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Title: Frame Reflection: Toward the Resolution of Intractable Policy Controversies by Donald A. Schon, Martin Rein ISBN: 0-465-02512-9 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: August, 1995 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $20.00

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: A THINKING MAN'S GUIDE TO POLICY CONTROVERSIES
Comment: Most leadership books recycle old leadership theories by using different anecdotes to illustrate the same points as previous books. Not so with this book. I would say this is among 5 or so leadership books (that I've read) that is truly groundbreaking. It reminds me a little bit of another pathbreaking book--Howard Gardner's Leading Minds. Anyone who enjoyed that book will certainly love this one. Policy making is not my strong suit, but I feel much more informed about the subject after reading this book. Schon and Rein show how past ways of handling policy controversies are insufficient and that a new way (frame reflection) is necessary to end policy stalemates and pendulum swings in policy. I can't recommend this book enough. It is not an easy book to read though: it will take some time to digest all the ideas in this small tome. But its well worth it. Two thumbs up for this book!

Rating: 5
Summary: Understanding controversy and paths forward
Comment: This is an important book. Schon and Rein give a crystal clear explanation of why intractable policy controversies occur, and review the theory base underlying the three most common means of dealing with them: 1) "rational" policy analysis, 2)power politics, and 3)mediated negotiation. They show how each of these depends on assumptions of microeconomics, which do not hold when people hold different "basic values."

The dominant tradition of policy choice, based on the rational actor model hopes to treat disputes as instrumental problems that can be solved through the application of a value-neutral policy science. The political perspective is a pluralist model in which policy making is seen as a political game of multiple rational actors, each with his own interests, freedoms, and powers. Consensual dispute resolution through joint gains is the theme of mediated negotiation.

A large and important class of policy disputes has proven resistant to each of these 3 main traditions. Once the reader can understand why this is so, the authors propose a new 4th way of making sense of intractable policy controversies, which focuses on getting at the underlying structures of belief, perceptiion, and appreciation, which they call "frames."

The idea is that once actors in the dispute can get a better understanding of their underlying assumptions, and frames, they can begin to shift their often tacit and untested ways of seeing the world and the issue. This can lead to better understanding of the arguments each side is making, and a reasoned approach to what "data" is relevant to the situation.

Several case studies are included in the book, which illustrate how this new approach can work.

For anyone struggling to do better on a seemingly unsolvable conflict, this book will help.

Paul Monus bp Chemicals, Lima Ohio

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