DVA3703 Assessment exam 2.

To begin with, the concept of policy formulation refers to the process of identifying courses of action, often called alternatives or options, to resolve problems faced by particular organisation orsociety (Anderson, 2003:27). In this case, an organisation could be a business firm/company, government department, ministry or political party. The idea of formulating a policy comes as a result of policy demands or claims for action on a particular issue that are made by other actors. Agenda setting stage refers to the process through which a policy and the problem it is intended to address are acknowledged to be of public interest. For a policy to be placed on the agenda, there seem to be certain prerequisites. Individuals, groups as well as the state must acknowledge that a situation is problematic, identify the problematic aspects of the situation, propose solutions, and engage in activities that influence the government and pressure it to intervene, including identifying groups that can play an active role in addressing the problem Du Plessis & Kotze (2016:45) identifies factors that influence the determination of proposed policy issues to receive attention of policymakers as: Scope or how widespread a problem is. Gerston (1997:33) says “if only a small percentage of the population is worried, then the issue will fail the scope test because of its inability to generate enough attention”. A national policy issue (e.g. the development model a country would follow) is likely to attract lots of attention, whereas localised issues (e.g. street lights in a given neighbourhood) might not; Intensity or the emotional connection to the policy issue. Think of typical emotive issues here, such as abortion, gun control or land redistribution; Duration, or the period that the issue would enjoy sustained interest. In South Africa, the sustained pressure by activists about ARV treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS meant that the issue had currency on the agenda until the rollout of treatment; Resources, particularly the projected costs of addressing the This study source was downloaded by from CourseH on :24:13 GMT -06:00 1 DVA3703 Assessment exam 2. problem. Here, think of how expensive the provision of electricity to all citizens can be as opposed to building a few clinics; and focusing events such as national disasters or terrorist attacks. Cobb and Elder in Du Pless & Kotze (2016:45) further differentiate between 2 agenda’s namely: discussion agenda, or public agenda, includes issues that have become highly visible and have thus become the subject of discussion; and the decision agenda, or formal agenda, includes the list of issues the government has decided to address. This stage is shaped by “the power dynamics surrounding policy formulation. In this regard, who (individual actors or groups) has the power to say that an issue is a problem; the nature, status, scope, particularity, potential impact and intensity of the problem. Here the issue might be whether this is an actual existing problem, or even a crisis; the institutional environment that is needed for policy implementation. In other words, who is responsible for addressing the problem; the emotive connotation of the problem, such as whether it is attracting media attention, or points to the abuse of human or animal rights; the question whether there is general consensus about the problem and its causes and cures. Decision-making is a stage that is not self-contained part of the process, neither is it equal to the whole policy formulation process. This is a stage where some formal and informal statement of deciding the intention by the authorised public actors to take action, refraining from taking action. In short decision-making is to choose an appropriate action from all the relevant options (Du Plessis & Kotze, 2016:53). Decision-making is to choose an appropriate action from all the relevant alternatives or options. It is regarded as the important point of administrative action. It entails making a rational choice between options and it can be regarded as an intellectual activity. The quality of decision-making determines the quality of the policy-making process,