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MODELLING AND ASSESSING SUSTAINABILITY ON THE EXAMPLE OF ESTONIAN MINISTRIES
Abstract
The aim of the present article is to assess the sustainability of five Estonian Ministries before and after moving the ministries to a joint building to find out if the moving was a reasonable decision. The objects of the study are the cost accounts of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education and Research, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications of the Republic of Estonia in the timeframe between October 2016 and March 2018. Both qualitative and quantitative content analyses were used for interpreting several cost accounts as phenomena of different capital forms and for comparing their results in the framework of Talcott ParsonsВ’s adaptation (A), goals (G), integration (I), and latency or values(L) paradigm, which constitutes a general sustaГ inability model. The most important conclusions are the following: 1. building and office costs have decreased a bit but transport costs have not; 2. it is too early to make conclusions about the reduction of costs after moving; 3. according to the AGIL paradigm, the financial management of all five ministries is sustainable; 4. co-operation between the ministries has improved after moving to a common building but further study is required.
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