Rational Model o Decision making is grounded in economic principles o Brings pure rationality into public decision making o Relative value effectiveness and incremental comparison should determine which alternative should be chosen Satisficing o Entails lowering the bar in terms of goal attainment then choosing a policy alternative that satisfices this lower standard o Decision makers who satisfice choose policy that are thought to be good enough Incrementalism o Realistically only a few policy alternative can be considered at one time o These policies do not differ radically from existing policies o Condones the status quo Revised Garbage Can Model o Defies conventional wisdom by claiming that the decision making process is neither systematic nor neatly defined within the context of political arena o Decision making is chaotic o Understood in three separate streams Problem Political Policy Refers to an understanding of how and why one set of problems rather than another comes to occupy officials attention Represents the pulse if the nation as conveyed through public opinion election results or ideological shifts as evidenced through public and special interest campaigns Administrators technocrats researchers and political staffers formulate policy proposals Wait for compelling problems to emerge and present their respective proposals as plausible solutions The three converge at critical times a crisis Participatory Model o Assumes that a diverse group of individuals will act in a consultative capacity o Rules and Laws o People affected by a problem or a potential course of action are afforded the opportunity to provide input Documented through public meetings or hearings advisory boards and citizen advocacy groups o Examples can be the writings of federal regulations o Captivity Decision makers too dependent on information from interest groups run the risk of being swayed into making decisions that serves the interest groups more than the organization itself Underemphasize organizational values and goals and over emphasize the values and goals of clientele groups o Derived from a school of pluralism Elite Theory o Assumes that a select few are afforded the privilege of making decisions o There is a separation between the elite members and the masses o Democracy means only that the people have the opportunity of accepting or refusing o Being one of the elite may center on an individual knowledge level education or status the men who are to rule them within a public organization o Mills feels that the professional bureaucrats and party politicians are essentially subservient to members of the elite who move in and out of government pausing for relatively brief stays opposed to the career orientation of professionals Political Model o Assumes that intra organizational coalitions compete for influence o Establishes which alternatives should be chosen or discarded o game playing Pleasing superiors becoming sycophants in order to gain power Public Choice Theory o Derived from microeconomics o Argues that self interest determines how decisions are made o Bureaucrats will make decisions that minimize risks and maximize rewards o Theorist underscore the importance of efficiency and they tend to champion government contracting out and the privatization of government services Dysfunctions in Decision Making o Asking for input makes us feel uncomfortable o Listening to paid employees is more efficient and cost effective then hiring consultants o Group Decision Making dynamics Poorest decision are made when members are engaged in a power struggle Over conformity is another decision making dysfunction o Groupthink Occurs ONLY in highly cohesive groups that operate in an environment where Specialized form of conformity there is a feeling of security Primary goal is to maintain power and cohesiveness Characterized by extreme conformity that gets in the way of critical analysis Directive leadership Group homogeneity in terms of ideals and background Isolation from outside influences Symptoms of groupthink Illusion of invulnerability refers to the group s over estimation of its worth Stereotyping refers to an us versus them dichotomy Rationalization shared rationalizations are used to dismiss warning signs of the potential dangers of groupthink Moral high ground the belief that the group has a monopoly on what is right or just Self censorship if a member of the group has doubts or missing dissenting opinion that individual keeps such thoughts to him or herself Illusion of unanimity The illusion that everyone within a group agrees 100 percent with a given course of action reinforces self censorship Pressure applied to group dissenters pressure is applied to any group member who may desire to speak out against the group s decision maker Mind guarding deals with protecting the group s leader form internal dissenters or criticism policy Reform and Neutrality o Competence V Responsiveness has been a historical struggle o Election of Andrew Jackson ushered the spoils system Central to the spoils system was the belief in more responsiveness Jackson believed that any person was capable of executing the simple task of public management Inefficient profiteering and corrupting was prevalent o Wilson championed a dichotomy between the determination and implementation of Policy determination should occur via political process Policy implantation should be the realm of apolitical administrators ONLY o Pendleton Civil Act of 1883 Created a bipartisan Civil Service Commission The predecessor of the system that is responsible for 90 of government employees Critics maintain that significant price has been paid for this type of merit based system By being too shielded from politics mediocrity and incompetence has again become persuasive so much that the system arguably rivals Jackson spoils era Critics argue that corruption has yet to be eliminated Creation of civil service provided the basis for more businesslike government o Wilson says that public administration needed to emerge as a profession and public administrators need to conduct themselves as such that is public administrators must be responsible professional and efficient o Good governance stresses that efficient service delivery is vital to the public s interest o Administration and politics should remain separate o Public administrators operate in an apolitical environment Reality of Bureaucratic Politics o Nineteenth century vs Twentieth century
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