of communications difficulties and to provide toolsfor increased accuracy and effectiveness in communications at the indivi-dual and group levels;

to develop an understanding of motivational factors, particularly as theyrelate to staff development and productivity;to plan and programme work more effectively on the basis of sound measu-rable objectives;

to develop the ability and initiative to gather and utilize informationrequired to determine creative alternatives in the problem-solving and deci-sion-making process; and

to understand the structural characteristics of productive, effective organi-zations and to diagnose unhealthy, unproductive organizational charac-teristics and to develop constructive solutions for them.

COMMUNICATIONS TRAINING IN THE ERDM PROGRAMME

The training sessions designed for Cycle I of the ERDM programmewere based on the principle of experiential learning, with minimaltime being devoted to lectures. Within the first few hours of thethree-week session, participants were assigned to teams whose mem-bership cut across ethnic and professional lines and mixed civilservants and elected councillors and heads of "centralized" and "de-centralized" ministries. A primary objective of such mixed - andpotentially volatile - teaming was to create functional district deve-lopment teams comprising both elected officials and civil servants.During each module of training (see Table I) teams participated —frequently competitively — in exercises designed to apply new skillsand knowledge to relevant district problems. Many of these exercisesbrought out principles of communication and these principles be-came further elucidated in the processing sessions which followedeach exercise or session.

Sessions on team-building, group interactions and group dynamicswere designed to make clear the role that differential sets of beliefs,values and norms play in the internal dynamics of groups, particu-larly in the areas of conflict and co-operation. An understanding of

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MANAGEMENT TRAINING OF OFFICIALS IN GHANA 45

the role of socio-cultural and cognitive structures in determining orinfluencing behavioural patterns allowed participants to visualizedifficulties they had faced in their councils in terms of structural con-straints rather than merely in terms of personality traits. Forexample, many councillors viewed district officials as adversaries. Inactual fact, many district heads of department (DOs) were con-stantly expected to act as implementors of centrally designedprojects which, in many instances, had little to do with local priori-ties and plans. Once district councillors could visualize the awkwardposition in which the DOs found themselves at times, more empathyand understanding resulted and some mutually discussed proposalswere formulated for improving the situation.

Organizational communications sessions stressed the differentways in which communication occurs and can be facilitated in orga-nizations, especially bureaucracies, the most decentralized commu-nications networks resulting in the most participant satisfaction.One-way and two-way communications exercises such as rumourclinics were undertaken, with emphasis being placed on the explana-tory value of these exercises for daily communications difficultiesfaced in district administrative units.

The role of communication in district development was consi-dered, particularly communication between officials acting as con-sultants to the client system (the district population). Communica-tion barriers resulting from differing ethnic, national and academicbackgrounds were explored; with ethnoscience-orientated exercisesbased on inter-ethnic and intra-ethnic classification and knowledgesystems.10 Exercises in differential perceptions of "the same thing"were conducted (for example, the 24-matchsticks or 9-dots exer-cises), as well as exercises on information overload and on therestricted flow of information. The relationship between a person'scontrol of communications or information flow and the person'spower was examined. Broken squares, lego man, rural road con-struction, Berkshire dominoes, role plays, the NASA (NationalAeronautics and Space Administration) exercise in group dynamicsand many others were used to bring these principles vividly home tothe participants.

10 Examples of these exercises can be found in Warren, D. M., op. cit., and backgroundmaterial on ethnoscience is available in Brokensha, D., Warren, D. M. and O. Werner (eds.),Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Development, University Press of America, Lanham (Maryland),1980.

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The role of proxemic and kinesic modes of communication be-tween consultant and client were stressed in districts with morecomplex inter-ethnic or international membership in their decision-making bodies. The nature of innovations and change processes werecovered. Decision-making strategies, including consensus, nominalgroup technique and brainstorming were all utilized.11

Douglas McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y were covered insituational management, particularly in terms of how one's assump-tions about people affect one's communications with them. Redden's3-D Theory of Management was presented, with the ManagementStyle Diagnosis Test12 being taken by all participants.- Results al-lowed participants to see how the margin of fear and the margin ofapathy were operating in some districts, resulting in very ineffectivemanagement of human resources in the area.

11 Examples of these exercises and techniques are available in Warren, D. M. (comp.),Development Advisory Team (DAT) Training Programme Manual, Iowa State University MemorialUnion Bookstore, Ames (Iowa), 1982.

