Values, Policy-making, and Implementation: The Roots of Bias in Utility Regulatory and Energy Mediation Policy
Author(s)
Hyman, Drew; Wadsworth, Mike; Alexander, David P.
Abstract
The inability of organizations to carry out the mandates of top policy-making is frequently attributed to a failure of implementation – stated goals are not implemented. Such studies usually employ the classical model of policy-making. Another perspective asserts that the failure to attain goals be the result of conflicting organizational policies rather than an incapacity to implement – implementation is based on policies other than those stated in goals. The contradiction between these two statements arises from the inability of the classical model of policy-making and implementation to depict what actually happens in the field. This article had two objectives: first, to show the policy-making and implementation process as continuous, multilevel, and multifunctional rather than discrete, sequential, and differentiated, as envisaged by the classical model; and second, to use a realist model to examine apparent disparities in policy-making and implementation for people threatened with utility service termination. The study suggests that the aforementioned contradiction arises not from a gap between policy-making and implementation but as the differential meaning and action which emerge from authoritative policies and decision making by different levels and actors in the political system.
