University of Northern British Columbia: Open Journal Systems
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A Proposal for a Formal Definition of the Design Concept
Get PDFA clear and unambiguous definition of the design concept would be use- ful for developing a cumulative tradition for research on design. In this article we suggest a formal definition of the concept design and propose a conceptual model linking concepts related to design projects. The definition of design incorporates seven elements: agent, object, environment, goals, primitives, requirements and con- straints. The design project conceptual model is based on the view that projects are temporal trajectories of work systems that include human agents who work to design systems for stakeholders, and use resources and tools to accomplish this task. We demonstrate how these two conceptualizations can be useful by showing that 1) the definition of design can be used to classify design knowledge and 2) the conceptual model can be used to classify design approaches
Comparative Policy Analysis: The Design of Measures
Get PDFOnce again,political scientists are turning their attention to the concrete problems of their own time and place. After a generation of dedication to the canons of "pure science,"there is a renewed enthusiasm for the potential of the discipline as a policy science. The desire to build greater powers of policy analysis into political science is evident in a wide variety of recent work and discussion
How is Design Possible?
No full textThis paper approaches the question 'how is design possible?' by suggesting that design is a relatively simple set of operations carried out on highly complex structures, which are themselves simplified by 'theories' and modes of representation. The analysis stgrongly suggests that if design method is to be improved then it is more important to study the environment itself than how designers desig
Women’s Access to Cabinets in Canada: Assessing the Role of Some Institutional Variables
Get PDFOnly recently have women been recruited to serve in Canadian cabinets, and their presence in these bodies remains marginal, although it is progressing steadily. This article has the objective to examine the role of some institutional variables on women’s access to federal and provincial cabinets in Canada, from 1984 to the end of 2007. Six hypotheses are tested exploring the following independent variables: the overall proportion of female legislators versus the proportion of women within the government caucus only; the region; the majority or minority status of the government; the change (or lack of change) of government following a general election; the size of the cabinet; and, the political party that forms the government. The overall pro-portion of women legislators and notably, their proportion within the government caucus both exert an almost monopolistic influence on the feminization rate of cabinets. In addition, the results invite to qualify the idea which suggests that the higher a political role, the harder it is for women to attain
"Getting Better All the Time?": Leadership Selection and the Manitoba NDP
Get PDFIn failing to achieve many of the benefits associated with delegate conventions, and realizing most of their shortcomings, the Manitoba New Democratic Party appears poised to adopt a new method of leadership selection. Based on the party’s base of support, history, and experiences during the most recent leadership race in 2009, the following analysis suggests NDP members may look most favourably upon a “hybrid” approach to selecting their next leader. This would allow the party to maintain many of the advantages of the convention model, while incorporating the strengths of a one-member, one-vote system
The Design of Alternatives in Organizational Contexts: A Pilot Study
Get PDFA review of decision research suggests that the design stage is a neglected aspect of the decision-making pro- cess. This study develops a conceptual model for analyzing the design of alternatives in organizations, and applies it in three case studies. The model has two basic dimensions which may affect the range and quality of options generated in the design process. One is the mix and type of creativity and search; the other is the degree and type of closure to other phases of decision making. Comparative analysis of the cases offers qualified support for the hypotheses, and clear evidence that the im- pact of alternatives design on decision outcomes warrants greater attention to this stage of the decision- making process
Patching vs Packaging in Policy Formulation: Complementary Effects, Goodness of Fit, Degrees of Freedom, and Feasibility in Policy Portfolio Design
Get PDFThinking about policy mixes is at the forefront of current research work in the policy sciences and raises many significant questions with respect to policy tools and instruments, processes of policy formulation, and the evolution of tool choices over time. Not least among these is how to assess the potential for multiple policy tools to achieve policy goals in an efficient and effective way. Previous conceptual work on policy mixes has highlighted evaluative criteria such as "consistency" (the ability of multiple policy tools to reinforce rather than undermine each other in the pursuit of individual policy goals), "coherence" (or the ability of multiple policy goals to co-exist with each other in a logical fashion), and 'congruence" (or the ability of multiple goals and instruments to work together in a uni-directional or mutually supportive fashion) as important design principles and measures of optimality in policy mixes. And previous empirical work on the evolution of existing policy mixes has highlighted how these three criteria are often lacking in mixes which have evolved over time as well as those which have otherwise been consciously designed. This paper revisits this early design work in order to more clearly assess the reasons why many existing policy mixes are sub-optimal and the consequences this has for thinking about policy formulation processes and the practices of policy design