COVId Research Report AAMI

ETHIOPIAN MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE
EFFECTS OF COVID-19
ON CIVIL SERVICE ORGANIZATION
Research Report Submitted to:

Research Directorate
By:
1. Amare Jima (Principal Investigator)

2. Zemenu Gashew (Co- investigator)
3. Weubamlk Eshetu (Co- investigator)
Research
January, 2021
Consultancy Training Addis Ababa
Abstract
It is unclear to what extent civil service organization (CSOs) affected by COVID -19
pandemic in response to this, the current study was designed. Therefore, the main
purpose of this study is to examine the effect of COVID-19 on normal operation and
service delivery ability of CSO. To achieve intended objective of study, the cross-
sectional survey was conducted on 570 sampled respondents from 70 randomly
selected civil service organizations. These responses were examined for accuracy of
data entry 10 incomplete questionnaires was rejected in the data examination process
and 560 were used for analysis. The study mainly relied on primary data, which was
collected by use of a structured questionnaire containing open-ended and close-ended
questions. A reliability tests were performed on the survey instrument. Reliability based
on Cronbach’s alpha greater than 0.70 was supported and proven instrument reliability.
Quantitative data analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS Version 21. On part of
qualitative data textual analysis was used that closely examines either the content and
meaning of texts or their structure and discourse. Some of the major findings of this
study were (1) overall, the crisis has had a moderate effect on normal operation of CSOs
as shown by mean score of (2.73 > µ <3.04). Execution of capacity building, holding
monitoring and evaluation, communication and collaboration with clients and
employees were the most specific operation affected by the pandemic. (2) The study
results showed that the service provision ability of CSOs affected from moderate to
high level (3.26 > µ <3.51). (3) Employee productivity at usual work place was
meaningfully different from working remotely (4) There are significant (about 33%)
CSOs that went through the crisis without developing effective mitigation strategies for
their core tasks (5) To mitigate the risk of employee exposure to COVID-19, the
institutional preventative measure was not properly implemented at workplace.(6) The
study also found that CSOs faced various critical challenges in response to the
pandemic like enhancing employee productivity and achieving service levels while far
off work place ,lack of in-person management oversight, holding monitoring and
evaluation as usual, capacity to develop and implement winning crisis management
program and etc. Finally, the research offers a number of recommendations to CSOs to
get better prepared for current and any future crisis.
2
Key word: COVID-19, service provision ability, normal operation, CSO,
unprecedented crisis etc.
Table of Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................................................2
Acronyms.........................................................................................................................................4
List of Tables and Figure................................................................................................................5
CHAPTER ONE...................................................................................................................................6
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................6
1.1. Background of the Study........................................................................................................6

1.2. Statement of the Problem.....................................................................................................7
1.3. Research Question.................................................................................................................8
1.4. General Objective..................................................................................................................8
1.4.1. Specific Objective...........................................................................................................8
1.5. Scope of the Study.................................................................................................................9
1.6. Significance of the Study........................................................................................................9
CHAPTER TWO................................................................................................................................10
LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................................................10
2.1. The Effect of COVID‐19 on Public Servants’ Work................................................................10

CHAPTER THREE..............................................................................................................................13
METHODOLOGY..............................................................................................................................13
3.1. Introduction.........................................................................................................................13
3.2. Study Design........................................................................................................................13
3.3. Research strategy and approach..........................................................................................13
3.4. Study Sample.......................................................................................................................13
3.5. Data Collection.....................................................................................................................14
3.6. Instruments.........................................................................................................................14
3.6.1. Instrument Validation..................................................................................................15
3.7. Data Analysis........................................................................................................................15
3.8. Ethical consideration...........................................................................................................16
CHAPTER FOUR...............................................................................................................................17
DATAANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION....................................................................................................17
3
4.1. Introduction.........................................................................................................................17
4.2. Response Rate.....................................................................................................................17
4.3. Profile of the Respondents..................................................................................................17
4.3.2. Sex of the Respondent.................................................................................................18
4.3.3. Educational Level and Experience of Respondent........................................................18
4.4. Effect of COVID -19 on Civil Service Organizations...............................................................19
4.5. Organization response to the crisis......................................................................................23
4.6. Organization development service needed and government support demanded..............26
4.7. Handling covid-19 pandemic...............................................................................................27
4.8. Insights (Themes) from text analysis....................................................................................28
4.9. SUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGS.........................................................................................29
CHAPTER FIVE..................................................................................................................................33
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.....................................................................................33
5.1. Conclusion...........................................................................................................................33
5.2. Recommendation for Policy and Practices...........................................................................34
Reference........................................................................................................................................36
38
Annex 1: Questionnaire CSO..........................................................................................................38
Annex:2 Employee questionnaire...................................................................................................43
Annex3: analysis output..................................................................................................................47
Acronyms
CSO: Civil Service Organizations
WHO: World Health Organization
ILO: International labor organization
SPSS: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences
UNDP The United Nations Development Program
UNCDF: The UN Capital Development Fund
MOH: Ministry of Healthy
OECD: Canada and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
PSM: Greater public service motivation
4
RQ: Research Question
List of Tables and Figure

NO List of figure Page
1 Table 3.1. Sample Size Determination 16
2 Fig 4.1 Position of respondents 19
3 Fig 4.1.1. Respondent Gender 20
4 Fig 4.3 sample statistics of COVID-19 effect on organization`s normal operation 21
5 Fig 4.3: Operations most affected by COVID-19 22
6 Fig 4.4 Sample statistics of CSO Service Provision Ability affected by Pandemic 23
7 Fig4.5 sample statistics employees are able to perform job and duties at home as they 25
do in office
8 Figure 4.6 response of respondents on organization mitigation strategy development 25
9 Fig 4.7 the different actions taken to cop up with COVID-19 crisis 26
NO List of Tables Page

1 Table 1 Summary of the Reliability 17
2 Table 4.1 Experience * Level of Education Cross tabulation 21
3 Table 4.2 One-Sample Test of COVID-19 effect on organization`s normal operation 22
4 Table 4.3 Sample statistics of CSO Service Provision Ability affected by Pandemic 24
5 Table 4.4 Response of leader respondents on employee productivity 24
6 Table 4.5 summary of organization development service needed 28
7 Table 4.6 priority of what governments do to help CSO 28
8 Table 4.7One-Sample Test of handling COVID-19 at CSOs 29
9 Table 4.10 safety measures employee want to see in the workplace 29
5
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background of the Study
In December 2019, a viral outbreak of pneumonia of unknown origin occurred in Wuhan,
China. This new virus is the pathogen responsible for this infectious respiratory disease called
COVID-19. According to the WHO update, December 27 2020 there were: 79, 232,555
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 around the world, having caused the death of 1,754,493
people. On the same day, Africa confirmed 1, 831,227 cases; and 40,299deaths. The five
countries reporting most cases were South Africa (735 906), Morocco (252 185), Egypt
(108 962), Ethiopia (99 201) and Tunisia (69 543). Ethiopia confirmed the first COVID-19
case on 12 March 2020 (MOH, 2020). Since then, (as of November 8 2020) 99,201 people
are infected and 1518 have died Yet, given the weak institutional capacity, it should be noted
that Ethiopia with a total population of 109,224,559, according to the 2018 World Bank
estimate, has a high vulnerability to the pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt the lives and habits of all Ethiopian. Over the
past few months, many public organization and its employees have experienced major
changes in their work and lifestyle (ILO,2020).
To halt the spread of covid-19, Ethiopia has introduced several measures at national level
such as inter regional travel bans, closing schools and universities, canceling social events,
quarantining at airport and border arrival, allowing significant government workers to stay at
home, social distancing and implementing state of emergence for 5 months. As the pandemic
continues to spread, these measures are likely to be continued (Debela,2020). The
consequences of these measures have been a drastic disruption of social and economic
activities across all sectors of the local and national economy.
The civil service organization represent significant portion of the population. The total civil
servant of Ethiopia, including federal, nine regions and two city administration was 1,640,010
of which 63.5 % and 36.5% were respectively male and female with a substantial majority of
them (79.5%) earning less than 5000 ETB monthly salary (Debela, 2020). The majority of the
civil servants (77%) aged less than 48 years, which could be an advantage to reduce the civil
servants' death due to the virus, as the majority of deceased people in the world were aged
over 60 years (Mo Ibrahim Foundation,2020).
6
The Ethiopia economy and social certainly affected as a result of the steps taken to ensure the
health and safety of the people. However, we do not know exactly how the pandemic will
have a deep effect on CSOs as of now. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the
effect of this unprecedented pandemic and associated measures taken on Civil service
organization and its employees. The study also expects to bring appropriate and
contextualized mitigation strategies for CSOs in light of the Pandemic.
1.2. Statement of the Problem
There have been many references to the potentially disruptive medium and long-term effect s
of the COVID-19 crisis on the careers of citizens from Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (Hinchliffe, 2020; Kelly, 2020; Rosenthal, 2020). In this
respect, there is the fear that an economic crisis, as a consequence of the current health crisis,
(ILO, 2020; OECD,2020). It is expected that this economic crisis will have predominantly
negative effects, such as declining economic growth, disintegrating supply chains and
deteriorating employment prospects (BBC, 2020; Financial Times, 2020; OECD, 2020).
According to United Nations Capital Development Fund report (2020) the COVID-19
pandemic has disrupted the social and economic structures of the world with significant
consequences on lives, livelihoods and general economic development. In order to curtail the
spread of the disease, many government has instituted several measures including a partial
lockdown of movement of people and closure of places that involve public gatherings such as
schools, public transport, factories and business facilities
The federal civil service organizations and the regional governments have focused on
institutional related factors such as establishing a pandemic prevention and control
committee; providing public awareness and education; approving special leave particularly
for staff having blood pressure, diabetes, heart cases, asthmatic and other respiratory related
cases; providing institutional transportation; rearranging office space to ensure physical
distancing; ensuring individual and workplace cleaning and sanitation services; providing
facilities (comprising supplying cleaning and protection facilities, adequate physical
distancing and customer sequencing); and reporting civil servants infected by the virus
(Oromia Public Service and Human Resource Development Bureau, 2020).
7
According to Debela (2020) some civil service institutions in Ethiopia were closed
(e.g. higher education institutions, primary and secondary schools) while some others
were operating with less workforce, suggesting public services were reduced. The
problem is worse, in view of the fact that the competence and commitment of the civil
servants is low even under normal circumstances.
COVID‐19 presents unprecedented challenges for public sectors. Addressing those

