ISSN:0313-6647    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8500.1986.tb01033.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1986

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract:This paper considers but rejects a thesis that there is some sort of ‘technological imperative’ in operation in the process of electricity planning which requires the integration of electricity generating systems with large industrial consumers. It is argued that there is nothing about the technical features of electricity generation and supply that does not translate into costs and benefits (which can be subsequently paid, enjoyed or ignored by decision‐makers). Instead a Galbraithian thesis of technocracy is examined, but this is found to be insufficient to explain fully the electricity planning process in Australia and New Zealand and the relationship of that process to electricity‐intensive industry. After examining cases of forecasting and planning in New Zealand and Tasmania (both predominantly reliant on intensive hydro‐electric systems), it is concluded that a full appreciation requires an understanding of the relationship between government and business, a relationship which is rooted long ago in the colonial origins of both

ISSN:0313-6647    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8500.1986.tb01034.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1986

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract:This paper argues that theories of organisational power which are based on the concepts of dependence and uncertainty may constitute a useful approach for explaining the manner in which government policies come to be implemented. In the intra‐organisational context, studies by Crozier and Hickson demonstrate that subgroups which can control sources of uncertainty and create dependencies rise to positions of relative power within the organisation and may use this position to bargain for increased organisational rewards. Subgroups within public sector organisations that achieve power in these terms may, as their organisational reward, seek to impose particular values on policy programs carried out by the organisation as a whole. Activities in the inter‐organisational context may be viewed from a similar perspective. The work of J. D. Thompson indicates that organisations can possess positions of power relative to other organisations in their task environment. In the public sector such power may be used to influence the policy programs of dependent departments. The paper then suggests that in the public sector intra‐ and inter‐organisational theories of power may be combined to explain how subgroups can evolve into organisations in their own right and, in so doing, succeed in considerably changing the stated direction of government policy. To show how such a situation can occur, a case study of the evolution of Queensland's institutes of technology is included. The paper concludes that theories of organisational power can be of value to policy implementation theorists but require some modification to accommodate the particular characteristics of the public sector envi

ISSN:0313-6647    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8500.1986.tb01035.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1986

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Abstract:Policy and policy development have received considerable attention in Australia over the last decade or more. This attention has resulted in many recommendations on policy in the series of major public service inquiries of the 1970s, in a number of books and journal articles on varied aspects of public policy, and in the considerable strengthening of the policy development capacities of many government agencies. This attention has to date been inadequate, because it has in almost all cases concentrated on the questions of where within the bureaucratic structure policy development should occur and what procedural mechanisms are needed to allow ministers or cabinet to choose between alternative policies and to facilitate the coordination of policies. These questions are of course important, but questions of how a well‐considered policy option that can be considered by a cabinet or a minister is actually developed appear to have been almost totally ignored. In the public service inquiries, in the published literature, and in public accounts of the work of policy units, there appears to be virtually no analysis of the process of policy development. There is little or no discussion of how the standard formal models of policy development match or fail to match the techniques used in Australia, and although there have been many individual case studies of policy issues, there are no comparative case studies from which general observations might be drawn. Lastly, there are very few positive suggestions as to how policy development in Australia could be improved. Overcoming these inadequacies provides a major challenge to Australian policy worker

ISSN:0313-6647    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8500.1986.tb01036.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1986

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0313-6647    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8500.1986.tb01037.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1986

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0313-6647    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8500.1986.tb01038.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1986

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0313-6647    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8500.1986.tb01039.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1986

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Book reviewed in this article:CHRISTOPHER POLLITT,Manipulating the Machine: Changing the Pattern of Ministerial Departments, 1960‐83W. M. AINSWORTH AND Q. F. WILLIS (eds),Australian Organisational Behaviour: ReadingsR. J. GREGORY,Politics and Broadcasting: Before and Beyond the NZBCMATTHIAS SCHMIDT,Albert Speer: The End of a My

ISSN:0313-6647    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8500.1986.tb01040.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1986

数据来源: WILEY