HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2010
CemOA : archive ouverte d'Irstea / Cemagref p. Les auteurs souhaitent remercier toutes les person... more CemOA : archive ouverte d'Irstea / Cemagref p. Les auteurs souhaitent remercier toutes les personnes qui ont rendu possible cette recherche. Les différentes équipes ont été financées dans le cadre de l'appel commun à proposition de recherche du réseau IWRM-net intitulé " Towards Effective River Basin Plans" par les institutions suivantes : Cemagref: Ministère de l'écologie, de l'énergie, du développement durable et de l'aménagement du territoire (MEEDDAT, Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Territorial Planning) Engref: Ministère de l'écologie, de l'énergie, du développement durable et de l'aménagement du territoire (MEEDDAT, Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Territorial Planning) seeconsult: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), through PTKA (Project
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2009
This inception report of the i-Five project presents the research that is planned in the project.... more This inception report of the i-Five project presents the research that is planned in the project. Central in project is the evaluation of innovative instruments and institutions (i-3's) for implementing the Water framework directive (2000/60/EC; WFD). Moreover, the "transplantability" and adaptability of the i-3's for other contexts will be analyzed. In France, the implementation of the WFD in the Thau basin will be studied. Interesting aspects of this implementation process include collaboration between the water sector and land-use planning sector and the cooperation between the authorities and different research projects. In Germany, three "area cooperations" in the Weser basin will be evaluated, which are novel ways for organizing public participation. In addition, the issue of financing and coordination between governance scales will be analysed. In the Netherlands, the implementation of the WFD Explorer in the Dutch part of the Meuse basin and in particular the area of the waterboard Brabantse Delta will be evaluated. The WFD Explorer is a decision support system for the implementing the WFD. The project will result in a "Quick scan" method. This method will show the potentials as well as the potential obstacles of the different i-3's, and will help decision-makers to adopt or adapt the i-3 to their own context or to develop their own "home-grown" i-3. This inception report of the i-Five project presents the three cases (chapter 3) that will be studied and how they will be analysed (chapter 4 and 5). Moreover, the inception report presents and assesses the WFD itself (chapter 2). In addition, this inception report presents the expected results -the Quick scan method -and the dissemination and training strategy of the project (chapter 6). The report concludes with an extensive glossary of key terms, acronyms and abbreviations related to the WFD and to the six themes, including references to the articles of the WFD and to scientific literature (Appendix 5). The report will be of interest to everybody who is or wants to be involved in the i-Five project and to everybody interested in i-3's for implementing the WFD. The chapter on the WFD, arguably the most important and the most "difficult" European water directive of the past decade, will be of interest to everybody who is interested in a factual and detailed overview of the WFD and an analysis of the main implementation issues.
This deliverable discusses the notion of “option testing”. It first presents the general framewor... more This deliverable discusses the notion of “option testing”. It first presents the general framework used in the AquaStress project to test and evaluate water stress mitigation options. It reviews, analyses and compares three experiences in which virtual and real tests have been carried out: an integrated technology mitigation option (Tadla case study, Morocco), an economic option (Przemsza case study, Poland) and a procedural option (Vecht case study, The Netherlands). It does not present the results of these tests (these will be described in case studies' final reports) but focuses on the way in which the water stress mitigation options have been tested. For each case, the case context, the purpose of the mitigation option, and the objective of the test are outlined, followed by the test characteristics (level of field implementation, level of user involvement, risk of test damage, external factor consideration, and the risk of “false negatives” and “false positives”) and the ev...