challenges requires knowledge about the problems that public sector organization and
workers face.
Up‐to‐date surveys of COVID -19 effect on CSO and sector workers are essential tools for
identifying problems, resolving bottlenecks, and enabling CSO and its workers to operate
effectively during and in response to the challenges posed by the pandemic. However, it is
unclear to what extent Civil service organization in Ethiopia, affected by unprecedented crisis
of COVID-19. This study therefore, was designed and executed to fills the current gap in the
conceptual and empirical literatures.
1.3. Research Question
RQ1: To what extent does COVID-19 pandemic affect CSOs normal operation and system?
RQ2: To what extent does covid-19 pandemic affect CSOs service provision ability?
RQ3: How effective are the institutional preventive measures taken by CSOs?
RQ4: How productive is working remotely compared to usual work location?
RQ5: How effective CSOs response to crisis for core tasks?
RQ6: What are the critical challenges facing civil service organization to mitigate Covid-19?
1.4. General Objective

The overall objective of this study was to examine the effect of COVID-19 prevalence and
associated measure taken to mitigate the crisis on the civil service organization (CSO).
1.4.1. Specific Objective

The study was to address the following specific objectives:
1. To assess the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the CSOs normal operation
2. To assess the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the CSOs Service provision
ability
3. To examine the effectiveness of institutional preventive measures taken by CSOs
8
4. To assess employee productivity of working from home vs. work location
5. To find the effective CSOs response to crisis for core tasks
6. To identify major challenge facing CSOs in response to the pandemic
1.5. Scope of the Study

Conceptually, this study mainly focuses on the effect of COVID-19 on Civil Service
Organization`s normal operation, service delivery and employees’ productivity. The study
focused on 70 Civil Service Organization that are mainly found in Addis Ababa.
Methodologically, employed cross sectional survey design and quantitative and qualitative
research approach to deal with the research issues.
1.6. Significance of the Study

The findings of the research can be used:
1. As inputs for policy development and implementation in the crisis context;

2. To provide information to CSOs regarding the effect of COVID -19 and the respective
actions they need to take
3. As source document for other researchers; and
4. To initiate other scholars for further study in the area
9
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. The Effect of COVID‐19 on Public Servants’ Work
For many public sector workers, COVID‐19 has changed the location of their work, their
work tasks, the demands at work, and the demands they face beyond work. Prior research
suggests that these changes create both unique challenges and significant strain on public
sector workers, risking burnout, sick leave, demonization, and lower performance.
Many public sector workers now telework not because they choose to do so, but because they
are obliged to do. Surveys of teleworking show that teleworking is associated with
significantly less happiness at work and intention to remain in the organization, where
employees are obliged to—rather than choose to—work rem2.1. otely (pulse, 2016).
Moreover, public sector workers now frequently have to telework throughout the week.
Surveys show, however, that teleworking is most associated with greater engagement when
employees work remotely some of the time but still have an opportunity for face ‐to ‐face
interactions with managers and coworkers during other times (Mann and Adkins 2017). In
other words, while there are benefits to remote working—such as a greater sense of
autonomy about one's work schedule and planning (Gajendran and Harrison 2007)—the
particular COVID‐19 context is likely to emphasize and exacerbate the costs of remote
working.
Remote working five days a week during the pandemic, for instance, heavily constrains
social interactions between employees (Baker, Moon, and Ward 2006; Golden, Dino, and
Veiga 2008), risking professional and social isolation (Buffer 2020; de Vries, Tummers, and
Bekkers 2018). As the shift toward COVID‐19 occurred suddenly, many of the preparatory
steps that good practice guides recommend for effective remote working—such as ensuring
appropriate and safe remote workplaces and providing technical equipment or training in
virtual collaborative environments (Bick et al. 2020)—could not be completed. Public
servants are thus likely facing a series of unmet needs when it comes to their remote
workplace and resources to work effectively. This holds all the more in developing countries,
which have limited internet connectivity and electricity supply.
Similarly, public managers face novel challenges. They cannot supervise whether staffs are
working physically. Particularly in developing‐country contexts, where risks of staff
10
moonlighting and corruption might have already been elevated pre ‐COVID (see, e.g., Meyer ‐
Sahling, Mikkelsen, and Schuster 2018), this presents significant monitoring and
supervision challenges. Moreover, managers need to communicate, lead and motivate
remotely, and ensure that team and organizational cultures stay intact during remote working.
This is no trivial feat. Surveys of teleworking suggests that a significant minority of
employees find “staying motivated” challenging when teleworking, and almost half are in
contact less than once a day with their superior when teleworking (Buffer 2020; TINY
pulse 2016).
In addition, work tasks and demands often change with remote working. Citizen ‐facing roles
of public sector workers, for instance, now require online and remote interactions. An
employee of a national statistics agency collecting household survey data, for instance, might
now (learn to) conduct computer‐assisted telephone interviews rather than in ‐person
household surveys. A physical therapist now needs to provide remote diagnosis and treatment
via video, rather than in person. Learning these new work tasks comes at a time when
workloads in many employment‐heavy public sector institutions—health and social security
—have been amplified because of COVID‐19. Moreover, changing work tasks coupled with
less direct contact with superiors can challenge the clarity which employees have about their
tasks, objectives, and goals and the expectations that superiors have of them when working
remotely.
It is also worth recognizing that demands outside the workplace have changed. With nursery
and school closures, public sector workers may need to combine work and child care duties
during working hours. Moreover, increased sick leave because of employees or their
dependents contracting COVID‐19 or dealing with mental health issues and anxiety from the
pandemic concentrates public sector workloads in fewer available staff members.
Perhaps most importantly, the COVID‐19 pandemic is likely not just to alter the way that
work tasks are executed but, in many cases, to shift the broad objectives of ministries and
agencies entirely. These shifts are likely to be accompanied by structural changes to
bureaucracies as patterns of oversight, hiring, promotion, and funding are likely to be
reconfigured. States are likely to take different paths in seeking to strengthen their capacities
(Bersch and Fukuyama 2019; Fukuyama 2013), but leveraging the expertise, views, and
insights of public sector workers will be crucial for successful problem ‐solving ‐based reform
(Bersch 2019).
11
Looking at these changes cumulatively through the lens of job demands ‐resources theory
(Bakker and Demerouti 2014), predictions are dire. Job demands have increased in many
public sector organizations, while job resources (e.g., in terms of support from supervisors,
colleagues, or technical equipment to operate effectively) and personal resources (e.g.,
optimism) have suffered. If the predictions from the job demands ‐resources model are true,
we may expect lower work engagement (e.g., Hakanen, Bakker, and Schaufeli 2006), greater
burnout (e.g., Bakker, Demerouti, and Euwema 2005), greater sickness‐related absenteeism
(e.g., Clausen et al. 2012), and lower job performance to follow (e.g., Bakker, Demerouti, and
Verbeke 2004).
Greater public service motivation (PSM) of public sector workers might shelter public sectors
to some extent from these adverse effects (Perry and Wise 1990). If ever self‐sacrifice
mattered as a motivator of strong work effort, it is now during a pandemic (cf. Esteve and
Schuster 2019). There are important limits to this, however. Not all public sector workers
have high PSM. Moreover, where societal effect potential is high—as, arguably is currently
the case—higher PSM is associated with burnout: public sector workers sacrificing
themselves “too much” for society (van Loon, Vandenabeele, and Leisink 2015).
Summery
This puts a premium on civil service organizations effectively and systematically addressing
the new challenges faced by organization to avoid their otherwise predictable burnout,
demonization, and other adverse consequences. Responding to these fast ‐moving changes in
civil service organizations characterized by often codified work procedures is no easy feat.
In the next section, we argue that surveys of civil servants are one important building block in
government responses to COVID‐19, to identify problems, resolve bottlenecks, and put the
right procedures and support for public servants in place during the pandemic.
12
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
3.1. Introduction
This chapter presents various stages and phases that were followed in completing the study. It
involved a blueprint for the collection, measurement and analysis of data. Therefore, in this
section the research identified the procedures and techniques that will be used in the
collection, processing and analysis of data. Specifically, the following subsections are
included; study design, approach, study sample, data collection instruments, instrument
validation and finally data analysis.
3.2. Study Design

