Stillman (2009) highlights the rational-comprehensive or root method and the successive limited comparisons or the branch method as the varieties of decision-making criteria. The root method applies on classical tests on administration while the branch applies to the government organs. In the root method, a public official has to use the best policy to address a pressing situation in a certain sector. The public official has to act rationally in formulating the best policy by generating a list of probable options. The branch method establishes objectives that are compromised in case of public discussions. An administrator can outline a list of possibilities using incremental steps to certain their viability. The policy maker applying the branch method does not use rationality in the list of options. An administrator applying branch method chooses a suitable compromise to satisfy the concerned people with the program.
Stillman (2009) offers that the root method wrongly assumes that decision makers have limited time. This method wrongly assumes in the inexistence of the professional elite in making of decisions. The root method assumes that parties in the decision-making forum agree quickly, while in reality there are many disagreements that consume a lot of time. A decision maker has difficulty in ranking the criteria for decision-making. The root method assumes distinct policy choices while in reality the policy choices are intertwined (Stillman, 2009). The branch method contains small steps that are incremental to attain its goals. Policy makers cannot digest all the choices on the list due to limitation of resources. The branch method entails chains of comparisons before adoption of any preferred choice. An administrator uses an alternative that has a lot of influence in the interest groups since there is a lot of competition.
The merits of branch technique include the succession of incremental steps that an administrator can make and remake to avoid any mistake in the decision-making criterion. The American administration is compatible with this technique since the system relies with gradual changes in the policy process. The branch technique permits compromise that auger well with the American culture. The problems posed by this problem include the perception of external experts that cites that it is an unsystematic approach due to the use of successive comparisons. In most cases, Stillman (2009) finds that the public administrators experience a lot of confusion in applying this technique.
On August 2005, Hurricane Katrina strikes at New Orleans nearly 1000 people perish while many remain homeless (Stillman, 2009). Stillman (2009) gives evidence that the branch incremental technique led to the catastrophic event in New Orleans. Since 1950 the United States Army Corps, politicians and United States congress makes ill-timed decisions that leaves the city defenseless to hurricane. The city engineers have built the city below the sea level and have a complex system to mitigate flooding. The system fails to sustain the flood and disaster is inevitable that leads to the destruction of a lot of property. In 1965, New Orleans experiences Hurricane Betsy. In the face of that situation, policy makers mount a series of incremental steps that are insufficient to a handle the future Hurricane Katrina (Stillman, 2009). Protagonists to the decision made by the key actors in New Orleans give evidence that Katrina an inevitable disaster due to lack of legislation to launch coastal restoration plan. New Orleans drowns due to geographical conditions, tragic events by the politicians and engineers in the city. Decision makers in the city turn away from long-term solution to avert the crisis. The key players in the city pursue plans with immediate payoff and this makes the city defenseless. The policy makers could have prioritized the issue of the storm to save the city from the disaster.
The city’s foundation is at crossroads with the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. The officials responsible for its design such as the United States Army Corps of Engineers as well as the Congress employ a dysfunctional system that seal the uneventful fate. The Corps in America in collaboration with the Congress fail to prioritize the hurricane protection policy. The Corps design projects in the city without taking into considerations the survival of humanity in the low-lying areas. The policy makers involve themselves with other projects as the hurricane project lags behind schedule. The American Corps design poor structures to sustain the flood.
The earlier constructors to avert the flood focused their attention on the floods of Mississippi instead of occasional storms of the Gulf. At this time, corps did not have the experience on flood control. Outside experts urged the corps to apply reservoirs and floodways but the Corps held that levees were impenetrate able .Unfortunately as water rose, Orleans was subject to destruction (Stillman, 2009).Corps fail in its mission and designs new plans to form reservoirs, spillways, and higher levees. The congress ratifies this ambitious and costly project quickly. The protection of the river from the floodplain exposes people to the sea and leaves inhabitants vulnerable. Congress mints the public coffers due to water projects, as the Corps become a quasi agencies. Corps recommends a 200-year project in opposed to an 800-year plan in the view it has economic benefits (Stillman, 2009). Corps implements a plan to protect the swamps instead of people living in the low wetland areas. The Corps inform the Government Accountability Office that the impact would have been worse were it not for the levees. New Orleans official designs lower standards in the projects of hurricane protection. Congress directs Corps to build taller floodwalls instead of gates. The floodwalls collapse during Hurricane Katrina. The Louisiana politicians apply a decision process to sway the Corps. The project has economy justification while ignoring environmental conditions. Policy makers made decisions to promote destruction by ignoring environmental laws.
My personal opinion is that public administration has complicated decision- making process. There is a lot at stake and the options are risky in deciding on the list of alternatives. The concept of incremental choices takes place upon sorting the options well to determine the course of action. It is difficult for the public administrator to consider the uncertainty in the selecting phase. The government has to boost the funding in this area to allow proper implementation of decisions in the public interest. The public administration should ensure transparency in the decision- making process. The Katrina catastrophe has been due to poor policy making players that involved themselves with projects that became vulnerable to people’s lives living in New Orleans. I think the public administrators ought to employ meticulous and thoughtfulness in their work. They should not rely on the convenient decisions that have immediate payoffs instead of long term decision strategies.
References
Stillman, R. (2009). Key Decision Makers Inside Public administration. Public Administration Concepts and Cases book (9 ed., pp. 213-231). Boston Mass: Wardsworth,Cengage Learning.
