Problems of Policy Implementation in Distributed Decision Systems

Wise policies, effectively implemented, are essential to the successful functioning of any complex organization. We can think of policy as being defined at the executive or command level and communicated throughout the organizational hierarchy in order to guide the decisions that must be taken at all levels. In the business world, for example, executive policies may establish the company philosophy regarding price, quality, and quantity. In the military world, policy may specify the appropriate weight to be given to achievement of some strategic objective relative to the risks to life, equipment, and political alliances that military action may place in jeopardy. In the technological world, policies are often framed within the context of a general analytic model such as cost/benefit or decision analysis. Quantitative tradeoff functions or utility curves may be derived to represent, in precise terms, “executive policy.”