Republic of the Philippines

Mindanao State University-Maguindanao

COLLEGE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND GOVERNANCE
Datu Odin Sinsuat, Maguindanao

REQUIREMENT IN FOUNDATION, THEORY AND PRACTICE OF

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION (PA 201-A)

“public POLICY”

Submitted by

PRINCE LOVE D. CASTEN

Graduate Student

Submitted to

MAGUID MAKALINGKANG, DPA

Graduate Professor

1ST SEMESTER 2021-2022

CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION

POLICY

POLICY MAKERS

POLICY FORMULATION
HOW POLICY IS MADE IN THE GOVERNMENT
POLICY PROCESS
IMPORTANCE OF POLICYMAKING

PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION

IMPORTANCE OF PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION

PRINCIPLES OF GOOD ADMINISTRATION

THEORIES OF ADMINISTRATION

Universal Design theory

Scientific Management
Classical Theory
Bureaucratic Theory
Situational Design Theory
Behavioural Approach
Systems Approach
Structural-Functional Approach
Human Relations Theory
INTRODUCTION
The process of understanding public policy is complicated as there are
several considerations that need to be established. First, there is the legislative
department which is primarily in-charge of the policy making function of the
government and leads the other departments in producing all the comprehensive
policies in the public sector. Second, there is the executive department which leads
the implementation of the public policies but participates at the same time in the
process of crafting government policies. Third, there is the judicial department which
according to James E. Anderson (2001) plays a crucial role in the process of
policymaking in the government.

POLICY
Policy is a pervasive, ubiquitous term in political science, but it is very vague
concept in the sense that what is referred to constantly changes across the
instances of its usage. Policy may be used to refer to anything from specific
government (legislative or executive) action, to broader categories of actions, to
expressed intentions of authorities, or to general principles of government.

POLICY MAKERS
According to James E. Anderson (2011), policymakers in the government may
either be official and unofficial depending on their involvement in the process of
crafting the best public policy. The official policymakers in the words of Anderspn
include the legislative, executive, judiciary and administrative agencies while the
unofficial policymakers are comprise of the interest groups, political parties,
communications media, and individual citizens. In the Philippines, the legislature
started as a unicameral body and eventually adapted the bicameral body soon after
it gained its independence. Its legislature at the present is composed of the House of
Representatives and the Senate of the Philippines that actively engage one another
in the passage of several proposals or “bills” in their respective houses. The Senate
became more popular than the House of Representatives because its number is
fewer and that its members are elected throughout the country.
HOW POLICY IS MADE IN THE GOVERNMENT
Understanding the processes from which public policy passes through is not
an easy task as each stage of the policy development is filled with complexities and
loaded information. But the task is made lighter with the perspectives that were
introduced by the experts in the field of public policy like James E. Anderson,
Thomas R. Dye, William D. Dunn, Carl V. Platton and David S. Sawicki. All these
respective scholars and others have made the study public policy a more interesting
activity and a practical endeavor for the students and practitioners of public
administration.
According to Anderson, policymaking in the government involves five (5)
different stages which start from the usual demands that emanate from the general
public. The five stages involve the problem identification, agenda setting, policy
formulation, policy adoption, policy implementation and policy evaluation. These
stages are sequential pattern of activities that enables the students and practitioners
to easily identify and distinguish the specific activities involve in each level of the
policymaking process.

Table 1. THE POLICY PROCESS

Policy Terminology Definition Common Sense
Policy Agenda Those problems, among Getting the government to
many, that receive the consider action on the
serious attention of public problem.
officials.
Policy Formulation Development of pertinent What is proposed to be
proposed courses of done about the problem?
action for dealing with
public problem.
Policy adoption Development of support Getting the government to
for a specific proposal so accept a particular solution
that the policy can be to the problem.
legitimized or authorized.
 Policy Implementation Application of the policy by Applying government’s
the government’s policy to the problem.
administrative machinery.
Policy Evaluation Efforts by the government Did the policy work?
to determine whether the
policy was effective and
why or why not.
Source: Adapted from James E. Anderson, Public Policymaking: An Introduction (Boston,
Massachusetts: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning),p.12

