scholarly journals From satisficing to artificing: The evolution of administrative decision-making in the age of the algorithm

Data & Policy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thea Snow
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Human Judgment ◽  
Decision Tools ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Public Sector Organizations ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
Depth Interviews

Abstract Algorithmic decision tools (ADTs) are being introduced into public sector organizations to support more accurate and consistent decision-making. Whether they succeed turns, in large part, on how administrators use these tools. This is one of the first empirical studies to explore how ADTs are being used by Street Level Bureaucrats (SLBs). The author develops an original conceptual framework and uses in-depth interviews to explore whether SLBs are ignoring ADTs (algorithm aversion); deferring to ADTs (automation bias); or using ADTs together with their own judgment (an approach the author calls “artificing”). Interviews reveal that artificing is the most common use-type, followed by aversion, while deference is rare. Five conditions appear to influence how practitioners use ADTs: (a) understanding of the tool (b) perception of human judgment (c) seeing value in the tool (d) being offered opportunities to modify the tool (e) alignment of tool with expectations.

Poll Worker Decision Making at the American Ballot Box

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 714-718
Author(s):  
Mara Suttmann-Lea
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Policy Implementation ◽  
Matching Law ◽  
Election Law ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Signature Matching ◽  
American Elections ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
The City ◽  
Depth Interviews

Street-level bureaucrats set the terms for policy implementation and often operate under limited oversight. In American elections, poll workers are the street-level bureaucrats tasked with implementing a jurisdiction’s laws for verifying voter eligibility. Using in-depth interviews with 24 poll workers from the city of Chicago, this article assesses how poll workers make decisions about voter eligibility under Illinois’ signature-matching law. Respondents discussed a range of considerations used when they examine voter eligibility. The evidence I present suggests they rely on personal perspectives and experiences in their evaluations. Respondents also offered a range of responses for how they would proceed in the instance of a mismatching signature—including requesting voters provide identification even though it is not a requirement in Illinois unless a voter is challenged. Broadly, these results illustrate how poll workers’ subjective interpretations of election law shape their decisions and can lead to idiosyncratic applications of election law.

Risk Classification Systems and the Provision of Juvenile Aftercare

1993 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R. Maupin
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Random Sample ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Risk Classification ◽  
Classification Systems ◽  
Street Level ◽  
Parole Officers ◽  
Classification Score ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats ◽  
Juvenile Parole

Juvenile aftercare decision-making systems that classify parolees according to perceived risk and needs are designed to render uniform the treatment of these individuals by juvenile parole officials. This article analyzes a system implemented by Arizona to determine if the intensity of supervision received by parolees differs as a function of classification score. Supervision of a random sample of 280 parolees was tracked for 90 days. The analysis indicates that intensity of supervision does not differ based on the classification score, suggesting that the instrument does not control the decision making of the street-level bureaucrats, the parole officers.

scholarly journals Indigenous Collaborative Governance: An Understanding of Decision-Making Process at Desa Adat in Bali, Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 119
Author(s):  
Md Putri Wiyantari Sutaryantha ◽  
Bevaola Kusumasari
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Practical Implication ◽  
Collaborative Governance ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Common Goal ◽  
Depth Interviews

The decision-making process that took place at desa adat (indigenous village) involved many actors and stakeholders from various elements of the community, to achieve a common goal. This research highlights the linkages of indigenous collaborative governance among actors involved in the decision-making process at Balinese Desa Adat, Indonesia. This research has, thus, discovered how indigenous collaborative governance was linked to the decision-making process and linked to the implementation of local governance, especially in the implementation of Adat in Bali Province. This study emphasizes the extensive use of public administration literature about collaborative governance and the decision-making process. Additionally, in-depth interviews and live experience in desa adat were conducted, as it is aimed to explore and understand more about the case. The result provided aligned with the conceptual framework because all of the actual implementation of the decision-making process at Desa Adat Peliatan met the criteria or indicators of collaborative governance. It showed that there was an involvement of indigenous collaborative governance in the process of decision-making at the desa adat level. The practical implication, in this case, is that collaboration matters in the decision-making process involving various elements of society with diverse interests.

scholarly journals Public agents of front line: the creator of administrative law

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliana Bonacorsi de Palma
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
Front Line ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Action ◽  
Street Level ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Street Level Bureaucrats

