14. The nature of values is such that the more clear those values are, the easier it is to manage them in both policy development and implementation. But the value system must also be flexible enough to allow for change. Gardner says that "in the final stage of organizational senility, there is a rule or precedent for everything. Someone has said that the last act of a dying organization is to get out a new and enlarged edition of the rule book."^l

15. The nature of policy decisions and policy development suggests some basic characteristics: ²

i. It is based on technical judgments about what needs to be done derived from rational-empirical methods; on political judgments about what is possible derived from political and social methods; and value judgments about the allocation and distribution of resources based on some criterion on worth, such as money, power, need, respect, wisdom, trust, etc.

ii. It is distinguished from other types of decisions by the fact that policy decisions are always public. rather than private: are consequential to other people, rather than just the policy maker; and involve' uncertainty about the outcomes. The greater the uncertainty, the more divergent will be the views about how and what to decide.

iii. In its most practical, clear, unambiguous form, a complete policy statement includes:

• a statement about the goals to be reached, goals which provide general directions rather than specific outcomes;

• the strategies for planning the implementation of these goals; and

• the conditions to be met which will indicate achievement of these goals.

Policy guidelines, implementation plans, or action steps are part of the overall policy, but are generally written separately from the general and specific policy statements.

   ^1. J. W. Gardner, Self-renewal: The individual and the innovative society. (N.Y.: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1964).

    ^{2 .} T. C. Byrne, "Who gets what, when and how" in Education Canada, Fall, 1978, pp. 34 - 41.