Suchergebnisse

The aim of this paper is to analyze the performance audit as specific and sufficiently new institute inthe history of auditing. This paper argues that performance audit growth parallels the evolution of politicsand public administration from one-dimensional focus on control of inputs toward broader attention toaccountability for outputs and outcomes. As our survey has demonstrated, the causal relation betweenmanagement reforms and the developments in performance auditing may theoretically go in two directions:reform causes new audit practices or new audit practices cause the reform. Empirically, the relationshipis mainly one directional: management reforms trigger adoption of audit practices. At the auditsides, new public management has influenced development of the audit. This evolution of auditing representsboth a means by which audit can continue to be relevant and a move toward fulfilling accountabilityrole in governance.Basically the survey is based on the experience of Western countries and INTOSAI standards.

Shrinking reserves of fossil fuels and growing anxiety over future energy security have boosted investments in renewable energy worldwide. Alarming climate change scenarios have also increased the focus on creating sustainable energy economies. The solar industry is growing incredibly fast and technology is developing at high speed. Soon the retail price of solar generated electricity will be competitive with that of electricity generated in conventional power plants. The current solar boom is largely the result of market incentives introduced by governments. Critics question the potential of solar energy and note that it currently contributes a meagre 0.1% to worldwide energy consumption. But worldwide volumes for solar energy, the fastest-growing power generation technology, rose at an average annual rate of 56% over the last five years. The Solar Europe Initiative (SEI), a joint initiative of the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) and the EU PV Technology Platform, is currently reviewing a preliminary estimate which indicated that the contribution from photovoltaic (PV) systems may be as high as 6-12% of the total EU electricity consumption by 2020.

The purpose of the article is to analyse the regulation of concessions in Lithuania through the managerialand political approaches of public administration and within the context of the New Public Managementtheory. The article considers the problem of the regulation of concessions within the context of suchdisciplines as Public Administration and Law. Since the EU law is a constituent part of the legal system ofthe Republic of Lithuania, the paper also discusses the Community legislative framework with regard tothe regulation of concessions. Further, it provides an overview of the regulation of concessions laid out inthe Law on Concessions of the Republic of Lithuania. The goal is to determine which approach – managerialor political – has been dominating in the regulation of concessions in Lithuania and which approachwould be more effective. Preliminary findings are in favour of the managerial approach with regard toregulation of concessions in Lithuania.

The entrepreneurship policy to promote economic growth and competitiveness is heavily focused on the supplyof entrepreneurs. However, as it was stressed by Baumol (1990), the neglected factor is allocation between productiveand unproductive entrepreneurial activities. While some EU countries, such as Czech Republic, Poland, and Portugaldemonstrate high rates of entrepreneurial activities, they rank low in terms of competitiveness. This paper argues thatin order to explain such phenomenon, we have to rethink the existing approaches from the perspective of economicsociology. Coming back to Baumol (1990), we should acknowledge a rather trivial but often neglected fact that entrepreneursare persons who primarily seek to enhance their own wealth. The case study of Land Use Administrationin Lithuania shows how entrepreneurial activities are embedded in the informal network of public officers and landdealers. The paper also argues that "land use" entrepreneurship activities are path-dependent. It is implicitly assumedthat entrepreneurship is an exogenous variable, that entrepreneurs should be "bred" at universities and businessschools. However, entrepreneurial activities, such as blat and unofficial economy, also existed in planned economy.Moreover, the legacy of Soviet entrepreneurship affects the current situation in Lithuania. In the case of "land usebusiness" the entrepreneur does not collaborate with public sector, but in contrary – they view the state as a hostilecountry, like it was in Soviet times.

Over recent decades the discourse of sustainable development has loomed large in the agendas of nationaland international policies alike. This article analyzes the history of the term and its conceptual underpinningsto find that there are fundamental contradictions concerning the present mechanism of implementationof the policy concerned. At present policy is formulated on an international level with theUnited Nations at the fore. However, the implementation is the responsibility of the nation states. In theprocess their sovereignty is not challenged and no mechanism of accountability exists. This is worsenedby the absence of an institutional framework within nation states to implement such policies. This is demonstratedby the analysis of the Lithuanian Constitution and the Long Term Development Strategy of theState. However, there are good historical reasons for the current international setup. The idea of a singleall-integrating global policy is going against the very spirit of the concept of sustainable development,thereby making the policy itself "unsustainable", if not unfeasible. The author suggests an alternativeapproach to implementing a policy of sustainable development by changing the principle of how it isformed. Rather than formulating and attempting to implement a policy from "top down", the policiesshould be formed in as low level of policy as possible, by deinstitutionalizing and moving the discourse ofsustainable development from the realm of politics to the realm scientific debate and by promoting goodgovernance. In the end it is the sum of decisions made on the local and even individual level which makesour lifestyle sustainable or not and these decisions must be informed rather than coerced.