The cross-sectional survey design was conducted on a telephone platform in Ethiopia Civil
Service Organization (CSOs). The study was reviewed and approved by Ethiopia
Management Institute(EMI).
3.3. Research strategy and approach

The main strategy followed in the current study is the mixed method; where the qualitative
aspect of the study playing a more limited role. According to Johnson and Turner (2007),
quantitative dominant mixed method is most appropriate for a researcher who generally
follows the quantitative research approach, but who also believes that the insights gained
from qualitative data would benefit the research. This strategy is suitable for the stated
purpose of the study. This study established on existing theories or premises, thus deductive
approaches was flowed.
3.4. Study Sample

The study focused on group of participants drawn from 70 CSOs located in Addis Ababa. For
the purpose of selecting sample from the target population, of Civil Service Organization
(CSOs) two stage sampling was employed.
In the first stage, sample organizations were selected from the total of 204 civil service
organizations by using random sampling via lottery method. Since within each stratum it
shares similar work culture and practices the population is considered to be homogenous and
70 organizations were selected from civil service organization.
13
In the second stage, sample individual leaders and employees were selected from the selected
civil service organizations. For the purpose this study employees and leaders were selected
by using simple random sampling using random number table. The total of 430employees
and 140 leaders were selected as a sample from the selected organizations by using formula
developed by Kereje and Morgan’s (1973) for determining sample size from known and large
population size.
Sample Size Determination

Population Sample size for ±10%, Precision Levels Where
Confidence Level is 95% and P=..5
Employee Leaders Employee Leaders

9,900 940 430 140
Source SCTRP, 2017 (estimate)
Sample size for ±10%, Precision Levels Where Confidence Level is 95% and P=.5.
n=140 leaders
n= 430 employees
Total sample drawn=570 (430 employees and 140 leaders)
3.5. Data Collection

Phone-administered surveys, where an interviewer reads questions to the respondent and
records his or her answers were used. The telephone administered questionnaire included an
information page at the beginning of the survey and respondents’ consent was obtained
before the survey was completed. All participants were voluntary and anonymous. The
collected data were protected. Thus, only the researchers had the access for using the data for
analysis.
Primary data were collected from the employees and leaders of the 70CSOs using structured
questionnaire (see appendices). Moreover, the ideas of research papers, books, and journals
on executive capacity were used to analyze information. The main source for secondary
data were research papers, unpublished project reports, data extracted from websites and
academic journals concerning effect of COVID-19.
14
3.6. Instruments
The questionnaire was developed based on a literature review and WHO guidelines for
workplace (WHO, 2020). It consisted of 70 items. A five-point Likert-type scale ranging
from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) was applied to assess employee perception
and further closed and open types questions designed to address stated research questions.
The already established scales with minimum revision were used for measurement.
3.6.1. Instrument Validation
Validity and reliability are properties of a measurement instrument that gives the research
Community confidence in the results of the study (Field, 2009). Validity measures whether
an instrument actually measures what it sets out to measure. According to Lewis, Templeton
and Byrd (2005), validity represents the degree of accuracy with which the instrument is
measuring the construct it is purporting to measure and the uniqueness of the measurement
instrument from measures of other constructs. Reliability, on the other hand, measures
whether an instrument is consistent across different situations or on repeated occasions
(Field, 2009). The instrument design and development processes involved a rigorous
procedure of defining the domain of the construct, generating the initial items, pre-testing and
pilot testing.
Validity and reliability tests were performed on the survey instrument. To determine the
reliability of the questionnaire, the coefficients of Cronbach’s alpha (1951) were taken into
account. The value of Cronbach’s Alpha ranges from 0 (completely unreliable) to 1 (perfectly
reliable). An alpha value of 0.5 to 0.6 is considered acceptable but 0.7 or higher is highly
preferred (Hair et al, 2010). Hence, results from Table 1 has proved reliability of the
instrument.
Table 1: Summary of the Reliability
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's N of Items
Alpha
.744 95
Source: survey data, 2020
15
3.7. Data Analysis
Data management and analysis were conducted using IBM SPSS Version 21. The process of
data analysis involved several stages namely; data were cleaned up and explained. Completed
questionnaires were edited for completeness and consistency. The data was then coded and
checked for any errors and omissions (Kothari, 2004). Both descriptive and inferential
statistics were used. On part of qualitative data textual analysis were used that closely
examines either the content and meaning of texts or their structure and discourse.
3.8. Ethical consideration

 The participants were asked for their informed consent to participate in the study.
 The participants in the study were briefed about the purpose of the research study
 The issue of confidentiality was promised for the information that they provide.
 No information was modified or changed
 All literature collected for the purpose of this study were acknowledged in the
reference list.
16
CHAPTER FOUR
DATAANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
4.1. Introduction
This chapter presents the analysis and findings of the study as set out in the research
methodology. The research data was gathered exclusively through questionnaires as the
primary research instrument. The data have then been presented in form of quantitative,
followed by discussion of the data results. The chapter concludes with a critical analysis of
the findings.
4.2. Response Rate

Survey on the effect of COVID-19 on civil service organization received 570 replies from 70
civil service organizations based in Addis Ababa. Ten (10) incomplete replies were rejected
during data examination process. The final number of replies reviewed for the analysis was
560 which represents 98.42% response rate. Mugenda (2003) observed that a 50 percent
response rate is adequate, 60 percent and above is very good. This implies that based on this
assertion, the response rate in this case was therefore excellent. The s urvey took place
between July 10 and august 10, 2020.
4.3. Profile of the Respondents

4.3.1. Position of the Respondents to the Survey
Fig 4.1 Position of the Respondent
Employees at all level 76.5

Vice president 0.2
Team leader 0.9
Head of office of DG/commision/minster 4.1
Manager 2.3
DDG 4.1
DG 2.3
Other Director 2.9
Bureau Head 0.4
Advisor of Com/minster 0.7
HR Director 5.7
0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0 80.0 90.0

The findings in figure 4.1 reveal that the majority of the respondents in this study were
employees (76.5%), and remaining 23.5 respondents were leaders found at different level in
civil service organization. This mutilating assessment will help the researcher to minimize the
17
common method biases at procedural level.
4.3.2. Sex of the Respondent
The composition of the respondents by sex also reveals that 72% of the respondents in this
study were male while the remaining 28% of them were female.
Fig 4.2: Respondents Sex
72%
80
70
60
50
28%
40
30
20
10
0
Male
Femle
4.3.3. Educational Level and Experience of Respondent
The study sought to investigate the education level achieved by the respondents. As shown in
the table 4.1, the majority of the respondents (56.65%) had attained Bachelor's degree as their
highest level of education, 39.3% of them had attained masters level of education, those who
had PhD degrees were shown by 1%, while 1.9% of them had attained Diploma or certificate
level of education.
The findings also have revealed that the majority (37%) of the respondents in this study had
worked over 15 years then followed by those who had worked for a period between 11 to 15
years as represented by 29%. The composition of the respondents by education reveals that
92% of the respondents in this study had above first degree while the remaining 8% of them
had certificate or diploma. The findings imply that the majority of the respondents in the
study had significant qualification and worked for a period long enough to compare and
contrast the current crisis with the past one.
18
Table 4.1 Experience * Level of Education Cross tabulation
Level of Education
Certificate/Dip BA/BSC MA/MSC PhD Total Percent

