EXECUTING PUBLIC POLICY WITH STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND BENCHMARKING

Prepared by: Mildred B. VillacortaMPA Student

Nature and Thrust of Public PolicyPUBLIC POLICY addresses a host of issues like hosting,

transportation, education, health, social services, among others

it creates orderly structures and standards, and a sense of direction

a course of action which a government adopts to tackle specific public concern or issue in the form of regulations, laws, program or decisions

Three Components of Public Policy Making

1. Problem – is a particular apprehension that often requires specific resolution

2. Players – refers to the actors or group of actors that design specific formula to tackle the issue at hand

3. Policy – is the finished course of action ready for implementation

Building Public Policy

Public policy commences with the discovery of a problem and usually the government is confronted with the varying ways to deal with it.

a) citizensb) interest groupsc) private sector

Otherwise, the pressure groups may exploit the situation through different forms of lobbying techniques as they spot the problem.

With this, Congress or the legislative department comes in but in many cases the government and the citizens may work together to formulate a sound policy resulting from public opinion, which is seen as the most influential factor in policy making process.

Public Opinion is Advanced Through:a) lobby groupsb) survey studiesc) media exposure or mileage

The Policy making process revolves within several factors which trigger agenda initiation, government formulation and implementation, and policy evaluation.

Every policy designed for public purpose aims to bring solvency and normalcy to the situation once jeopardized. The success of policy implementation, however, is largely dependent on policy implementers. This is the stage of the policy process, which is purportedly regarded as the common cause of policy defeat and eventual failure.

Does Government Exist? Does It Really Matter?

Government policies generally are aimed at achieving the betterment of the lives of the people in the state, or in crude terms, they refer to the ability of the government to make things either better or worst for the people.

The most basic principle is either potentially true or plausibly false.

Public Administration and Public Policy

Aims to examine:a) how policy was initiatedb) preparedc) executed and reviewedd) how the policy outcomes could be

improved for the better

Earlier in 1922Charles Merriam – a political scientist, started to

hypothesize the relationship between political theory and its application to reality.

Shafritz (2009) – government perpetually suffers from a problem similar to that faced by Shakespare’s Hamlet, the indecisive prince of denmark, who struggled whether “to be or not to be”

Thus, public policy and public administration are two sides of the same coin. One decides the other does. They cannot be separated because one side cannot exist without the other does. But because policy is a continuous process, it cannot end with implementation.

Therefore, public administration cannot exist in a policy vacuum. It must have administrative structures that are directed by leaders who wish to do something-if only to maintain the status quo. Thus, all of public administration is inherently an instrument of policy, whether that instrument plays well, poorly, or not at all.

Defining Public Policy

Thomas Dye - defined public policy as “ whatever governments choose to do or not to do.”

Roskins – a political analyst, modified the earlier definition in this wise: “whatever the government does to do or not to do”

Policy – is a course of action of action or a series of program adopted by a group or a person or a government in view to address or respond to existing issues or concerns.

Issues – is a topic or matter of significance; it is a recognized part of a political agenda which is being sought to remedy its spills.

Public Policy – is an action taken by the government to meet a particular demand growing out of the society.

Public Policy Analysisa) is the study of how governmental policies are

made and implementedb) the application of the available knowledge to

governmental policies for the purpose of improving their formulation and implementation

c) referred to “the monitoring of different government agencies that directly affect a specific community

d) to provide the government with facts and statistics about the extent to which such initiatives are working

Three Traditional Ethics of Public Administration:1. effectiveness2. efficiency3. economy

Hogwood and Peters (1991) in Hague (2001)- Declare the profession of policy analysis is to

social science while medicine is to biology.

Policy outputs – are those referring to what government does, or better

put to what government achieves or fails to achieve

Outputs – are reasonably measurable

Outcomes – are rather harder to quantify since outcomes are the effects of a

policy, both unforeseen effects and unintended ones.

