Policy Making and Rule Governance

Course manual 2022/2023

Course content

This course is focused on the informational aspects of policy-making and rule governance, in businesses and public administrations, i.e. the governance of social systems by means of rules (policy-making), introduced within a pre-existing normative frame, and the governance and management of rules, taken as symbolic artefacts specifying normative directives.

Objectives

• explain the social and technical functions of rules and policies, and policy making and rule governance processes, and formulate rules and policies
• describe the discovery, analysis, and implementation of rules
• identify the actors, decisions, organizational structures, communication, and processes involved in rule governance
• summarize how jural relationships between parties, as analyzed by Hohfeld and Commons, arise from law, and how these can be given a game-theoretic, positional interpretation
• analyze legislation and contracts, identify the relevant powers and duties that are attributed to a party and its counterparty
• discuss the economic value of entering into, and exercising, jural positions, and appreciate the economic impact of jural position taking on business strategy
• point out how jural relationships create scarcity
• identify the potential ramifications of compliance for business processes, business information systems, and business strategy, and point out how a specific compliance requirement influences design decisions
• discuss how duties to inform third parties, privacy protections, and the distribution of burdens of proof, influence the design of business information systems and business processes
• explain the use of controlled and defined vocabularies in rule governance, and be able to define an ontology based on written business policy or sources of law
• develop a comprehensive perspective on the social systems in which an organization is embedded, and understand how direct and indirect jural relationships between actors influences actor's behavior. Students should be able to describe a social system in terms of complementary and competitive social and legal roles

Teaching methods

• Lecture
• Seminar
• Computer lab session/practical training
• Self-study
• Working independently on e.g. a project or thesis
• Supervision/feedback meeting
• Presentation/symposium

The students will learn how to put the theories offered in this course in practice, working on an actual case. We will build up to the description of that case on a week to week basis, resulting in a group essay. Furthermore students will do individual exercises on the theories and practice on a weekly basis and  they will write a review on other students' essays.

Learning activities

Attendance

In TER part B of this programme no requirements regarding attendance are mentioned.

Assessment

The group-authored portfolio on the case will count for 50%

The  Individual exercises on theoretical concepts and modelling methods count for 35%

The individual peer reviews of portfolios will count for 15%

Fraud and plagiarism

The 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' applies to this course. This will be monitored carefully. Upon suspicion of fraud or plagiarism the Examinations Board of the programme will be informed. For the 'Regulations governing fraud and plagiarism for UvA students' see: www.student.uva.nl

Course structure

Timetable

The schedule for this course is published on DataNose.

Contact information

Coordinator

• prof. dr. Tom van Engers

Staff

• M.G. Kebede
• dr. Giovanni Sileno