Ineffective by design? Systemic failures of performance management in a sub-Saharan African military establishment: The case of Zambia

Abstract

Performance Management Systems [PMS] emerged as a core instrument of New Public Management reform in Sub-Saharan Africa from the 1990s, yet their effectiveness in military establishments remains empirically underexamined. This qualitative case study evaluates the effectiveness of the PMS implemented in military establishments, with particular stress on the Military Training Establishment of Zambia. This is a major institution of the defence sector of Zambia in Kabwe. This evaluation was conducted twenty-two years after its introduction of PMS in 1998. The target population comprised the officer corps at MILTEZ. Purposive sampling was employed to select 23 key informants, comprising 14 wing commanders and 9 senior staff officers, across all six military training establishments of Zambia departments, on the basis of their direct involvement in goal-setting, performance appraisal, or reward administration. The data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews conducted between October 2018 and February 2019. The study applies reflexive thematic analysis to generate rich, contextualised insights into PMS effectiveness. The theoretical framework draws on four mainstream public administration theories: New Public Management Theory, Institutional Isomorphism, Principal-Agent Theory, and Accountability Theory. Four interrelated themes emerged: a goal-setting deficit characterised by unilateral formulation and resource inadequacy; a trait-performance Disconnect, in which the appraisal instrument evaluates personal characteristics rather than goal achievement; a Reward Administration Failure driven by opacity and perceived nepotism; and a Systemic Institutional Mismatch generated by the uncritical adoption of civilian performance management systems frameworks in a hierarchical military context. The study concludes that Performance Management Systems’ ineffectiveness at the Military Training Establishment of Zambia is systemic, rooted in mimetic isomorphism, and proposes a military-adapted PMS reform framework responsive to the institutional realities of Sub-Saharan African military organisations.