Experience ≤ 1year 3%
2 10 3 0 15
2-5 9%
7 31 6 0 44
6-10 22%
4 80 29 3 116
11-15 29%
12 73 63 2 150
Over_15_year 37%
16 88 80 7 191
Total count 41 282 181 12 561 100%
Total percent 8% 55% 35% 2% 100%

As can be seen in the table 4.1, highly educated and experienced individuals were strongly
represented in the sample. This information shows that the respondents were knowledgeable
enough to contribute positively in this study.
4.4. Effect of COVID -19 on Civil Service Organizations

4.4.1. Effect on the normal operation of the Organization
As shown in the figure 4.3, more than half (56.8%) of the respondents that replied to the
survey have been reported that COVID-19has had series and very series effect on CSOs.
31.1% of the respondents believe that the COVID-19 has had a moderate effect on CSOs. Only small
share of respondents (3%) and (1.5%) replied little and no effect respectively (see Fig4.3)
Fig 4.3 sample statistics of COVID-19 effect on organization`s normal operation
Serious,
35 Moderate, 33.3%
31.1%
30
Very serious,
25 23.5%
20
15
10
Little, 4.5% No effect ,
5
1.5%
0
Little Moderate No effect Serious Very serious
19
The overall, effect of COVID-19 on CSO`s normal operation is illustrated on the following table 4.2.
Table 4.2 One-Sample Test of COVID-19 effect on organization`s normal operation
Test Value = 0
t df Sig. (2- Mean 95% Confidence Interval of

tailed) Difference the Difference
Lower Upper
the extent of COVID-19 and 36.081 121 .000 2.88525 2.7269 3.0436
associated government measures
effect ed CSO`s normal operation
One sample t-test was employed to examine the overall effect of COVID-19 on CSOs normal
operation. The results from the above table revealed that the effect of COVID-19 at CSO
normal operation in Ethiopia lies between mean score of 2.7269(54.5%) and 3.0436
(60.87%). The one sample t-test found to be statistically significant (p < 0.01). Thus based on
this statistic the COVID-19 crisis has had a moderate effect on CSOs normal operations
4.4.2. Area of normal operations most affected by COVID-19

Fig 4.3: Operations most affected by COVID-19
Other Imple-
1% menta-
Communication, cooperation, and tion of
coordination with supervising bod- plan
ies (daily ac-
13% tivities,
monitor-
ing and
evalua-
tion,
budget Acquisi-
utilization of
Communication, cooperation, and tion etc.) input/
coordination with Clients or citizens 20% materi-
16% als
13%
Com-
munica-
tion,
cooper-
ation,
and co-Capacity buildings (short and long
ordina- term training)
tion 23%
with
em-
ployees
14%
20
Survey result from the above figure 4.4revealed that execution of capacity buildings such as
Short and long term training (23%), putting organization plan into action (20%) and
communication & cooperation with clients or citizen (16%) were the three most normal
operation affected by COVID-19pandemic. The other activities such as communication and
coordination with employees, supervising bodies, and accusation of input or material were
also the next area of operation affected by covid-19 crisis (See figure 4.3).
4.4.3. Has the Covid-19 pandemic affected your service provision ability to the
citizen?
Fig 4.4 Sample statistics of CSO Service Provision Ability affected by Pandemic
Don’t know 3%
Strongly affected 37.1%
Moderately affected 45.5%
Slightly affected 6.1%
Not affected 0.8%
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

At almost all civil service organizations (CSOs), COVID-19 affected service provision ability to
the citizen, only 0.8%of CSOs reported that service provision is not affected. It is important
to mention that 3% of the CSOs didn’t know whether the pandemic affected their service
provision or not. 45.5% replied that the service provision is moderately affected, while the
other 37.1% are replied that their service provisions were strongly affected. (Fig. 4.4)
Table 4.3 One-Sample Test of CSOs Service Provision Ability affected by Pandemic
Test Value = 0
t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean 95% Confidence Interval of the

Difference Difference
Lower Upper
Has the Covid-19 53.596 121 .000 3.38525 3.2602 3.5103

pandemic affected your
service provision ability
to the citizen?
21
One sample t-test was employed to examine the overall effect of COVID-19 on CSOs service
provision ability to the citizen. The results from the above table revealed that the effect of
COVID-19 on service provision ability at CSO in Ethiopia lies between mean score of 3.26
(65.20%) and 3.510(70.21%) The one sample t-test found to be statistically significant (p <
0.01). Thus based on this statistic the COVID-19 crisis has had a bit more than moderate
effect on CSOs service provision ability (see table 4.3).
4.4.4. To what extent working from home or stay at home affected employees’
productivity
Table 4.4Response of leader respondents on employee productivity
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Not affected 2 1.5 1.6 1.6
Slightly affected 16 12.1 13.1 14.8
Moderately affected 50 37.9 41.0 55.7
Valid
Strongly affected 36 27.3 29.5 85.2
Don’t know 18 13.6 14.8 100.0
Total 122 92.4 100.0
Missing System 10 7.6
Total 132 100.0
Leader respondents were required to indicate the extent of working from home or stay at
home affected employee productivity at the CSOs. The results therefore reveal that majority
of the respondents (37.9%) replied that working from home moderately affected productivity
in their organization; where as 27.3% of the respondents replied that it has strongly affected
productivity.
The study also reveals that 13.6% of the respondents didn’t know the effect of working from
home on employee productivity. Only 1.5% reported working from home or stay at home had
no effect on employees’ productivity. Employee respondents were also required to compared
their productivity of working remotely to usual work location. The overall results (µ=2.69 out
of 5) therefore revealed that employee productivity at usual work place meaningfully
different from working remotely. Generally, the study found that working from home
affected employee productivity (see Table 4.3 and Table 4.8)
According to the survey result the cause for significant productivity decline of working
remotely attributed to: lack of access to the material and equipment need to perform
effectively (µ=2.58), absence of technology need to help them connected to their team when
working remotely (µ=2.58), working remotely has also affected their relationship with
coworkers and supervisors (µ=3.01), and declined skill and competency as shown by mean
22
score of (µ=2.49) were some of the determinant factors for overall productivity shrinking
(see table 4.8 at appendices)
4.4.5. My organization employees are able to perform job and duties at home as they
do in office
The leader respondents were required to indicate their level of agreement with statements”
employees are able to perform job and duties at home as they do in office” accordingly, 39%
of the respondents slightly and strongly disagree to the statement. However, 47% of the
respondents replied that employees are able to perform job and duties at home as they do in
office. The result also reveals that 14% of the respondents took neutral position (Fig.4.5)
4.4.6. Fig4.5 sample statistics employees are able to perform job and duties at home as they
do in office
14%
Neutral
47%
slightly and Strongly agree
39%
slightly and Strongly disagree
Source: survey data 2020
4.5. Organization response to the crisis

4.5.1. My Organization has been able to develop a mitigation strategy for core tasks
during the COVID-19 crisis
Figure 4.6 response of respondents on organization mitigation strategy development
70 64
60
50
40
33
30
20
10
3
0
slightly and strongly slightly and strongly agree don’t know
disagree
23
Almost two third (64%) of respondents indicated that their organization has been able to
develop strategy with regard to the disruption COVID-19 is causing; 33% of the respondents
indicated that their organization didn’t develop any mitigation strategy to cop up with
COVID-19 crisis; the rest (3%) replied that they do not know the reaction of their
organization in this regard. COVID-19 has brought unprecedented challenges to
organization; such crisis should be managed to reduce its effect on organization. According to
this survey result, there were still a significant CSOs that went through the crisis without
developing effective mitigation strategies for their core tasks.
4.5.1.1. Specific actions taking for core tasks to cop up with the crisis
In terms of type of specific action or strategy taken to cop up with the COVID-19 crisis, 63%
and 59% of the respondents indicated that their organization raising delivery of virtual
service and implementation of crisis management program respectively. Similarly, 56%
respondents claimed that they were reshaping workforce to crisis context. The other 46%
respondents said that they were negotiating with employees and 4% respondents reported that
they didn’t take any action. The study clearly showed that existing specific action were
insufficient, and significant operational efforts were required to absorb the effect of
COVID-19(see Fig.4.7).
Fig 4.7 the different actions taken to cop up with COVID-19 crisis
70
60
50
59% 63%
40
46% 56%
30
20
10
4%
0
24
4.5.2. For Corona virus-related work what institutional related factors(measure) are you
taking to protect workers from being infected
Daily disinfection of work areas/common areas 15.2%
Operating with less than 50 % workforce 66.7%
Plexiglass barriers between co-workers/customers 13.6%
Employee testing for COVID-19 5.3%
Supplying cleaning and protection facilities 85.6%
Ensuring individual and workplace cleaning and sanitation

services 61.4%
Rearranging office space to ensure physical distancing 53.8%
Providing institutional transportation 63.6%
Special leave particularly for staff having blood pressure,

diabetes, heart cases, asthmatic and other respiratory cases 73.5%
Establishing a pandemic prevention and control committee 51.5%

