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18 Pol'y Stud. J. 1 (1989-1990)

handle is hein.journals/plyssjnl18 and id is 1 raw text is: Policy Studies Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1, Fall, 1989 ARTICLES OF GENERAL INTEREST GOAL MULTIPLICITY IN THE IMPLEMENTATION SETTING: SUBTLE IMPACTS AND THE CASE OF WASTEWATER TREATMENT PRIVATIZATION' Laurence J. O'Toole, Jr. National Science Foundation The field of public policy implementation has developed consider- ably during the past two decades. Work has progressed along multiple fronts: there have been high quality descriptive case studies, numerous methodological advances, several productive attempts to build theory, and many empirical studies with serious aim at generalizability. Efforts have been made to conduct both longitudinal and cross-sectional com- parative analysis (for a thorough review of this field, see O'Toole, 1986). Much has been learned about how policy intent is (or is not) converted into action. Yet there remain substantial hurdles to a generally-accepted theory and to more thoroughgoing understanding by scholars of the implementation setting. Indeed, it has sometimes been noted that imple- mentation research has thus far been able to offer little practical advice to would-be implementors (Elmore, 1979; O'Toole, 1986). It is important, therefore, that efforts be made to advance beyond the early insights in this field and to address issues highlighted by recurring difficulties in this scholarly specialty. Such is the aim of the research reported here. This paper represents an effort to illuminate one source of tension between the two major approaches to implementation research, the top- down and bottom-up perspectives. The focus here is on the actual con- ceptualization of policy goal. This notion is central to the analysis of implementation behavior; but for reasons grounded partially in the details of research design, top-down research generally formulates the idea and studies the practice in a fashion that obscures significant aspects of implementation reality. In the pages that follow, this basic issue is developed in some detail and is then applied in one specific policy sector, intergovernmental action on behalf of wastewater treat- ment. The results demonstrate the importance of considering goal multi- plicity rather than simplicity in the analysis and evaluation of alternative implementation mechanisms.