Public sector organizations carry out their activities in a constantly, incrementallychanging environment of global society.In modern society, public sector organizations have been encouraged to changetheir role from the provider of services to the monitoring of other organizations thatactually deliver those services. This is particularly true of local authorities who areencouraged by central government to deliver services through the voluntary or privatesector. The evolution of New Public Management into new public governancemeans that public sector managers are acquiring the role of monitoring and controlover other kinds of organizations and developing skills in managing contracts. Suchan arrangement is blurring the boundary between the public and other sectors, betweenpolicy and administration. A major feature of the reforms and changes in thepublic sector is that we can see an evolution from new public management to newpublic governance in the start of the twenty-first century.

This article reveals research management as a complex, constantly changingprocess faced with numerous challenges. It also addresses the importance of a researchadministrator in the areas of research management and research administration,underscoring the research administrator's impact on the research culture in theinstitution. There is an ongoing debate on how to administer research in the contextof institutional management of growing complexity, changing economic conditionsand increasing political influence on research. The article emphasizes that the mainroles of the research administrator are helping faculties carry out research and representationof university's interests. However, the conditions for the implementationof research vary, new challenges and opportunities continually arise, and thus thecompetences of the research administrator must change to reflect these transformations:he/she must take on the roles of manager, lawyer, financier, or quasiresearcher.

Based on analysis of characteristics of cultural-political cooperation forms in the EU, cultural policyaims and institutional activity improvement, the article reveals the specifics of culture management improvementand possibilities to implement the principles of the EU culture policy. The main attention is givento the analysis of improvement of EU cultural policy administration in the context of global changes. Goalsof organizations, which implement the EU culture policy, institutions, the impact of programmes and projectson the implementation of the policy and improvement of management are discussed in the article as well.Acknowledging that by supporting culture both in Europe and in the world the EU plays a very importantrole, the authors state that culture must be understood as a necessary factor helping to implement the strategicgoals of this international organization.

Over the decade the development of information society to a large extent has been determined by the Lisbon Strategy and the job as initiated in it: the European Council and the European Commission are invited to prepare a comprehensive and exhaustive Action Plan for Electronic Europe eEurope. Over the decade both the eEurope Initiative and the eEurope 2005 Action Plan as well as other documents as prepared in this fi eld and the newest document – the i2010 Strategy – have determined the development of information society in the whole European Union, including Lithuania. Of particular importance is the i2010 Strategy – a strategy for digital technologies as intended for growth and job creation. The European Commission's Annual Progress Reports – being very signifi cant documents – are helpful in assessing the achieved results as well as specifying plans for further works, activity directions and pace. The fi rst report of this kind assessing progress in the implementation of the i2010 Strategy has already appeared.Lithuania over eighteen years of its independence has made a tremendous progress both in developing its economy and creating as well as evolving country's information society. Creating Long-Term Development Strategy of the State of Lithuania, the Lisbon Strategy was taken into account, whereas creating the Strategy for Information Society Development in addition to other documents related with information society development in Lithuania, the mentioned European documents as intended for the information society development were taken into account. Undoubtedly, the creation and development of information society to some extent depend on a country's level of economic development, which is partly characterised by GDP (gross domestic product). This article deals with the newest indicators for the information society development in Lithuania and their relation with GDP, - what indicators are in Lithuania and how they look like in comparison with countries of various development level.

The article discusses forms of UN activity aimed to promote a cooperation in public administration by generalizingexperiences of different states and institutions in this field and participating in good practice dissemination.The authors emphasize that the most important forms of such activity are: analytical reviews of publicsector in different countries and publications analyzing certain issues and problems of public administration;global forums, dedicated conferences and expert meetings; spread of information through UNPAN website. Bymaking the analysis of materials of the United Nations' "Seventh Global Forum on Reinventing Government:Building Trust in Government" held in Vienna in July 2007, it is shown that this information can serve to forecastthe future tendencies of public administration development.

Lisbon strategy of the European Union (EU) and the respective goal for sustainable EU development provides for economically and socially agreed and equal support for the entire society, including everyone individually in the economic, political and social processes through consolidating, integrating and developing the society as well as it is possible. The labour market of Latvia has changed fast over the last five years and the employment opportunities have increased. Statistics over this period prove that the unemployment level has reduced and the employment has increased. In recent months Latvia and other countries have been experiencing changes in the economic life. Statistical data in the labour market over the previous quarter prove it. In contrast to the above described, the unemployment level has started to grow but the employment - to reduce. There is a general understanding in the country that labour costs should be reduced. That means not only lowering salaries but also lowering other labour costs. The employers try to reduce labour costs by using part-time employment, split employment or distance employment, e.g. costs related to arranging an office.In general, when considering employment problems in the country, in their research the authors single out a risk group – people after the maternity leave. Taking into account the current complicated economic conditions, this risk group should be specially protected. When analyzing employee motivation, it can be concluded that salary increase is not always a motivator for this risk group. When analyzing the labour market research, it can be concluded that one of the motivation factors is social guarantees and flexible work hours, especially for that risk group that returns to the labour market after the maternity leave.The unemployment situation, which has especially intensified recently in the country, attests to the employment problems. Therefore in their research the authors study one of the potential factors promoting the labour market for people after the ...