As shown in the above fig 4.7, the two most dominant institutional factor implemented to
protect workers from being infected were: supplying cleaning and protection facilities
(85.6%) and special leave for staff having healthy problem (73.5%). Only small portion
(5.3%) respondents claimed employee testing for COVID-19 and 15.2% respondents
suggested daily disinfection of work areas. The survey result further revealed that the
remaining workplace measures found at about 50% (bit more than 50%).
Our findings suggest that there was inadequate implementation institutional factor at
workplace.
25
4.6. Organization development service needed and government support
demanded
4.6.1. What Organization development services do you need?
Table 4.5 summary of organization development service needed

Descriptive Statistics Priority
N Minimu Maximu Rank Std.
m m Deviatio
n
1. Consultancy on how to prevent infections 123 1.00 5.00 2.040 1.23074 1st
while maintaining organization Operations 7 priority
2. Communicate and check-in networks to stay 123 1.00 5.00 2.073 1.16767 2nd
in touch with all key stakeholders 2 priority
3. Advice with organization contingency 122 1.00 5.00 2.123 1.20315 3rd
planning 0 priority
4. Advise on provision of public service via 122 1.00 5.00 2.286 1.27584 4thpriority
Virtual (E-service) 9
Valid N (listwise) 121
As indicated in the above table 4.5, only marginal difference seen among the different
organization development service needed for CSOs. Thus all mentioned BD service
paramount importance to them.
4.6.2. What could government do to help you in your current situation

Table 4.6 priority of what governments do to help CSO
What government do Sum N Rank Std. Priority
Deviation
1. Put Health and Safety first 251 118 2.127 1.47658 1st
1
2. Enhancing & Leverage digital capabilities platforms For E- 358 117 3.059 2.05229 2nd
service 8
3. Supplies of personal protection equipment like masks,, 445 120 3.708 5.30006 3rd
thermometers etc. 3
4. Dynamic regulatory formwork that fit to the current crisis 434 114 3.807 4.18145 4th
5. Provide subsidy to buy face masks and disinfectant products 521 115 4.530 2.10397 5th
4
6. Provide timely information and knowledge of corona virus 568 116 4.896 8.47747 6th
6
7. Additional budget support 596 114 5.228 7.05733 7th
1
In terms of what government do to help CSOs to cop up with the COVID-19 crisis, the
survey result revealed that CSOs claim the government should meet item #1 through 7 in
deciding order. Thus, government should have prioritized its support to CSOs as per stated
26
in the table
27
4.7. Handling covid-19 pandemic
Table 4.7One-Sample Test of handling COVID-19 at CSOs
Test Value = 0
T df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean Difference 95% Confidence Interval of the

Difference
Lower Upper
Handling_covid19 107.777 396 .000 2.79440 2.7252 2.8636

One sample t-test demonstrated that handling COVID-19 at civil service organizations in
Ethiopia lies between mean score of 2.72(54.5%) and 2.86 (57.2%). The one sample t-test
found to be statistically significant (α = 0.01) and thus handling the crisis in CSOs in general
need significant improvement.
Three quarter (76% or 3.8 out of 5) of respondents of employee, believe that their job would
be negatively affected if they tested positive for COVID-19. The other 80% (4 out of 5)
respondents replied that they understood the crisis is challenging to their organization and
they are thinking of changing their revenue stream (See table 4.9 in appendices).
Safety measures Yes Percent No Percent Unsure Percent
Employer-provided masks or face shields 415 97.6 5 1.2 5 1.2

Physical-distancing protocols 414 97.2 5 1.2 7 1.6
Limited business travel 400 94.8 12 2.8 10 2.4
Staggered shifts/breaks/days in office 347 83.0 44 10.5 27 6.5
Daily employee health screening 343 82.3 47 11.3 27 6.5
Increased telecommuting 309 74.1 46 11.0 62 14.9
Employer testing for COVID-19 308 73.9 33 7.9 76 18.2
Daily disinfection of work areas/common areas 300 71.1 43 10.2 79 18.7
Plexiglas barriers between co-workers/customers 273 65.9 81 19.6 60 14.5
Not allowing visitors/clients in the workplace 105 25.3 239 57.6 71 17.1
Table 4.10 safety measures employee want to see in the workplace
As can be observed from Table 4.10, the top 5 most safety measures employee wants to see at
their workplace was masks or face shields (at 97.6%), followed by Physical-distancing
protocols (at 97.2%), Limited business travel (at 94.8%), Staggered shifts/breaks/days in
office (at 83%), Daily employee health screening (at 82.3%) and the least one was not
allowing visitors/clients in the workplace (25.3%)
28
4.8. Insights (Themes) from text analysis
Our text analysis results reveal some interesting insights associated with the effect COVID-
19. Accordingly, we find the following themes from the multiple response we analyzed:
1. CSOs faced various critical challenges in enabling employees to work, deliver
services and respond to the pandemic institutionally
 Moving to an at-home environment (laptops, connectivity)
 A number of CSOs inability to develop and implement winning crisis management
program
 Enhancement of employee productivity and achieve service levels while remote
 Lack of in-person management oversight
 Risk of data protection and security
 Enhancing employee morale or attrition
 Challenges of learning to work and collaborate virtually for employees as they
shifted from brick-and-mortar organizations
 Holding trainings, meetings with clients and workers as the majority of CSOs have no
facilities and technology platform and
2. Other critical challenges that disturb institutional response to the pandemic
 Institutional response such as, the leave and stay at home policy allowed some
officials to systematically remove young, healthy, competent and critical civil
servants, who were challenging them and fighting corruption in their
organization. Previous study made by Mo Ibrahim Foundation and Debela
(2020) also confirmed an increase in corrupt practices.
 At an individual level, majority of respondents mentioned the policy has
increased their emotional stress and depression. At the organizational level, the
pandemic significantly weakened employee relations.
3. Covid-19 offers various opportunity to rethink the role of organization and test new
solutions.
 Improved personal and environmental hygiene (handwashing Facemasks, sanitizers
practices)
 COVID-19 restricts the physical contact and due to this, different digital
technologies are being exercised
 Time and cost consuming, meeting significantly reduced
 Enhance family discussion t ime
29
4.9. SUMMARY OF MAJOR FINDINGS
The following are the summary of the key findings emerge from quantitative and text
analysis:
 Survey on the effect of COVID-19 on civil service organization(CSOs) took place
between July 10 and august 10, 2020.Thesurvey analysis was based on560 full
replies from 70 civil service organizations based in Addis Ababa.
 The profile of respondents is broad with employees 428 (76.5%), and remaining
132(23.5%) representing leaders found at different level in civil service
organization. This mutilating assessment method helps the researcher to minimize
the common method biases(CMB) at procedural level. The composition of the
respondents by sex also reveals that 72% of the respondents in this study were male
while the remaining 28% of them were female.
 The majority of the respondents (37%) in this study had worked over 15 years then
followed by those who had worked for a period between 11 to 15 years comprising
29%. Similarly, the composition of the respondents by education revealed that 92%
had above first degree while the remaining 8% of them had certificate or diploma.
Research Question 1: To what extent covid-19 pandemic affect CSOs normal operation?
 The analysis showed that more than half (56.8%) of the respondents replied that
COVID-19 has had series and very series effect on CSOs normal operation. and
system; the other 31.1% respondents believe that the crisis has had a moderate effect.
Only small share of respondents (3%) and (1.5%) replied that the pandemic has had
little and no effect respectively.
 Overall effect of COVID-19 on CSOs normal operation and system lies between
mean score of µ=2.7269 (54.5%) and µ=3.0436 (60.87%). Thus based on this
statistic continuity of operations is threatened by increased absenteeism from
employee and management, as well as decline demand and supply due to COVID-19
crisis. The crisis has had a moderate effect on CSOs normal operations.
 According to the study result, the particular CSOs normal operation and system which were mostly
affected by COVID-19 pandemic were:
 Execution of capacity buildings such as short and long term training (23%),
30
 Implementation of plan such as daily activities, monitoring and evaluation,
budget utilization etc. (20%)
 Communication and cooperation with clients or citizen (16%).
 communication and coordination with employees (14%).
 communication and coordination with supervising bodies, and (13%).
 accusation of input or material (13%).
 Other (1%)
Research Question 2: To what extent covid-19 pandemic affect service provision ability of CSOs?
 At almost all civil service organizations, COVID-19 affected service provision