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2011
Stakeholder participation is advocated widely, but there is little structured, empirical research... more Stakeholder participation is advocated widely, but there is little structured, empirical research into its influence on policy development. We aim to further the insight into the characteristics of participatory policy development by comparing it to expert-based policy development for the same case. We describe the process of problem framing and analysis, as well as the knowledge base used. We apply an uncertainty perspective to reveal differences between the approaches and speculate about possible explanations. We view policy development as a continuous handling of substantive uncertainty and process uncertainty, and investigate how the methods of handling uncertainty of actors influence the policy development. Our findings suggest that the wider frame that was adopted in the participatory approach was the result of a more active handling of process uncertainty. The stakeholders handled institutional uncertainty by broadening the problem frame, and they handled strategic uncertainty by negotiating commitment and by including all important stakeholder criteria in the frame. In the expert-based approach, we observed a more passive handling of uncertainty, apparently to avoid complexity. The experts handled institutional uncertainty by reducing the scope and by anticipating windows of opportunity in other policy arenas. Strategic uncertainty was handled by assuming stakeholders' acceptance of noncontroversial measures that balanced benefits and sacrifices. Three other observations are of interest to the scientific debate on participatory policy processes. Firstly, the participatory policy was less adaptive than the expert-based policy. The observed low tolerance for process uncertainty of participants made them opt for a rigorous "once and for all" settling of the conflict. Secondly, in the participatory approach, actors preferred procedures of traceable knowledge acquisition over controversial topics to handle substantive uncertainty. This excluded the use of expert judgment only, whereas the experts relied on their judgment in the absence of a satisfactory model. Thirdly, our study provides empirical evidence for the frequent claim that stakeholder involvement increases the quality of the knowledge base for a policy development process. Because these findings were obtained in a case that featured good process management and a guiding general policy framework from higher authorities, they may not generalize beyond such conditions.
Preface: Decision Support in Public Administration, P. Bots and H. Sol, R. Traunmueller. Part 1 T... more Preface: Decision Support in Public Administration, P. Bots and H. Sol, R. Traunmueller. Part 1 Theory and Concepts: Information Transfer for Decision Support in Distributed Administrative Systems, A.T. Berztiss How to Manage Complexity in Inter-Organizational Information Systems (IOIS) - Some Preliminary Conclusions, B.E.W. Andersson and P. Nilsson Problem-Setting Support, D. Vriens The Role of Decision Support in Individual Performance Review, F. Ackermann et al Decision Support Systems within the NHS - An Investigation into the Application of Case Mix Management Systems in the UK National Health Service, P.J. Baugh and D.M. Waiters Applications of Decision Support - The State of Minnesota Experience, G.W. Dickson. Part 2 Systems Design and Implementation: Decision Support for Financial Management in Local Government, M.R. Klein BAUX - A KB DSS for Municipalities Supporting Legal Decisions on Building Permits, A. Schramm Work-Time Measurement System (WTMS) - The Front-End Tool for Redesigning the Work Process, B.Q. Nguyen Toward the Implementation and Use of "Electronic" Files in Public Administration, M. Vintar Decision Support System in an Administrative Context - The Case of the Reinsertion of Long-Term Period Unemployed in France, J.-C. Pomerol et al A GDSS Methodology for Personnel Planning in Rheumatology, M.T. Smits et al the MacPolicy Project - Developing a Group Decision Support System Based on the Delphi Method, D. Kenis and L. Verhaegen Participatory Information Systems - Supporting the Decision Process in Public Sector Information Systems A. Groenlund and B. Gouhua.
ABSTRACT Decision support systems have become quite popular during the last decade. A crucial que... more ABSTRACT Decision support systems have become quite popular during the last decade. A crucial question is: Do decision support systems lead to better decisions? Does the decision maker actually perform better when he uses a decision support system? This paper presents a gaming approach towards testing the effectiveness of a decision support system and a so-called task structure. This approach enables the assessment of their effectiveness before they are actually introduced in a practical situation. This paper reports on the development of a management game that is intended to simulate as closely as possible an actually existing company in which the introduction is considered. The initial results of an evaluation approach using a gaming simulator suggest that decision makers using a DSS do not perform any better than those who do not use it. Experiments show that a DSS, even though its users are very enthusiastic about it, does not cause them to make any better decisions. Decision quality does improve dramatically, though, when decision makers are guided in the way they structure their problem situation by providing them with a task structure.
