The value sieve: a decision system for complex environments
Date
2000
Authors
Corbett, John Christopher
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Abstract
The Value Sieve is a framework for making resource allocation decisions in complex environments. The theory and research methodologies employed in its development are founded in the social sciences. Given the social psychological nature of organizational problems, an open systems approach is taken. This approach requires that the target system be considered in the context of its operating environment and that the design includes the ways in which each subsystem interacts with others through inputs and outputs. This approach is intended to avoid the problems created when analysts treat organizations as closed systems and so invest their efforts in determining a detailed internal structure without considering the external environmental forces and the --natural'' features demonstrated by open systems. The Value Sieve is an optimization methodology and gets its name from the perspective that optimization in a complex environment requires accountable decision-makers to accept that there will be a series of tradeoffs that are ultimately determined by which outputs and outcomes they value most. This decision framework assists decision-makers in distilling their choices to achieve maximum expected utility for the scarce resources available for allocation. The framework is particularly useful where choices must be made among alternatives with incommensurable output or outcome performance measures. The Value Sieve framework is developed theoretically and conceptually in the first half of the thesis. In the second half. the framework is applied to a set of complex decisions in health and childcare in the public sector and human services in the private non-profit sector.