Concept of Issue Networks

Issue networks is a concept theorized by Hugo Heclo that refers to the alliance of several interest groups as well as individuals who come together with a common goal or issue related to government policy. They come together with an aim to promote change on policies on certain issues in the government. They can be local, national or even international. The parties involve groups such as political leaders, journalists, researchers, and people involved within the issue. One example that illustrates this concept is the case study, “Reinventing School Lunch: Transforming a Food Policy into a Nutritional Policy,” by Laura S. Sims. In this case, several issues are involved as well as several groups including governmental groups (Stillman, 2009). The case sites the National School Lunch Program as the biggest and oldest policy on nutrition and food assistant program in the United States formed in 1946. Additionally, through this case several things concerning public administrations can be learnt.

In 1946, the national congress sought to safeguard the health and wellness of children in United States through providing food with enough nutrition to the children. During this time, the government was worried about the lack of enough nutrient supplements for the children to grow healthy. The aim was to provide children with agriculturally nutritious food while they promoted agriculture. However, times have changed and people as well. Currently, there is an increased epidemic of overweight children in United States, which requires changing the policy to suite this issue. While the initial aim was to provide children with enough nutritious food, the current aim is to change the program to reduce the rate of obesity and overweight, meaning there is a need to change the nutritional diet in the school lunch program. Currently, the focus is on providing food with lower fats to the children to reduce the risk of obesity and overweight. Several groups are involved in changing this half-century-old policy.

The first interest group in this policy is the USDA that has made an effort to reduce the amount of fat in the diet of the students. Another group of interest is the School Lunch managers who are encouraging children to select healthy foods with low fat content. The journalists are yet another interest group that is playing a part in changing this program. The journalists are publishing articles to discourage schools from selling the USDA foods deemed unhealthy. Moreover, there are many coalitions against the unhealthy foods. Some of then are consumer advocacy groups, professional groups such as the American Dietetic Association. Within the government, there are several groups dedicated to reinventing of the program such as the Education and Labor Committee, and The House Committee on Agriculture. There are several other parties including private dedicated to changing the lunch program. These teams and groups, through their advocacy, both publicly, in congress and within schools as well as through the media, illustrate the issues network, where all of them unite with the one goal of changing the lunch program (Stillman, 2009).

The concept of issues network has several implications on the training of public administration professionals. Some of these implications are due to the nature of the issues networks. Issues networks suggest several groups and individuals working towards the same goal aimed for changes. Therefore, public administrators need to be equipped with knowledge of handling different kinds of groups, individuals and professionals. As indicated, issues concept may be beneficial for exercising democracy where people vote. However, issues networks act in many ways to hinder independent leadership in the government. Thus, administrators must acquire knowledge of handling issues from the public groups (Laurence & Toole, 2010).

With so many groups such as indicated above, uniting to execute one goal, there are very many ideas generated with most of them generalized and not executable without going through them for further details. The groups provide a lot of information on what they want done, which are broadly stated. This leaves the administrators having to redefine and implement them. More so, they have to find a solution of the problem. Thus, during training, administrators need to be prepared for taking ideas from different parts, which advocate for democracy since all people are allowed to air their views. They have to be open minded, unlike the bureaucratic leaders. Additionally, they need to realize that issue network groups push for immediate changes that might not be possible within a short time. Thus, planning and implementing their ideas is very crucial. This leaves aspiring leaders with no choice accept training on strategic planning that allows them to plan ways of moving from one point to another without failing in their duties of serving the community.

Issues networks contribute to a change in the jobs that administrators do. Unlike in the bureaucratic leadership where leaders enforce the set rules of going about business downward to the lower level, they have to listen to all people. Bureaucracy gave leaders a chance to rule without questioning while the issues networks advocate for all people participating in making changes they want. Bureaucracy involved ensuring set rules and regulations of doing certain tasks especially within government are followed. It is this notion that the issue groups aim to challenge in order to change the status quo for the benefit of the people. Thus, leaders are forced to conform to the needs and ideas of the subjects they lead. Therefore, the administrators have to balance both their power and ideas of people and groups coming towards one goal. Most of all, they are faced with the duty of providing what the interest groups want changed. This means they have to listen to the interest groups and offer their needs. Mostly, interest groups will have many diversified ideas, especially professional bodies that may want to have their policies implemented.

Another major task that administrators will be doing is changing of policies that are not favoring the public. Such policies include the lunch program for schools that was found to be contributing to increasing weight in children. Thus, administrators will be changing many of the policies as the major job since issue networks seek to change policies within the government. All the interest groups combined, act as the driving force to change the policies or improve on existing ones. This puts the administrators at a situation where their independence of leadership is minimal with so much interference from other groups of policy makers. This stems from the need to change as the world changes. Thus, their tasks will be more related to making positive changes within the society that people can appreciate and benefit from.

From this case study and the issues network concept, administrators can realize that leading is more involving than it was before. Currently, administering does not only involve laying rules and seeing them done, but also allowing autonomy and changing of policies. Good leadership requires listening and finding out what is the best for the people. This is from the fact that more and more interest groups, professional bodies as well as highly ranked researchers are concerned about government policies and their effect on the society. Democracy dictates that all people in the society have their say to matters affecting them. Therefore, more and more individuals and groups will continue to interfere both positively and negatively to policies in the government since they are supposed to be for their welfare. Due to differing ideas and viewpoint of the different groups and individuals, listening to the issue networks requires one to have a stand to make a decision that is best for the majority despite facing a lot of opposition from some of the groups. Being a leader requires one to take responsibility and work with the sole interest of the people one intends to serve. To be a better leader, the chapter illustrates that one needs know what is right in order to make important decisions on the behalf of the society. Administrators need to be experts in the field of leadership they choose to lead. This way, they have a better knowledge of what is right for the society.

Reference

Laurence, J. Toole, Jr. (2010). The Ties That Bind? Networks, Public Administration, and Political Science. PS: Political Science & Politics, 43 (1): 7-14.

Stillman, R.J. (2009). Public Administration: Concepts and Cases. Ney York, N.Y: Cengage Learning.