OBJECTIVES
As a person with knowledge of policy-making and the processes accompanying it, the author has always brought up to his superiors the viability of strategy formation regarding the analysis of the importance of values in the policy-making process and at times fail to understand the reasons or logic behind certain strategic implementations imposed on it.
By delving into this project paper, the author intends to have better insights into how the policy-making process is thought up, formulated and then imparted down. The author hopes to have an in-depth understanding as to how the incorporation of values in the policy-making process enables institutions to compete effectively and profitably in this era of internationalization where competition is extremely intense.
In order to reinforce the learning objectives, two key focal issues were focussed upon i.e. innovation and diversity. Innovation was discussed with regards to the policy-making process where it was renowned for its developmental capabilities to constantly innovate. Diversity came under strategic thinking and formation as the author considered the diverse culture, political climate, economic surroundings, social environment, technological settings, government policies and legal systems in order to better understand the policy-making process being discussed.
INTRODUCTION
Policy-making can be defined as the efficient and effective planning and implementation of the policies and tasks necessary to satisfy an institution’s members, citizens and management. Policy-making focuses on the careful management of the processes involved in the deliberation and strict implementation of the rules and regulations as stipulated in the policies.
More often than not, small companies, organizations and institutions don't really have the capabilities to implement efficient policy-making. Instead, they engage in activities that various schools of management typically associate with policy-making. These activities include the identification of current issues, searching for alternative solutions, monitoring and evaluation.
However, policy-making deals with all processes done within companies, institutions and organizations. Activities such as the management of decisions, the analysis of the impacts of the policies, logistics and evaluations are often related with policy-making. A great deal of emphasis lies on the efficiency and effectiveness of processes. Therefore, policy-making includes the analysis and management of internal processes.
Values and its Impact on Policy-making
The recent efforts of policy-makers to integrate values in the policy-making process would definitely make learning easy for every individual who desires to do so. Also, the growing impact of information and communications technology (ICT) fits in with the larger transformation towards a knowledge-based policy-making process. Most policy-makers are already adapted to ICT. Nowadays, policy-makers are more and more using artificial intelligence systems in order to educate people.
The integration of values in the policy-making process is being influenced by the interaction of two major factors. On the one hand, the instructional factors: the educational philosophy brought about by the policy-makers and its conversion into didactical ideas. On the other hand, organizational factors: the staff, infrastructure and policies related in this area. It is obvious that the policy-makers must possess a sound vision of policies in order to effectively perform their educative role in society.
Nevertheless, these policy-makers need an interaction between both factors. This is because in order to respond to the integration of values, they will eventually transform into a model together with the various aspects of the policy-making process. In return, the general public will have to continuously monitor their limitations and along the process introduce innovations.
Values and Policy-making: A Critical Combination
In lieu of the present developments in policy-making, there have been significant visions regarding the importance of values that evolved. A majority of these learning visions are based on the idea that the integration of values in the policy-making process is a social process where knowledge is denied instead of being acquired passively. The policy-making process, then, transforms into an interactive process. The interaction is being verified through the help of the participants in the policy-making process such as the legislators, policy-makers and the public. In this framework, the integration of values in the policy-making process would also mean the continued guidance and support of the active learning process of the public. Obviously, this would call for an intensive and phased guiding strategy.
When in the active pursuit of policy-making, the interaction of the policy-makers with the public forms an integral part towards its success. Collaborative interaction as a method of policy-making is gradually being used by most institutions nowadays. Through this approach, the general public can learn from the policy-makers through the imitation of their techniques in the socialization processes. In the process, the general public is able to obtain the chance to see their own ideas in a different aspect and therefore be able to take alternatives into consideration. The relative effectiveness of this approach is determined with the capability of the public to continuously challenge their pre-acquired knowledge by trying to adapt to the interpretations of the policy-makers.
Aside from the public and the policy-makers, the different resources of learning belong to a third category of factors of efficient policy-making. Moreover, policy-making has shown signs of significant growth over the past years. Consequently, the integration of values becomes more complicated. This is because the integration of values requires the public to possess the appropriate reference frameworks. But policy-makers can certainly help the public transform information into valuable knowledge and thus be able to integrate values in the policy-making process.
Strategic Options
Deriving from the analysis between the factors involved, many strategic options would become imperative. It is therefore essential to evaluate these strategic options as to whether they are appropriate to the issues addressed, whether they are feasible enough to be implemented and their acceptability to key stakeholders.
There is definitely a need to reconcile both the inside-out and outside-in capabilities. While the integration of values into the policy-making process involves focusing on its core competencies following its resource base, the policymakers will be put into a disadvantageous position should they choose to neglect both the macro as well as the microenvironment. Therefore, policymakers have to be aware of the latest changes in political, economic, legal and even demographic trends in order to develop the outside-in capabilities, such as market sensing, customer linking, channel bonding and technology monitoring.
The advantages enjoyed by policy-makers may come in the form of increased power and responsibility. Knowing what the public demands and the latest trends could help the policy-makers fully exploit their research and development capabilities to come out with policies which are not only efficient but also empowered by values. The strategic option can even be used as marketing tool where the focus is on staying close to the public and listening to their feedbacks. On the flip side of the coin, there will be huge mobilization of resources involved, and the associated risks bestowed on the policy-makers.
Nevertheless, the mentioned strategic option seems the most practical in the wake of globalization, since there is a sudden shift towards a more integrated and independent world of policy-making. The key stakeholders too should not have any objections so long as the policy-making process is not threatened. By virtue of the policy-maker’s centralized control of their responsibilities, it is being expected that major barriers should not exist in carrying out such an option except additional time may be required given the scope and span of their operations.
Understanding the strategic importance of values is something the policy-makers have to be familiar with. Policy-makers normally practice a centralized configuration of their roles and capabilities. This allows information dissemination to be retained.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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