Decision-Making in Government

For private firms,
good decisions increase productivity and profit
margins, thus making shareholders either happy or sad.

Deciding means choosing one
among several options to implement it.

Decision-making is a process focused on the relationship between those who produce information and and those who use that information.

Those who produce
the information may complain that the data
they produce need to be considered more in
the decision-making process and those who use
information in their decisions may argue that the
information they need lacks in terms of quality
and quantity.

Other researchers, on the other hand, draw
attention to the importance of the language
used in the transmission of information, and
emphasize the danger that the transmitted
information may be distorted if those who
produce the information and those who consume
it as decision-makers speak different languages.

The decision-making process has at least five
stages: The first is diagnosing and clearly stating
the problem or opportunity. The second step is
collecting data about the problem or opportunity.
The third step is to reach a decision regarding the
situation under consideration and implement that
decision. The fourth and fifth/final stages are to
implement and evaluate the implementation of the
decision.

To identify which problem or opportunity
is being examined, the problem to be addressed
should be evaluated from several perspectives.
First, how urgently this problem needs to be
solved should be understood. Should the problem
be resolved immediately, or can its solution be
delayed, even will it be ignored for the time being?

Successful and experienced decision-makers try to first
identify the nature of the problems and then
come up with new solutions that require fewer
resources and fewer decisions.

Good decision-makers solve urgent problems first after assessing the urgency of the problems.
They do not rush for applying a solution and delay decision-making if no particular solution presents itself,
hoping that new developments in social, political, economic, medical, or technical fields that may occur over
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Introduction to Public Administration 4
time that can facilitate a solution. Instead of solving
similar problems one at a time, good decisionmakers try to solve them together as a bundle. Also,
by effectively using mechanisms of policy transfer,
political and administrative decision-makers learn
about the problems solved in the past or other
countries and apply these transferable ideas to solve
similar problems at hand

The upper limits of a decision means how much
information is known about the problem, which
limits the decision that must be made (for example,
morality and legality), resource issues (for example,
money, personnel, time), limitations from the past
(for example, signed agreements and promises
made).

The lower limits of a
decision are the “sine qua non” (indispensable
conditions, in Latin) for the solution of the
problem under investigation, that is, the lowest
level of requirements. In other words, lower limits
of a decision means “what at least has to occur
for the problem to be solved” (Starling, 2002, p.
233). For instance, finding the necessary funds or
personnel is required for any action.

Chester Barnard (1938, p. 202-205) defined
a very similar concept to the lower limits of a
decision when he mentioned limiting (strategic)
factors in decision-making. This is a factor “whose
control in the right form, at the right place and
time, will establish a new set of conditions which
meet the purpose”.

Another concept that should be considered when making decisions is opportunity cost. This concept
describes other missed opportunities when a specific decision is being implemented. In other words,
opportunity cost is the second-best use of the resources used for implementing a decision.

Private companies at local,
national, and international levels, international and supranational organizations, interest groups, think tanks, and public agencies other than the decision-making agency, try to influence both the decision making process and outcomes.

The first assumption is that rational individuals
make decisions based only on logic and they are
not affected by other factors such as emotions,
intuitions, and experience. The second assumption
is that decision-makers have all the information
about the issue or problem they are deciding
on. The third assumption is that all outcomes of
decisions are predictable. The fourth and final
assumption is that all these assumptions and
features about decision-making have a universal
character.

The arguments of microeconomics and systems
approach support the rational approach. Its
primary purpose is to increase efficiency in the
decision-making process.

The rational decision-making model faces two
fundamental problems.
The first one can be called the “value problem.”. The second fundamental problem of the
rational decision-making model is the “complexity problem.” 

The rational decision-making model may not help analyze certain public policy decisions. A case
in point is the policy-making process about stray dogs in Turkey.

A second look at the decision-making process
can be expressed as the “bargaining approach.”
In this approach, instead of or in addition to the
rationality objective of the first approach, the aim
is to increase political support for the decision since
the decision-making process includes actions such
as conflict, bargaining, and persuasion between
individuals and groups.

A third approach to the decision-making
process is the “participatory approach,” which
aims to increase the level of participation of those
affected by the decision. This participation may
be the participation of many different groups,
such as the employees or the clients of the
organization, groups or institutions regulated by
the organization, the general population, or some
specific groups, such as taxpayers or voters.