Policy Adoption

POLICY ADOPTION

• Policy decision involves action by some official person or body to

adopt, modify or reject a preferred policy alternative.
• It is usually the culmination of man decision, some routine and
some not usually routine, made during the operation of the policy
process.

• Note: The study of Public Policy between policy decisions which

significantly affect the content of policy.
 POLICY ADOPTION
Typically involved in policy adoption
-is not selection from among a number of full blown policy
alternatives but rather action on a preferred policy alternative for
which the proponents of action think they can win approval.

Formulation process
- Moves toward the decision stage, some provisions will be
rejected, others accepted, and still others modified;
- Differences will be narrowed;
- Bargains will be struck;
- Until ultimately the final policy decision will be only a formality.
But, the questions may be in doubt until the votes are conted or the
decisions will be announced.
POLICY ADOPTION
• Private individuals and organizations also participates in making policy
decisions.
But, the formal authority to decide rest with public officials;
1. Legislatures
2. Executives
3. Administrators
4. Judges

Therefore, through the adoption process policies acquire;

• Weight of Public Authority
POLICY ADOPTION
• In Democratic Country
- The task of making policy decisions lies on the legislatures to
represent the interest of the populace.
a. Majority of the legislatures hears the majority of the people; and
the decision should accord with our notion that in democracy the
people should rule (the minority).

All the decisions must be legitimate and be accepted for all. It

needs substantive standards to follow.
Legitimacy
Legitimacy not the same as Legality
- For policy making:
a. legitimacy is affected both by how something is done (whether proper procedures
are used).
b. And by what is being done (whether the action of the government within the
bounce of legality or even the constitutional authority of officials depart from the
notions of what is acceptable.
Ex: 1. Americans never accepted the legitimacy of the Vietnam war.
2.Or people do not accept the legitimacy of a constitutional right
to privacy as a barrier to some governmental action
(Ex: Prohibition of Abortion)
Political and Social Scientist
• How decisions are being made
• What constitutes a decisions

But, the Best to study Decision making

Note: We are Not to resolved problems or controversies here but to

handle how to render and handle on political decision-making like
creteria, theories and styles; the process of majority building
(decision making).
Constitutionality and Legitimacy
• Not always sine qua non for legitimacy.
-Legitimacy is an important factor in developing public support and
acceptance for both and government and the polices that it adopts.

-Public Officials must be cognizant of this importance.

Remember: When legitimacy erodes, governments and their polices

diminish in effectiveness
Theories of Decision Making
• The study of Public Policy
- involves making choice from among alternatives
Informal and non-rational ways:
-Game theory- using palmistry, dart throwing, coin flipping
-Basis of intuition – a non-rational process using “hunches”, a feel
for the situation.
This means lack of firm standards or rules.
 Three Theories of Decision Making
1. The Rational Comprehensive Theory
- It draws from the economist’s view of how a rational person would
make decisions as well as from theories of rational decision making
develop by the mathematicians, psychologists, and other social
scientists.
Rational Choice Theory vs. Rational Comprehensive Theory
-developing deductive models of self-interested decision makers
while Rational Comprehensive Theory specifies procedures involved in
decision making well-considered decision that maximize the attainment
of goals, whether personal or organizational.

Note: Not to confused between this two theories

 Rational Comprehensive Theory
ELEMENTS
1. The decision maker is confronted with a problem from others but
meaningfully in comparison
2. The goals, values and objectives ranked according to its importance
3. Various alternatives in dealing problems are examined
4. The consequences (costs, benefits, advantages ad opposite are
investigated)
5. Each alternatives in attendant consequences are examined and
compared
6. Choose best alternative and consequences, maximize the attainment
of the goals, values, objectives.
 Rational Comprehensive Theory
-This theory receives substantial CRITICISM (Prof. Lindblom),
decision makers are not faced with concrete, clearly defined
problem. The Question
is….
Effective thing is;
-identify the real problem on which they make decisions.

Ex: Prices are rising rapidly.

Therefore: We have to do something about INFLATION!

 What is the Problem?
1. Excessive demand?
2. Inadequate production of goods and services?
3. Administered prices controlled by powerful corporations and unions?
4. Inflationary psychology?

Note: This is the most difficult time to determine the real cause, a
major problem of a decision maker.
 Rational Comprehensive Theory
Second CRITICISM.

-Unrealistic in the intellectual demands, means assumes have enough

information on the alternatives for dealing with the problem
-to predict consequences with accuracy
-capable of making correct cost-benefit comparisons of the
alternatives
 Rational Comprehensive Theory
The VALUE Aspect

-Confronted with a situation of Value conflict rather than value

agreement.

-Need to balance

Note: Resolve the FACTS even lots of them, will resolves some
controversies
 The Incremental Theory
-It means to avoids many of the problems of the Rational
Comprehensive theory.

