Efficiency and inefficiency of public administration

Public administration and local government in particular, which also includes municipalities in individual countries, is in the context of the economic crisis a very topical and widely discussed issue. The management of municipalities is subject to increasing control by the public, the state and the municipalities themselves. The aim of the presented paper is to offer a comprehensive definition of efficiency and methods which allow to measure it. As results of our analysis  can be mentioned overview of TOPSIS technique application in a several studies.

Evaluation of transparency in local decision-making through the information availability on Czech municipal websites

Transparency is considered to be the fundamental element of well-functioning and effective public administration on the local level of government. Open and straightforward access to information considerably supports transparency with better public control as well as supporting compliance with the public interest. One suitable tool that allows better public access to information, greater transparency and citizen participation in decision making is the use of the Internet in the public sector and the development of e-government. This paper focuses on e-government on the local level, especially the disclosure of information on municipal websites. The research was conducted on selected Czech municipal websites. The main goal was to evaluate the availability of information about decision making in the Czech municipalities and the availability of participation tools for citizens. For this purpose, selected information published on the municipal websites in the Moravian-Silesian Region was analysed. The results of the research pointed out the shortcomings in the publishing of information on municipal websites. The low level of citizen participation on the local level of government was also stressed

Efficiency and inefficiency of public administration

Public administration and local government in particular, which also includes municipalities in individual countries, is in the context of the economic crisis a very topical and widely discussed issue. The management of municipalities is subject to increasing control by the public, the state and the municipalities themselves. The aim of the presented paper is to offer a comprehensive definition of efficiency and methods which allow to measure it. As results of our analysis  can be mentioned overview of TOPSIS technique application in a several studies.

An analysis of usage of a multi-criteria approach in an athlete evaluation: An evidence of NHL attackers

The presented research focuses on the commonly used Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), which is applied to an evaluation of a basic set of 581 national hockey league (NHL) players in the 2018/2019 season. This is used in combination with a number of objective methods for weighting indicators for identifying differences in their usage. A total of 11 indicators with their own testimonial values, including points, hits, blocked shots and more, are selected for this purpose. The selection of a method for weighting indicators has a major influence on the results obtained and the differences between them, and maintains the internal links within the ranked set of players. Of the evaluated methods, we prefer the Mean Weight method, and we recommend that the input indicators be considered equivalent when evaluating athletes.Web of Science912art. no. 139

Information gaps in the market for social services: retirement homes in the Czech Republic

The research address a partial issue of market failure in the form of information asymmetry. Within the public sector, social services, together with health services, belong to typical sectors where the information superiority of supply against demand is detected. The presence of asymmetrical/imperfect information within the social care has a significant effect on retired people who demand the services of retirement homes, and this effect occurs before as well as during the consumption of this service. The paper aims to identify and evaluate the information gaps of 159 official websites of retirement homes in the Czech Republic that are related to the supply of offered services. The evaluated websites of the retirement homes were selected in a way including all three types of the legal form of retirement homes (semi-budgetary units of regions, limited liability companies, church legal entities) that are present in this category of social services in the Czech Republic. The multi-criteria evaluation, performed by using the TOPSIS method, included 14 types of information (criteria). The TOPSIS method is based on the selection of the variant that is the closest one to the ideal variant and that is characterized by a vector. The results show that retirement homes insufficiently disclose several types of information. These include the conditions of acceptance into the retirement home, annual reports, some types of contact information, internal rules of the home, and the electronic link for the communication with the retirement home. In relation to the evaluation of the total level of 14 types of information being disclosed on the websites of retirement homes, it was revealed that 3% of them achieve an excellent level, 30% achieve a lesser than excellent level, 60% achieve a low level, and 7% of retirement homes achieve a very low level.Web of Science19319117

Performance measurement and evaluation of the property in regional cities in Slovakia and the Czech Republic in the context of their local economic development: comparative study

Motivation: Property is an important part of the economic development of local governments. Not only from the point of view of its use for providing services to inhabitants, but also from the point of view of generating income for local budgets. However, the evaluation of its use is very complicated, since cities first of all use it for non-market purposes and only then for market purposes. There are very few studies devoted to the evaluation of property utilization at the level of local self-governments. Aim: The financing of cities in Slovakia and Czechia is strongly linked to the state budget, and a large part of these financial resources are earmarked. One of the possibilities for obtaining additional financial resources, as well as increasing their competitiveness, is the efficient use of municipal property. The aim of this paper is to look at the competitiveness of regional cities by evaluating the use of property in Slovakia and Czechia, in the time series 2000–2019 and based on selected indicators. Results: The results of the analysis showed significant differences between regional cities in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Prague is overcapitalized, whereas Bratislava is undercapitalized in selected indicators. At the same time, in the Czech Republic we observe the significant dominance of large cities, while the results of the others cities do not show significant differences. Property as its own economic resource is becoming an important part of the competitiveness of cities. Municipal property consists of things owned by the municipality, which are primarily immovable (land, buildings, individual components of the technical infrastructure), and it is this property that significantly affects the development of cities. The research method represents a new way to evaluate the efficiency of municipal property. Municipal property, which is made up primarily of long-term intangible property, represents an important element of the competitiveness of cities, because cities can use it as a tool to attract investors to the territory, thereby increasing the overall socio-economic development of the territory

