Evaluation of effectiveness of open performance review and appraisal system (OPRAS) in public corporations: a case of Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC)

The study focused on the evaluation of Open Performance Review and Appraisal System (OPRAS) in public corporations. This is so due to the fact that Open Performance Review and Appraisal System (OPRAS) are conducted to carter for performance appraisal in public corporations in Tanzania. It has been recently introduced and instituted to replace the former system which was largely criticized for being constrained with unfair tendencies and practices because it was conducted on the basis of top down approach secretly without the employees being aware of anything to do with his or her appraisal. To get away from that, the government introduced OPRAS which is open in the sense that both the employee and the supervisor sit together and set performance targets to be appraised in a year. The system seemed well and transparent which motivated an inquiry to measure and evaluate its effectiveness in the public corporations. The study was mainly guided by three research objectives which became questions to be answered for successful completion of the study to measure the effectiveness of OPRAS in public corporations. The methodological approach instituted in the study was mixed methods of qualitative and quantitative, though the dominant approach was qualitative due to the fact that the study focused on how of the phenomenon.The outcomes of the study were negative in the sense that despite the fact that the system is new and recent in practice in public corporations, the study revealed shocking findings as it is not effective due to the fact that it is conducted in a manner which resembles the old system as employees are not involved in setting performance targets to be appraised. Also, there is high level of limited knowledge on the use and application of the system towards both employees as well as the supervisors which becomes difficult for most of the practitioners to cope with the new changes in efficient and effective manner. For that reason, the study among several things recommended the immediate institution of trainings within public corporations specifically to the employees including the supervisors on the understanding of OPRAS. This is because most of the employees regardless of their positions in public corporations are not well aware of the system. This has made the system to be regarded effective in principle, but in practice the system is perceived otherwise as ineffective.