A System of Indicators as a Measurement of the Contribution of Science

to Our Social Development

VENELIN TERZIEV

Black Sea Institute, Bourgas,

BULGARIA

Abstract: The definition of social efficiency and social technology is the basis of evaluation methods and models,

programming based on the approach of “organizational effectiveness”, covering the set of certain elements - a

system for acquiring resources, choosing goals, assessing the impact of the external environment, choosing a

strategy, respecting the “what-if” principle and priorities in social activity resulting from dynamic changes in the

social environment

Special emphasis is placed on the differentiated effect on higher education institutions, depending on the area in

which they carry out teaching and research activities, as well as on the peculiarities of the university business

model in the changing environment for the development of higher education institutions.

Key-Words: Social Programming, Development, Social Economy, Social efficiency, Science, Indicators,

Measurement

placed on economic efficiency, the manifestation of

which is in the dependence on “costs-effects

(benefits)”. And since every public activity is carried

out with increasingly limited resources, the approach

should be like an economic activity. Moreover, it is

considered as such “any purposeful activity in which

limited resources are allocated and combined

between alternatives, while it is possible to maximize

the effect or minimize costs” [1]. The ratio between

the costs and benefits of a given resource or

decisions made” [2].

This fundamental principle characterizing

economic efficiency is one aspect of studying

business efficiency. But every activity is by its nature

social and determines the need for measurability of

social effects. On this basis, in recent years there has

been more and more talk about the so-called social

restructured. If earlier it was oriented only towards

the purely economic criteria for efficiency, now the

social, psychological, and other consequences in the

implementation of the scientific and technical

projects are starting to be taken into account, already

at the stage of adopting a decision for their

development and implementation. Thus, there is a

need for a complex assessment of the various

1969, the mandatory procedure for evaluating their

environmental impacts was created [4].

All state projects that may have a significant

impact on the environment, as well as projects of

private companies and enterprises requiring a special

state sanction, are subject to environmental expertise.

An impressive example of the use of increased

environmental requirements in the implementation of

economic development programs in the United States

of America is the organization of the development

level program management mechanism is formed and

functions on the basis of the economic law in force in

the United States of America and special legislative

decrees and agreements.

This determines the specificity of the form of this

management mechanism, in which its separate parts

and elements, represented by state bodies, owner

companies, and specialized firms, are connected to

each other in a single organizational system of

bilateral and multilateral agreements and contracts.

unambiguous and generally accepted definition of the

concept of “social efficiency” has been established.

There are quite a lot of studies of a different nature,

in which the authors try to study the social

effectiveness of various types of activities, including

managerial ones. First of all, most authors develop

the concept of social efficiency, the criteria, and

methods for its evaluation against the goals of social

production.

society; expresses the interests of social progress; and

is minimal in its quantitative and qualitative

parameters.

This claim is based on the internal contradiction

of the bureaucracy between the broad public goals for

which it was created and its narrow corporate

interests tending to dominate.

According to the opinion of some authors, the

In the legality of decisions and actions

corresponding to management structures and users

(recipients, beneficiaries);

In the reality of the influence of management

activity on the state and development of management

objects;

In the depth of reporting and expression in

management decisions and actions on the specific

and complex needs, interests, and goals of people;

In the nature and volume of direct and “reverse”

beneficiaries;

Influence of the management activity in relation

to the external environment.

Any action, social phenomenon, or quality,

including social efficiency, are characterized by

quantitative and qualitative aspects. And although

these two sides of the object exist in an inseparable

unity and interrelationship, they are still different

characteristics of the social reality surrounding us. In

the scientific literature, it is accepted that the

relationship between the quantitative and qualitative

determination of the studied and evaluated object. On

the quantitative side, the criterion appears as a

method, tool, and reference measure for movement

towards the desired result, and on the qualitative side,

as an opportunity to separate “positive sides, forms

of this movement in space and time”.

Despite all the differences in the understanding of

the term “criterion” in the indicated approaches, a

one or other social actions could be evaluated. The

degree of achievement of social effectiveness is

determined by the position of movement towards a

socially significant strategic goal, which is

meaningfully revealed as a state of maximally

complete realization of man's needs and the self-

realization of his essential powers, in other words, his

personality. Human well-being, as the highest value

human-worthy conditions for life and creativity.

In doing so, it is necessary to make a number of

important methodological clarifications. The notion

of social efficiency as performance, evaluated from

the positions of approaching the socially significant

goal, must necessarily relate to the changes

corresponding to the general line of progressive

development of the social system, i.e. with her

gradual transition from less to more perfect existence.

We can note that before comparing each achieved

The importance of this clarification for the

understanding of the basic principle of social

efficiency and its criteria, expressively emphasizes

the specific experience of social policy. The

American scientist D. Rothblatt emphasizes that in

the United States of America in the thirties, a

fundamental rethinking of the principle of effective

social policy was done [6-7]. The government's

measures to expand unemployment insurance funds

and increase the number of welfare recipients, which

becomes a brake on social development, insofar as it

generates “reproduction of the culture of poverty

from generation to generation”. Obviously, to the

same extent that the time element allows to more

precisely reveal the main line of social development,

the evaluation of the social activity of the activities

carried out can be radically changed. So let's say that

it is more effective to include people in need of social

support in the labor process, bringing a promising

equal, will be an activity in which the goal maximally

depicts human needs.” Along with this, the question

of the specific social results (effects) of its

managerial impact is not raised, although it is

presented in the given context as very essential. The

thing is that the examination of the issue of

assessment of social effectiveness and the very

content of this concept is inseparable from the

in terms of the movement of the social system

towards some extremely generalized goal of social

development.

The social object and this is the object of

management, to which the concept of social

efficiency refers, is sufficiently complex in its

structure. It encompasses the entire set of social

relationships and relationships existing in society.

