V. K. AGNIHOTRI (88 RTT 009)

Transcription

1 SYSTEMS ENGINEERING APPROACH TO PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS AND DESIGN: INDIAN HANDLOOM POLICY by V. K. AGNIHOTRI (88 RTT 009) A THESIS SUBMITTED IN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF TEXTILE TECHNOLOGY INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, DELHI HAUZ KHAS, NEW DELHI DECEMBER, 1993

2 CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the thesis entitled "SYSTEMS ENGINEERING APPROACH TO PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS AND DESIGN: INDIAN HANDLOOM POLICY" being submitted by Mr. V. K. AGNIHOTRI to the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, for the award of the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY, in the Department of Textile Technology, is a record of bonafide research work carried out by him. Mr. V. K. Agnihotri has worked under our guidance and supervision and has fulfilled the requirements for the submission of the thesis which has attained the standard required for a Ph. D. degree of the Institute. The results contained in this thesis have not been submitted, in part or in full, to any other University or Institute for the award of any degree or diploma. (N. M. SWANI) A2/52 AZAD APARTMENTS IIT GATE, HAUZ KHAS NEW DELHI (FORMERLY PROFESSOR EMERITUS, DEPARTMENT OF TEXTILE TECHNOLOGY, IIT DELHI) (P. S. SATSAN (I) DIRECTOR DAYALBAGH EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE DAYALBAGH AGRA (FORMERLY PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING, IIT DELHI) (i)

3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 4 First and foremost I would like to thank my research supervisors Prof. N.M. Swani and Prof. P.S. Satsangi for their guidance, support and encouragement throughout my research endeavour. I have no words to properly acknowledge the painstaking and forbearing efforts of Prof. Satsangi to provide systematic as well as systemic step by step advice over a period of more than four years. I am also indebted to the learned faculty and staff of the Department of Textile Technology, especially Prof. P. K. Hari, Prof. M. L. Gulrajani and Dr. Kushal Sen, for their unstinted support and guidance made available to me from time to time. I would further like to place on record my thanks for the assistance provided by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, formerly Research Assistant in the Department of Textile Technology, in various unassuming ways. I am extremely grateful to the faculty and staff of the Department of Electrical Engineering, especially Dr. M.C. Mathur, for their help and guidance. I would be failing in my duty if I did not also acknowledge the important role played by Prof. Prem Vrat who during the short period of initial supervisory guidance helped in making appropriate choices regarding course work. His advice proved invaluable in later research work. I am greatly beholden to Sri Ravi Mathur, former Development Commissioner (Handlooms), Ministry of Textiles and Sri K. N. Ardhanareeshwaran, former Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India for sponsoring the Workshop ( i )

4 which laid the foundation of the research project and also for participating in the Workshop as resource persons. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the resource persons who participated in various session of the Workshop, some of them travelling long distances in order to do so. In my multi-disciplinary quest I also sought and obtained gracious support from the Centre for Management Studies. For this my special thanks are due to Dr. Sushil who actively participated in the Workshop and was also kind enough to go through and offer perceptive comments on initial versions of some of the main chapters of the thesis. Sri Harish Chaudhary not only provided access to the facilities at the Centre but also enthusiastically assisted in organising the Workshop. I am also indebted to Mr. S.K. Batra and his colleagues in the TCS for not only initiating me to their ISM software but also making a copy of it available for the research project in general and the Workshop in particular. During the pendency of the research project I was given an opportunity by the Government of India to spend one academic year as Visiting Fellow at Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford, Oxford. This period was utilised by me for scanning international literature on public policy and for discussing and clarifying research findings with various faculty in Oxford and the Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague. I would like to place on record my thanks to Dr. Paul Anand of Templeton College, University of Oxford who spent several hours discussing drafts of various chapters of (iii)