12 The Management Style Diagnosis Test: The 3-D Theory of Managerial Effectiveness, designed byW. J. Redden, and based on his book Managerial Effectiveness (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1970),is now in its Third Edition (1973) and has been taken by 130 000 managers. Copies are avail-able from Organizational Tests, Box 324, Fredericton (New Brunswick), Canada. The fol-lowing definitions are taken from the explanation section of the test:

"A central part of the 3-D Theory of Management is an eight style model of managementbehaviour. These eight styles result from the eight possible combinations of Task Orientation,Relationships Orientation and Effectiveness."Task Orientation (TO) is "the extent to which a manager directs his subordinates' effortstowards goal attainment, characterized by planning, organizing and controlling".Relationships Orientation (RO) is "the extent to which a manager has personal job relationships,characterized by mutual trust, respect for subordinates' ideas and consideration of their feel-ings".Effectiveness (E) is "the extent to which a manager achieves the output requirements of hisposition".

The four ineffective styles of management, Deserter, Missionary, Autocrat and Compromiser,have parallel effective styles labelled Bureaucrat, Developer, Benevolent Autocrat and Execu-tive.Executive: A manager with high TO, RO and E, a good motivator who sets high standards,treats everyone somewhat differently and prefers team management.Compromiser: A manager using high TO, high RO and low E, a poor decision-maker and onewho allows various pressures in the situation to influence him too much. Minimizing imme-diate pressures and problems rather than maximizing long-term production characterizes thecompromiser.Benevolent Autocrat: A manager with high TO, low RO and high E, a person seen as knowingwhat he wants and knowing how to get it without creating resentment.

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In discussions centring upon district development, participantsdecided that both elected officials and civil servants should be in-volved in the various steps, including the identification of districtproblems and needs, the understanding of the district's human,financial and natural resource base, the setting of goals and objec-tives, the designing of the plans necessary to allow effective move-ment from problems to set goals, as well as the implementation,monitoring and evaluation aspects of development projects.

Results that have emerged from these sessions across Ghanainclude the following: first, all district department heads (not onlythe heads of "decentralized" departments) should be made ex officiomembers of the council to utilize better the total professional humanresource base available in the district as part of the district develop-ment planning team; second, district officers and district councillorsmust provide each other with short reports of each month's objec-tives with force-field analysis of difficulties faced in uncompletedobjectives; and third, identification of work linkages across depart-mental boundaries can result in improved effectiveness of the co-operating departments in assisting the local clientele.

RELATIONSHIPS IDENTIFIED AS PRODUCING POTENTIAL CONFLICT

The following relationships, which can become constraints to effec-tive district development and decentralization, along with recom-mendations for removing or ameliorating the constraints came out ofteam sessions in ERDM training workshops in districts in the Brong-Ahafo and Ashanti regions (1978-79).

Autocrat: A manager with high TO, low RO and low E, seen as having no confidence in others,as unpleasant, and as being interested only in the immediate job.Developer: A manager with high RO, low TO and high E, having implicit trust in people andbeing primarily concerned with developing them as individuals.Missionary: A manager with high RO, low TO and low E, primarily interested in the mainte-nance of harmony.Bureaucrat: A manager with low TO, low RO and high E, primarily interested in rules and pro-cedures for their own sake and as wanting to maintain and control the situation by their use;often seen as conscientious.Deserter: A manager with low TO, low RO and low E, seen as uninvolved and passive.

"The four more effective styles may be equally effective depending on the situation in whichthey are used. Some managerial jobs require all four styles to be used at times; other jobs tendto demand only one or two styles consistently."

"The test measures a manager's perception of his managerial style in the job he now has. Forinstance, the test does not tell a manager he is an 'autocrat', only that he himself describes hisbehaviour that way in the job he now has."