The very goals of social management inevitably

affect the entire “space” of these connections and

components of the social system.

It is obvious that the above-considered correlation

of effective social activity with the goals of social

progress indicates one of the important moments of

social connection and interdependence between the

system-wide, social-group, and individual-personal

dimensions of social activity, of the aggregate and, as

a rule, long-lasting nature of its manifestation.

Examining the issue of the socio-economic

efficiency of the targeted complex programs, it was

considered in the general assessment of their

effectiveness, several authors note that for this “the

persistent quantitative or (albeit sequential)

dependencies between production-technical and

social changes, between the characteristics of the

targeted events and indicators reflecting the

corresponding target norms” [9-10].

Some authors link the social efficiency of the

economy with the problem of efficiency. In

strategic and long-term consequences of the

measures taken are taken into account.

Certain contradictions and divergences may arise

between these approaches. Under these conditions,

the task of achieving overall social efficiency should

be formulated primarily as a task of optimization of

the social management activity.

Social and economic efficiency has two aspects.

evaluating the results of labor to solving the question

of how much it costs us to achieve the obtained effect

for social activity, and to whom and how this effect

serves. Proceeding from this, it can be assumed that,

unlike the criterion of economic efficiency, the

criterion certifying social efficiency is not understood

only within the given “closed” system of social

action, rather than having an externally set

normative-ideal character. This greatly complicates

the assessment of the social effectiveness of each

“external environment”, which is not in the sphere of

its control. Nevertheless, it is a task of normative

goals from which the integral evaluation of social

efficiency is derived.

It is appropriate to emphasize the distinction and

interrelation between the categories of efficiency and

quality. The criterion of effectiveness is the ratio of

costs and results, and the criterion of quality is the

ratio between the effect and the goals, the goals and

the means to achieve them. An expression of the

quality of social activity, and not as a “cost-effect”

ratio.

The problems of the social efficiency of the

activity are considered directly in the specific

management. The social consequences of

management activity in the broadest sense of the

word are clarified by the already mentioned

American system for assessing social consequences

– SIA (Social Impact Assessment - SIA). American

if the concept of social effect is complex and includes

economic, social, psychological, socio-cultural, and

other significant consequences;

Evaluating the supposed social effect, it is

necessary to orient ourselves against certain value

benchmarks, allowing us to thoughtfully judge the

social “value”, and the social “continuity of

decisions”. Such an assessment is possible only in the

theory of social management, which raises the

question not only of the economic but also of the

social effect of management activity. The question of

the effectiveness of the management system, as the

effectiveness of the activity of the subject of

management or the management subsystem, is

necessary to focus on the following questions: what

is the contribution of the management system in

solving these or those socially significant tasks?

What is its contribution to the achievement of the

based on the primary criterion and answers the

questions related to the internal state of the

management system, with its ability to act with an

increasing degree of efficiency.

Along with the evaluation of the effectiveness of

the management system in the general aspect, the

effectiveness of the main components of the

management can and should be determined - the

functions, functional structures, and technologies.

Efficiency can be considered not only as a

and the social consequences of the implementation of

economic, scientific, and technical projects. Social

efficiency indicators are considered tools for

evaluating the realization of the interests and needs

of society, the state, the collective, and the individual.

Effectiveness, as a social phenomenon, appears in

the form of the qualitative-quantitative characteristic

for maximum development of human resources,

forms of social life, and management of society,

When evaluating the programs, their economic

and social efficiency should also be taken into

account. Economic efficiency is expressed in the fact

that the implementation of the social program in itself

must become a catalyst for effective economic

development. The funds spent by society to satisfy

social needs must eventually be returned in the form

of increased social and labor activity;

realized above all in creating human-worthy

conditions for life and development.

In the case of complexity or the possibility of

calculating economic efficiency, the weight in the

assessment is the optimality in achieving the social

effect.

It should be noted that the results of the programs

relate either to the goals of the program creators or to

the needs of those to whom these programs are

directed. To the greatest degree of effectiveness in

3 Measurement of Science, as an

to this process – those who create the science and

those who will evaluate it or, more precisely, those

who will consume it. So that all this does not seem

rather primitive and consumerist, we should consider

all this as a process that is too complex, both for its

accounting and even more so for its valuation.

Historically, the benefits of various scientific

discoveries came quite late, even after the death of

their authors.

The challenges of looking for answers to

information of high value, has turned them into

publications of a closed nature or limited availability

of the published information. This is also

understandable, considering the efforts and work of

the respective teams or specific researchers to receive

feedback for their efforts and to be evaluated in an

appropriate and sufficiently acceptable way.

On the other hand, the work of scientists must

Explained in this way, it sounds rather simplistic, but

it is relatively true. A study is sometimes presented,

advertised, and displayed at dozens of scientific

conferences, roundtables, symposia, and trade shows,

and becomes a complex, difficult, and lengthy

validation process. The resistance from the scientific

community in such cases is very serious because the

search for non-traditional approaches in the

validation of scientific research violates the generally

accepted framework of slowness and closedness of

result and provide reliable and true feedback and

useful information in this direction. The relationship

between the authors of scientific research and

development and users should be more than warm

and sincere, to establish in a sufficiently accurate and

correct way gaps, negatives, or imperfections.

The changes in the Law on the Development of

the Academic Staff and the Rules of its Application

in Bulgaria try to find an answer to these questions

by trying to create a system of criteria that is

coverage is difficult to say and rather the answer is

negative. Despite everything, this system creates a

certain order and visibility of the results, but for

objectivity, it is difficult to even think in this

direction. Especially considering that different

assessment and eligibility systems and requirements

have been in place at different times. Meeting certain

criteria to date sometimes makes it impossible for

some scholars and researchers to present adequate