Policy Outputs Model

Environment

Policy Inputs Policy Process or conversion Policy Outputs

Policymaking Process

Two Aspects:1) it involves in a link series of actions or events2) it is a process in the sense that it

distinguishes the ‘how’ of the government from the ‘what’ of government

The Public Policymaking ProcessEnvironment Situationer

---------------Feedback

Agenda Setting Policy Decision or Non-Decision

Implementation of a New Program

Criticism from Citizens and Formal Program

Evaluation

Source: Modified from Shafritz, 2009

Policy Initiation/Agenda Setting

Initiation • is the primary stage of policy agenda that resulted

from an issue regarded to come out as a problem if not attended to appropriately.

• refers to the making of decisions in a certain aspect where policy initiation determines the political agenda through identification of emerging problems as issues of relevance, and by determining how those significant matters are to be responded by the government

Agenda Setting• is the process by which ideas or issues bubble

up through the various political channels to wind up for consideration by a political institution such as a legislator or court

Policy initiation• Can be influenced from top leader, state

bureaucrats or lawmakers or “from above” and “from bottom” is also worth noting

The Agenda Setting ProcessAn issue is identified by citizens, groups or a public policy

Because of the noise created by its supporters,

formal decision-makers are forced to consider the issue

High publicity like press release, violence and the media, the issue then is

expanded to larger audience

Modified from Shafritz, 2009

Anthony Downs attempts to explain the way in which many policy problems evolve on the political agenda. The cycle is premised on the notion that the public attention rarely remains focused on any one issue. Downs in Shafritz (2009) said that the cycle consists of five steps:

1. The pre-problem2. Alarmed discovery and euphoric enthusiasm3. Recognition of the costs of change4. Decline of public interest5. The post-problem stage

Policy Formulation

• is the job for government officials, politicians, consulted groups and key advisers

• entails also the definition of issues, framing of objectives, and setting priorities

• is the conceptualization stage of policy process where the detailed development of a policy is framed into more or less concrete proposals

• includes “not only the translation of broad proposal into specific and detailed recommendations but also the filtering out of proposals and perhaps even the fundamental recasting of the issue under consideration

As Heywoods (2002) puts it, it is important to note however, that the final decision which brings the formulation process to an end, may be little more, than a formality: discussion, arguments, and debate having summits thus often ratify or “ rubber stamp” decisions that have effectively been made elsewhere.

Rational and Incremental Models of Policymaking

Rational Model Incremental Model

Goals are set before means are considered.

Goals and means are considered together

A good policy is the most appropriate for the desired ends.

A good policy is one in which all main actors can agree.

Analysis is comprehensive, all effects of all options are addressed.

Analysis is selected. The object is good policy, not the best policy.

Theory is heavily used. Comparison with similar is heavily used.

Modified from Lindblom (1959:81) and Parsons (1995:285) in Hague’s Policy Process cited in Lazo, 2009

Rationalism (Lasswell’s) as a way of formulating decisions or policies is posited on the following rational decision-making approach. Quoting Lasswell’s book seven Significant phrases for every decision should be considered:

1. The intelligence phrase, involving an influx of information

2. The promoting or recommending phrase, involving activities designed to influence the outcome

3. The prescribing phase, involving the articulation of norms

4. The invoking phase, involving establishing correspondence between prescriptions and concrete circumstances

5. The application phase, in which the prescription is executed

6. The appraisal phase, assessing intent in relation to effect

7. The terminating phase, treating expectations (right) established while the prescription was enforce.

Policy ImplementationImplementation • is the process of putting the government

policy into effect; it is total process of translating a legal mandate, whether an executive order or an enacted statute, into appropriate program directives and structures that provides services or create goods.

• the doing part of public administration

Policy implementation• is also called policy execution, meaning

putting out the policy into practice.

There are some conditions to be required in order to achieve perfect implementation in the sense of ensuring that policy is delivered exactly as intended:

a) a unitary administrative system with a single line of authority to ensure central control;

b) uniform norms and rules that operate through the system;

c) perfect control;d) perfect information, perfect communication

and perfect condition;e) Sufficient time for administrative resources to

be modified.