Aiming to identify the trends of county and regional governance transformation after the Parliamentaryelections of 2008, the article analyses the guidelines of the following documents: the election programmesof different political parties, the agreement of the ruling coalition, and the Government Programme. Thediscussion regarding the future of the counties is finalized in the Government Programme, which statesthat counties have to be dissolved. It is stated that the Government speaks up for the assignment of thecounty functions to municipalities; it is planned to give self-government rights to regions; institutions ofthe regions should be formed on the principle of delegation. A two tier territorial self-government systemshould be formed in Lithuania. The article shows that a detailed plan of implementation of the county andregional governance reform does not yet exist.

Under the conditions of globalisation countries can not function sequestered and be unaffected by the various processes in the world. The global crisis made the remarkable impact on the countries' economic and social spheres. The situation in European Union (EU) countries' labour markets became unstable. Under the pressure of global economic recession in all EU erected one of the biggest social and economic problems – unemployment, which is understood as misbalance of demand and supply of labour force. Increase of unemployment is entailed by many social, demographic, psychological problems.During last year unemployment rate in EU countries inceased very significant. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) developed economies and the European Union saw the largest increase in the regional unemployment rate – about 3.5 million people lost their jobs in this region this year. For this reason this period is called "Global Job Crisis".From 2002 years Lithuanian economy has grown faster than in any period and there were seen positive development trends - GDP was rising, investments were growing up. Furthermore the labour market in Lithuania has in the recent past been characterised also by positive changes - the unemployment was falling, wages were growing up. Fast developing market was causing specific requirements for the human resources, especially for the universities' graduates. Furthermore, the business sector forms new and specific requirements for the human resources. At that time in politicians' and scientists' discussions the main problem was how to solve the lack of labour force which is the main brake for the development of country's economy. The shortage of qualified labour force was felt especially in the sectors which need highly qualified employees. In the end of 2008 the economic recession affected Lithuanian labour market. The companies started to respond to the challenges which were rising under the influence of economic downturn. Some of the companies were looking for the possible ways ...

Occupational safety and health is a cross-disciplinary area concerned with protecting the safety, health and welfare of people engaged in work or employment. As a secondary effect, it may also protect co-workers, family members, employers, customers, suppliers, nearby communities, and other members of the public who are impacted by the workplace environment. It may involve interactions among many subject areas, including occupational medicine, occupational hygiene, public health, safety engineering, chemistry, health physics, ergonomics, environmental health, industrial relations, public policy, sociology, and occupational health psychology. In the European Union, member states have enforcing authorities to ensure that the basic legal requirements relating to occupational safety and health are met. In many EU countries, there is strong cooperation between employer and worker organizations to ensure good OSH performance as it is recognized this has benefits for both the worker (through maintenance of health) and the enterprise (through improved productivity and quality).In a democratic country every human has got an inborn and constitutional right to free choice of work and business, as well as to have favourable, safe and healthy working conditions. The problems of safety at work and the health of employees are extremely relevant because if someone breaks the basis of the system, people are going to suffer moral consequences. Moreover, hazard often arises to one's health and sometimes even life. To assure the legal adjustment of safety and health of employees, one has to understand the legal system of this field.Occupational health and safety comprises all preventative measures aimed at protecting functional capacity, health and life of employees at work which are used or planned at all operational stages of the company to protect employees from occupational risks or minimize these risks. The main safety objective - the prevention of accidents, increase safety awareness at work, it is important to avoid unsafe ...

The article probes into factors that determine processes of decentralization inmanaging the general education system. The study entails a review of pertinent literatureand an analysis of the distribution of powers among entities managing thegeneral education system in Lithuania. The study concludes that the education managementsystem in Lithuania is gradually being decentralized and de-concentratedon the basis of the subsidiarity principle. A successful implementation of the decentralizationreform requires the following two conditions: political support for proposedchanges and the ability of those charged with carrying out the reform. Ananalysis of literature confirms that decentralization as a process is also a function offactors other than political will and capacity. These factors include trust (the extentof decentralization depends on the central government's trust in the local government,and vice versa), financial troubles, path dependencies, international developments,etc. An analysis of the distribution of decision making powers in areas of financingand human resources demonstrates that there is a trend towards decentralization,albeit inconsistent due to obstacles on the level of centralized management.The article maintains that there has to be an adequate balance between centralization,which is necessary for the implementation of general national educational objectives,and decentralization, which allows teachers, schoolchildren, parents andthe representatives of local communities to participate in education management.