1. Mohammad Faheem M. Aliuden, CE, MPA

2. Policy implementation involves putting
adopted policies into effect. Successful
implementation is dependent upon three
elements.

3.  First, policies must be passed down from the
president or state and local government officials to
the appropriate agency within the government
bureaucracy. Thus, a policy designed to enforce
traffic safety by cutting down on the number of
drunk drivers would be passed down to law
enforcement officials for implementation. When no
existing agency has the capabilities to carry out a
given policy, new agencies must be established
and staffed. This is reflected most clearly in the
"alphabet soup" agencies established by Franklin
D. Roosevelt under the New Deal.

4.  The second element essential to effective policy
implementation is clear interpretation. In other
words, legislative intent must be translated into
operating rules and guidelines. Too much
ambiguity in this stage can lead to involvement
by the judiciary that will force legislators to clarify
their ends and means for policy implementation.
The judiciary may overrule the implementation of
policies where legislative intent cannot be
effectively translated into appropriate operating
rules and guidelines.

5. The final element needed in effective
policy implementation is also difficult to
accomplish. The dedication of resources to
implement the policy under the first
element must be joined with coordination
of the policy with ongoing operations. In
other words, a new initiative or agency
must not cause excessive competition or
disagreement with existing initiatives or
agencies.

6.  In addition to the aforementioned elements, policy
implementation can further be complicated when policies
are passed down to agencies without a great deal of
direction. Policy formulation is often the result of
compromise and symbolic uses of politics. Therefore,
implementation imposes a large amount of both discretion
and confusion in agencies that administer policies. In
addition, bureaucratic incompetence, ineptitude, and
scandals may complicate the policy implementation
process.
 The above issues with policy implementation have led some
scholars to conclude that new policy initiatives will either fail
to get off the ground or will take considerable time to be
enacted. The most surprising aspect of the policy process
may be that policies are implemented at all.

7.  Policies may be evaluated according to a number
of standards. They may be informally evaluated
according to uncritical analysis, such as anecdotes
and stories. Policies may also be substantively
evaluated through careful, honest feedback from
those affected by the policies. More formal
research can provide empirical evidence regarding
the effectiveness of policies. Finally, scientific
research provides both comparative and statistical
evaluations of whether policies produce clear
causal results.

8. Policy evaluation can take place at
different times. Administrators seeking to
improve operations may assess policies as
they are being implemented. After policies
have been implemented they can be
further evaluated to understand their
overall effectiveness.

9. In spite of the many ways policies may be
evaluated, they are often not evaluated at
all. Formal and scientific research is time
consuming, complicated to design and
implement, and costly. While more informal
evaluations focused on feedback and
anecdotes are more accessible, they also
tend to be contaminated with bias.

10. Reference:
https://www.boundless.com/political-
science/domestic-policy/policy-making-
process/policy-implementation/