Using brain skill assessments to increase productivity in development administration
| Author | Weston H. Agor |
| Date | 01 October 1984 |
| Published date | 01 October 1984 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230040404 |
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Vol.
4,
335-341
(1984)
Using brain skill assessments
to
increase productivity in
development administration
WESTON
H.
AGOR
University
of
Texas
SUMMARY
This article describes how BMS (brain skill and management styles) assessments have and can
be used to increase productivity in development administration.
The article starts with a brief outline of the management climate which executives face in
developing countries (crisis and rapidly changing environments). The article points out that
although developing countries have significantly increased their productivity by using
traditional quantitative management tools and techniques, they increasingly find that these
approaches need to be supplemented with other techniques more appropriate
to
the
environment they must contend with.
BMS programmes have been found to be one tool which, combined
with
established
training programmes can serve to increase productivity in developing nations with existing
personnel. The article describes what a BMS programme is (identifying human brain skills
and management styles that exist in organizations, and matching these skills/styles to the
management problem at hand where they can be best employed to enhance productivity), and
illustrates how this technique has been used successfully
in
one developing country.
The BMS programme applications in the article are based on the results of testing over 2000
managers and also the experience from implementing in-depth BMS programmes in several
countries in a wide variety of organizational settings (business, government, education,
military and health).
INTRODUCTION
Several
developing countries have
made
significant strides in the last quarter
of
a
century
to
increase
their management productivity (effectiveness and efficiency)
under
extremely difficult circumstances including rapid technological change,
internal
economic
and
political crises,
and
other major world-wide adjustments such
as
the
terms
of
trade. Frequently, these productivity increases have
been
achieved by
implementing highly quantitative management techniques such as the latest
computer technology and integrated financial management systems (Heady,
1984).
Although we can expect developing nations to continue
to
employ these tools to
help augment productivity, it is important to note that there are many circumstances
when these management techniques
are
extremely difficult
or
inappropriate
to
apply.
For
example, often ‘hard data’ necessary for analytical decision-making are
either
not
available
or
cannot
be
gathered
in
time to resolve
an
impending crisis.
Also,
circumstances in many developing countries
are
changing
so
rapidly that
Professor Agor is Director of
the
MPA Programme in the Department of Political
Science,
University
of
Texas
at
El
Paso, Texas
79968-0547,
U.S.A.
0271 -2075/84/040335-07$01
.OO
01984
by John Wiley &Sons, Ltd.
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