The TAKEOVER TRIO is a business game about a takeover. Three stakeholders (mother company, ailing... more The TAKEOVER TRIO is a business game about a takeover. Three stakeholders (mother company, ailing daughter company, and potential buying company) must agree on a plan to prevent compulsory liquidation of the daughter. The primary learning objective is to make participantsaware of the effect of negotiation process parameters on its outcome. Depending on the facilitator’s aims, he or she could highlight either or all of the following process parameters: logical thinking, creativity, dominance, or process management. The game scenario is not based on a real-life case (all data are fictional) but has been devised to balance three stakeholders to prevent an obvious outcome. It takes at least 12 people to play and 3 hours, plus about an hour of preparations for each participant.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2006
Supporting sustainable urban planning and development: three approaches Cities are among the most... more Supporting sustainable urban planning and development: three approaches Cities are among the most complex of man-made systems. Interventions in these systems are never simple. The essential cooperation between all stakeholders can be improved by tools that clarify urban development processes and quantify impacts. TNO and its partners have developed three promising decision support systems.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2013
International audienceThis chapter provides an overview on the mutual support between two active ... more International audienceThis chapter provides an overview on the mutual support between two active trends in the study of complex social systems: participatory approaches and social simulations. It highlights the expectations which arise from this association, from increasing quality of social simulation model in capturing better social complexity, to improving the suitability of using social simulations. It considers both objectives of increasing knowledge, as well as of supporting policy making processes. If participation can help to improve models, simulation models are also expected to support participatory processes to extend and share available knowledge among participants. Technically, the association builds upon various trends from computer sciences, social and management sciences, including system dynamics. All these domains have already developed tools, protocols, and devices, making the way to implement “participatory modelling”. These allow better elicitation of knowledge, including this knowledge in models, building models as a collaborative process, making models user - friendly for lay people or stakeholders, and ensuring the possibility of proper use of simulation outcomes. However, as far as participation in the modelling process is concerned, existing examples show great diversity, which is inadequately acknowledged. We describe this diversity according to three dimensions: stages in the modelling process, degree of involvement and heterogeneity of stakeholders involved. All the possible settings do not give the same meaning nor the same level of empowerment to participants. The issue of control over dissemination of information through the display of simulation outcomes is particularly at stake. We then give two examples in natural resources management where simulation modelling and participatory approaches are jointly used: fire hazard management in a southern French metropolitan area, and domestic water supply on a Pacific atoll. Both explore various ways in involving stakeholders. Finally the paper points out the various roles participants can play in participatory modelling processes from knowledge providers to simulation users through knowledge brokers. We develop the case that participatory modelling is contingent to people, but also to time and available means. Each implementation must therefore be tuned to its context
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2010
CemOA : archive ouverte d'Irstea / Cemagref p. Les auteurs souhaitent remercier toutes les person... more CemOA : archive ouverte d'Irstea / Cemagref p. Les auteurs souhaitent remercier toutes les personnes qui ont rendu possible cette recherche. Les différentes équipes ont été financées dans le cadre de l'appel commun à proposition de recherche du réseau IWRM-net intitulé " Towards Effective River Basin Plans" par les institutions suivantes : Cemagref: Ministère de l'écologie, de l'énergie, du développement durable et de l'aménagement du territoire (MEEDDAT, Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Territorial Planning) Engref: Ministère de l'écologie, de l'énergie, du développement durable et de l'aménagement du territoire (MEEDDAT, Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Territorial Planning) seeconsult: Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF), through PTKA (Project
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2009
This inception report of the i-Five project presents the research that is planned in the project.... more This inception report of the i-Five project presents the research that is planned in the project. Central in project is the evaluation of innovative instruments and institutions (i-3's) for implementing the Water framework directive (2000/60/EC; WFD). Moreover, the "transplantability" and adaptability of the i-3's for other contexts will be analyzed. In France, the implementation of the WFD in the Thau basin will be studied. Interesting aspects of this implementation process include collaboration between the water sector and land-use planning sector and the cooperation between the authorities and different research projects. In Germany, three "area cooperations" in the Weser basin will be evaluated, which are novel ways for organizing public participation. In addition, the issue of financing and coordination between governance scales will be analysed. In the Netherlands, the implementation of the WFD Explorer in the Dutch part of the Meuse basin and in particular the area of the waterboard Brabantse Delta will be evaluated. The WFD Explorer is a decision support system for the implementing the WFD. The project will result in a "Quick scan" method. This method will show the potentials as well as the potential obstacles of the different i-3's, and will help decision-makers to adopt or adapt the i-3 to their own context or to develop their own "home-grown" i-3. This inception report of the i-Five project presents the three cases (chapter 3) that will be studied and how they will be analysed (chapter 4 and 5). Moreover, the inception report presents and assesses the WFD itself (chapter 2). In addition, this inception report presents the expected results -the Quick scan method -and the dissemination and training strategy of the project (chapter 6). The report concludes with an extensive glossary of key terms, acronyms and abbreviations related to the WFD and to the six themes, including references to the articles of the WFD and to scientific literature (Appendix 5). The report will be of interest to everybody who is or wants to be involved in the i-Five project and to everybody interested in i-3's for implementing the WFD. The chapter on the WFD, arguably the most important and the most "difficult" European water directive of the past decade, will be of interest to everybody who is interested in a factual and detailed overview of the WFD and an analysis of the main implementation issues.