5 my thesis and also organised a seminar at Templeton College for me to obtain feedback on some of my research findings from several of his colleagues including the Director. Dr. Seamus Ross of the British Academy, whose one term course on Introduction to Expert Systems I attended, was of immense help in the development of the prototype of the Expert System on Handloom Technology. Above all my special thanks are reserved for Prof. G.H. Peters of Queen Elizabeth House for making all this possible and particularly for authorising my visit to ISS, The Hague where I had long discussions with several members of the faculty, especially Prof. J.W. Bjorkman and Prof. V.V. Moharir, on a number of my research findings. The research activity relating to development of expert system application had the longest gestation period. During this I received valuable help from National Handloom Development Corporation, Lucknow, especially its Managing Director, Sri Q.M. Humayun and General Manager, Sri V.K. Goyal, from Central Cottage Industries Corporation and its Managing Director Capt. S.C. Joshi and above all from Indian Institute of Handloom Technology, Varanasi and its Director Dr. B.P. Sarkar. Finally I would like to place on record my grateful appreciation of the services rendered by Sri M.D. Bahukhandi and Sri S.S. Bedwal by way of word-processing and other facilitative support in the preparation of this thesis at various stages. (V.K. Agnihotri) (iv)

6 ABSTRACT The primary objective of this research study is to establish the systems engineering framework for analysis and design of public policies and to demonstrate the utility of consensus methodologies, in particular, for the purpose. In doing so, an attempt has been made to generate a policy alternative for the Government of India for the handloom sector of the Indian textile industry using some of the consensus methodologies. The secondary objective of the research is to develop an approach to designing and documenting public policies in the Indian context with special reference to the handloom policy. The research investigation began with a listing of the unified programme planning components of handloom policy to set the tone for the inquiry to follow. A Workshop of domain experts and other resource persons was organised in two phases to analyse and design handloom policy. The first phase addressed itself to analysis of the current policy using Interpretive Structural Modelling as a tool. In the second phase, the Workshop undertook an experimental design of handloom policy using other consensus methodologies, such as Brainwriting, Nominal Group Technique, Options Field and Options Profile Methodologies and Fuzzy Set Evaluation Procedures. In actual application, these methodologies were adapted to suit the design situation, the facilities and the participants. The application of consensus methodologies to Indian handloom policy design highlighted the need for developing a more country-specific approach, specially in (v)

7 the context of the "Statements" on public policies being issued by the Government of India with increasing frequency. Taking note of important shortcomings of policy statements in general and the statements on textile policy in particular, and the significance of objectives in these statements, a new approach to public policy design based on objectives paradigm has been propounded. This new approach is a Logical Processual Framework comprising a step by step procedure for designing and redesigning public policy. The process is both iterative and cyclical. The research study has also led to development of a knowledge-based expert system application for handloom technology with a view to assisting policy makers in generating appropriate policy options to support handloom industry and technology. The research study concludes with a summary including a discussion of significant contributions of the research, its limitations and scope for future work. (vi)

8 SYSTEMS ENGINEERING APPROACH TO PUBLIC POLICY ANALYSIS AND DESIGN: INDIAN HANDLOOM POLICY CONTENTS TOPIC CERTIFICATE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ABSTRACT CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES LIST OF APPENDICES ABBREVIATIONS GLOSSARY OF TERMS PAGE (i) (ii) (v) (vii) (xii) (xiii) (xv) (xvi) (xviii) CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 PUBLIC POLICY Uses of the Word 'Policy' Features and Characteristics of Public Policy 1.2 BACKGROUND TO THE RESEARCH PROJECT Handloom Industry The Textile System Public Policy Making Process Policy Making Process in India Handlooms and Government Policy 27 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH DESIGN THE ARGUMENT THE NEED SYSTEMS ENGINEERING FRAMEWORK 44 (vii )

