The Introduction of New Appraisals Systems in the Public Services of the Commonwealth Caribbean

Abstract

This article examines the challenges and problems that emerge during the introduction of a system that attempts to link performance to pay in the public services of three countries, namely Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Jamaica. It briefly discusses the merits of introducing pay B related performance appraisal systems and argues that while such systems may attain success in the more developed countries, in ex-colonial societies, implementation will be constrained by other factors. The article proposes that the more critical constraints are the rigidity of the structures under which the services operate and the cultures of the institutions themselves. In addition the imperatives of structural adjustment would also be a critical constraint to the successful implementation of a new appraisal system. The article, however, concedes that the special circumstances of Jamaica allowed a greater measure of success; yet in Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago it clearly failed.