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Regional Head of Department or Regional Officer and District Head ofDepartment or District Officer

Conflict between regional officers (ROs) and district officers (DOs)can take place if the latter report directly to district chief executives(DCEs), particularly in the case of DOs from "decentralized" minis-tries. DOs resent what appear to be arbitrary transfers decidedunilaterally by ROs and the fact that they delegate very little re-sponsibility and authority to them as district heads of department. Itis difficult for a "decentralized" DO to maintain a dual allegiance toboth the RO and the DCE, particularly knowing that the former isstill responsible for district officer promotions. The inherent dif-ficulty in this relationship became more evident as results from the3-D Management Test were analyzed. In six out of thirteen trainingsessions in the Brong-Ahafo and Ashanti regions, these tests indi-cated that the top rank for management style synthesis was"deserter", the worst management style depicted by Redden. Table 2provides the 3-D Management Style Diagnosis Test group summa-ries using two regional officers' training sessions (Kumasi andSunyani; N = 48) and eleven district officers' training sessions (N =188), taking top group rankings for, first, dominant managerial style;second, supporting managerial style; third, style synthesis (average);and fourth, task orientation (TO), relationships orientation (RO) andeffectiveness (E) score means.

TABLE 2: 3-D Management Style Diagnosis Test Summaries

Effective Styles * (65 percent) (N = 236) Ineffective Styles (35 percent)

Developer 22 Missionary 12Bureaucrat 12 Deserter 7Executive 2 Autocrat 1Benevolent Autocrat I Compromiser 0

* The numbers of top rankings in the four score areas for the thirteen training sessionsincluded several cases with more than a single top ranking.

Six of the seven training groups which obtained top rank in stylesynthesis (average style) as "deserter" included the DOs at Obuase(Adansi District, 47 percent); at Ejisu (Ejisu-Juaben-Bosomtwe Dis-trict, 41 percent); at Nkawie (Atwima District, 25 percent); atDormaa (Dormaa District, 29 percent); at Sunyani (Sunyani Dis-

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trict, 26 percent); and the Brong-Ahafo regional officers (24percent), the majority of these participants not being the regionalheads but subordinates sent to stand in for the heads - the only re-gional training session in Ghana where this occurred. In addition,the TO/RO/E mean scores for the Obuase DOs placed themsquarely in the "deserter" style (see Table 3).

T A B L E 3: 3-D Management Style Diagnosis Test Top Rankings (Percentage)for ERDM Training Sessions in Ashanti and Brong-Ahafo Regions

Training Session/N

BekwaiDOs/31EjisuDOs/12Konongo DOs/16

NkawieDOs/12

Obuase DOs/19Kumasi ROs/30TepaDOs/13

Training Session/N

Atebubu DOs/18

DormaaDOs/i2

Nkoranza DOs/16SunyaniDOs/igSunyaniROs/18*

Wenchi DOs/20

ASHANTI REGION

Dominant Style

Percentage

37-Missionary35 - Bureaucrat27-Bureaucrat

33 — Developer

60 — Bureaucrat24-Developer24-Missionary

Supporting Style

Percentage

19-Developer31-Missionary22 — Autocrat

21 — Missionary

46-Missionary27-Missionary30-Missionary

[

Style Synthesis

Percentage

29 - Developer41-Deserter25 - Bureaucrat25 - Developer25 - Deserter25 - Missionary47 - Deserter29 - Executive431- Developer

BRONG-AHAFO REGION

Dominant StylePercentage

31-Missionary

25 - Bureaucrat25 — Missionary30-Developer25 - Developer24-Developer24-Bureaucrat28 — Developer

Supporting StylePercentage

23 - BenevolentAutocrat

22 - Executive

26-Missionary24 —Bureaucrat21-Bureaucrat

29 — Developer

Style SynthesisPercentage

39 - Developer

29-Deserter29 — Developer50 - Developer26 — Deserter24-Deserter

30-Developer

TO/RO/E Mean

DeveloperBureaucratBureaucrat

Developer

DeserterDeveloperDeveloper

TO/RO/E Mean

Developer

Missionary

DeveloperBureaucratBureaucrat

Developer

* The majority of the Sunyani ROs were not regional officers, but subordinates sent by theirROs to stand in for them.

"Deserters" are produced by regional officers who regard theirdistrict officers as drones meant only to carry out orders from aboveand to report on the progress of those dictated duties; such an atti-tude by ROs allows for very little creativity by DOs in eithermanagement or in professional areas and results in what manage-

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ment experts term the margin of apathy, where one's sphere ofknowledge/ability/potential responsibility is far greater than thesphere of responsibility allowed one by a superior officer. This data,communicated to regional heads of department in their regionaltraining sessions, made a strong impact on those partici-pants andbehavioural changes are likely to occur.

