Case Study

Performance Management at the University of Ghana

The University of Ghana in Legon, Ghana, was established in 1948 as an affiliate college of the University of London called University College of the Gold Coast. In 1961, the university was reorganized by an act of Parliament into what it is today: the independent, degree-granting University of Ghana (http:// www.ug.edu.gh/).

The Balme Library is the main library in the University of Ghana library system. Situated on the main Legon campus, it coordinates a large number of libraries attached to the university’s various schools, institutes, faculties, departments, and halls of residence, most of which are autonomous.

The library was started as the College Library in 1948 and was then situated in Achimota College, which was about 8 kilome- ters from the present Legon campus. In 1959, the College Library moved into its brand-new buildings at the Legon campus and was named after the University College of the Gold Coast’s first principal, David Mowbrary Balme.

As in the case of many other modern university libraries worldwide that face resources challenges and the need to serve an increasingly diverse customer base, the Balme Library has implemented numerous initiatives. One such initiative is a performance management system. However, several of the components of the performance management process at the Balme Library are in need of improvement. First, there is no evidence that a systematic job analysis was conducted for any of the jobs at the library. Second, the forms that the employees are rated on contain vague items such as “general behavior.” The forms include no specific definition of what “general behavior” is or examples explaining to employees (or managers) what would lead to a high or a low rating in this category. In addition, all library employees are rated on the same form, regardless of their job responsibilities. Third, there is no evidence that managers have worked with employees in setting mutually agreed-upon goals. Fourth, there is no formal or informal discussion of results and needed follow-up steps after the subordinates and managers complete their form. Not surprisingly, an employee survey revealed that more than 60% of the employees have never discussed their performance with their managers. Finally, employees are often rated by different people. For example, sometimes the head of the library rates an employee, even though he may not be in direct contact with that employee.

Based on the above description, please answer the following questions.

1.Please identify one component in the performance management process at the Balme Library that has not been implemented effectively (there are several; choose only one). 


2.Describe how the poor implementation of the specific component you have chosen has a negative impact on the flow of the performance management process as a whole. 


3.Discuss what should be done to improve the implementation of the component you have chosen in question 1. 


Source: This case study is loosely based on Martey, A. K. (2002). “Appraising the performance of library staff in a Ghanaian Academic Library.” Library Management, 23, 403–416.