The Quality of Goal Setting is a Basic Condition for Effective Public Administration

Abstract

In this article, the authors express their views on the place and role of goal-setting in the administrative process and assess the importance of constructive growth based on state strategy and the underlying public interest. They also try to prove that the presence of scientifically-grounded goals, their consistency and functional clarity are the basic conditions for state efficiency an d the high quality of state administration. The article also considers the issues of goal-setting in difficult conditions of modern-day life, in situations where strict methodological and ideological guidelines and relevant organizational, procedural and heuristic algorithms are not available. Only a “philosophical vision of the future” and normatively-approved performance indicators of the executive bodies are clearly not enough.

All this necessitates the shaping of a modern “culture of change” in the administrative apparatus and its specialists, the ability to not bureaucratically restrain or destroy, but create, multiply and stimulate, while retaining the best practices that have been accumulated throughout the state-building history and the best public administration experience; not to hamper, but implement, new things and master more effective ways. The authors define the concepts of “strategy”, “goal” and “goal-setting”, identify a number of politically-, organizationally- and functionally-interrelated target subsystems within them, and prove that the tasks of modernization and social renewal can be implemented effectively only by a stable, well-structured, highly professional state apparatus, as well as a well-organized and reputable public service.

Summary conclusion: administrative goals and measures for their effective implementation should be politically, legally and economically justified; they should reflect the deep interest of the society, and be implemented systematically and continuously. The key to success is consistency, strategic orientation, professionalism, responsibility and constructive action.

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