Recommendations from participants include the following: decen-tralize all governmental agencies - or at least treat them as such atthe district level; view the role of the DCE as the co-ordinator of ad-ministrative units in the district rather than as one's "boss"; regardthe DCE as the administrative head at the district level and the ROas the professional head for the DO - send copies of reports and cor-respondence to both individuals to keep both informed of one'sactivities and efforts; and convince one's RO through proven actionsthat, as a district head, the regional head should formally delegatemore authority and increase the scope and range within which dis-trict officer initiative can take place.

In an exercise designed to throw light on the relationship betweena district officer and his or her regional officer, as well as his or hersubordinate technical field officers (TOs) in the district, DOs wereasked to write descriptive terms for people, workers and managers.The results, tabulated here after eight district council training ses-sions, were very graphic: 75 percent of the terms used by DOs todescribe people were negative (for instance, selfish, corrupted, dis-honest, lazy, apathetic, liars, irresponsible). When DOs were askedto describe their TOs, 74 percent of the terms were negative (lazy,poor, hostile, riotous, demanding, unproductive, arrogant, unre-liable). Asking DOs to describe managers resulted in 52 percentnegative terms (corrupted, irresponsible, boastful, hard-hearted, ar-rogant, selfish, dangerous) balanced by 48 percent positive terms(considerate, humble, hardworking, strict, helpful, careful, punctual,kind, competent). During processing sessions it was evident that theDOs using negative terms to describe managers were viewing their"ROs as the managers, whereas those using positive terms wereviewing themselves as the managers. The same exercise conductedfor ROs produced similar results. Using these data in training ses-sions made it easier for participants to see that regional officersviewed district officers as negatively as the latter viewed technicalfield officers and that some of the difficulties DOs were attributing totheir ROs were certainly similar to the ways in which DOs were

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being viewed by their own subordinates, the TOs. This sort of datais having an impact on these relationships, resulting in more positiveworking conditions at all levels of the managerial hierarchy.

District Head of Department or District Officer and Technical Field Officer

Some technical field officers (TOs) perceive the district chief execu-tive, not the district officer, to be the real authority in the district.Very few TOs are included in setting departmental goals and objec-tives at the district level. That is, DOs treat TOs as ROs treat DOs,resulting in dissatisfaction throughout the administrative system.Participants recommended that the district officer-technical fieldofficer relationship could be improved by providing TOs in-servicetraining in management by objectives so they could be effectively in-cluded in the setting of departmental objectives. DOs should allowTOs to plan their own work schedule by delegating authority tothem while still holding them accountable for the results. TOsshould be treated as adults and be involved in decision-makingduring regular departmental meetings. DOs felt that one way inwhich they might affect the regional officer-district officer relation-ship is to work on the district officer-technical field officer rela-tionship over which they themselves have control.

Regional Administrative Officer and District Chief Executive

Regional heads of department are responsible administratively tothe regional administrative officer (RAO) just as district heads of de-partment are responsible to the district chief executive (DCE). Thefact that some departments are classified as "decentralized" andsome as "centralized" results in similar problems for the RAO andthe DCE. Many DOs bypass both the DCE and the RAO and dealonly with their RO. Participants have recommended that all depart-ments be formally decentralized in order to eliminate some of theconfusion that currently exists in the administrative system.

District Councillor and Town/Village Development Committee

The frequent lack of regular communication in this relationshipresults in many misunderstandings. District councillors (DCs) donot inform the town/village development committees (TVDCs) intheir wards of council discussions and decisions, resulting in accusa-tions of inequities in the distribution of council resources. DOs rarely

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involve themselves in TVDC plans and only occasionally travel tomeet these committees when they are convened. Some DCs submitplans to the district council for TVDCs without allowing for commit-tee input into the decisions.

District councillors - as well as district officers - were resolved toattempt to meet town/village development committees on organizedschedules to effect better co-ordination and to improve feedback. Anattempt to design a mini-ERDM training course for TVDCs is nowunder way. Some districts are working towards the establishment ofan association of town/village development committees within a dis-trict. Other plans include making DOs official advisers to variousTVDCs, making DCs ex qfficio members of these committees, assu-ring that members of TVDCs actually reside in the district area andestablishing criteria for distribution of council resources to commit-tees most responsive to training, to paying rates and to providingcommunal labour for development projects.

