Art of Judgment: Study of Policy Making

by Geoffrey Vickers

"Sir Geoffrey Vickers taught us that a value-free judgment would be literally worthless. Human systems become recognizable as more than machines only as they honor (or betray) valued norms like impartiality or responsiveness, respect or productivity, or combinations of these. So all management and administration, all planning political action, depend not just on mechanical rule-following, but on practical goal-setting on appreciative judgments constructed in the face of ambiguity and uncertainty about what a rule, obligation, or goal really means. The insights of The Art of Judgment will guide us in these fields for years to come." --John Forester, Cornell University "This book is very worthwhile reading for those engaged in teaching public administration." --Teaching Public Administration "To anyone familiar with the work of Sir Geoffrey Vickers (1894-1982) this centenary edition of The Art of Judgment will mark a welcome reappearance of a book that was far ahead of its time when originally published thirty years ago. For those new to Vickers's thought, it should be intellectually energizing to discover a body of thought so keenly applicable to understanding and dealing with the complex issues of public affairs at the dawn of a new century. This centenary edition contains a new introduction by Guy B. Adams, Scott D. N. Cook, and Baynard L. Catron, a biographical essay on Sir Geoffrey Vickers by Margaret Blunden, as well as the entire original text of The Art of Judgment. In recent years, many of the concepts central to the study of organizations have been called into question. This study provides a fresh foundation for the exercise of judgment in policy and management, particularly for those interested in an interpretive and critical approach to the study of organizations." --Guy Adams, University of Missouri-Columbia "For all its theoretical sophistication, the crucial aspect of Vickers's work is its grounding in his experience in the real-life practice of policy making in which such complexity is the norm. Thirty years after its initial publication, The Art of Judgment remains worthwhile reading for all students and policy makers." --Canadian Public Administration For the past 10 years, The Art of Judgment was published and distributed solely in the United Kingdom. Now this centenary edition--containing an intriguing new foreword explaining why Vickers's work is still on the cutting-edge as well as a bio-essay on Sir Geoffrey Vickers--is once again available in the United States. Vickers, a man who was truly ahead of his time, dealt with complex issues in public administration in the 20th century. The Art of Judgment, both in the past and still today, speaks to the student, academic, and practitioner interested in understanding decision making in organizational settings. Written in an accessible and lively style, this work remains a timely study that transcends both a narrow and scientific view of administrative behavior and lays the groundwork for a view of management thought and action grounded in the world of human experience. The Art of Judgment provides a seminal work for scholars and students seeking to develop an interpretive and critical account of management and organization.

Genres: Politics

228 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1965

Reviews

[BlackOxford · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Aesthetics of Bossiness

Geoffrey Vickers was one of the great thinkers about management in the 20th century. Having left Oxford without a degree in order to enlist, he received the Victoria Cross in WWI, played a key organisational role during WWII, was a senior British civil servant and an advisor to business in Europe and North America,

I met Vickers in 1978 when he spent some time with the Social Systems Science Center at the Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania. He had developed, quite independent of any academic affiliation, a remarkable theory of decision-making which is presented in the Art of Judgement.

The essential concept of this theory is that of ‘appreciation’, by which he means the ability to understand the real intent, the purpose, of those with whom one works or negotiates. These intentions are more frequently than not unstated. They may even be unconscious on the part of the people involved. Nevertheless such intentions can be discerned and, as it were, brought to the surface to be discussed, and possibly altered.

For Vickers, there are two sorts of managerial decisions: operational decisions that cover the routine tasks, emergencies, and foul-ups that occur in any organisation; and policy decisions which are those that concern the criteria set for operational decision-making. It is these latter decisions in which appreciation is of critical importance.

Vickers recognises, and makes his recognition explicit in the title, that appreciation is an aesthetic activity. That is, it has to do with the choice of the standard by which success, improvement, in short, value is to be measured. Once this criterion is established within a business in its various components, most operational decisions are obvious. When such a criterion is absent, chaos tends to reign.

Establishing a unified criterion of value is not an easy task. I can certainly attest to the almost pathological drive in corporate boardrooms to avoid the articulation much less the discussion of what such criteria might be. Mission statements, strategies, action plans, all tend to become irrelevant when an accountant, or financial theorist establishes some arbitrary criterion by fiat - especially when people then get paid on the basis of it. Enron is the classic example of a company run into the ground by unchallenged measures of value.

Having said that, the world of business and governmental organisation is still catching up with Vickers’s thought. Since he wasn’t an academic he left no ‘school’ to publicise and develop his ideas. Since he was never the chief executive of a large company, he carried little weight with the big publishers of business wisdom. And, I suspect, since he was English, he was too reserved and self-effacing to promote his work. Some of us however remember his genius. Others can discover it still in the Art of Judgment.

[Barbara Schmidt-abbey]

This is the 1995 re-edition of Sir Geoffrey Vickers' classic book "The art of Judgement - a study of policy making", originally published in 1965. As the foreword summarizes, Vickers was ahead of his time; and can be regarded as one of the 20th century "premier theorists in the field of management and decision making, along such figures as Chester Barnard and Herbert Simon." It is claimed (and I would tend to agree) that "to date, there is no better treatise on the nature of judgment in policy making and none better suited to the emerging demands of the 21st century.".
Well, there is perhaps hope that some catching up has taken place recently with recognition of complexity and systems in policymaking - and Vickers is highly recommended classic reading and still very much on the leading edge - a book whose time may finally have come?
To sharpen our appreciative settings, this is highly recommended reading.