Table 1 presents the five stages of policymaking process which Anderson

developed to facilitate the understanding of public policy. These stages represent the
levels which all policies need to undergo and pass in order for them to be
implemented. Each stage is interrelated to each other and that any development
within each level would have likely impact with the others.
Policy process begins with the identification of the policy problem by the
government form the community. Before, policy problem is taken lightly by the
policymakers without paying much attention to its gravity and its level of significance
to the public that demands specific action from the government. According to James
E. Anderson, to consider all the dimensions and characteristics of the policy problem
in pursuing a particular public policy. A policy problem as defined by Anderson is “a
condition or situation that produces needs or dissatisfaction among people and for
which relief or redress by governmental action is sought. Policy problem is a
circumstance where several individuals feel being disappointed about the inaction of
the government and sense the need of a response from the government as a way of
redressing their discontentment.
The policy problems become the policy agenda which in turn take the form of
either systematic or institutional agenda. A “systematic agenda” is a discussion
agenda which may or may not compel the government to immediately consider it. An
“institutional agenda” is something that is urgent which requires the active and
serious attention of the government. Its nature is more sensitive than the other which
makes it a priority of the government. An institutional agenda is usually composed of
policies that are normally given a “priori” by the executive and legislative
departments and are considered as urgent like the priority bills in the case of the
Philippine government. For example, at present the Philippines is under a situation
that needs serious attention on health because of the pandemic brought by the
COVID19 virus. This is an institutional agenda that needs immediate action.
Policy formulation involves developing pertinent and acceptable proposed
courses of action for dealing with public concerns. Once the government takes
cognizant of the policy agenda, policy proposals or options are immediately drafted
by the concerned policymakers or legislators. The different policymakers will need to
determine whether the proposal is technically sound or not. The proposal being
technically sound must be able to meet the primary objective of solving the policy
problem. The policymakers must also be able to determine whether the budgetary
cost is reasonable or not. The proposal in this case must be practical and must not
go beyond the limits of the resources of the government. If the proposal is above the
budget or beyond the government funds then it may not necessarily be feasible to
continue with working on a particular solution to the policy problem. The
policymakers must also ask whether the proposal is acceptable to the policymakers
and to the public. It is acceptable to both parties, then its passage will be assured
and eventually be signed by the president unless the latter has some compelling
reasons to disapprove such proposed policy. The president approves a policy once it
passes the scrutiny of the Congress.
Policy adoption involves the making of a policy decision in accepting or
rejecting a course of action that is developed by the different policymakers in the
government. It is the development of a solution to the perceived policy problem in the
form of a proposed policy or legislation. The most popular style of decision making is
bargaining where negotiation or compromise is often resorted by the competing
policymakers. In bargaining, the different policymakers bend some of their interests
in order to come up with the best public policy. Another decision making style is
persuasion which is the use of reason and logic to convince the opposition regarding
the advantages of his position. In persuasion, changes in one’s position are unlikely
as its proponents persuade the others to support his position. Another style in
decision making is majority building which is common method in deliberative bodies
like parliament or legislative assembly. Majority building is the establishment of the
numerical votes in questions that require the division of the parliament or legislative
assembly. It is often resorted to when agreement is totally impossible to be resolved
through simple discussions. The members of the parliament or deliberative assembly
often resort into this majority building style.
Once a proposed policy is enacted into law, the most challenging part of the
policymaking process begins. A public policy says an expert will not be a policy
unless it is tried and tested by the administrative agency that is tasked to administer
its implementation. Policy implementation is the process on “what happens after a
bill becomes a law”. It is that part of the policymaking process that comes after the
ascent is given by the policymakers and is put into a test to determine whether or not
it is worth taking much of their time in deliberating the desired policy. Anderson also
noted that policy implementation “encompasses whatever is done to carry a law into
effect, apply it to the target population and achieve its goals.” It gives emphasis on
the role of the different stakeholders that are involved in seeing to it that the enacted
policy would be able to meet its goals. The study of policy implementation includes
the administrative agencies, government officials, implementing guidelines, and the
“politization” that influences the entire policy process. Policy implementation does not
yield positive results at all times, there are also instances that policy fails and the
concerned administrative agency is put into a test.
The last stage of the policymaking process is the policy evaluation which
looks into the extent of the achievement of a given public policy. The stage of policy
evaluation is imperative on the part of the government because public policy needs
to be assessed whether or not it has done something beneficial to the general public.
Policy evaluation involves the estimation, appraisal, or assessment of a policy, its
content, implementation, goal attainment or other effects. A policy output is actually
done by the government agencies in pursuance of policy decisions and statements.
It reflects normally the tangible accomplishment of a particular public policy like the
constructed school buildings, distributed contraceptives, purchased equipment,
upgrade of weapons and many other tangible accomplishments. Policy output
appears immediately after the implementation and is readily observable as public
policy is monitored time to time. On the other hand, policy outcome refers to “the
consequence for the society, intended or unintended, that stems from the deliberate
governmental action or inaction.”

