Knowledge, Personal Relationship and the Efficiency of the Proposal Submission to the Cabinet

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess knowledge, personal relationship and efficiency of the proposal submission to the Cabinet of the officials of the Ministry of Public Health. It was conducted as a cross-sectional survey research. The samples were the 133 person who prepared proposals for the Minister of Public Health to sign to submit to the Cabinet in the fiscal year 2017. Data were collected through a set of questionnaire, and were analyzed by using frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation; and correlation test of variables was performed by Chi-square test and Pearson correlation coefficient. The study indicated that the personal factors: age (χ2=13.25 p-value=0.004), marital status (χ2=8.61 p-value=0.013), education (χ2=4.55 p-value=0.033), salary (χ2=19.58 p-value=0.001), and work period (χ2=52.18=52.18 p<0.001) were associated with the efficiency of the proposal submission to the Cabinet, with statistical significance at the 0.05 level. It was also found that the officials of the Ministry of Public Health had knowledge on the proposal submission to the Cabinet at the medium level. Their personal relationship was at the high level; and had better personal relationship with superiors than with colleagues. The correlation test found that knowledge had a positive relation with the efficiency of the proposal submission to the Cabinet (p<0.05) and the personal relationship had a moderate positive relation with the effectiveness of the proposal submission to the Cabinet (p<0.05). To enhance the efficiency of the proposal submission to the Cabinet, there should be an establishment of a coordinator unit of cabinet and parliament at each department to be a focal unit to provide advice and guidance on the proposal submission to the Cabinet. Additional recommendations included training to provide guidance on the proposal submission to the Cabinet, development of practical manuals and publications. A network of the officials responsible for the proposal submission to the Cabinet should be created, and social media should be used to disseminate the knowledge. Regular activities to strengthen the relationship of the responsible officials should be promoted in order to achieve the pre-set goals.