ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES AND PLANNING,
Abstract
The purpose of the paper is to consider the influence that organizational structure has upon planning, particularly as implied by experience of the Department of Defense since 1961. One objective of the Departments reorganization was to achieve better coordination of interrelated decisions than which 'bargaining' among the armed services could provide. Another was to improve choices in general by (1) looking at full-cost rather than down-payment implications of alternative policies, (2) costing in terms of programs or outputs rather than inputs, and (3) systematically considering alternatives and tradeoffs in terms of cost effectiveness. Aside from the intelligence, reasonableness, and perceptiveness of personnel, three major factors are listed as influencing an organization's ability successfully to plan in a precise and monolithic manner: (1) size and internal structure of the organization, (2) dimensions of the planning problem and the stability of functional relationships, and (3) existence and responsiveness of rivals and the organization's ability to anticipate or perceive such responses or to make the adjustments necessary. Implications for defense planning are treated, as are bureaucratic problems that have arisen in the different methods of planning and management. The centrally controlled planning in the Department of Defense since 1961 is regarded as one of the major planning experiments of all time.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 25, 1966
- Accession Number
- AD0630757
Entities
People
- James R. Schlesinger
Organizations
- RAND Corporation