IMPORTANCE OF POLICYMAKING
 According to Michael Hallsworth of the Institute of Government in England,
“When policy fail, the cost can be significant.” Hallsworth see that policymaking is an
important ingredient in the success of a public policy. There was a study conducted
in England by the Institute of Government (2011), it was found out that majority of
the civil servants who were surveyed expressed a different level of anxiety about
policymaking. The analysis concluded that newer generation of director generals
suspect that policymaking is a machine which is not very effective- there is simply
too much policy.
Policymaking matter because it is one of the basic practices where we see the
different government institutions uniting toward a common purpose of enacting a
policy that would benefit the general public. It matters as the “strength of
policymaking is integral to the strength of government as a whole and that of the
country at large” according to the Institute of Government. Policymaking matters
because poor policymaking would lead to widespread negative implications like poor
quality services, little benefits delivered, exclusion of some sections of the society,
failure to meet the necessary expectations, adverse social and environmental
consequences, and adverse effects on economic competitiveness. Poor policies will
spell poor service quality and eventually become a source of disappointment from
the general public. Poor policymaking will bring more problems like adverse social
and economic consequences on the part of the public.

PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION
Program administration means the process of planning, organizing and
directing overall operations, resources and activities of a center to facilitate the
attainment of goals and adjectives.
Program Administrators are responsible for selecting the staff to carry out a
program or project. They supervise the staff and monitor their work, as well and
coaching and mentoring them in their daily duties. Program Administrators must
manage the budget for their program, accounting for expenditures.

IMPORTANCE OF PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION

The effective program administration is necessary to coordinate activities,
review the program and initiate action to improve the program. The program
coordinator is responsible for ensuring that the following are addressed in the
program.
Program administration is important in projects. Government programs and
projects often compete for resources in terms of people and money, program
management must also balance those resources across projects. Program
management enables the organization to fund, prioritize, optimize resource capacity,
and manage interdependencies and conflicts.

Good administration by public bodies means:

1. Getting it right
2. Being customer focused
3. Being open and accountable
4. Acting fairly and proportionately
5. Putting things right
6. Seeking continuous improvement

PRINCIPLES OF GOOD ADMINISTRATION

1. Getting it right

 Acting in accordance with the law and with regard for the
rights of those concerned.
 Acting in accordance with the public body’s policy and
guidance (published or internal).
 Taking proper account of established good practice.
 Providing effective services, using appropriately trained and
competent staff.
 Taking reasonable decisions, based on all relevant
considerations.
2. Being customer focused

 Ensuring people can access services easily.

  Informing customers what they can expect and what the
public body expects of them.
 Keeping to its commitments, including any published service
standards
 Dealing with people helpfully, promptly and sensitively,
bearing in mind their individual circumstances
 Responding to customers’ needs flexibly, including, where
appropriate, coordinating a response with other service
providers
3. Being open and accountable

 Being open and clear about policies and procedures and

ensuring that information, and any advice provided, is clear,
accurate and complete.
 Stating its criteria for decision making and giving reasons for
decisions
 Handling information properly and appropriately.
 Keeping proper and appropriate records
 Taking responsibility for its actions
4. Acting fairly and proportionately

 Treating people impartially, with respect and courtesy.

