The Rational Model of Policy & Decision Making

Deborah Stone begins her book, Policy Paradox, by stating, “a theory of policy politics must start with a simple model of political society, just as economics starts with a simple model of economic society.” Deborah Stone examines two policy-making models to describe the paradox’s of the process model for public policy. The two models include: the market (rational model) and the Polis (community) model. Stone states she contrasts these two models to “illuminate some ways the market model distorts political life.” As discussed in class, the market model follows five steps:

Deborah Stone compares the market and polis models of policy making with the intent to show that the original origin of the public policy discipline was to be grounded in a practical science, economics, but to also show how and why the economic approach to policy making has significant limitations. Stone is arguing against the view that policy decision making is rational decision making. Deborah Stone’s main reason for comparing the two models of policy making is to identify and critique the simplistic assumptions that have been used in the market and rationality project. Stone is attempting to point out the paradox that exists between the two because the two models are evidently contradictory, the market being ground in rationality and the polis being based on emotion. Stone compares the two policies in order to show that economics cannot be solely used to understand policy making because the two are fundamentally different. She also points out that policy is made in a political society and because of this the polis model seeks to explain public policy as it actually happens in reality since the field and study of public policy was created to allow government to make decisions that would best benefit their citizens.

The Rational Actor Model works in several ways. When it comes to the level of analysis for RAM, it’s involved with a unitary actor treating the state as a single entity and strategic context (Yetiv, 5). The goals or results of the Rational Actor Model are to maximize perceived national interests. Finally, the decision-making mode for the Rational Actor Model is the cost and benefit analysis. Overall, we need an individual who wants to maximize their nation’s interests, while looking at the costs and benefit of the decision maker’s actions.

My example of the rational choice theory of today is the mexican drug controls of December 2011. The drug trafficking organization in Mexico was highly rational, self-interested actors seeked to maximize profit.

Rational decision is a state of being agreeable to reasons. The correct decision is not just reasoned but it is also optimal for solving a problem. Mr Weekes, the operation manager, employed series of analytical steps to review possible outcomes for problems by discussing it with managers to come up withdevise particular courses of action.

This paper will cover two criminological theories and they will be applied to two types of criminality. The two theories chosen for the paper were developmental theory and rational choice theory. The two types of crimes that were chosen were organized crime, specifically focusing on gangs, and terrorism. Then the crimes will be compared and contrasted. Finally, the developmental theory will be applied to organized crime to explain why and how it happens. The rational choice theory will be applied to terrorism to explain what compels individuals to attempt this form of criminality.

So what is the definition of a rational theory? “The rational choice theory adopts a utilitarian belief that man is a reasoning actor who weighs means and ends, costs and benefits, and makes a rational choice. This method was designed by Cornish and Clarke to assist in thinking about situational crime prevention”. In the book it basically explains it in a much easier way. The book defines it as the, “explanations of crime and delinquency held that human behavior was a matter of choice”.

The model states the steps of policy process (Lindblom, 1959: 79 – 81; Forester, 1984: 23 – 24). At the beginning of the sequence, administrators of public sector would try to distinguish policy objectives by using an empirical analysis to develop alternative policies. The second step is examining all alternative policies possibility in order to obtain the most valuable policy that needed. Then, the administrator would take a decision on what policy that should be taken based on the process that had been done. It looks like that the process is choosing main goals of policies that already identified by all of examination process. It means policy result is already established and the process is the way to justify it and does not need to have a consultation because the process is fully integrated and acknowledged (Forester, 1984: 25). Forester (1984) also added that the policy process of rational comprehensive also coverage fully base line of information and costs for each information, and has enough time and resources to produce a best policy (Forester, 1984,

In the course of a country’s decision making, it considers many different ideas and eventually creates policy that benefits the entire state. Typical deliberations on policy can last many months or even years, allowing for the most beneficial and thought out policy to benefit every constituent. In many cases, especially those

The concept of ‘rationality’ has been talked through the centuries. According to Grey (2013), rationality is a big question because of this proposition which has the meaning and difficulties seem to be defining of a whole set of issues which have resonated through both organisation theory and practice ever since. And rationality is the basis of a decision, rational decision makers are objective and logical, they reach the goal that maximises the value. Not only rationality is important to organisations, and also it can be identified in various kinds of management theories. This essay will introduce the different aspects of the concept of ‘rationality’ and make explanations that how these are recognised in different management theories.

Chapter 1 walks the reader through the need for easy methods of policy analysis and planning as our problems in society become more complex and difficult to solve. This chapter starts with the introduction of a set off systematic procedures or what is known as policy analysis methods that can be used to solve our complex problems. Then there is a subgroup of these methods that are basic methods, which assists with quick results and in making good policy decisions (Patton, Sawicki, & Clark, 2012, p. 3). Some disagree that there is a set of procedures that can be used to assist in solving problems however a standardized methodology has developed and been applied (Patton et al., 2012 p.

The difficulties that were accompanied with this approach led to deviation from the rational model. Complexity of modern organizations and the limited cognitive ability of decision makers were most influencing factors in the deviation . The decision makers were unable to operate under perfect rationality conditions. The information about a decision was mostly unavailable or unclear, and open to different interpretations. Also, the criteria of evaluating alternative solutions were not agreed upon. It also required very long time and a lot of energy of the decision makers to pursue a maximizing outcome. These constrains led to a conclusion that the absolute rational model is unreachable.

The focus of my term paper is the decision making process used by today's top-level managers. Top-level managers, such as Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Chief Operations Officers (COOs), and Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), must make critical decisions on a daily basis. Their choices and the resulting outcomes affect the company, the employees, and the stakeholders. Due to the high importance of their decisions, the process they use to reach them merits a close examination.

Rational choice theory is actually more than one theory per se, but the basic similarities among its variants mean that they can be intelligibly amalgamated for the purposes of critiquing its implementation in political science. Therefore public choice theory, positive political science, rational actor models, and the economic approach to politics, among others, refer to what we may call rational choice theory for the purposes of this essay. (See Green and Shapiro 1994, xi.

This report will discuss about the approach to rational decision making process. It discusses how an everyday problem faced by management can be tackled by using