| Public policy is a pervasive element in everyday life. Citizens typically give little thought to how it comes into existence. Thoughts contemplating public policy are commonly focused on substantive issues, i.e., transportation, education, environment, and criminal justice. By the use of qualitative research methods, this study explores legislators' perception of managers' roles in the development and implementation of public policy.; The development of public policy is an intricate, complex process. Participants in this process include legislators, government agency managers, special interest advocates, and ordinary citizens. The news media, as chroniclers of activities in society, also have a role in policy development. Legislators and managers are critical participants throughout the policy process. Once enacted, policy implementation falls upon government agency personnel but legislators continue to interact with managers through oversight responsibilities.; Qualitative research methodology was selected for the study design because perceptions of policy participants can be more accurately obtained by data gathering methods common to this approach. Legislators were the primary informants in this naturalistic case study. They were interviewed with the use of semi-structured questions and their responses were recorded. Observation of the policy development process was another method of obtaining data. Field notes recorded observations relevant to the study purpose. Additionally, documents related to the policy development process were reviewed. Interviewing various knowledgeable observers of the policy process and triangulation of the data from these sources established validity of the findings.; Interview data, field notes, and documents were then coded and sorted to identify categories. These findings were further reduced, yielding themes. The themes of interests, awareness, power, credibility, and relationships emerged as important considerations in understanding government managers' involvement in public policy.; As a body of data from which new theory can be developed, the essential conclusion was that public policy is more than the result of a determination of a need with social value and the result of an analysis of the costs and benefits. Public policy emerges from a social process which includes legislators as authors and overseers of policy and managers as advisors and implementers of policy. The themes and conclusions relate to recommendations for improving managers' roles in policy processes and to suggestions for future research. |