ability to the citizen, only 0.8% of CSOs reported that service provision is not
affected. It is important to mention that 3% of the CSOs didn’t know whether the
pandemic affected their service provision or not. 45.5% replied that the service
provision is moderately affected, while the other 37.1% are replied that their service
provisions were strongly affected.
 Overall, the study results revealed that the effect of COVID-19 on service provision
ability at CSO in Ethiopia lies between mean score of 3.26 (65.20%) and
3.510(70.21%) The one sample t-test found to be statistically significant (p < 0.01).
Thus based on this statistic the COVID-19 crisis has had moderate to high effects on
CSOs service provision ability.
 The most disruption of service was seen in higher education institutions, primary and
secondary schools. The other disruption of service was seen in Tourism where
recovery unlikely at earliest. However, in most regulatory organizations the level of
serve disruption was little or moderate; suggesting public services were substantially
reduced
Research Question 3: How productive working remotely compared to usual work location?
 Employee respondents were also required to compared their productivity of working

remotely to usual work location. The overall results therefore revealed that employee
productivity at usual work place meaningfully different from working remotely. Some
of the reason for such variation were: (1) lack of access to the material and equipment
need to perform effectively, (2) absence of technology need to help them connected to
31
their team when working remotely, (3) working remotely affected their relationship
with coworkers and supervisors and (4) declined skill and competency as a result of
staying at home. The result from leader respondents also reached similar conclusion.
Research Question 4: How effective the institutional preventive measures taken by CSOs?
 To mitigate the risk of employee exposure to COVID-19, there is inadequate

implementation of institutional preventative measures (factors) at workplace. The
one sample t-test demonstrated that handling COVID-19 at civil service
organizations in Ethiopia lies between mean score of 2.72 (54.5%) and 2.86
(57.2%). The one sample t-test found to be statistically significant (α = 0.01) and
thus handling the crisis in CSOs in general need significant improvement.
Research question 5: How effective CSOs response to crisis for core tasks?
 Almost two third (64%) of respondents indicated that their organization has been
able to develop strategy with regard to the disruption COVID-19 is causing; 33%
of the respondents indicated that their organization didn’t develop any mitigation
strategy to cop up with COVID-19 crisis; the rest (3%) replied that they do not
know the reaction of their organization in this regard. According to this survey
result, there were still a significant CSOs that went through the crisis without
developing effective mitigation strategies for their core tasks.
Research Question 6: What are the critical challenges facing civil service organization?
CSOs faced the following critical challenges in response to the pandemic

 A number of CSOs are unable to develop and implement winning crisis
management program
 Enhancement of employee productivity and achieve service levels while remote
 Lack of in-person management oversight
 Holding monitoring and evaluation as usual
 Risk of data security and protection
 Very limited transport services
 Enhancing or maintaining employee morale or attrition is challenging for CSOs
 Learning to work and collaborate virtually was a challenge for employees as they
shifted from brick-and-mortar organizations
32
 Holding trainings, meetings with clients and workers as the majority of CSOs have
no facilities and technology platform
 Work overload for healthy staffs and few staff who are allowed to work and
are able to reach the office
 An increase in corrupt practices: Institutional response such as, the leave
and stay at home policy allowed some officials to systematically remove
young, healthy, competent and critical civil servants, who were challenging
them and fighting corruption in their organization. Previous study made by
Mo Ibrahim (2020) also confirmed these malpractices
 At an individual level, majority of respondents mentioned the institutional
response or policy has increased their emotional stress and depression. At
the organizational level, the pandemic significantly weakened social capital
and employee relations.
Other Findings
 The analysis from employee respondents revealed that, three quarter (76% or 3.8 out
of 5) of employee respondents believe that their job would be negatively affect if they
tested positive for COVID-19. The other 80% (4 out of 5) of the respondents relied
that they understood the crisis is challenging to their organization and they are
thinking of changing their revenue stream.
33
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1. Conclusion
This research sought to find the effect of COVID-19 on Civil Service Organization
(CSOs) in Ethiopia. The study relied on primary data, which was collected by use of
structured questionnaire containing open-ended and close-ended questions. The
researcher managed to obtain responses from 560. There were more male respondents
than their female counterparts. Further, the majority of the respondents in this study
had worked over 15 years. Similarly, the composition of the respondents by education
revealed that 92% had above first degree, thus they are able to articulate the issues
under study. The cross-sectional survey design was mainly conducted on a telephone
platform. The main method followed in this study was the mixed approach; this
strategy is suitable for the stated objective of the study.
This study offers a few valuable insights: Civil Service Organizations’ normal
operations, productivity and service delivery ability were threatened or affected by
COVID-19 and associated measure taken. Execution of capacity building such as
training and implementation of annual plan were the most specific operation affected
by the pandemic. The study also concludes that there are still a significant CSOs that
went through the crisis without developing effective mitigation strategies for their
core tasks. The preventative measures that supposed to mitigate the risk of employee
exposure to COVID-19, were not adequately institutionalized at CSOs. The pandemic
has also brought emotional stress and depression, weakened social capital and
employee relations.
34
5.2. Recommendation for Policy and Practices
Based on findings and conclusions this study had made the following recommendations:
1. Strengthening pandemic preparedness for the future.

 All CSOs should develop and implement formal COVID-19 Guideline or Protocol for
workplace‐related prevention measures; within the national framework and according
to their risk assessment. It is very important to monitor the effectiveness of preventive
measures, and the compliance of workers, visitors, customers/clients with the
measures.
 All CSOs, and their workers should collaborate with health authorities to prevent and
control COVID-19. Cooperation between management and workers and their
representatives is also essential.
 CSOs should alleviate employee anxiety and show compassion by offering
counseling, flexible time off and sick leave policies.
2. Enhancing Normal operation and service delivery ability of CSOs in the crisis
contexts.
 It is vital that new and innovative working arrangements should be developed.
Accordingly, the Federal Civil Service Commission should layout “Remote Delivery
Model” that help CSOs to be productive and properly manage remote delivery with
the right level of quantity and quality.
 All critical federal and regional civil service organizations should analyze their risk
and revamp business continuity planning (BCPs) to ensure the continuity of the
service. Workers and their representatives should be consulted and should participate
in the development, monitoring and updating.
 Leverage digital capabilities platforms for E-service. Ministries, Commission,
and Agencies should learn how to use new technology and tools ‘on-the-go’, often
alongside old procedures and processes.
 Proactively communicate with client during the life cycle of the pandemic is critical.
Use a multichannel strategy such as SMS, IVR and phone to communicate updates,
process or policy changes, and changes in service status.
3. Sustaining resilience and building a more effective and responsive civil service
 The world has experienced global pandemics before and COVID-19 will not be the
last. Therefore, one of the critical roles the CSOs must play is to prepare the service to
be more resilient for any future crisis. Organization must turn the challenges posed by
35
the COVID-19 pandemic into an opportunity. It should be every organization’s
strategy to have in place institutional arrangements, policies, systems, infrastructure,
plans, including contingency plans, and resources to foresee, identify and quickly
respond to pandemics and other crises.
4. Collaborative and networked leadership
 In many countries, the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that collaborative and
networked leadership is critical when it comes to dealing with complex challenges
and problems. The need for resolved people-focused, calm, credible, trusted
leadership is critical in times of crisis. Each CSOs played their roles in a
collaborative way to ensure a coordinated and successful response in containing the
spread of the virus and mitigating the effect of the pandemic.
 Federal Civil Service Commission should facilitate to network, collaborate, and
share to enhance co-learning at regional and national levels.
5. Profile of a civil servant who can work effectively in crisis

 To be effective in the crisis, CSO should allocate sufficient budget to capacitate their
workers so that they will have the following profile: self-sacrificing, trustworthy,
risk-taking, transparent, accountable versatile, adaptable, creative, innovative,
knowledgeable and skilled, persistent, empathetic, collaborative, and competent in the
use of technology. Above all, they have a high dose of humanness in their personality,
which makes them work for others even at the risk of their own lives.
 EMI and other training institutions should develop training design that accommodate
the required skills and attitude in crisis context.
6. Suggestions for Further Research