 Treating people without unlawful discrimination or prejudice,
and ensuring no conflict of interests.
 Dealing with people and issues objectively and consistently.
 Ensuring that decisions and actions are proportionate,
appropriate and fair.
5. Putting things right

 Acknowledging mistakes and apologizing where appropriate.

 Putting mistakes right quickly and effectively.
  Providing clear and timely information on how and when to
appeal or complain.
 Operating an effective complaints procedure, this includes
offering a fair and appropriate remedy when a complaint is
upheld.
6. Seeking continuous improvement

 Reviewing policies and procedures regularly to ensure they

are effective.
 Asking for feedback and using it to improve services and
performance.
 Ensuring that the public body learns lessons from complaints
and uses these to improve services and performance.

THEORIES OF ADMINISTRATION

There are basically two types of theories of administrative organization.

1. Universal Design theory – This theory believes on ‘the one vest way’ of
structuring the organization. The theories included in this section are Scientific
Management, Classical Theory and Bureaucratic Theory.

2. Situational Design Theory – This theory emphasizes the human aspect of

the organization. There are several sub-streams, such as Behavioural
Approach, Systems Approach, Structural-Functional Approach, Human
Relations Theory and others.

SCIENTIFIC MANAGEMENT THEORY by Fredrick Winslow Taylor

He believed that best management is a true science, resting upon clearly

fixed laws, rules and principles, as foundation and introduce ‘scientism’ modern
management approaches and techniques.
 Taylor emphasized in the interest of social prosperity, close collaboration and
deliberate cooperation between the workers and the management for the application
of scientific methods.
The four principles of Scientific Management are:
a) Develop a science for each element of a man’s work which replaces the old
rule-of-thumb method.
b) Scientifically select and then train, teach and develop the workman,
whereas in the past he chose his own and trained himself as best as he could.
c) Heartily cooperate with other men so as to ensure that all the work is being
done in accordance with scientific principles.
d) There is almost an equal division of work and responsibility between the
management and the workman. The management takes over all work for
which it is better fitted than the workman, while in the past, almost all of the
work and the greater part of the responsibility was thrown on the men.

CLASSICAL THEORY by Henri Fayol, Luther Gulick, L.F. Urwick, J.D. Mooney, A.C.
Reiley, M.P. Follet and R. Shelton

These writers argue that administration is administration regardless of the

kind of work undertaken or the context within which it is performed. The most
important concern of this theory is the formulation of certain universal principles of
organization.
Henri Fayol: He was one of the earliest writers on the general theory of
management. He believed that there was a single ‘administrative science’ whose
principles were applicable not only to business but also to government, religious and
other organizations. Knowledge of administration rather than technical knowledge,
according to Fayol, is what is needed at higher levels of an organization. The above
principles were meant to raise management to the level of a science. Fayol was
concerned with ‘management’ and the tasks of the manager unlike Taylor whose
main focus was the shop level worker. Fayol is also a pioneer in suggesting the need
for systematic training in administration. He suggests that training is a continuous
process, starting from the employees within an organisaiton. He considers every
superior officer in an organization as a teacher to his immediate subordinates.
Luther Gulick summed up the principles of organization in the word ‘POSDCORB’.
His famous POSDCORB, an acronym contains the first letters of seven
administrative activities as follows:
Planning: The development, in broad outline of the activities to be carried out
and the methods of execution so as to accomplish the purpose set for the
enterprise.
Organizing: The establishment of the formal structure of authority, on the
basis of which work sub-divisions are established and co-ordinated for the
achieving the defined objective.
Staffing: The entire personnel function of recruiting and training staff, and
maintaining favourable working conditions.
Directing: The continuous task of leading the enterprise by making decisions
and embodying them in specific and general orders and instructions.
Co-ordinating: All important duty of inter-relating the various parts of the work
Reporting: The job of keeping superiors informed of the status of the work
through reports and records.
Budgeting: The tasks of fiscal planning, accounting and control.
Mooney and Reiley’s formulated four principles of organization. They are: 1)
The coordinative principle, 2) The scalar principle 3) The functional principle of
organizing tasks into departments 4) The staff/line principle for performance advisory
and executive functions.

