Civil service system is deficient

Your editorial (Apr 12) highlighted the deficiencies in the Performance Management Development System (PMDS) used in the civil service.

It has become a major internal industry, generating spin-off industries in training and seminars.

The public are blissfully unaware of this sacred cow.

The system measures how well workers do their job. It does not measure a person’s excellence as a human being.

This misunderstanding is a major flaw. In the real world, most people score highly on a scale of human worth.

The civil service recruits qualified people who achieve high marks in selection examinations and interviews. It would be a dangerous practice to force assessment scores to conform to a theoretical normal distribution.

The grading system of PMDS is iniquitous. In their first year, staff might not expect top marks.

This can lead to justifying low marks in following years. If somebody gets a bad name in their first year, it is very difficult to lose that tag. Truly outstanding people might never get top marks. Criticism never goes down well. Repeated criticism destroys self-esteem.

Assessors who consistently award low scores might ask if they give proper encouragement, motivation and guidance to staff. One wonders if the system is about the management of performance rather than the development of management.

Nobody dares to step outside the ranks to question or audit the principles of PMDS.

A new beginning a simple stroke of the ministerial pen would achieve real reform.

Michael Mernagh

Carrigaline

Co Cork