This deliverable discusses the notion of “option testing”. It first presents the general framewor... more This deliverable discusses the notion of “option testing”. It first presents the general framework used in the AquaStress project to test and evaluate water stress mitigation options. It reviews, analyses and compares three experiences in which virtual and real tests have been carried out: an integrated technology mitigation option (Tadla case study, Morocco), an economic option (Przemsza case study, Poland) and a procedural option (Vecht case study, The Netherlands). It does not present the results of these tests (these will be described in case studies' final reports) but focuses on the way in which the water stress mitigation options have been tested. For each case, the case context, the purpose of the mitigation option, and the objective of the test are outlined, followed by the test characteristics (level of field implementation, level of user involvement, risk of test damage, external factor consideration, and the risk of “false negatives” and “false positives”) and the ev...
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2011
Stakeholder participation is advocated widely, but there is little structured, empirical research... more Stakeholder participation is advocated widely, but there is little structured, empirical research into its influence on policy development. We aim to further the insight into the characteristics of participatory policy development by comparing it to expert-based policy development for the same case. We describe the process of problem framing and analysis, as well as the knowledge base used. We apply an uncertainty perspective to reveal differences between the approaches and speculate about possible explanations. We view policy development as a continuous handling of substantive uncertainty and process uncertainty, and investigate how the methods of handling uncertainty of actors influence the policy development. Our findings suggest that the wider frame that was adopted in the participatory approach was the result of a more active handling of process uncertainty. The stakeholders handled institutional uncertainty by broadening the problem frame, and they handled strategic uncertainty by negotiating commitment and by including all important stakeholder criteria in the frame. In the expert-based approach, we observed a more passive handling of uncertainty, apparently to avoid complexity. The experts handled institutional uncertainty by reducing the scope and by anticipating windows of opportunity in other policy arenas. Strategic uncertainty was handled by assuming stakeholders' acceptance of noncontroversial measures that balanced benefits and sacrifices. Three other observations are of interest to the scientific debate on participatory policy processes. Firstly, the participatory policy was less adaptive than the expert-based policy. The observed low tolerance for process uncertainty of participants made them opt for a rigorous "once and for all" settling of the conflict. Secondly, in the participatory approach, actors preferred procedures of traceable knowledge acquisition over controversial topics to handle substantive uncertainty. This excluded the use of expert judgment only, whereas the experts relied on their judgment in the absence of a satisfactory model. Thirdly, our study provides empirical evidence for the frequent claim that stakeholder involvement increases the quality of the knowledge base for a policy development process. Because these findings were obtained in a case that featured good process management and a guiding general policy framework from higher authorities, they may not generalize beyond such conditions.
Preface: Decision Support in Public Administration, P. Bots and H. Sol, R. Traunmueller. Part 1 T... more Preface: Decision Support in Public Administration, P. Bots and H. Sol, R. Traunmueller. Part 1 Theory and Concepts: Information Transfer for Decision Support in Distributed Administrative Systems, A.T. Berztiss How to Manage Complexity in Inter-Organizational Information Systems (IOIS) - Some Preliminary Conclusions, B.E.W. Andersson and P. Nilsson Problem-Setting Support, D. Vriens The Role of Decision Support in Individual Performance Review, F. Ackermann et al Decision Support Systems within the NHS - An Investigation into the Application of Case Mix Management Systems in the UK National Health Service, P.J. Baugh and D.M. Waiters Applications of Decision Support - The State of Minnesota Experience, G.W. Dickson. Part 2 Systems Design and Implementation: Decision Support for Financial Management in Local Government, M.R. Klein BAUX - A KB DSS for Municipalities Supporting Legal Decisions on Building Permits, A. Schramm Work-Time Measurement System (WTMS) - The Front-End Tool for Redesigning the Work Process, B.Q. Nguyen Toward the Implementation and Use of "Electronic" Files in Public Administration, M. Vintar Decision Support System in an Administrative Context - The Case of the Reinsertion of Long-Term Period Unemployed in France, J.-C. Pomerol et al A GDSS Methodology for Personnel Planning in Rheumatology, M.T. Smits et al the MacPolicy Project - Developing a Group Decision Support System Based on the Delphi Method, D. Kenis and L. Verhaegen Participatory Information Systems - Supporting the Decision Process in Public Sector Information Systems A. Groenlund and B. Gouhua.
