This thesis looks at policy formulation in a Revenue Office over the nine-year period, from 1984 to 1993. It presents a case study that is based on actual events; but, because of the difficulties in reporting on the events in a large organisation without the possible influence of some staff, particularly senior management, it was decided to change the names of the organisation, the people and policies. The thesis is based on an examination of a number of policy initiatives that were 'quilted' together. Its focus is not on the contents of the policies or primarily on their economic success, but on the bureaucratic and stakeholder processes involved in their formulation. The purpose of the thesis is to provide a way of understanding events in organisations that are portrayed or categorised by research as policy formulation. Policy formulation is considered to be a core process in organisations, but it is still poorly understood or explained by current models, particularly those based on a rationalistic view of the world. Many of these models have their roots in economic theory and rationality, which promotes the idea that policy is a fundamental and almost inevitable part of organisation goal attainment. These ideas permeate and structure the theory and depiction of organisations and, hence, the way we understand the nature of the social actions and interactions supporting policy formulation. The thesis rejects the assertion that organisations move in a consistently calculated and logical direction based on goal setting and developing policies to meet objectives. An alternative view is proposed: that policy formulation must be understood within the phenomenon of an organisation where people enact a particular form of social reality. Under this model organisations are created and maintained by social processes that are continually executed by people. In this context, individuals and groups use processes of negotiation and power to manipulate and re-define the meanings attributed to problems and solutions to maintain a perception of consistent and coordinated change and goal attainment in policy formulation. This social practice is an attempt to define reality and maintain legitimacy for the policy changes. Thus, the emphasis is on social processes rather than outcomes, thereby focusing on the development and maintenance of perceptions of problems and solutions. This thesis analyses policy formulation as a distinctive kind of social practice using a case study of policy developments in a revenue office, as a means of explaining the basic nature of ongoing corporate life. The case study explores the way that core revenue office policies, proposed as 'logical' change, were formulated by individuals and groups who constantly used 'legitimising' management models and principles, agenda management, and bargaining and power processes to negotiate, influence, modify and manipulate the perceptions of change. The aim is to explain how policy options were generated in the 'Charisma period', to examine their origins and how they were acted upon, and to develop a set of summary concepts that might be used to understand policy development behaviours. / Master of Commerce (Hons)

Les rapports entre le Trésor français et les banques centrales africaines de la zone franc sont fondés sur la garantie de convertibilité externe que la France accorde aux francs CFA. De la sorte, le Trésor français convertit de manière illimitée les francs CFA en euro et en d’autres monnaies. Par ailleurs, la BCEAO et la BEAC sont protégées contre le risque d’épuisement des réserves de change car, elles peuvent puiser théoriquement de façon illimitée en cas de rupture de changes sur les réserves françaises. La mise en oeuvre de cette solidarité repose sur un mécanisme particulier appelé : comptes d’opérations. Hérité de la période coloniale, ce principe oblige les instituts d’émission africains en vertu des accords de coopération monétaire signés avec la France au lendemain des indépendances et rénovés en 1972 et 1973, à déposer 65 % de leurs réserves de change sur ces comptes. Cette quotité a été ramenée depuis la réforme de 2005 à 50%. Le Trésor français verse des intérêts à ces comptes lorsqu’ils sont créditeurs alors qu’il prélève des intérêts en cas de débit. Cette coopération vise deux objectifs principaux : la solidarité monétaire et le développement économique par le biais d’une solidarité monétaire sécurisée. Cette coopération a donné naissance à des institutions qui oeuvrent en vue d’atteindre ces objectifs. Lors de l’adoption de l’euro à l’échelle européenne en 1999, la France a pu obtenir de ses partenaires européens la reconnaissance de la nature budgétaire des accords qui la lient à ses anciennes possessions d’Afrique pour continuer à garantir les francs CFA. Cette coopération comporte cependant beaucoup d’inconvénients qui incitent au dépassement du cadre actuel. / The monetary agreements of France and the CFA franc zone are based on the permanent free convertibility of the CFA. In this case, the French Treasury supports the free convertibility of the CFA franc into Euros and other currencies with a fixed change rate. The BCEAO and the BEAC accordingly cannot suffer from the lack of changes risk for, they are both guaranteed by France. Such a parity and interdependence principles inherited from the colonial period was renewed in the 1960's up to 2005 reforms. The main goals of this cooperation are the economical development and monetary solidarity safety. Some institutions have been created in order to achieve those goals. In anticipation of the coming of the Euro in 1999, the competent French authorities convinced the European Union to maintain the monetary agreements France has with the African countries using the CFA currency. Nevertheless, such agreements compound some shortcomings which require new ideas.