District Head of Department or District Officer and District Councillor

District councillors tend to work exclusively through the districtchief executive instead of going directly to the district officer whenappropriate. Both DCs and DOs organize projects without consul-ting the other group. DOs are expected to implement policies set inAccra or by ROs, which do not reflect local interests or needs/goals/objectives, arranged according to priority, and this results in conflictwith DCs. DCs are not kept informed of DO activities; on the otherhand, DOs are not kept informed of DC and TVDG activities. Par-ticipants have recommended that all DCs elected actually reside inthe district council area in order to be available to provide timelyinputs for decision-making. All DOs must be made ex qfficio membersof the council to allow them to make more substantial inputs intoplanning, ' implementation and evaluation of projects. Monthlysummary reports of departmental and ward activities must be madeavailable to all DOs and DCs to enable everyone to keep abreast ofdistrict activities. Furthermore, DOs should be included as ex qfficiomembers of the executive, education and planning committees.

District Chief Executive and District Council Chairman

The district chief executive, a career civil servant from the admini-strative class, is the administrative head of the district. The districtcouncil chairman is a part-time official, elected from among the dis-

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trict councillors, who frequently pushes for projects in economicallynon-viable locations. Since the DCE can award contracts with avalue less than 5 000 cedis, this can result in conflicts between thetwo individuals, each one reporting the other to the regional admi-nistrative officer. Participants felt that such role conflicts could beresolved through regular meetings and a better definition of mutualroles, the DCE assuming a role comparable to that of managing di-rector of a corporation, with the district council chairman assuminga role similar to that of the chairman of the board of directors of acorporation.

District Head of Department or District Officer and District Chief Executive

There has been no viable link between these two individuals, sincethe district officer can bypass the district chief executive at any timeand communicate directly with the regional officer. Some DCEs actlike lords, using one-way communication, providing no feedback tothe DOs. Some have incompetent managers in the DCE's office. Anumber of DCEs are young and hold a rank lower than many of theDOs who are expected to regard the district chief executive as theadministrative head of the district. There is a lack of clarity as towho has the power to appoint, promote and discipline district de-partmental staff- the DO, the DCE or the RO. Some of the impor-tant development departments are still centralized and hence theyreport directly to the regional officers. It was recommended that dis-trict chief executives improve co-operation with the district officersthrough increased communication, including regular monthly mee-tings. The DCE and DOs should be kept up-to-date regarding theactivities of all DOs in the district. DCEs should be expected to holda rank no lower than principal assistant secretary. All departmentsshould be decentralized.

District Heads of Department or District Officers

No co-ordination exists among district officers in a district, regard-less of whether they represent centralized or decentralized depart-ments. There is a fundamental lack of knowledge of each other's de-partments and of each other's work objectives. Scattered offices andlack of transport and telephones help to stifle communication. Apecking order of prestige exists with some decentralized departmentsregarding themselves more important than others. Participants felt

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that all departments should be decentralized. Departmental re-sources should be organized on a district pool basis. This would beparticularly helpful for trekking schedules in many departments,given the lack of transport available. DOs should be encouraged towork on joint programmes involving multiple departments. Fur-thermore, DOs should organize themselves into district developmentassociations, with regular monthly reports of their activities circu-lated to each other and to DCs and with monthly meetings focusingon ways to reinforce each other's efforts at overcoming restrainingforces hindering development in the districts.

District Councillors

Each district councillor has primary interest in the ward he or sherepresents on the council. District councillors have seen each otheras competitors for scarce council resources and relations have beenstrained in many cases. There has been little regard for district-wideplanning and co-ordination of development efforts. Political conflictshave hindered communication at times. DCs have agreed to keepeach other and the DOs informed of activities and problems withintheir wards through brief monthly reports. A system by which alltown/village development committees send monthly reports to theDC of the ward will facilitate dissemination of relevant informationto the other councillors and DOs. Efforts will be made to think interms of district-wide integrated development rather than limitingone's perspective to one's own ward.

CYCLE I TRAINING OUTPUTS

Unlike many development projects, ERDM has been in a position toeffect positive change in an immediate and sometimes dramaticfashion.