ABSTRACT Decision support systems have become quite popular during the last decade. A crucial que... more ABSTRACT Decision support systems have become quite popular during the last decade. A crucial question is: Do decision support systems lead to better decisions? Does the decision maker actually perform better when he uses a decision support system? This paper presents a gaming approach towards testing the effectiveness of a decision support system and a so-called task structure. This approach enables the assessment of their effectiveness before they are actually introduced in a practical situation. This paper reports on the development of a management game that is intended to simulate as closely as possible an actually existing company in which the introduction is considered. The initial results of an evaluation approach using a gaming simulator suggest that decision makers using a DSS do not perform any better than those who do not use it. Experiments show that a DSS, even though its users are very enthusiastic about it, does not cause them to make any better decisions. Decision quality does improve dramatically, though, when decision makers are guided in the way they structure their problem situation by providing them with a task structure.
The TAKEOVER TRIO is a business game about a takeover. Three stakeholders (mother company, ailing... more The TAKEOVER TRIO is a business game about a takeover. Three stakeholders (mother company, ailing daughter company, and potential buying company) must agree on a plan to prevent compulsory liquidation of the daughter. The primary learning objective is to make participantsaware of the effect of negotiation process parameters on its outcome. Depending on the facilitator’s aims, he or she could highlight either or all of the following process parameters: logical thinking, creativity, dominance, or process management. The game scenario is not based on a real-life case (all data are fictional) but has been devised to balance three stakeholders to prevent an obvious outcome. It takes at least 12 people to play and 3 hours, plus about an hour of preparations for each participant.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2006
Supporting sustainable urban planning and development: three approaches Cities are among the most... more Supporting sustainable urban planning and development: three approaches Cities are among the most complex of man-made systems. Interventions in these systems are never simple. The essential cooperation between all stakeholders can be improved by tools that clarify urban development processes and quantify impacts. TNO and its partners have developed three promising decision support systems.
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe), 2013
International audienceThis chapter provides an overview on the mutual support between two active ... more International audienceThis chapter provides an overview on the mutual support between two active trends in the study of complex social systems: participatory approaches and social simulations. It highlights the expectations which arise from this association, from increasing quality of social simulation model in capturing better social complexity, to improving the suitability of using social simulations. It considers both objectives of increasing knowledge, as well as of supporting policy making processes. If participation can help to improve models, simulation models are also expected to support participatory processes to extend and share available knowledge among participants. Technically, the association builds upon various trends from computer sciences, social and management sciences, including system dynamics. All these domains have already developed tools, protocols, and devices, making the way to implement “participatory modelling”. These allow better elicitation of knowledge, including this knowledge in models, building models as a collaborative process, making models user - friendly for lay people or stakeholders, and ensuring the possibility of proper use of simulation outcomes. However, as far as participation in the modelling process is concerned, existing examples show great diversity, which is inadequately acknowledged. We describe this diversity according to three dimensions: stages in the modelling process, degree of involvement and heterogeneity of stakeholders involved. All the possible settings do not give the same meaning nor the same level of empowerment to participants. The issue of control over dissemination of information through the display of simulation outcomes is particularly at stake. We then give two examples in natural resources management where simulation modelling and participatory approaches are jointly used: fire hazard management in a southern French metropolitan area, and domestic water supply on a Pacific atoll. Both explore various ways in involving stakeholders. Finally the paper points out the various roles participants can play in participatory modelling processes from knowledge providers to simulation users through knowledge brokers. We develop the case that participatory modelling is contingent to people, but also to time and available means. Each implementation must therefore be tuned to its context
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Papers by Pieter Bots