Case Study 3 Planning, Negotiation, & Implementation

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CHAPTER 4

Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation

 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Understanding the importance of the planning, implementation, and evaluation cycle

2. Becoming familiar with the steps of strategic planning

3. Learning about the methods of policy analysis

4. Understanding the approaches involved in implementation

5. Building skills in program evaluation

 SUMMARY OVERVIEW

This chapter offers a comprehensive examination of the cycle of planning, implementation, and

evaluation that is part of organizational life in the public sector. As the authors note, developing

policies and programs, putting them into operation, and measuring the level of their success

create an important and recurring cycle for public administrators, one that has taken on increased

importance as managers have been asked to do more with less. This chapter elaborates on the

logic and details underlying these three activities and provides guidance on the specific activities

and methods employed by administrators involved in the cycle.

The chapter describes a variety of technical aids that have been developed during the last decade

to help public managers plan, implement, and evaluate skills that they need to acquire in addition

to knowledge of the political and ethical context of public administration and certain personal and

interpersonal skills. The authors point out that as citizens, lawmakers, and other stakeholder

groups increasingly hold agencies accountable not only for how efficiently they use public

resources but also for how effective they are in achieving public outcomes; these techniques offer

new methods through which public organizations can account for their actions. These techniques

link the actions of public organizations with specific, measurable results and, through the use of

these techniques, public managers can better account for both their own efforts and the impact

their efforts have in a given policy area or program.

Each of the three areas is examined in detail. The chapter differentiates the rationale and process

of strategic planning versus long-range planning; offers insight into preparing for planning

activities; and outlines the specific steps in the planning process. Because the planning process in

the public sector often identifies the need for new policies, the process of policy analysis also is

discussed, including the logic of policy analysis and the specific steps or stages that a

comprehensive policy analysis should take. An exploration of implementation, or the “action

phase,” focuses on the close connection between planning and execution and includes an

examination of organizational design, systems analysis, and reengineering as tools for taking

action. Finally, the chapter turns its focus to evaluation––the process of assessing whether

program goals and objectives have been achieved in a way that is both efficient and effective.

This section offers discussions on program evaluation and evaluation and design techniques,

44 Chapter 4: Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation

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including an exploration of both the qualitative and quantitative techniques available to the public

administrator.

The authors emphasize that while the phases in the cycle of planning, implementation, and

planning may be less distinct in practice than in theory, public managers need to be familiar with

all three and devote time to each phase. It also is noted that managers need to keep in mind that

this cycle involves human processes and so are subject to the shifting values, attitudes, and

behaviors of the people involved. The techniques described in this chapter will be successful only

when managers use them with full regard for democratic values, clear leadership, and humane

management.

 CHAPTER OUTLINE

I. PLANNING

A. Strategic Planning

B. Planning for Planning

C. Organizing for Planning

D. Steps in Planning

 Exploring Concepts: STEPS IN STRATEGIC PLANNING

1. Statement of Mission or Objectives 2. Environmental Analysis 3. Assessment of Strengths and Weaknesses 4. Analysis of Organizational Leaders’ Values 5. Development of Alternative Strategies

E. The Logic of Policy Analysis

F. Steps in Policy Analysis

 Exploring Concepts: STEPS IN POLICY ANALYSIS

1. Defining the Problem 2. Setting Objectives and Criteria 3. Developing Alternatives 4. Analyzing Various Policies 5. Ranking and Choosing

G. Costs and Benefits

H. Other Quantitative Techniques

II. IMPLEMENTATION

A. Organizational Design

B. Systems Analysis

C. Reengineering

III. EVALUATION

A. Program Evaluation

B. Evaluation Designs and Techniques 1. Qualitative Techniques

Chapter 4: Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation 45

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2. Quantitative Techniques

IV. SUMMARY AND ACTION IMPLICATIONS

 KEY TERMS

Cost-benefit Identifying and quantifying both negative impacts (costs) and positive impacts

(benefits) of a proposal, then subtracting one from the other to arrive at a net benefit.

Decision analysis Technique wherein decisions are likely to be made sequentially and under

some degree of uncertainty.

Decision tree Technique that identifies various possible outcomes, given the risk associated with

each.

Effectiveness Extent to which a program is achieving or failing to achieve its stated objectives.

Efficiency Relationship between inputs and outputs.

Institutional subsystem Responsible for adapting the organization to its environment and for

anticipating and planning for the future.

Managerial subsystem Concerned with providing necessary resources for accomplishing a

technical task and mediating between the technical and institutional subsystems.

Participant-observer Someone in either the target population or the agency who makes

observations and draws conclusions based on firsthand experience.

Process charting/flowcharting Graphically demonstrating the various steps in an operation, the

people who perform each step, and relationships among those elements.

Stakeholders The many different persons who are involved in a policy decision and are affected

by the results.

Strategic planning Matching organizational objectives and capabilities to the anticipated

demands of the environment to produce a plan of action that will ensure achievement of

objectives.

System Set of regularized interactions configured or “bounded” in a way that differentiates and

separates them from other actions that constitute the system’s environment.

Systems theory Effort to identify the interactions of various internal and external elements that

impinge on an organization’s operations.

Technical subsystem Concerned with effective performance of an organization’s actual work.

Time series analysis Making a number of observations about the target population both before

and after program intervention.

Unit determination Decision to include or exclude certain groups in a bargaining unit.

46 Chapter 4: Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation

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 WEB LINKS

The following are links to basic information about productivity and performance

management:

The Government Accountability Office: (www.gao.gov).

American Productivity and Quality Center: (www.apqc.org).

The following are links to online resources and case studies related to planning and

implementation of productivity initiatives and on scenario planning:

U.S. Conference of Mayors: (http://www.usmayors.org/bestpractices/).

Global Business Network: (www.gbn.com).