scholarly journals Procedural Fairness and Incentive Programs: Reflections on the Environmental Choice Program

1993 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 544 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Procedural Fairness ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
The Public ◽  
Incentive Programs ◽  
Private Interests ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Fairness Norms ◽  
Choice Program

This paper explores the application of concepts of procedural fairness to the federal government's Environmental Choice Program's decision-making processes. While Canadian courts have traditionally required public bureaucrats to act "fairly" when implementing command models of regulation, they have only recently been confronted with demands that regulators implementing economic incentive programs also act in accordance with procedural fairness norms. Procedural fairness has been justified through a number of related arguments, all of which focus on the protection of private interests of individuals adversely affected by the exercise of bureaucratic power. The paper argues that procedural fairness should characterize both decision-making categories within the Environmental Choice Program, and within incentive programs generally. However, the paper argues that the justification for the application of fairness norms in government incentive programs should be the promotion and support of program policies. At best, the protection of private interests is the means through which program benefits can be optimally designed, and effectively delivered to the public. The paper describes the Environmental Choice Program's decision-making processes, and divides the program's operations into two categories. CATEGORY 1 decisions involve the development of environmental standards, and the negotiation of the licensing agreement through which private firms are permitted to use the federal government owned ECOLOGO. CATEGORY 2 decisions involve individual licensing, licence termination and renewal decisions. The paper then discusses the ways in which effective participation of a wide range of interest groups is encouraged in both categories of decisions through access to information, representation on decision-making bodies, and appeal and review processes. Finally, the paper describes the environmental benefits associated with effective participation as an example of the public policy

scholarly journals Application of the watershed sustainability index in the Piranhas-Açu watershed

Water Policy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 622-640
Author(s):  
D. D. Costa e Silva ◽  
H. M. L. Chaves ◽  
W. F. Curi ◽  
J. G. V. Baracuhy ◽  
T. P. S. Cunha
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Resources Management ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sustainability Index ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Semi Arid Region ◽  
Brazilian Northeast

Abstract The current worldwide water resources issue is one of the crucial matters to overcome obstacles to sustainable development. This problem, formerly tackled in a sectored manner, is now pointing towards an analysis directed to treating the watershed as a management unit, with regards to all dimensions of knowledge and, especially, to the public participation in the decision-making processes. As an alternative to measure its performance, it has been sought out to develop indexes aimed to measure its sustainability, but there is still a lack of the use of composed efficient methodologies that also enable public participation in decision-making. This research presents a methodology comprising 15 indexes for the calculation of the Watershed Sustainability Index (WSI), followed by the application of the PROMETHEE multi-criteria analysis method and the COPELAND multi-decision-maker method. The methodology was applied to evaluate the performance of subwatersheds of the Piranhas-Açu watershed, located in the Brazilian northeast semi-arid region. The performance ordering, obtained through the application of the methods, emphasizes that subwatersheds' performances are uneven. It can be noticed that the subwatersheds' performances are still far from ideal in relation to water resources management, even in the ones that displayed satisfactory index levels.

Framing Information Technology Governance in the Public Sector: Opportunities and Challenges

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 89-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khalifa Al-Farsi ◽  
Ramzi EL Haddadeh
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Information Technology ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
It Governance ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Technology Governance ◽  
Support Organizations ◽  
Information Technology Governance ◽  
Decision Making Processes

Information technology governance is considered one of the innovative practices that can provide support for decision-makers. Interestingly, it has become increasingly a de facto for organizations in seeking to optimise their performance. In principle, information technology governance has emerged to support organizations in the integration of information technology (IT) infrastructures and the delivery of high-quality services. On the other hand, decision-making processes in public sector organisations can be multi-faceted and complex, and decision makers play an important role in implementing technology in the public sector. The aim of this paper is to shed some light on current opportunities and challenges that IT governance is experiencing in the context of public sector services. In this respect, this paper examines the factors influencing the decision-making process to fully appreciate IT governance. Furthermore, this study focuses on combining institutional and individual perspectives to explain how individuals can take decisions in response to institutional influences.

scholarly journals The Role of Public Participation in Governance towards Achieving Sustainable Development. Part 1

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-404
Author(s):  
Maurice S. Nyarangaa ◽  
Chen Hao ◽  
Duncan O. Hongo
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Public Participation ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Political Class ◽  
The Public ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Government