<span>Abstract: The role of the front-line public agents in the implementation of the public policies created by the first-tier is the subject addressed by the author. From the notion of street-level bureaucrats, it seeks to identify the difficulties encountered by such public agents in decision-making and the need for standards that provide for institutes and administrative dynamics that in fact lead to more efficient, impersonal and guaranteeing public action to protect the well-intentioned front-line public agent to fully exercise the discretion he needs in case-by-case action.</span>

scholarly journals Service outsourcing decisions – a process framework

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-194
Author(s):  
Suvituulia Taponen ◽  
Katri Kauppi
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Cost Analysis ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Market Analysis ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Service Outsourcing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sector Organizations

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare service outsourcing decisions between public and private organizations and against a theoretical decision-making framework to both understand differences across the sectors and to provide an outsourcing framework more suitable specifically for outsourcing (and for the public sector). Design/methodology/approach Multiple case studies, i.e. a study of phenomena (here outsourcing process) at various sites is used as an approach. Findings Findings indicate that public sector organizations are trailing behind private sector organizations in how the decision-making process is conducted and resourced. The authors suggest regular evaluation of service functions internally as a starting point for the outsourcing service decision-making process. Additionally, the market analysis should be done prior to cost analysis and benchmarking as the availability of suppliers more qualified than the internal process defines the make or buy decision. Research limitations/implications The newly developed framework based on empirical evidence includes the following phases: regular evaluation of service functions, market analysis, cost analysis and benchmarking and evaluating relevant service activities. Applying the framework improves the efficient delivery of outsourced public services and brings public sector outsourcing closer to the professionalism currently present in the private sector. Originality/value Choosing between in-house and outsourced service delivery is a fundamental decision in both private and public sector organizations. Previous outsourcing research has mostly focused on the private sector, with limited focus on the public sector’s outsourcing processes, yet understanding of the service outsourcing process is important in ensuring organizational competitiveness and cost efficiency.

The Rationale behind Implementation of New Electronic Tools for Electronic Public Procurement

2015 ◽  
pp. 2258-2290
Author(s):  
Nataša Pomazalová ◽  
Stanislav Rejman
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Information Flows ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
Dynamic Transformation ◽  
Public Sector Organizations ◽  
Ex Ante ◽  
Transformation Processes

This chapter focuses on the effective implementation of new electronic tools for Public e-Procurement in public sector organizations. While an analysis of the characteristics of transformation processes necessary for the development of e-Government and the choice between Public e-Procurement tools is theoretically already well developed, there are still a number of ambiguities in the approaches of rationalization implementation of these. A deeper understanding of the decision-making phenomenon in general is provided. Flexibly adjusting the e-Government strategy on dynamics of the development of Public e-Procurement tool ex ante or leading in an effort to change the organizational structures, information flows, and constraints in which public sector organizations operate in the area of Public e-Procurement. Public e-Procurement tools are selected for the analysis, because interesting progress is expected here. Results from the nature of the dynamic transformation processes and decision-making show the need to support changes in the environment arising from the development of e-Government.

scholarly journals Public sector austerity cuts in Britain and the changing discourse of work–life balance

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 586-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzan Lewis ◽  
Deirdre Anderson ◽  
Clare Lyonette ◽  
Nicola Payne ◽  
Stephen Wood
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Work Life ◽  
Work Life Balance ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Life Balance ◽  
Public Sector Organizations ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Financial Pressures

The relative importance of economic and other motives for employers to provide support for work–life balance (WLB) is debated within different literatures. However, discourses of WLB can be sensitive to changing economic contexts. This article draws on in-depth interviews with senior human resources professionals in British public sector organizations to examine shifting discourses of WLB in an austerity context. Three main discourses were identified: WLB practices as organizationally embedded amid financial pressures; WLB practices as a strategy for managing financial pressures; and WLB as a personal responsibility. Despite a discourse of mutual benefits to employee and employer underpinning all three discourses, there is a distinct shift towards greater emphasis on economic rather than institutional interests of employers during austerity, accompanied by discursive processes of fixing, stretching, shrinking and bending understandings of WLB. The reconstructed meaning of WLB raises concerns about its continued relevance to its original espoused purpose.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document