Resource Allocation Decisions in the Public Sector : A Model Based on a Study of Policing

This paper identifies four approaches to resource allocation decisions in public services from the literature: a rational approach using devices such as budgets, cost-benefit analysis, statistical techniques, etc.; non-rational approaches such as satisficing, muddling through, and garbage can models of decision making; expectations analysis based on what managers believe is expected of them; and heuristics based on experience and values.Our research question was to understand, at the micro or operational level in public sector settings, how managers faced with finite resources and uncertain demand actually make resource allocation decisions and which of the approaches (or combinations of approaches) were used.A multimethods approach is adopted, comprising qualitative data collection and the analysis of timesheet data using statistical techniques and self-organising maps to identify how resource allocation decisions are made where resources are limited but demand is unpredictable and uncontrollable.The research findings are that rational devices, heuristics (informed by norms and values) and expectations (incorporating the non-rational approach) can be seen as complementary and mutually reinforcing, and are difficult to separate. Individual approaches (rational, non-rational, expectations, or heuristics) to resource allocation decisions provide an inadequate explanation for complex resource allocation decisions in a public sector setting.This is a model of resource allocation decision making that is useful both theoretically and practically, and is particularly pertinent to public sector settings where finite resources must be allocated to uncontrollable demand