Public participation aimed at improving the effectiveness of governance by involving citizens in governance policy formulation and decision-making processes. It was designed to promote transparency, accountability and effectiveness of any modern government. Although Kenya has legally adopted public participation in day-to-day government activities, challenges still cripple its effectiveness as documented by several scholars. Instead of reducing conflicts between the government and the public, it has heightened witnessing so many petitions of government missing on priorities in terms of development and government policies. Results show that participation weakly relates with governance hence frictions sustainable development. Theoretically, public participation influences governance efficiency and development, directly and indirectly, thus sustainable development policy and implementation depends on Public participation and good governance. However, an effective public participation in governance is has been fractioned by the government. Instead of being a promoter/sponsor of public participation, the government of Kenya has failed to put structures that would spur participation of citizens in policy making and other days to activities. This has brought about wrong priority setting and misappropriation of public resources; The government officials and political class interference ultimately limit public opinion and input effects on decision-making and policy formulation, which might be an inner factor determining the failure of public participation in Kenya. The study suggests the need for strengthening public participation by establishing an independent institution to preside over public participation processes.

scholarly journals Decision Biases and Heuristics Among Emergency Managers: Just Like the Public They Manage For?

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 292-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick S. Roberts ◽  
Kris Wernstedt
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Structured Decision Making ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Managers ◽  
Emergency Managers ◽  
Decision Biases ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Outcome Bias ◽  
Attribution Bias

We present evidence that emergency managers exhibit some of the same decision biases, sensitivity to framing, and heuristics found in studies of the general public, even when making decisions in their area of expertise. Our national survey of county-level emergency managers finds that managers appear more risk averse when the outcomes of actions are framed as gains than when equivalent outcomes are framed as losses, a finding that is consistent with prospect theory. We also find evidence that the perceived actions of emergency managers in neighboring jurisdictions affect the choices a manager makes. In addition, our managers show evidence of attribution bias, outcome bias, and difficulties processing numerical information, particularly probabilities compared to frequencies. Each of these departures from perfect rationality points to potential shortfalls in public managers’ decision making. We suggest opportunities to improve decision making through reframing problems, providing training in structured decision-making processes, and employing different choice architectures to nudge behavior in a beneficial direction.

Conclusion: SDO Decision-making and the Public Interest

2020 ◽  
pp. 210-237
Author(s):  
Alison Harcourt ◽  
George Christou ◽  
Seamus Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
International Level ◽  
Multiple Streams ◽  
Policy Entrepreneurship ◽  
Historical Representation ◽  
The Public ◽  
Decision Making Processes

The conclusion situates the book’s findings in academic debates on democracy and the Internet, global self-regulation, and civil society, and international decision-making processes in unstructured environments. It assesses whether current standards-developing organization (SDO) decision-making is able to bridge historical representation gaps and deficiencies. A nuanced pattern is emerging with increasing inclusion of a wider number of actors within SDO fora. The first part of the chapter returns to the Multiple Streams (MS) framework applied to the case studies on a comparative basis. It identifies key processes under which SDO rules of interaction are established at the international level and explains which interests have come to the fore within decision-making highlighting the occurrence of policy entrepreneurship, forum shopping, and coupling. The final part explores additional frameworks for SDO regulation where spaces for public interest consideration might occur in the future. These are opportunities for inserting public interest considerations into international and national Acts, certification programmes, and the move towards open source solutions for Internet management. The book concludes that, although the literature is expansive on the interaction of corporate sector actors within SDOs, the study of other actors, such as digital rights groups, civil society, academics, policy entrepreneurs and the technical community as a whole, has been underdressed in the literature on international self-regulatory fora to date. In this respect, the book raises important questions of representation of the public interest at the international level by having addressed the actions of actors within SDO fora who promote public interest goals.

‘Stepping on the heads of our Gods'

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 40-56
Author(s):  
Yangji Doma Sherpa ◽  
A. John Sinclair ◽  
Thomas Henley
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
High Mountain ◽  
Court Cases ◽  
The Public ◽  
Mountain Environments ◽  
Hydroelectric Dam ◽  
Decision Making Processes

The Himalayan region of India is experiencing rapid development in tourism, agriculture, highway construction and hydroelectric dam construction. This research considered the role of the public both within and outside of development decision-making processes in these high mountain environments using the proposed Himalayan Ski Village (HSV) in Manali as a case study. The qualitative data revealed that there has been an extensive array of public participation activity related to the HSV project over approximately 10 years. Very little of this activity has evolved, however, through the formal decision-making process. Rather, most participation activities, such as general house meetings, objection letters, public rallies, court cases against the proposed project, and a religious congregation were instigated by the public to protest the proposed development. The findings also show that involvement in the participatory activities undertaken by the public and project proponent fostered instrumental and communicative learning outcomes.