THE BUREAUCRATIC THEORY

Bureaucracy provides a conceptualization of a form of social organization with
certain characteristics. It can be examined from three different points of view:
a) Structural characteristics: This structural dimension has attracted the most
attention in the discussion on bureaucracy. The features like division of labour,
hierarchy and rules have been identified as important aspects of structure.
b) Behavioural characteristics: Rationally (the most rational means of achieving
imperative control over human beings), impersonality and neutrality (support to
the political regime it serves) are the important aspects of behaviour.
c) Instrumental characteristics: Bureaucracy has been looked at from the point
of view of achievement of purpose. As Peter Blau suggests, it should be
considered as an “organization that maximizes efficiency in administration or an
 institutionalized method of organized social conduct in the interests of
administrative efficiency.”

HUMAN RELATIONS THEORY

The Human Relations theory has often been described as the Neo-classical
theory. It was built on the base of the classical theory. The basic assumption of this
theory is that psychological and social aspects of the worker as an individual and his
work group ought to be emphasized. The influence of Pierre Janet and Sigmund
Freud, was profound on the studies of Elton Mayo.
Contribution:
1) It introduced the idea of the organisation as an open system.
2) It emphasised the importance of employee attitudes.
3) It revolutionised the management training.
4) Mayo critically examined the employee employer relations, stability of the labour,
supervision, etc., of the industrial workers.

THE BEHAVIOURAL APPROACH

In Public administration', behaviouralism as a distinct line of study started in
the 1930's along with the Human Relations Movement. The mechanistic orientation
of the traditionalists has been counterbalanced by the humanistic view of the
behavioural scientists. "By the behavioural sciences we mean the disciplines of
anthropology, psychology and sociology - minus and plus: Minus such specialised
sectors as physiological psychology, archaeology, technical linguistics, and most of
physical anthropology; Plus social geography, some psychiatary, and the
behavioural parts of economics, political science, and law. In short, we are
concerned here with the scientific research that deals directly with human
behaviour."
Contribution of Herbert Simon:
a) Simon has been basically concerned with the behaviour of organization as
goal-oriented and adaptive entities.
b) He focuses on the cognitive aspects of organizational operation and
emphasizes on problem solving and rational choice.
c) He introduced the concept of 'satisfying' behaviour in organizational situations.
Contribution of E. Wight Bakke:
He identified the individual goals as security, progress and justice in respect of
internal harmony understanding, autonomy, integration and respect. He was
interested in the realities' of organizational life. According to Bakke, the individual
seeks to use the organization as a means to further his own goals, whereas the
organization tries to use the individual to attain its own goals. The 'personalizing
process' by which the individual makes use of the organization, and the
'socializing process' by which organization puts the individual to its own use get
mixed up in real life. This is what Bakke called the 'fusion process'.
Contribution of Chris Argyris :
He speaks of a basic incompatibility between the needs of a mature personality
and the requirements of a formal organization designed on the classical principles
of rigid task.
Contribution of Chester Barnard:
He developed an equilibrium theory of organization by suggesting that the
organisation exists by maintaining an equilibrium between the contributors and
satisfaction of its participant members. Both material inducements and psycho-
social rewards are important. According to Barnard, efficiency in organisation is a
personal matter related to individual's satisfaction and effectiveness is related to
the accomplishment of a common organizational authority. Authority to his is a
matter of acceptance, of the superior role of the supervisors by the subordinate.

THE SYSTEMS APPROACH

Modern theory, also called systems analysis of organizations, developed
largely since the 1950s. The origin of general systems theory is traced to the thinking
of the biologist Ludwig Von Bertalanffy, in the twenties. It aimed at the unification of
science and scientific analysis. General Systems theory is an attempt to join up the
different approaches in science (traditional, behavioural and management science)
and thus, to provide a broad macroscopic view of different types of systems. . Weber
defines a system as "A set or arrangement of things so related or connected as to
form a unity or organic whole." A system is thus a unified whole having a number of
interdependent parts or sub- systems and it has identifiable boundaries that
distinguish it from its surrounding environment in which 'it is embedded, and with
which it interacts.
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