Reclamation's Decision Process Guide
Politics |
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To deny that politics has a role in decision processes is to deny reality. Politics plays an integral role, but it is not the only influence on a decision.
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Politics is a catch-all term for the interactions of people and institutions (e.g., voters, special interest groups, elected representatives, and government). Take a bunch of diverse viewpoints and priorities, mix in persuasion, consent, and power, and you have the game of politics. Every group involved in the decision process plays politics: the professional politicians (e.g., Administration and Congress), Reclamation decisionmakers (e.g., Commissioner, Regional Directors, and Area Managers), technical experts (both internal and external), and the public (e.g., interest groups and organizations.) Each group or organization plays external politics to promote its agenda and mission. Within each group, individuals and subgroups play internal politics to get what they want or what they see as vital to improve their organization or the human condition. Yet this game is far more than a simple game of control and power. Politics channels the values and priorities of every group so that the solution is workable not only technically, but socially. Political realities form a reality check by asking:
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The best technical solution will fail if people do not support it. Thus, support must be considered to develop a workable solution. The decisionmakers and political players consider the acceptability or public support factors along with the technical information and analyses to:
Communicating with political players to determine what their concerns are and working with those issues as you would any other issue is essential. Continuous, interactive communication will open up the "black box" of political games and help prevent power plays based on misunderstandings and second guessing. For example, an elected official may not be as likely to side with the first constituent who walks in the door if he or she already understands the problem, its context, and the actions being taken to reach a solution. Conversely, if a technical team knows why an elected official favors an alternative, they will be more likely to examine that alternative or suggest other means of achieving the same underlying goal. Political factors can place constraints on defining a problem and finding a solution in much the same way as technical factors. Funding and authorization shape the scope of your study. The difficulty comes when people ignore or second-guess what a political player wants. If people perceive that a certain player is placing constraints on a study that actually are not there, then the process can quickly go off track. Be sure that you communicate directly with all levels of politicians from the highest to the lowest and understand their perspectives. Directly involve the highest levels at appropriate points in the decision process. At times, decision processes may overlook political or technical factors. This omission may cause you to miss solutions, skip analyses, and lose credibility or support. Determine what factors are missing and make sure that the imbalance is real rather than a myth-truth or false perception by communicating with everyone involved.
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Technical Approaches
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Technical experts approach the problem logically. They determine what would be the best technical solution using a methodological, data-oriented, scientific approach. Personal, professional integrity is often seen as the highest value of Reclamation employees. Technical experts exercise this integrity by:
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Decisionmaker Approaches
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Decisionmakers approach the problem from an overall perspective, waiting until all the data are in before deciding on what solution to implement. They take the overall mission and agenda into consideration to determine what would be the most workable and supportable solution. Decisionmakers exercise their integrity and support Reclamation's mission by:
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Dragon Tour Hurdles Chart <-----> Priority |
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