Efficiency evaluation of cultural services in the Czech Republic via multi-criteria decision analysis

Culture is an irreplaceable means of transferring information between generations. The development of culture, the cultural environment, and the effect of culture exist over the long term. The results are not shown immediately, whereas the economics of subjects of this area (including theatres) are subject to public control. Public control forces these entities to use public finances efficiently, economically, and effectively. A sample of 11 indicators showing techniques and financial efficiency was chosen to conduct a complex evaluation of the economy of Czech theatres. The importance of the indicators was set by three objective methods used in combination by the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) for the evaluation of management. We show significant differences among the results; in our opinion, it is not possible to exactly set the best method that could be applied in general. Every method can potentially serve as a tool for complex comparison among homogeneous groups of theatres of the Czech Republic, depending on the preferences of their founder, in the public sector such as a municipality, region, or state.Web of Science128art. no. 340

The occurrence of the preconditions for social exclusion in the Czech Republic: A basis for the planning of social prevention services

Persisting social exclusion is one of the key issues the European Union Member States have to handle according to the headline targets of the Europe 2020 strategy. In the Czech Republic, more than 1 million people - 12.5% of the whole population - lived in the year 2019 at risk of poverty or social exclusion. Between the years 2010 and 2019, the monetary poverty rate oscillated around 10%. Although these are one of the lowest rates among the EU Member States, reduction and elimination of social exclusion has still been a challenge for the Czech policy-makers due to the relatively constant rates of monetary poverty, as low incomes are generally recognized as one of the causes of social exclusion. The aim of the paper is to identify the occurrence of the preconditions for social exclusion in the Czech districts revealed in the inter-district comparison that is based on the multi-criterial evaluation of the socio-economic situation in these districts. Such evaluation can serve as a basis for the planning of social prevention services, which are regarded as the means of prevention and reduction of social exclusion. Our findings obtained with the use of the Multi-Criteria Decision Making technique reveal that the occurrence of the preconditions for social exclusion varies among LAU1 districts of the Czech Republic and that districts lying in two NUT3 regions are affected more than others. Individuals living there are more likely to be socially excluded, especially if this higher probability derived from the districts' socio-economic situation is accompanied with their individual poor skills, health, or family breakdown.Web of Science21218817

Assessment of the social exclusion at the regional level using multi-criteria approach: evidence from the Czech Republic

Research background: Social services are the main social tool used for the prevention and solution of social exclusion and its risk. Services of social prevention are focused on the wellbeing of the whole society and they prevent it from the influence of a wide range of socioeconomic phenomena related to social exclusion, understood in multidimensional terms. Purpose of the article: The purpose of the paper is to evaluate districts of the Czech Republic with respect to selected socio-economic factors that lead or can lead to social exclusion, when the emphasis is placed on the exclusion of children and youth, and to identify the causes of differences existing among these districts within the period of years 2011-2016. Methods: The paper focuses on multi-criterial assessment of districts of the Czech Republic using 23 indicators covering main aspects of social exclusion, which are processed with the Technique of Order Preference Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS technique) in combination with the Coefficient of Variance method used to determine the indicators' weight. The results obtained using these methods are completed by the Moran's index, Shapiro-Wilk test, Mann-Whitney test, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, Kendall Rank Coefficient and Levene's test. Findings & value added: A small number of districts with very negative assessment, with the presence of social exclusion and its higher risk, respectively, are identified. Differences among regions are constant and could not be assigned to randomness or disposable changes in the structure of indicators. Higher number of children born to unmarried mothers can be considered a typical aspect of the districts with higher risk of the social exclusion. The methods applied in the research, whose results and findings are presented in the paper, can be inspiring to further studies focusing on the social exclusion in its multidimensionality. The research is framed with the European Union discourse of social exclusion, thus the presented findings also open space for the comparisons and discussions of the factors associated with the social exclusion in other European Union Member States.Web of Science1611027

Impact of weight indicators of TOPSIS technique in the selected district in the Slovak republic

The purpose of multicriteria decision models is to help decision maker to evaluate each alternative and to rank them in descending order of performance. This study analyses the concept of Multiple Attribute Decision Making for using in local government area. The aim of this paper is to analyse the concept of Multiple Attribute Decision Making for selecting the most efficient municipality in selected district in the Slovak Republic. Achieving this purpose, TOPSIS technique (in two variants) is used as decision making tools