9 2.4 METHODOLOGIES 2.5 THE WORKSHOP Facilities Participants and Facilitators Working Papers Reports AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO PUBLIC POLICY DESIGN A KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEM FOR HANDLOOM TECHNOLOGY 53 CHAPTER 3: SYSTEMS, ENGINEERING FRAMEWORK FOR HANDLOOM POLICY ANALYSIS NEEDS ALTERABLES CONSTRAINTS SOCIETAL SECTORS OBJECTIVES OBJECTIVE MEASURES ACTIVITIES ACTIVITY MEASURES AGENCIES 88 CHAPTER 4: CONSENSUS METHODOLOGIES FOR POLICY SUPPORT METHODOLOGY FOR GENERIC DESIGN SCIENCE IDEAWRITING NOMINAL GROUP TECHNIQUE (NGT) INTERPRETIVE STRUCTURAL MODELLING (ISM) OPTIONS FIELD METHODOLOGY (OFM) Placing Options into Categories Naming the Categories 104

10 4.5.3 Identifying Design Dimensions Discovering Clusters of Dependent Dimensions Establishing a Choice-Making Sequence of Clusters and Independent Dimensions Sequencing Dimensions within Clusters OPTIONS PROFILE METHODOLOGY (OPM) FUZZY SET EVALUATION METHODOLOGY SELECTION AND APPLICATION OF METHODOLOGIES A CRITIQUE OF CONSENSUS METHODOLOGIES 113 CHAPTER 5: HANDLOOM POLICY ANALYSIS THROUGH INTERPRETIVE STRUCTURAL MODELLING THE OBJECTIVES WORKSHOP SCHEDULE AND PROCEDURES RESULTS DISCUSSION AND EVALUATION Interpretations of Models Evaluation and Conclusion 146 CHAPTER 6: HANDLOOM POLICY DESIGN THROUGH CONSENSUS METHODOLOGIES THE OBJECTIVES POLICY DESIGN WORKSHOP SCHEDULE GENERATING HANDLOOM POLICY OPTIONS ARRANGING POLICY OPTIONS INTO CATEGORIES, DIMENSIONS AND CLUSTERS Arranging Options into Categories Naming the Categories Identifying Design Dimensions Discovering Clusters 157

11 6 5 SEQUENCING CLUSTERS AND DIMENSIONS Sequencing the Cluster and Independent Dimensions Sequencing Dimensions within the Cluster GENERATING ALTERNATIVE HANDLOOM POLICY DESIGNS EVALUATING HANDLOOM POLICY ALTERNATIVES AGGREGATION METHODS AND RANKING PROCEDURES Simple Mean Aggregation Method (Method A) Modified Pessimistic Aggregation Method (Method B) Modified MacDonald Aggregation Method - First Procedure (Method C) Ranking Procedures TRADE-OFF ANALYSIS EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION 178 CHAPTER 7: AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO PUBLIC POLICY DESIGN STATEMENTS ON PUBLIC POLICY Pros and Cons of Statements on Policy Basic Characteristics of Policy Statements Shortcomings OBJECTIVES PARADIGM A NEW APPROACH TO PUBLIC POLICY DESIGN Conceptual Framework Assumptions and Hypotheses LOGICAL PROCESSUAL FRAMEWORK Step 1: Decomposition Step 2: Preparing a Descriptive Objective Tree 205 (x)

12 7.4.3 Step 3: Policy Research and Debate Step 4: Preparing a Normative Objective Tree Step 5: Conflict Articulation and Resolution and Redrawing the Normative Objective Tree Step 6: Objective Measures Step 7: Recomposition or Policy Documentation EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION 227 CHAPTER 8: A KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEM FOR HANDLOOM TECHNOLOGY SEED ACTIVITIES Identifying Domain, Experts 230 and User Tool Selection KNOWLEDGE ELICITATION AND STRUCTURING HANDLOOM TECHNOLOGY TUTOR SYSTEM VALIDATION AND VERIFICATION 259 CHAPTER 9: CONCLUSIONS SUMMARY Background to the Research Project Methodologies and Application An Integrated Approach to Public Policy Design A Knowledge-Based System for Handloom Technology LIMITATIONS FUTURE RESEARCH 272 REFERENCES APPENDICES