 This research was mainly addressed organization outcome such as the normal
operation, system, and service delivery ability and productivity issues, further
research should be conducted to assess the impact of the crisis on other organization
aspects such as: social capital, change leadership, Organizational culture,
motivation, etc. This research was mainly focused on the Civil service organization
mainly found in AA and excluded public and Private organizations hence the
findings cannot be replicated in the entire public sector and private sector in
Ethiopia.
36
 Further, detail research should also be conducted, to assess the current CSOs staffs size
to work volume; as there are some indication of mismatch in this study.
37
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Annex 1: Questionnaire CSO
COVID-19 Effect Assessment Survey Questions
(CIVIL Service Organization)
Dear Respected Respondents:

The following survey is part of a research project that aims at exploring the effect of Covid -
19 Pandemic on Civil Service organization in Ethiopia. The information you provide is used
for research purposes only, and will be kept confidential at all level. We kindly request you to
remember that the quality of this work is completely dependent upon your frank opinions.
39
Thank you for taking your time to participate in this Covid-19 effect assessment survey on
data collection. If you have any questions about the survey, you may contact our team at
a_jima@yahoo.com and zemenugashaw@yahoo.com
.Section 1: Respondent Profile

1. Name of organization ----------------------------
2. Tier of government Federal [ ] City administration [ ] others [ ]
3. Sector Of Organization Service [ ] Manufacturing [ ] Agriculture [ ] Finance [ ] Other
[ ]
4. Please indicate your gender: Male [ ] Female [ ]
5. Age of respondents (year) : 20-29 [ ] 30-39 [ ] 40-49 [ ] 50 and above [ ]
6. Level of education: Certificate/Diploma [ ] BA/BSC [ ] MA/MSc [ ] PhD. [ ]
7. Your role within the organization: ----------------------------------------------
8. Experience : ≤ 1 yr [ ] 2-5 [ ] 6-10 yrs [ ] 11 -15 yrs [ ] Over 15 yrs [ ]
9. Number of employees in your in your organization
A. Less than 200 employees[ ]
B. 201 to 400 employees [ ]
C. 401 to 600 employee[ ]
D. 601 to 800 employees[ ]
E. More than 801 employees [ ]
SECTION 2: EFFECT FACTOR (IMP)

Please indicate your agreement to the statements by Circling „©‟ in the appropriate
box
IMP1 Please indicate the extent of 1. Little

COVID-19 and associated 2. Moderate
government measures effect ed 3. Serious
your organization`s normal 4. Very serious
operation 5. No effect at all
IMP2 Please indicate which areas of 1. Implementation of plan (daily activities, monitoring and
normal operations most affected evaluation, budget utilization etc.)
by COVID-19? 2. Acquisition of input/materials
(Check all that apply)? 3. Capacity buildings (short and long term training),
4. Communication, cooperation, and coordination with
employees
Clients or citizens
supervising bodies
7. Others, please specify-------------------------
IMP3 Has the Covid-19 pandemic 1. Not affected
affected your service provision 2. Slightly affected
ability to the citizen? 3. Moderately affected
4. Strongly affected
5. Don’t know
40
If your answer is strongly affected mention major reasons
IMP 4 Have you stopped operations 1. No, operations are still running
because of the current crisis 2. Yes, partially stopped because of reduced client/citizens
(Check all that apply)? 3. Yes, temporarily stopped because of instructions by
government
4. Yes, stopped operations previously but currently running
again
5. Other----------------------------------------------
IMP 5 To what extent working from 1. Not affected

home or stay at home affected 2. Slightly affected
employee’s productivity? 3. Moderately affected
4. Strongly affected
5. Don’t know
If your answer is strongly affected state reasons
IMP 5 My organization employees are 1. Strongly disagree

able to perform job and duties at 2. Slightly disagree
home as they do in office. 3. Neutral – neither agree nor disagree
4. Slightly agree
5. Strongly agree
6. Don’t know
IMP 6 What percentage of full-time civil
servants in your Organisation are --------------------------------------------------------------
currently working in office?
IMP 7 Do employees have sufficient 1. yes
support for their mental health and 2. No
general well being during the 3. Don’t know
Corona virus crisis?
IMP 8 Employees in my Organization 1. Strongly disagree
have the ability to rapidly learn the 2. Slightly disagree
required skills to effectively 3. Neutral – neither agree nor disagree
respond to the Corona virus 4. Slightly agree
outbreak. 5. Strongly agree
6. Don’t know
IMP 9 My Organization has attempted to 1. Strongly disagree
bring an external expertise to 2. Slightly disagree
support its work to effectively 3. Neutral – neither agree nor disagree
respond to the Corona virus 4. Slightly agree
outbreak. 5. Strongly agree
6. Don’t know
PART 3: ORGNIZATION RESPONSE TO THE CRISIS (ERC)
41
(Mark
circle)
ORC1 My Organization has been 1. Strongly disagree
able to develop 2. Slightly disagree
An effective strategy for 3. Neutral – neither agree nor disagree
4. Slightly agree
core tasks during the 5. Strongly agree
COVID-19 crisis 6. Don’t know
ORC2 For core tasks what actions 1. Implementation of robust crisis management program
are you currently taking to including scenario planning
cop up with the crisis? 2. Rising delivery of virtual service
(Check all that applies) 3. Negotiating with workers
4. Fundamentally reshaping workforce to crisis context
5. No action
6. Other, please specify
ORC3 My organization has been 1. Strongly disagree
able to develop an effective 2. Slightly disagree
measure for Corona virus- 3. Neutral – neither agree nor disagree
4. Slightly agree
related work to protect 5. Strongly agree
workers from being infected 6. Don’t know
ORC4 For Corona virus-related 1. Establishing a pandemic prevention and control
work what institutional committee
related factors are you 2. Special leave particularly for staff having blood pressure,
taking to protect workers diabetes, heart cases, asthmatic and other respiratory
from being infected cases
(Check all that applies) 3. Providing institutional transportation
4. Rearranging office space to ensure physical distancing
5. Ensuring individual and workplace cleaning and
sanitation services
6. Supplying cleaning and protection facilities
7. Employee testing for COVID-19
8. Plexiglas barriers between co-workers/customers
9. Operating with less than 50 % workforce
10.Daily disinfection of work areas/common areas
11.Others, please specify ---------------------------------------
PART 5: ORGNIZATION DEVELOPMENT AND GOVERNMENT

SUPPORT DEMANDED (EDGS)
ODGS 1 What Organization development services do you need (Select and rank your top
priorities)?
42
Service Low No
1st 2nd 3rd er priority
priori priori priori priori
ty ty ty ty
ODGS Advise on provision of
1.1 public service via
Virtual (E-service)
ODGS Consultancy on how to
1.2 prevent infections while
maintaining
organization
Operations
ODGS Advice with
1.3 organization
contingency planning
ODGS Communicate and
1.4 check-in networks to
stay in touch with all
key stakeholders
ODGS Others
1.5
1. Enhancing & Leverage digital capabilities platforms

ODGS 2 What could government do For E-service
to help you in your current 2. Put Health and Safety first
situation (Select and rank 3. Supplies of personal protection equipment like masks,,
your top priorities)? thermometers etc
4. Dynamic regulatory formwork that fit to the current crisis
5. Additional budget support
6. Provide timely information and knowledge of corona virus
7. Provide subsidy to buy face masks and disinfectant products
8. Other services, please specify:--------------------------------
Open ended question
1. Provide a brief explanation of what adverse effects the disaster had on your business
organization and what assistance you might need?
2. What is the biggest challenge to doing your work in the current situation?
3. What major opportunities the COVID-19 crisis has brought to your organization?
Thank you for completing this survey.
43
44
Annex:2 Employee questionnaire
Dear Respected Respondents:

The following survey is part of a research project that aims at exploring the effect of Covid -
19 Pandemic on public organization employees in Ethiopia. The information you provide is
used for research purposes only, and will be kept confidential at all level. We kindly request
you to remember that the quality of this work is completely dependent upon your frank
opinions. Thank you for taking your time to participate in this Covid-19 effect assessment
survey on data collection. If you have any questions about the survey, you may contact our
team at a_jima@yahoo.com and zemenugashaw@yahoo.com
Section 1: Respondent information
10. Name of organization ----------------------------
11. Tier of government Federal [ ] City administration [ ] others [ ]
12. Sector Of Organization Service [ ] Manufacturing [ ] Agriculture [ ] Finance [ ] Other
[ ]
13. Please indicate your gender: Male [ ] Female [ ]
14. Age of respondents (year) : 20-29 [ ] 30-39 [ ] 40-49 [ ] 50 and above [ ]
15. Level of education: Certificate/Diploma [ ] BA/BSC [ ] MA/MSc [ ] PhD. [ ]
16. Your role within the organization: ----------------------------------------------
17. Experience : ≤ 1 yr [ ] 2-5 [ ] 6-10 yrs [ ] 11 -15 yrs [ ] Over 15 yrs [ ]
45
PART 2: MAIN SURVEY QUESTION
Please indicate the extent to which you agree that each of the statements by ticking „√‟ in the
appropriate box where: 1= strongly Disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Neutral 4 = Agree 5 = strongly
Agree
2 HANDLING COVID-19 Strongly Disagr Neutr Agree Strongly

