Order without design : information production and policy making

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

Order without design : information production and policy making

Martha S. Feldman

Stanford University Press, 1989

  • : pbk

Available at  / 15 libraries

Search this Book/Journal

Note

Bibliography: p. [191]-198

Includes index

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

ISBN 9780804717243

Description

In this lively and, ultimately, disturbing study of policy analysts who are employed in bureaucracies, the author finds a startling paradox. The analysts know that the papers they so painstakingly prepare will not be used; as one analyst remarked, 'Either it won't get done in time, or it won't be good enough, or the person who wanted it done will have left and no one will know what to do with it, or the issue will no longer exist.' Yet the analysts continue to work hard at producing these papers. The means of producing information is at the heart of the paradox. The process systematically produces information that is difficult to use directly in decision making. Yet analysts can do little to alter the constraints of the process. They continue to produce papers because it is their job, they value doing it, and it is their major means of influencing policy. In so doing, they make a unique, though indirect, contribution to policy making. Drawing on eighteen months of observation and participation in the work of the policy office of the US Department of Energy, the author fully investigates the conditions that create the paradox and the positive as well as the negative implications of the process of information production.<

Table of Contents

  • Part I. Introduction: 1. The paradox of producing information
  • 2. Interpretation in decision making and policy making
  • 3. Method and data
  • Part II. What Bureaucratic Analysts Do: 4. Report writing
  • 5. tasks that contribute to report writing
  • 6. The work of bureaucratic analysts
  • Part III. Contribution to Policy Making: 7. Rationality, interpretation, and inventories
  • 8. Properties of the inventory
  • 9. Problem sovling versus interpretation: from the bureaucratic analysts' perspective
  • Part VI. Implications: 10. Bureaucratic analysts and their work
  • 11. Organizing analysts
  • 12. The production of information
  • Appendices
  • Bibliography
  • Index.
Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780804717267

Description

In this lively and, ultimately, disturbing study of policy analysts who are employed in bureaucracies, the author finds a startling paradox. The analysts know that the papers they so painstakingly prepare will not be used; as one analyst remarked, "Either it won't get done in time, or it won't be good enough, or the person who wanted it done will have left and no one will know what to do with it, or the issue will no longer exist." Yet the analysts continue to work at producing these papers. The means of producing information is at the heart of the paradox. The process systematically produces information that is difficult to use directly in decision-making. Yet analysts can do little to alter the constraints of the process. They continue to produce papers because it is their job, they value doing it, and it is their major means of influencing policy. In so doing they make a unique, though indirect, contribution to policy making. Drawing on eighteen months of observation and participation in the work of the policy office of the U.S. Department of Energy, the author fully investigates the conditions that create the paradox and the positive as well as the negative implications of the process of information production in organizations.

Table of Contents

Part I. Introduction: 1. The paradox of producing information 2. Interpretation in decision making and policy making 3. Method and data Part II. What Bureaucratic Analysts Do: 4. Report writing 5. tasks that contribute to report writing 6. The work of bureaucratic analysts Part III. Contribution to Policy Making: 7. Rationality, interpretation, and inventories 8. Properties of the inventory 9. Problem sovling versus interpretation: from the bureaucratic analysts' perspective Part VI. Implications: 10. Bureaucratic analysts and their work 11. Organizing analysts 12. The production of information Appendices Bibliography Index.

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

Page Top