Assignment: Steps in Implementing Program or Project

While public administrators are involved in all stages of the policy process, much of their work is focused on implementation of public policies. Review the lecture notes and Chapter 9 before preparing this assignment, as the specific steps from which to develop your essay are clearly outlined.

Write a well organized, three- to four-page essay in which you summarize and discuss the major steps involved in implementing a program or project and identify some of the problems that can arise with each.

Once the rules are finalized, implementation begins. Implementation can take many forms. A policy can be implemented:

By the agency or department in charge of that particular area, such as the Department of Justice or the Department of Homeland Security, at the national, state, or local level

By nonprofit organizations or by private, for-profit businesses through grants and contracts

However, no matter which level or which branch of government or which type of organization is involved, the implementation of policy involves similar steps. An overview of the implementation phase of public policies reveals that within this stage, plans are developed, budgets are determined, leadership and organizational structure is established, evaluations are designed, workers are hired, and services or products are delivered. When referring to the implementation phase of the policymaking process, specific steps were outlined in the definition by Jones in our text. These steps include organization, interpretation, and application.

Implementation is where public policies come to life.

However, implementation is also where policies succeed or fail. If the implementation plans are good, the program, project, or policy envisioned in the legislation can be developed, evaluated, and improved. If the implementation plan is a poor one, no matter the reason, the policy can fail, or not even make it past the planning stages.

The implementation is what the public sees of the policy process. For example, no matter how long or how divisive was the debate down at City Hall about the garbage services to be offered, it is whether the garbage truck arrives on schedule every week that the public knows of the policy. Most of the public won't care whether the funds for the highway repair project came from the state or the federal government, what they see is whether the highway is repaired.

In fact, many public services are now being contracted out to private companies. Let's look at that trend and consider how it might impact public administrators.

You have probably heard much discussion about the wonders of privatization, which is the contracting of public sector services with the private, for-profit sector as a means of controlling costs. The main argument for privatization has been that the private, for-profit sector is more efficient than the public sector in providing services. What policy goal is being elevated above the others when we talk about privatization in those terms? Yes, it is efficiency.

Given that in public administration we must be concerned with finding a balance of all four of the policy goals, what might we be losing with a focus on efficiency? The answer is equity.

Let us consider how the policy goal of equity might be affected by the privatization of garbage services.

Use the sidebar graphic to do an Internet search for "Blackwater in Iraq" and read some of the news stories about the use of Blackwater Worldwide to provide privatized security forces in Iraq. What was the trade-off in terms of liberty?

There were two issues related to liberty. One was the direct loss of liberty on the part of the Iraqis. The other was the more indirect issue of our lack of commitment to the ideals of liberty because of the lack of oversight and controls our military and our civilian leadership had over the Blackwater forces.

How did the use of Blackwater Worldwide impact the issues of accountability?

Neither the Iraqi government, the U.S. State Department, nor the U.S. military had direct responsibility for the actions of Blackwater's mercenaries.

One of the challenges with using privatized services is to ensure that the necessary accountability is built into the contract for the services.

Another question we have to ask about the use of privatized services is the degree to which such services are really more efficient. This is where a focus on our underlying assumptions is critical. We assume that business does it better than government but don't often take into account the reality of cost overruns or expense excesses that sometimes are a problem with the private, for-profit sector.

For some examples, do an Internet search for "cost overruns in military equipment" and see both who is typically blamed and who is typically responsible. What did you find? Would a more serious focus on accountability in the contracting process help with this problem?

The major problem with privatization is ensuring that all the policy goals, not just efficiency or security, are taken into account. As citizens, it is also our responsibility to make sure that our main focus is not only on the efficiency and inefficiency of public sector services.