Disagree ee al Agree
. PANDEMIC (1) (4) (5)
(2) (3)
2.1. Our organization has taken appropriate
action in response to COVID-19.
2.2. I am satisfied with the flexible working
arrangements being made by the
organization
2.3. Senior Leadership cares about my health
and safety
2.4. I am fully aware of how COVID-19 will
affect my role at the organization.
2.5. I have confidence in the organizations
ability to overcome the challenges faced
by COVID-19.
2.6. I feel comfortable communicating
concerns or making suggestions about
COVID-19 to leadership.
2.7. Systems are in place to enable social
distancing at our organization.
2.8. What has the organization done in
response to COVID-19 has positively
effect ed the employee experience
3. HOME/REMOTE WORKING Strongly Disagr Neutr Agree Strongly
Only for those employees working Disagree ee al Agree
from home or stay at home (1) (4) (5)
(2) (3)
3.1. I do my job and duties at home during
this period as I do in the office.
3.2. I have access to the things I need to
succeed at work when working
remotely.
3.3. I am just as productive as while
working remotely when compared to
my usual work location.
3.4. I have the materials and equipment I
need to perform effectively at
home/remotely.
3.5. I have the technology I need to help me
stay connected to my team when
working remotely.
3.6. Our organization welcomes new
methods of working
46
3.7. Working from home or stay at home
affected my relationship with co -
workers and supervisors
enhanced my skill & competency
enhanced my relationship with family
members
4. PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH & Strongly Disagr Neutr Agree Strongly
SAFETY (1) (4) (5)
(2) (3)
4.1. I feel I have sufficient organizational
support for my mental health and
general well being during the Corona
virus crisis?
4.2. My organization availed appropriate
safety and healthy protocols to combat
the pandemic
4.3. I have no fear of being infected with
the corona virus while at work because
of my own health conditions.
4.4. I have no fear that I will carry the virus
home to family members and infect
them.
4.5. I understand what is expected of me in
maintaining a healthy and safe
environment at work.
4.6. I am informed about important changes
at work in a timely manner.
4.7. I receive useful and timely feedback
from my leader.
4.8. Our organization provides clear,
effective communication.
4.9. I feel comfortable to voice my opinion,
even when it differs from the group
opinion.
4.10. Difficult situations at work are
addressed effectively.
4.11. I really feel like everybody is on the
same team at my organization.
4.12. There is an atmosphere of trust at my
organization.
4.13. The environment at this organization
supports a balance between work and
personal life.
5. RETURN TO WORK PULSE Strongly Disagr Neutr Agree Strongly
Only for those employees working from
(1) (4) (5)
home or stay at home (2) (3)
5.1. I am comfortable returning to my work
site if required
47
5.2. I am comfortable travelling for work if
required.
5.3. I would prefer to work from home if

that option is extended to me.
6. JOB SECURITY Strongly Disagr Neutr Agree Strongly
(1) (4) (5)
(2) (3)
6.1. I feel confident about my job security
in spite of all damn.
6.2. I believe my job would be negatively
effect ed if I tested positive for
COVID-19.
6.3. I could lose my job at any moment if
the pandemic will take a longer time
6.4. I understand the crisis is challenging to
my organization and I am thinking of
changing my revenue stream
Part 3: Which safety measures do you want to see in the workplace?

Safety measures Yes No Unsure
1. Employer-provided masks or face shields
2. Daily disinfection of work areas/common areas
3. Physical-distancing protocols
4. Staggered shifts/breaks/days in office
5. Daily employee health screening
6. Employer testing for COVID-19
7. Increased telecommuting
8. Limited business travel
9. Not allowing visitors/clients in the workplace
10. Plexiglass barriers between co-workers/customers
11. Other
48
Open ended question
1. Provide a brief explanation of what adverse effects the disaster had on yourself and
what assistance you might need from your organizations?
2. What major opportunities the COVID-19 crisis has brought to your organization or
business?
Thank you for completing this survey.
Annex3: analysis output

Table 4.8 employee reaction to different items
I do I have I am I have I have Our Working Working Working
my job access just as the the organiz from from from
and to the product materials technol ation home or home or home or
duties things I ive as and ogy I welcom stay at stay at stay at
at need to while equipme need to es new home home home
home succee working nt I need help me method affected enhance enhance
during d at remotel to stay s of my d my skill d my
this work y when perform connect working relations & relationsh
period when compar effectivel ed to hip with compete ip with
as I do working ed to y at my co - ncy family
in the remotel my home/re team workers members
office. y. usual motely when and
work working supervis
location remotel ors
y.
N Vali 417 414 409 414 412 414 406 411 409
d
Mis 12 15 20 15 17 15 23 18 20
Mean 2.90 2.76 2.69 2.69 2.64 3.63 3.01 2.49 3.90
Median 3.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 4.00 3.00 2.00 4.00
Mode 2 2 2 2 2 4 2 2 4
STD. 1.250 1.136 1.062 1.159 1.231 1.016 1.150 .966 1.845
Table 4.9. Employee reaction to job security items

I believe my job
I feel I could lose my job I understand the crisis is
would be
confident negatively effect ed at any moment if the challenging to my
if I tested positive
about my job for COVID-19. pandemic will take a organization and I am
security in longer time thinking of changing my
spite of all revenue stream
damn
N Valid 424 424 425 429
49
Missing 5 5 4 0
Mean 3.72 3.80 2.69 4.00
Median 4.00 4.00 2.00 2.00
Mode 4 4 2 2
Std. Deviation .920 1.031 1.144 11.374
1 to 2.33 (low), 2.34 to 3.49 (moderate), 3.5 to 5 (high) (Bruce, 2o1o)
50

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ETHIOPIAN MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE

Research Report Submitted to:

1. Amare Jima (Principal Investigator)

List of Tables and Figure................................................................................................................5

1.1. Background of the Study........................................................................................................6

2.1. The Effect of COVID‐19 on Public Servants’ Work................................................................10

DATAANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION....................................................................................................17

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.....................................................................................33

Annex:2 Employee questionnaire...................................................................................................43

Annex3: analysis output..................................................................................................................47

List of Tables and Figure

NO List of Tables Page

2 Table 4.1 Experience * Level of Education Cross tabulation 21

3 Table 4.2 One-Sample Test of COVID-19 effect on organization`s normal operation 22

5 Table 4.4 Response of leader respondents on employee productivity 24

6 Table 4.5 summary of organization development service needed 28

7 Table 4.6 priority of what governments do to help CSO 28

8 Table 4.7One-Sample Test of handling COVID-19 at CSOs 29

9 Table 4.10 safety measures employee want to see in the workplace 29

1.2. Statement of the Problem

COVID‐19 presents unprecedented challenges for public sectors. Addressing those

1.3. Research Question

1.4. General Objective

1.4.1. Specific Objective

1.5. Scope of the Study

1.6. Significance of the Study

1. As inputs for policy development and implementation in the crisis context;

3.2. Study Design

3.3. Research strategy and approach

3.4. Study Sample

Sample Size Determination

Employee Leaders Employee Leaders

Source SCTRP, 2017 (estimate)

3.5. Data Collection

3.6.1. Instrument Validation

Table 1: Summary of the Reliability

Source: survey data, 2020

3.8. Ethical consideration

4.2. Response Rate

4.3. Profile of the Respondents

Fig 4.1 Position of the Respondent

Employees at all level 76.5

Source: survey data, 2020

4.3.2. Sex of the Respondent

Source: survey data, 2020

4.3.3. Educational Level and Experience of Respondent

Certificate/Dip BA/BSC MA/MSC PhD Total Percent

Source: survey data, 2020

4.4. Effect of COVID -19 on Civil Service Organizations

t df Sig. (2- Mean 95% Confidence Interval of

4.4.2. Area of normal operations most affected by COVID-19

Source: survey data, 2020

Strongly affected 37.1%

Moderately affected 45.5%

Slightly affected 6.1%

Not affected 0.8%

Source: survey data, 2020

t df Sig. (2-tailed) Mean 95% Confidence Interval of the

Has the Covid-19 53.596 121 .000 3.38525 3.2602 3.5103

Source: survey data 2020

4.5. Organization response to the crisis

Figure 4.6 response of respondents on organization mitigation strategy development

Source: survey data 2020

Source: survey data 2020