Elsevier

Long Range Planning

Volume 30, Issue 4, August 1997, Pages 476-477, 529-539
Long Range Planning

Targeted planning: a paradigm for the public service

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0024-6301(97)00032-0Get rights and content

Abstract

A number of recent legislative and administrative events have dramatically increased interest in planning in public sector organizations. What are the prospects that these planning initiatives will be more successful than those of the past? Is there a more appropriate approach for government planning?

In this article Gerald Barkdoll and Morris Bosin examine past planning approaches to determine why they have rarely lived up to expectations. They argue that the traditional comprehensive planning model, which underlies current initiatives such as GPRA (Government Performance and Results Act), does not fit the realities of public sector organizations. They present an alternative approach labelled Targeted Planning. This new approach is characterized by highly focused activities called Targeted Planning Initiatives (TPIs). TPIs conserve scarce resources, are typically short-lived and use a variety of traditional and non-traditional planning techniques to meet clients' specific and most pressing needs.

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