District Decision-Making Bodies

In order to broaden the base for involvement in developmentplanning in the district and to improve productivity, the followingchanges are being made:

Job enrichment plans designed by DOs for district departmental staff, withrecommendations to ROs by DOs for district officer job enrichment.

Administrative unit measurable work objectives designed for the remainderof the financial year and communicated to other DOs, DCs and ROs.

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The assignment of co-ordinating committees, including in each case at leastone DC and at least one DO, to be held responsible for organizing activitiesto assure the completion of the district development handbook, the districtintegrated development plan, the district economic planning operationsroom and the revenue collection control exercise.

The outline of possible linkages of work objectives as they exist across de-partmental boundaries.

The inclusion on the district council -as ex ojficio members - of all DOs inthe district from both centralized and decentralized departments.

The inclusion of a set number of DOs as ex qfficio members on the councilcommittees (executive, education and planning) on a rotational basis.

The design, based on the ERDM training course, of in-service training byeach DO for his or her departmental staff in management by objectives(MBO) and force-field analysis to better enable the entire staff to partici-pate in the design of departmental objectives and goals.

Effective Information Dissemination

To assure that all decision-makers in the district are kept aware ofeach other's activities, efforts and problems, the following are beinginitiated:

Copies of short monthly departmental reports by DOs, using MBO andforce-field analysis, to be made available to all DCs and to the other DOs,with typing and distribution to be handled through the DCE's office.

Copies of monthly ward reports (incorporating news from TVDC monthlyreports) by DCs to be included in the regularized monthly or bi-monthlydistrict council meeting minutes and to be distributed to all DOs and otherDCs.

A regularized meeting schedule established by DCs for TVDCs within eachward, with each committee sending the DC a brief monthly report whichcan be condensed into the DCs monthly ward report.

Outputs to Improve District Planning Efforts

The following efforts are being initiated by district councils toimprove district planning:The format and plan-of-action: for producing a district development hand-book; for designing an integrated district development plan; for improvingdistrict data collection and the set-up of a district development planningoperations room; and for undertaking revenue collection control exercises.

The arrangement according to priority of district development problemsand needs, goals and objectives.

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District council potential revenue-earning projects arranged according topriority with action plans formulated for their implementation.

Dates set for two-day follow-up training sessions by the ERDM regionalstaff and the regional economic planning officer and the regional admini-strative officer to review progress on the above items.

Specific Examples of Improved Management in Districts

The following examples were provided by ERDM technicians co-ordinating efforts in the Western and Central regions of Ghana:13

In Saltpond, the town and country planner used a department-wide Ganttchart to improve co-ordination and increase productivity. Using this tooland inter-departmental staff meetings (which had never been held before)the planner developed a comprehensive town plan, now being presented atdistrict council hearings. The combined district council contributed to thethree-year town plan by doing a needs survey, ranking needs in order ofpriority, and publishing the survey. Presently, the council is launching amajor revenue drive to help fund the first phase of the programme.

For centuries the lack of an adequate source of water has troubled Salt-pond. During the ERDM follow-up session, officers and councillors(including the district head of the Ghana Water and Sewerage Corpo-ration) investigated alternative sites for water storage, negotiated with aprivate contractor as a unified group and implemented a much improvedsystem. The private contractor, impressed by the fact that the generallymoribund district council had actually made a decision, moved and imple-mented it and offered some of his services free of charge.

In Cape Coast, the district auditor, through the introduction of a staff pro-ductivity auditing system, reduced the time required to process a voucherfrom two weeks to two days. At the same time, he decreased the time re-quired to audit estates from six weeks to two weeks. To do this, he pre-sented his proposal to his RO, negotiated for the use of scarce transporta-tion and implemented a programme of in-service training for his staff. Thetotal time required to accomplish all this was two months.

The Electricity Corporation district officer in Cape Coast, plagued by un-collected funds which resulted in poor service to customers, made thedecision to disconnect service to customers with bills overdue by twomonths, introduced a new bill collection plan based on job rotation whichreduced staff corruption among the collectors and launched a public re-lations campaign to prepare people for these changes. It was hoped thatoutstanding bills could be reduced by 50 percent; actually a 100 percent re-duction was achieved in less than two months.

13 The authors would like to thank Moses Thompson and David Esch, ERDM techniciansco-ordinating efforts in the Western and Central regions of Ghana, for providing documenta-tion on recent success stories due to the ERDM programme.

