IMPACT OF BUREAUCRATIC CONTROL ON THE PERFORMANCE OF GOVERNMENT PARASTATALS; A STUDY OF UNIVERSITY OF BENIN

ABSTRACT

The research work examined the impact of bureaucratic control on the performance of government parastatals. A study of University of Benin. Four objectives and research questions were raised for the study .The study employed survey research design The study made use of questionnaire and interview to obtain data from respondent. Data were analysed using tables and percentages The study found that for efficiency to be achieved in the bureaucracy, the following must be put in place, division of labour, delegation of authority, hierarchy employment based on competence and merit, existence of rigid impersonal rules of behaviour., The study also found that inefficiency of the bureaucracy adversely affects the society as it hampers efficient and effective delivery of social services to the people. The study concluded that some civil servants stay in the office either discussing, sleeping and snoring even when there are piles of file on their table waiting for their attention. Some others engage in open confrontation with one another. Absenteeism is not out of place too and thus recommended that there should be periodic re-examination of every activity in the civil service. This will help to rid off unnecessary operations and wasteful duplication of efforts in the civil service. Administration ethics should be simple and not be too rigid as to leave no discretion in exceptional cases. Its language should be unambiguous and clear, easily understandable by a common citizen and the civil servant in particular. It should help rather than hinder the progress of the work. Too much insistence on the letter of procedural rules leads to red-tape. There is need to shift from the old patterns in the civil service to the new patterns such as from hierarchical to network thinking, sharing and oppression, imagination to openness.