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levels, as well as teachers, commit themselves to the implementation of these targets
and attainment of quality and quantity outcomes on an annual basis (Ministry of
Interior, 2004).
Therefore, objective selection is extremely important. This is, in fact, a tedious
multistep process that involves the communication and cooperation of all the
departments up and down the hierarchy, to set objectives and action directions
at the strategic level and specialize them in operational goals and detailed action
plans, appropriate for each level. Chosen actions must reflect the mission and the
vision of leadership, which is clearly reminiscent of a top-down approach. On the
contrary, the aim of the implementation follows the bottom-up pattern because all
the partial action plans finally will sum up to the fulfillment of the aspirations at
the top managerial level.
What are the prerequisites for effective target setting? One should summarize
these in the following list (McNabb, 2006):
◾
Prioritization of objectives, identification of critical key activities
◾
Diversification into individual targets
◾
Identification of the main and alternative modes of action and allocation of
responsibilities and powers by organizational unit and employee
◾
Description of connections and interdependencies among specialized activities
◾
Determination and securing of the required resources (manpower, financial
assets, ICT)
◾
Scheduling of a precise timetable for fulfilling the objectives
In recent years, the gradual adoption of the MBO system by Greek authorities
is becoming evident by two observations: (a) For the first time in Greek PA, offi-
cial documents of the Ministry of Education refer to strategic targets (Ministry of
Education, 2014a). This official document clearly describes 20 objectives (at the
higher policy level) that need to be achieved in the current year. And (b) there
is dissemination of the action of self-evaluation of the educational work in all
school units inside the Greek territory (Observatory of Evaluation, 2013). This
project is a rather ingenious way to mobilize the teacher community at primary
and secondary levels, to develop, implement, and follow their own action plans,
inside the school unit, scheduled on an annual basis. Plans must be based upon
sectors (or quality factors) that measure different aspects of the educationally
produced results inside school classrooms. The whole work is connected to inno-
vation activities through testing performance metrics inside these sectors. Until
now, results of self-evaluation are indeed promising, although there are reactions
of mistrust.
The implementation of the MBO approach yields multiple benefits that arise
from better internal functioning of PA and from the relationship between PA and
external environment. It improves interactions between tutors and students. It
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