The impact of the Zambia Public Service Training Development Policy on the morale of Health Workers: The case of the University Teaching Hospital

Nyirenda, Evelyn

The impact of the Zambia Public Service Training Development Policy on the morale of Health Workers: The case of the University Teaching Hospital

Date

2015

Authors

Nyirenda, Evelyn

Publisher

The University of Zambia

Abstract

ABSTRACT This dissertation determined the impact of the Zambian Public Service Training and Development Policy (ZPSTDP) (1996) on the morale of health workers at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH). The policy came about as a result of the Public Service Reform Program (PSRP) which was launched in 1993 aimed at improving the quality, delivery, efficiency and effectiveness of public services. The program latter addressed low work performance, poor service delivery and high labor turn over in the Civil Service. Inadequate resources, a high attrition rate arising from the brain drain, skills shortage, gender imbalances rapidly changing technology and the various expectations from the Public Service were some of the challenges facing the Public Service. The ZPSTDP has been in place since 1996 but no study has been conducted to determine workers’ morale. This dissertation sought to answer the following questions: 1. How did the employees find the content of the ZPSTDP? 2. How was employees’ satisfaction with issues of equity in the implementation of the policy? 3. How did the employees find transparency in policy implementation? 4. How was employees’ satisfaction with the way the policy was implemented? The study was both descriptive and explanatory in terms of its design. It was descriptive in that it provided an account of the impact of the ZPSTDP on the morale of health workers at the UTH. It also compared morale in different employee subgroups at the institution in terms of age, sex and profession, for example. The study was also explanatory as it showed the cause and effect relationship between variables which impacted on the morale of employees at UTH. The research determined respondents’ morale as a result of the ZPSTDP and ward to ward survey was employed. Both primary and secondary data was used. The UTH has 2800 workers from which a representative sample of 205 was drawn. Stratified sampling was used involving groups such as medical and non-medical respondents, and a simple random sample taken. 100 respondents were given questionnaires in each subgroup. 5 key informants were selected using purposive sampling. Questionnaires and interviews were used in the collection of data. The data collected and analyzed showed that 43.6% of the respondents were satisfied with the content of the ZPSTDP and their morale was high while 56.4% were not and their morale was low; 13.7% of the respondents were satisfied with issues of equity in policy implementation and their morale was high while 86.3% were not and their morale was low; 13.7 % of the respondents were satisfied with issues of transparency in policy implementation and their morale was high while 86.3% were not satisfied and their morale was low; and 29.1% of the respondents were satisfied with the implementation process while 70.9% were not satisfied and their morale was low. Therefore, most respondents were not satisfied with the content of the ZPSTDP and their morale was low. There was no equity and transparency in policy implementation to the highest extent. The policy implementation process also did not satisfy employees thereby having low morale level but there was no discrimination by HIV/AIDS status and the differently abled employee as the training plan was all inclusive. The policy impacted negatively on most of the respondents at the institution.