scholarly journals Program Outcomes of Payments for Watershed Services in Brazilian Atlantic Forest: How to Evaluate to Improve Decision-Making and the Socio-Environmental Benefits

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2441
Author(s):  
Flávio Monteiro dos Santos ◽  
Marcondes Coelho-Junior ◽  
Jéssica Chaves Cardoso ◽  
Vanessa Basso ◽  
André de Paula Marques ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Evaluation Methodology ◽  
Payments For Ecosystem Services ◽  
Program Outcomes ◽  
Efficiency Performance ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Watershed Services ◽  
Paraíba Do Sul River

In 2014, the Paraíba do Sul River Basin Integration Committee (CEIVAP) established its Pilot Program of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES), focusing on water resources. The projects from this program share the same goal: to disseminate the use of PES as a tool for land management in watersheds. Contemplating 11 municipalities, including 84 landowners, conserving 718.63 ha and restoring 188.58 ha, this program was concluded in April 2020. Reviewing its historical and contextualizing features, we have observed that the outcomes from this program extend beyond these numbers. Here, we propose an evaluation methodology comparing the efficiency, performance, and impact of the PES projects. Based on new indicators that are easy to measure, we have identified key elements that have asymmetrically affected the projects. The complexity of the project scope and the execution of high-cost, and risky interventions on rural properties, have resulted in expensive projects with little tangible outputs. Our results support the upgrade of public policy for investment in ecosystem services by CEIVAP in the Paraíba do Sul watershed. In addition, our results can be more successful by improving the decision-making processes for similar projects in other watersheds.

How Judges Use Weapons of Influence: The Social Psychology of Courts

2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-24
Author(s):  
Guy Davidov ◽  
Maayan Davidov
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Judicial Decision ◽  
Judicial Decision Making ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Face ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Government

Research on compliance has shown that people can be induced to comply with various requests by using techniques that capitalise on the human tendencies to act consistently and to reciprocate. Thus far this line of research has been applied to interactions between individuals, not to relations between institutions. We argue, however, that similar techniques are applied by courts vis-à-vis the government, the legislature and the public at large, when courts try to secure legitimacy and acceptance of their decisions. We discuss a number of known influence techniques – including ‘foot in the door’, ‘low-balling’, ‘giving a reputation to uphold’ and ‘door in the face’ – and provide examples from Israeli case law of the use of such techniques by courts. This analysis offers new insights that can further the understanding of judicial decision-making processes.

What if …..? Designing tools to help the public make difficult decisions

2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 202-210
Author(s):  
Patricia Wright
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Information Overload ◽  
Decision Aids ◽  
Digital Tools ◽  
Behavior Changes ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
The Public ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Diverse Audience

Information overload results from having plenty of data but not enough time to organize it so that it assists decision making. This paper argues that although digital tools can help people make decisions, their development could benefit from an appreciation of how people’s behavior changes as the display features of the tools change. Therefore advantages could come from greater collaboration between designers and researchers who explore the psychological processes that enable decision making (processes such as search, understanding, inference and memory). Evidence is provided of individual differences in the way decision aids are used, and the value of multimodality information to accommodate diverse audience needs.

Networks

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesca Panzironi
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Hierarchical Control ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
Competitive Market ◽  
Market Regulation ◽  
Procedural Rationality ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Governance Networks ◽  
Decision Making Processes

A network may refer to “a group of interdependent actors and the relationships among them,” or to a set of nodes linked by a web of interdependencies. The concept of networks has its origins in earlier philosophical and sociological ideas such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s “general will” and Émile Durkheim’s “social facts”, which adressed social and political communities and how decisions are mediated and ideas are structured within them. Networks encompass a wide range of theoretical interpretations and critical applications across different disciplines, including governance networks, policy networks, public administration networks, social movement networks, intergovernmental networks, social networks, trade networks, computer networks, information networks, and neural networks. Governance networks have been proposed as alternative pluricentric governance models representing a new form of negotiated governance based on interdependence, negotiation and trust. Such networks differ from the competitive market regulation and state hierarchical control in three aspects: the relationship between the actors, decision-making processes, and compliance. The decision-making processes within governance networks are founded on a reflexive rationality rather than the “procedural rationality” which characterizes the competitive market regulation and the “substantial rationality” which underpins authoritative state regulation. Network theory has proved especially useful for scholars in positing the existence of loosely defined and informal webs of experts or advocates that can have a real and substantial influence on international relations discourse and policy. Two examples of the use of network theory in action are transnational advocacy networks and epistemic communities.

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