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One Cape Coast district councillor, 67 years of age, rose at two a.m. eachday to make the trip from his village to the seminar. He increased hisward's revenue collection by 100 percent in less than two months and em-barked on the construction of a post office, using communal labour.

The district council clerk in Cape Coast, unmotivated and unproductiveprior to the seminar, decided that he needed more stimulating work. He ne-gotiated a more demanding job with increased responsibilities, though atthe same pay as before. His boss and colleagues report that he is putting in12-hour days and is having a positive effect on the other staff members.

The Cape Coast district officer for the Department of Fisheries, recognizingthe poor services being provided in his department's repair of outboardmotors for fishermen, decided to increase the cost per hour for a mechanicfrom 0,25 cedi to 2,50 cedis. By increasing the per hour charge to a more re-alistic rate, he was able to pay the mechanic more, thus reducing the theftof spare parts, and improve efficiency and turnover of engines coming in forrepair. In the first two months revenue was increased by 400 percent andfishermen commented that the services had improved. Based on the DO'ssuccess, his RO has recommended these same changes at the national leveland the DO has been called to Accra for consultation on his successes.

At the Axim District Council, the Electricity Corporation district officer,councillors and concerned citizens organized an electricity committee tobring electricity to the streets of the district capital. This entailed nego-tiation with the RO and the RAO. On the day of the follow-up program-me four months later seventy-two street lights were functional; seventy-twomore have since been installed.

In Asankrangwa, the combined organization of councillors and officers gavepriority to the district's needs for a bus service, a petrol station and abranch bank. Difficult as it is to believe that none of these services exist-ed in this district, the district council, while at the seminar, opened nego-tiations in all three areas and in the two months following the seminarachieved results in all of them. This involved co-ordinating officers, coun-cillors and district interest groups and negotiating with regional bankmanagers, state transport managers, economic planning officers and privatecontractors, and researching corporate law and district rights. At one time,the group was organized to the point that it brought in a regional commis-sioner and a representative of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council tosupport its cause.

In Techiman District in Brong-Ahafo Region, following the revenue collec-tion control exercise, the revenues collected in the market have increased400 percent. Data collection exercises across the country have indica-ted that an average of only about 20 percent of the collectable income in adistrict gets deposited in the district treasury. Making this fact publicknowledge is having important effects in the districts.

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The regional medical officer of health in the Western Region, recognizingthe need for upgrading the managerial capacity of his organization, if itwere to implement the primary health care programme planned for theregion, requested training assistance from the ERDM trainer/consultants.Working closely with the Ministry of Health, the ERDM team designed ashort in-service training programme with the RO as a trainer.

The regional administrative officer, Western Region, requested a consultantto assist in the redesign of the regional filing system; ERDM met thisrequest.

The Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation at Winneba requested con-sulting services on the design of a preventive maintenance programme forold and new equipment. The ERDM team met and worked with the DO todesign this system which is now in place.

The regional co-ordinator for the Women in Development Programme re-quested a cost/benefit analysis for a co-operative bakery; this was done andthe bakery is now operating.

The regional organization in Cape Coast has requested that ERDM workwith it to design a regional monitoring system for both projects and staffproductivity.

CONCLUSION

Decentralization programmes do not just happen after legislationhas enacted a decentralized administrative system. This is evidentfrom the number of acts and ordinances promulgated in the GoldCoast and in Ghana. For decentralization to succeed, local officialsand others must be given the opportunity to gain the managementand planning skills necessary to assume new roles and responsibili-ties. The ERDM programme is doing this in Ghana and the initialresults are most encouraging; districts are awakening from theinertia and stupor into which they have fallen over the past decadeand will play an active role in the rehabilitation of Ghana during theThird Republic. It is certain that decentralization programmes incountries like Zambia and the Sudan, which suffer from problemsvery similar to those outlined above, would benefit considerablyfrom the up-grading of management skills among district and re-gional-level officials. The approach to management training de-scribed in this article - which, unlike so many other imported ma-nagement training "packages", has the major advantage of havingbeen tried and tested in an African context and found to work - mayprovide a suitable model for others to follow.The authors would like to thank Ms. Hazel Mutau for her assistance in the preparation of thismanuscript.

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decentralization in ghana: the impact on organizational effectiveness of management training among...

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