PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION VERSUS PROGRAM DESIGN: WHICH ACCOUNTS FOR POLICY "FAILURE"?

Many influential implementation scholars now argue that "street-level" bureaucrats, rather than legislators or high-level administrators, make public policy in the U.S. Such authors as Pressman and Wildavsky cite creaming in employment and training programs as an especially clear example of well-meaning programs that fail when implemented. This paper argues that two of the most significant and lasting of these programs, the U.S. Employment Service and the Manpower Development and Training Act, were designed to encourage creaming. The essay asserts implementation scholars overstate the disconnection between program design and program implementation because they assume there is little disconnection between program legitimation and program design. A better conception of design permits one to perceive that these programs were legitimated on the grounds they would serve a large number of constituents, but were designed to do so by serving employers. The combination of these premises made creaming an imperative of program operation, and the implementors who cream remain faith ful to original program strategy. This finding suggests a redirection of policy research toward a more rlgorous analysis of program design and a better understanding of the relationship between legitimation, design, and implementation. Copyright 1984 by The Policy Studies Organization.

UNION ORGANIZING AND THE REAGAN NLRB

President Reagan's appointees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have issued many controversial decisions. This has caused a debate between liberals viewing the Reagan NLRB as anti-union and conservatives viewing the recent NLRB decisions as a return to proven and appropriate policies. This paper investigates Reagan NLRB decisions over the years 1982-1986 so as to shed some light on the facts underlying the debate. The analysis reveals that the Reagan NLRB decisions have been either favorable to employers or unfavorable to unions. The NLRB's decisions undoubtedly contribute to the organizing difficulties faced by unions. Copyright 1987 Western Economic Association International.