-It involve limited changes or additions to existing policies

Ex: small percentage increase in an agency’s budget or a modest

tightning of eligibility for student loans.
 Disjointed Incrementalism (Lindblom)
1. The goals and objectives and empirical analysis of the action
needed to attain are intertwined with rather than distinct from,
one another
2. Considers only some of the alternatives for dealing with a problem
3. Each alternative, only a limited number of “important” consequences are
evaluated
4. Problem continually redefined.
5. There is no single decision or “right” solution of the problem
6. It is essentially remedial
 Analytical Techniques

1. Cost benefit analysis

2. Risk Analysis
3. Planning programming-budgeting system

Note: The impact of these techniques will depend upon the whether
the information they produced is SOUND and IMPARTIAL and on the
disposition of the decision makers rely on them.
 Mixed Scanning
-It utilized both Rational-comprehensive and Incremental theory, but
in different situations.

-It differing capacities of decision makers

Ex: The greater capacity to mobilize power to implement their decisions,

the more scanning they can realistically engage in; the more
encompassing the scanning, the more effective the decision making
process.
 Decision Criteria

• Decision Making can be studied as an individual or as a collective

process.

1. Focus is on the criteria individuals use in making choices.

2. In the latter, focus is on the process by which majorities are built,
or by approval is otherwise gained, for specific decisions.
 Values

• Helps the decision makers to decide what is good, or bad,

desirable or undesirable

• Decision making person, is like a clay to be molded by others.

• Rather their values or ideas maybe important or even

determinative in shaping their behavior as a decision maker
Categories of Values (May Guide the Behavior
of a decision Makers)

1. Organizational Values
- sometimes lead to conflict among agencies with competing and
overlapping of jurisdictions
2. Professional Values
- Preferences as to how problems should be handled
3. Personal Values
- Guided by their personal values, urge to protect or promote
their own physical or financial well-being, reputation, or historical
position.
Categories of Values (May Guide the Behavior
of a decision Makers)
4. Policy Values
- also called, public ideas.
- Decision makers are driven only by personal, professional, or
organizational considerations.

5. Ideological Values
- Ideology are sets, coherent, or logically related values and
beliefs served as guides by the decision makers

- It is important to be right, to be true to their ideology than to

win on some legislative issue by compromising their principles.
Political Party Affiliation

• Is an important decision making criterion for most of the members

of Congress
• It is difficult to separate that loyalty from such other influences as
party leadership pressures, pressures, ideological commitments,
and constituency interest
Public Opinion

• It maybe expressed in many ways such as:

1. Letters to the Editors and public officials
2. Meetings
3. Public demonstration
4. Editorials
5. Election results
6. Legislatures meetings with constiuents
7. Plebiscites
8. Radio talk shows
- Others are opinion survey, and poll survey
Deference of Congress

• Often have to vote on issues that are of little interest to them specially to
the constituents
• humble submission and respect.

• Decision Rules
• The rule of thumbs or guidelines (a general principle that provides practical
instructions for accomplishing or approaching a certain task.
Typically,rules of thumb develop as a result of practice and experience rather than
scientific research or theory).
• The rule of stare decisis (in effect, “let the precedents stand”)
• Antitrust area per se rules (in effect, ”as such”) violations of the Sherman Act.
Public Interest

• As the Government – is to serve and protect public interest

• Policy- should be in accord with a public interest whether public

or private constituents
Styles of Decision Making
• Most policy decisions of any magnitude are made by coalition

• Bargaining – in which two or more persons in positions of power

adjust their at least partially inconsistent goals in order to
formulate course of action.

Explicit (bargainers) (clear/straightforward)

1. Group leaders
2. Party Officials
3. Committee chairs
4. Department heads
5. Executives
Styles of Decision Making
BARGAINING

1. Implicit (unexpressed)
- Ex: In Congress: one member will agree to support
another on a bill in return for “Future cooperation”.
Styles of Decision Making
Three Common Forms of Bargaining

1. Logrolling (exchanging favors)- gaining of one’s support from

those who have little
interest in a matter.
The practice of exchanging favors, especially in politics by
reciprocal voting for each other's proposed legislation

Ex: Appropriation Bill for rivers and harbors legislation.

Styles of Decision Making

2. Side Payments - are rewards offered to prospective supporters

not directly members related to the decision but
valued for a great reasons

Ex: “Pet” bills as means of securing their support for legislation.

Styles of Decision Making
Compromise – centered on a single issue, involves questions or more
or less something.

Ex: Law compromising with other personal rights

 Styles of Decision Making
Persuasion – Persuaders seek to build support for what they favor
without having to modify their own positions.

Command – is the ability of those superior positions to make

decisions that are binding upon those who come within
their jurisdiction.
Presidential Decision Making

• Mean a Policy adopter in his own right.