Assignment: 1

BS-public Administration (Session: 2017-2021)

Roll No.: 24
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28
06
08
18
13
Student Name: Saira Latif
Maham Fatima
Fazila Ramzan
Rabia Saleem
Irum Shehzadi
Kinza Khalid
Submitted to: Miss Maira Afzal
Course Title: Public Policy and Program Evaluation
Topic: How to evaluate the policy and its features

Department of Public Administration

GC WOMEN UNIVERSITY FAISALABAD
 Policy:
Definition:
A principle, plan, or course of action, as pursued by a government, organization,
Page | 2 individual, etc... Policy is also related to network quality of service (QoS), because
it can define priorities by user, workgroup or application with regard to reserving
network bandwidth.
Policy is a set of ideas or a plan of what to do in particular situations that has
been agreed to officially by a group of people, a business organization,
a government, or a political party.
Policy Evaluation:
The evaluation looks at why the policy was adopted in the first place and
determines if it is a success or failure. If it is a success, the policy will continue to
be monitored and evaluated as the marketplace and legal environments change. But
a policy that has failed must consider whether or not the foundation of the policy
was based on incorrect data, unforeseen circumstances or false theories.

If the data used to create the policy in the first place is incorrect, then even a well-
implemented program might fail. Change in the environment could also lead to
failure of the policy in a short period of time. A false theory means leadership
expects a result based on a plausible but not definitive notion. Leaders will evaluate
policies that failed to see if there are other beneficial side effects to the policy.

For example, a school is concerned about violence among its students. School
leadership implements a dress code policy designed to curb student violence. After
a year, the rate of student violence is the same. This suggests the policy has failed
because what students wear is not indicative of whether or not they will conduct
violent acts. During the same period, the school did see a rise in test scores. With
proper evaluation, the school might decide to retain the policy and monitor the new
 theory of implementation, which is that uniforms help students concentrate more
on studies than on clothing.

Page | 3 This is called formulative evaluation. In formulative evaluations, the policy is

reviewed, based on whether the policy accomplished its intended purpose. If the
policy did not accomplish its intended purpose, then improvements need to be
made, based on the data provided in the evaluation.

Who Evaluates?
➢ Elites:
Government Agencies, Think Tanks, National or International Audit institutions,
Regulators
➢ Interest Groups:
Trade Associations, Business groups, Pressure groups, Media
➢ Citizens:
Complaints, Whistle Blower laws, Public Opinion, Voting
Of course, some agencies may be shielded from evaluations; some may have
repeated evaluations thrust upon them.
Why evaluate?
• Determine policy outcomes
• Identify policy strengths
• Identify and improve weaknesses
• Justify use of resources
• Increased emphasis on accountability
• Professional responsibility to show effectiveness.

Types of evaluation
 • Outcome
• Implementation
• Formative
• Summative
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Summary Process of evaluation:

Compare with:
business strategy
business case

Identify Team Identify Informatio

scope and Selection sources of n gathering Analysis
stakeholder information
s

Use the information for more effective business operations

 Steps for a Successful Policy Analysis

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Policy Analysis in Six easy steps.
Based on the ideas and approach followed by Carl V. Patton there exists a very
simple pattern of ideas and points to be considered in doing an actual policy analysis.
The six steps are as follows:

1. Verify, define, and detail the problem. The most relevant and important
of them all because many times the objectives are not clear or even contradictory
from each other. A successful policy analysis will have allocated and identified
clearly the problem to be resolved in the following steps. This is the foundation for
an efficient and effective outcome of the whole process. The analyst must question
both the interested parties involved as well as their agendas of the outcome. Locating
the problem in such a way that eliminates any ambiguity for future references.

2. Establish evaluation criteria. In order to compare, measure and select

among alternatives, relevant evaluation criteria must be established. In this step it
must be considered cost, net benefit, effectiveness, efficiency, equity, administrative
ease, legality, and political acceptability. Economic benefits must be considered in
evaluating the policy. How the policy will harm or benefit a particular group or
groups will depend on the number of option viable Options more difficult than others
must be considered but ultimately decided through analyzing the parties involved
with policy. Political and other variables go hand in hand with the evaluation criteria
to be followed. Most of the time the client, or person or group, interested in the
policy analysis will dictate the direction or evaluation criteria to follow.

3. Identify alternative policies. In order to reach this third step, the other two
must have been successfully reached and completed. As it can be seen, the policy
 analysis involves an incrementalism approach; reaching one step in order to go on
to the next. In this third step understanding what is sought is very important. In order
to generate alternatives, it becomes important to have a clear understanding of the
Page | 6 problem and how to go about it. Possible alternatives include the "do nothing
approach" (status quo), and any other that can benefit the outcome. Combining
alternatives generates better solutions not thought of before. Relying on past
experiences from other groups or policy analysis helps to create a more thorough
analysis and understanding. It is important to avoid settling prematurely on a certain
number of options in this step; many options must be considered before settling into
a reduced number of alternatives. Brainstorming, research, experiments, writing
scenarios, or concept mapping greatly help in finding new alternatives that will help
reach an "optimal" solution.

