Abstract:
This study aimed to understand, from the viewpoint of technical and administrative public servants in education and their immediate supervisors, how performance assessment takes place in the Federal University of Espírito Santo (UFES). The analysis turned away from the hegemonic theory, allowing a critical reflection on how the management techniques have been deployed in public administration. This article may be characterized as a qualitative research, and the study object is related to the knowledge field of public administration. Empirical data were produced through semi-structured interviews. Selected according to the snowball criterion, 28 technical and administrative public servants in education and 11 immediate supervisors were interviewed. Content analysis was used for addressing the interviews. The technical and administrative public servants highlighted discontent with the performance assessment, the significance of assessment, the fear to assess the immediate supervisor, the subjectivity observed in the assessment, and the use of assessment as a progression system. According to the immediate supervisors, performance assessment is a condition for improving the public service, there is a difficulty to assess, there is a need for changes in the assessment, and, just as the technical and administrative public servants, they see performance assessment as a progression system. There is dissatisfaction regarding the way how assessment has been used in the university. We may conclude that performance assessment is a model uncritically imported from the private sector and it does not result in actual improvements in public service, leading to an increased individuality to the detriment of collectivity.
Keywords:
Performance assessment; Management reform; Public administration