A discussion of the use of structured group process techniques to enhance local legislative policy development and leadership is presented. Three group process techniques-Nominal Group Technique, Delphi, and Interpretive Structural Modeling—are presented in some detail and related to local legislative capacity building. Finally, the techniques are placed in the context of a case study in which group process techniques are used to assist a local legislative council in developing a policy-action strategy for several substantive local issues.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
ARROW, K. J. (1963) Social Choice and Individual Values. New York: John Wiley.
2.
BLAIR, L. H. and R. E. WINNIE (1972) The Forgotten Men of Govenment, Local Legislators. Washington, DC: Urban Institute.
3.
BROWN, A. (1980) "Technical assistance to rural communities."Public Admin. Rev.40, 1: 18-23.
4.
BURGESS, P. C. (1975) "Capacity building and the elements of public management."Public Admin. Rev.35 (special issue): 705-716.
5.
COKE, J. G. and C. MOORE (1978) "Making budget decisions," (videotape). Columbus: Academy for Contemporary Problems.
6.
DE BONO, E. (1970) Lateral Thinking. New York: Harper & Row.
7.
DELBECQ, A. L. , A. H. VAN DE VEN, and D. GUSTAFSON (1975) Group Techniques for Program Planning. Glenwood, IL: Scott, Foresman.
8.
FITZ, R. (1975) "Interpretive structural modeling as technology for social learning," pp. 109-118 in M. Baldwin (ed.) Portraits of Complexity. Columbus: Battelle Memorial Institute.
9.
HART, W. L. (1979) "Goal setting for a state environmental agency," pp. 89-94 in M. Baldwin (ed.) Portraits of Complexity. Columbus: Battelle Memorial Institute.
10.
HAWTHORNE, R. W. , A. P. SAGE, and D. R. FARRIS (1979) "Application of unified program planning to public and societal systems," pp. 127-145 in M. Baldwin (ed.) Portraits of Complexity. Columbus: Battelle Memorial Institute.
11.
JANIS, I. (1972) Victims of Group Think. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
12.
KEENEY, A. L. (1971) "Utility independence and preferences for multi-attributed consequences."Operations Research19.
13.
KIRKWOOD, C. W. (1972) Decision Analysis Incorporating Preferences of Groups. Cambridge: MIT Press.
14.
LINDLEY, C. (1975) "Changing policy management responsibilities of local legislative bodies."Public. Admin. Rev.35 (special issue): 794-797.
15.
LINSTONE, H. A. and M. TUROFF (1975) The Delphi Method: Techniques and Applications. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
16.
MASLOW, A. (1965) Eupsychian Management. Homewood, IL: Richard Irwin.
17.
OSTROWSKI, J. W. (1980) "Citizen participation in technology assessment: an application of group process techniques," in Community Energy Self-Reliance. Golden, CO: Solar Energy Information Data Bank.
18.
PARNES, A. J. (1961) "Effects of extended effort in creative problem solving."J. of Educ. Psychology52: 117-122.
19.
STILLMAN, R. (1977) "The city manager: professional helping hand or political hired hand?"Public Admin. Rev.37, 6: 659-670.
20.
STONE, H. , D. PRICE, and K. STONE (1940) City Manager Government in the United States. Chicago: Public Administration Service.
21.
WARFIELD, J. W. (1974) Structuring Complex Systems. Columbus: Battelle Memorial Institute.
22.
WARFIELD, J. W. (1973) An Assault on Complexity. Columbus: Battelle Memorial Institute.
23.
WHITE, L. G. (1982) "Improving the goal-setting process in local government."Public Admin. Rev.42, 1: 77-83.
