How economic concepts are used by planners for policy analysis
Policy analysis is a crucial aspect of public administration, and each person should understand a variety of economic, technological, strategic planning, and other issues, use them to analyze such problems as mass shootings and return on investment in human capital theory. This memo consists of five main sections to introduce five educative topics and underline their importance of each issue in a particular sphere of life that defines the quality of public administration.
The connection between economics and public administration is evident, and people cannot neglect the fact that economics and public administration are the studies that help to comprehend human actions, the use of human abilities, and the value of goods society distributes (Samuelson & Nordhaus, 2010). People cannot imagine their lives without production, distribution, and use of products and services. They try to control their possibilities and opportunities, analyze their decisions, and make financial predictions that can improve their lives.
Planners can use such microeconomic concepts like demand, supply, or consumers for policy analysis at the phase of when people should identify their problems and consider the factors that are necessary for decision-making processes. Demand is the concept that helps to maximize consumers’ satisfaction and analyze them concerning the commodities available (Wetzstein, 2013). Supply is the concept that defines the amount of products/services that people expect to get or offer to other people. Consumers are a group of people, who are eager to buy products/services according to the prices and conditions set.
The analysis of these three microeconomic concepts helps people to realize why they do something and what they can expect. When people want to identify the problems and improve a situation, they have to use these concepts, understand the nature of people, who face certain problems, and realize what these people want and what people can get.
The effects of technology and social media on public administration
Public administration depends not only on many economic perspectives and concepts. People should also pay attention to the technological achievements and learn the effects of such technologies like GIS, GPS, the Internet, or even Wireless Communication on public administration. People are bothered by the necessity to deal with some public policy issues such as crime and justice, child and domestic abuse, animal and human rights (Tarallo, 2012). Still, the issues of censorship and children dependence on information offered online are even more important.
Each kind of technology has its impact on public administration, and people have to realize that it is not enough to enjoy the benefits or be afraid of challenges. It is more important to understand the worth of each technology for people:
- GIS supports the development of communities; still, more professionals need to be educated and hired within a short period;
- GPS promotes the idea of access; still, it may be too inconvenient and intrusive;
- Remote Sensing explores decision-making processes and widens people’s opportunities; however, people become more dependent on technologies;
- The Internet helps to find, share, and exchange information quickly (Evans, 2008); but people become too weak or lazy to search for information or even make some decisions independently;
- Wireless communication supports the development of different public policy issues and provides people with an opportunity to understand the same concepts from different perspectives;
- Social media like Facebook is also a well-know source of information for people; still, people share too personal and usually prejudiced facts.
The issues of children development and censorship depend a lot on the way to how the government can use the current technological progress and social media in particular. People overcome many challenges while spreading information. At the same time, they cannot gain control over each aspect and be confident in the quality and appropriateness of information offered.
The process of strategic planning in public organizations
The evaluation of strategic planning with SWOT and SMART techniques is one more important aspect of public administration and the analysis of public policy. Organizations should be ready to use their best opportunities to succeed in the chosen field, meet consumers’ expectations, and introduce the services better than those of their competitors.
Strategic planning is the process during which an organization defines its strategy, sets priorities for the next two or more years, identifies resources, and develops the ideas on how to control a situation (Barksdale & Lund, 2006).
During this planning process, organizations may use various SMART or SWOT techniques to succeed in project monitoring and analysis of the company’s sustainability (Morfaw, 2011). For example, SWOT techniques help to realize strong and weak sides of an organization. It may happen that the company has many strong issues for planning or neglects the threats that can change the way of the company’s development. That is why companies have to be careful with their Strengths and Weaknesses (internal sources such as employees, quality of work, attention to customers, etc.) and Opportunities and Threats (external sources such as brand names, business relationships, communicative techniques, etc.).
SMART techniques are all those specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goal settings that create a solid basis for the evaluation of the company’s possibilities and the ways of a new project implementation (Morfaw, 2011).
These techniques help organizations and their leaders understand if they are ready for competitions and what sources and capabilities they can use first.
The problem statement about Mass Shootings in the United States
Unfortunately, even if organizations consider all SMART or SWOT techniques and introduce captivating methods to solve problems and implement new ideas, people can hardly avoid the challenges other people may create. For example, the challenge of mass shootings touches upon the lives of millions of people. The United States is the country that suffers a lot from the mass shooting accidents because even there are no deaths or injuries, the fact that the accident took place influences the citizens a lot.
Although this country has already accepted certain gun control regulations and laws, this problem exists. The statistics show that more than 350 accidents of mass shooting have been taken place during 2015 (“Mass shooting tracker, 2015). The USA is one of the largest countries in the world, and more than 30% of mass shootings happen here.
This problem should touch upon one particular group of people. Everyone, from an ordinary visitor of the USA to the President, should know about this problem. People have fears going outside. People have doubts concerning other people, who are walking alone with no emotions on their faces. People want to feel safe every minute but cannot.
The identification of the facts, the attention to the accidents, and even the possibility to inform about threats and preventive methods are the best ways to start decreasing the possibility of the accidents in the USA. If people know about such possibilities, they can be ready for them.
In general, people should understand that they cannot solve the problem of mass shooting in one or even ten months. This task may last even several years. Still, the Americans have to realize the scope of such problem and continue taking steps to protect people against themselves.
References
Barksdale, S. & Lund, T. (2006). 10 steps to successful strategic planning. Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training and Development.
Evans, S.J. (2008). Public policy issues: Research trends. New York, NY: Nova Publishers.
Mass Shooting Tracker. (2015). Web.
Morfaw, J.N. (2011). Project sustainability: A comprehensive guide to sustaining projects, systems and organizations in a competitive marketplace. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse.
Samuelson, P.A. & Nordhaus, W.D. (2010). Economics. New York, NY: Tata McGraw-Hill Education.
Tarallo, M.A. (2012). Public administration: Key issues challenging practitioners. Bloomington, IL: AuthorHouse.
Wetzstein, M.E. (2013). Microeconomic theory: Concepts and connections. New York, NY: Routledge.
Ziv, S. (2015). Study: Mass shooting exceptionally American problem. Newsweek. Web.