4. Evaluate alternative policies. Packaging of alternatives into strategies is the

next step in accomplishing a thorough policy analysis. It becomes necessary to
evaluate how each possible alternative benefits the criteria previously established.
Additional data needs to be collected in analyzing the different levels of influence:
the economic, political and social dimensions of the problem. These dimensions are
analyzed through quantitative and qualitative analysis, that is the benefits and costs
per alternative. Political questions in attaining the goals are analyzed as to see
whether they satisfy the interested parties of the policy analysis. In doing this more
concise analysis the problem may not exist as originally identified; the actual
problem statement from the first step may suffer a transformation, which is
explained after evaluating the alternatives in greater detail. New aspects of the
problem may be found to be transient and even different from the original problem
statement. This modification process allows this method of policy analysis to allow
for a "recycling" of information in all the steps. Several fast interactions through the
 policy analysis may well be more efficient and effective than a single detailed one.
What this means is that the efficiency is greatly increased when several projects are
analyzed and evaluated rather than just one in great detail, allowing for a wider scope
Page | 7 of possible solutions. Patton further suggests to avoid the tool box approach:
attacking options with a favorite analysis method; it’s important to have a
heterogeneous approach in analyzing the different possible alternatives. It becomes
inefficient to view each alternative under a single perspective; it’s clearly relevant
the need to evaluate each alternative following diverse evaluating approaches
singled out according to the uniqueness of each of them.

5. Display and distinguish among alternative policies. The results of the

evaluation of possible alternatives list the degree to which criteria are met in each of
them. Numerical results don't speak for themselves but are of great help in reaching
a satisfying solution in the decision. Comparison schemes used to summarize virtues
are of great help in distinguishing among several options; scenarios with quantitative
methods, qualitative analysis, and complex political considerations can be melded
into general alternatives containing many more from the original ones. In making
the comparison and distinction of each alternative it is necessary to play out the
economic, political, legal, and administrative ramification of each option. Political
analysis is a major factor of decision of distinction among the choices; display the
positive effects and negative effects interested in implementing the policy. This
political approach will ultimately analyze how the number of participants will
improve or diminish the implementation. It will also criticize on how the internal
cooperation of the interested units or parties will play an important role in the
outcome of the policy analysis. Mixing two or more alternatives is a very common
and practiced approach in attaining a very reasonably justified policy analysis.
 6. Monitoring the implemented policy. Assure continuity, determine whether
they are having impact. "Even after a policy has been implemented, there may be
some doubt whether the problem was resolved appropriately and even whether the
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selected policy is being implemented properly. These concerns require that policies
and programs be maintained and monitored during implementation to assure that
they do not change for unintentionally, to measure the impact that they are having,
to determine whether they are having the impact intended, and to decide whether
they should be continued, modified or terminated."

Mainly, we are talking about internal validity; whether our programs make a
difference, if there are no other alternate explanations. This step is very important
because of the special characteristic that program evaluation and research design
present in this particular step. William Trochim presents a very complete explanation
of this concept. His Home Page will be of great help in this matter.

Features of Policy:

❖ Endorsed – The policy has the support of management.

 We have all heard the saying “Actions speak louder than words.” In order for a
policy to be successful, leadership must not only believe in the policy, they must
also act accordingly by indicating an active commitment to the policy by serving as
role models. This requires visible participation and action, ongoing communication
Page | 9 and championing, investment, and prioritization.

❖ Relevant - The policy is applicable to the organization.

Strategically, the policy must support the guiding principles and goals of the
organization. Intentionally, it must be relevant to those who must comply.
Introducing a policy to a group of people who find nothing recognizable in relation
to their everyday experience is a recipe for disaster.
Policy writing is a thoughtful process that must take into account the environment.
If policies are not relevant, they will be ignored or worse, dismissed as unnecessary
and management will be perceived as being out of touch.

❖ Realistic – The policy makes sense.

Policies will be rejected if they are not realistic. Policies must reflect the reality of
the environment in which they will be implemented.
If you engage constituents in policy development, acknowledge challenges,
provide appropriate training, and consistently enforce policies, employees will be
more likely to accept and follow the policies.

❖ Attainable – The policy can be successfully implemented.

Policies and procedures should only require what is possible. If we assume that the
objective of a policy is to advance the organization’s guiding principles, one can
also assume that a positive outcome is desired. A policy should never set up
constituents for failure; rather, it should provide a clear path for success.
It is important to seek advice and input from key people in every job role in which
the policies apply. If unachievable outcomes are expected, people will fail. This
will have a profound effect on morale and will ultimately affect productivity.
Know what is possible.
 ❖ Adaptable – The policy can accommodate change.
In order to increase and grow, businesses must be open to changes in the market
Page | 10 and willing to take measured risks. Innovators are uncertain to talk with security,
compliance, or risk departments for fear that their ideas will immediately be
discounted as opposing to policy or regulatory requirement. “Going around”
security is understood as the way to get things done. The unfortunate result is the
introduction of products or services that may put the organization at risk.
Organizations that are committed to secure products and services often discover it
to be a sales enabler and competitive differentiator.

❖ Enforceable – The policy is statutory.

Enforceable means that administrative, physical, or technical controls can be put in
place to support the policy, that compliance can be measured and, if necessary,
appropriate sanctions applied.
If a rule is broken and there is no consequence, then the rule is in effect
meaningless. However, there must be a fair way to determine if a policy is
violated, which includes evaluating the organization support of the policy.
Sanctions should be clearly defined and commensurate with the associated risk. A
clear and consistent process should be in place so that all similar violations are
treated in the same manner.
❖ Inclusive – The policy scope includes all relevant parties
It is important to include external parties in our policy thought process.
Organizations that choose to put information in or use systems may face the
additional challenge of having to assess and evaluate vendor controls across
distrusted systems in multiple locations. The reach of the Internet has facilitated
worldwide commerce, which means that policies may have to consider an
international audience of customers, business partners, and employees. The trend
toward outsourcing and subcontracting requires that policies be designed in such a
way to incorporate third parties.

References:
 https://www.slideshare.net/pasicUganda/introduction-to-policy-evaluation
http://stepsforsuccessfulpolicyanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/10/steps-for-successful-
policy-analysis.html
Page | 11 https://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-policy-evaluation-80673.html
https://www.tylercybersecurity.com/