Policy Evaluation• appraises outcomes of a policy as implemented;

meaning, what the government achieves• is the appraisal or review of a policy being

implemented as to its success or failure

Policy appraisal – is the culmination of a course of action which will result in a decision whether it will be continued, altered or terminated

It has been said and overly stated that without the mechanism of policy evaluation, the government will almost always fail to learn from its experience. In fact in highly developed democracies like the United States, at least 1% of the funds allotted to any government project or program shall accrue to system evaluation.

Distributive, Preventive, and Regulatory Policies

Preventive policies – are those courses of actions intended to curb or derail any significant impact of an issue or perceived problem to arise by preventing the occurence of a shock

Distributive policies – are programs which by nature aim to provide goods and services among members to the society

Regulatory policies – do impose certain performance operations, standards of services delivery and other rules and mandates are rigid policies to ensure continuity, consistency and accessibility of these provisions to the general public

Strategic Management and Benchmarking Approaches

Benchmarking management • is basically culled from a military strategy of

operation success through tactical planning and systematic execution

Benchmarking • is often seen as dramatic and ambitious

management approach to compare or contrast successful organization endeavors,

• it nevertheless proved that benchmarking is truly something to reckon with as institutions, public or private, grow in search for winning ways of dealing and coping with the challenges of the millennium

• offers new meaning in public administration as it tries to look into best practices of the other governmental entities as to how they operationally work successfully thereby enticing a unique and more effective governance framework being demonstrated in some parts of the world

Nature and Thrust of Strategic Management

6 features that identify a strategic management approach:

1. The identification of objectives to be achieved in the future which are often announced in a vision statement;

2. The adoption of a time frame or planning horizon in which these objectives are to be achieved;

3. A systematic analysis o a current circumstances of an organization especially its capabilities;

4. An assessment of the environment surrounding the organization both now and within the planning horizon;

5. The selection of a strategy for the achievement of desired objectives by future date, often comparing various alternatives; and

6. The integrity of organizational efforts among this strategy.

Strategic Management in the Public Sector

2 Major Challengesa) the long term policy consistency required

accommodating the planning and implementation of the organizational changes often triggered by the introduction of new management techniques is hard to obtain

b) the relatively simple accountability model found in modern private sector organization, wherein executive directors are responsible to the board for both strategy formation and the management of the execution of this strategy

Attempt at Strategizing National Security Framework

• Was first propounded by Col. E. Dimacali in 1996

• He argued that designing a foreign policy direction should anchor on multifarious national goals.

• He propagated the framework of geo politics vis a vis foreign policy objectives for national security device

Adopting Strategic Management Approach in the Public Sector

The public sector should juxtapose its strategic management approach with that of the private sector strategy in order for the government to reassess the capability of the business group in attaining its objectives, or to compare or compete with them by adopting some of their best practices or strategies.

Benchmarking the Best Practices

• Benchmarking systematically compares work process with those of competitors or with best practices in the industry.

• It involves choosing and strategizing key performance areas in an organization and often involves entering into cooperative arrangement with particular organizations.

3 Modalities of benchmarking

Performance Benchmarking

Progress Benchmarking

Strategic Benchmarking

The Role of NEDA in Planning Development

• serves as the national and regional development plan and program coordinator based on its mandate from Presidential Decree 1 and Executive Order 230

• it issues the planning guidelines and conducts multisectoral and regional consultations for inputs to the development plan

• it is tasked with the coordination of official development assistance and the appraisal of programs and projects and conducts program and project evaluation and onsite reviews and consultations

2 Distinct Entitiesa. The NEDA Board is a cabinet level board

composed of the major government departments and is chaired by the President of the Philippines.

b. The Secretariat provides technical and secretariat services to the different NEDA Committees, inter-agency bodies in governments and other clients such as local government units.

• It is tasked to provide technical staff support and assistance including the conduct of studies and the development of policy measures and other recommendations

Source:

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN THE PHILIPPINESby: RICARDO S. LAZO

Chapter 8EXECUTING PUBLIC POLICY WITH STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

AND BENCHMARKING