378 



Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 



STUDIES IN ORGANIZATION and man- 

 agement have been carried on re- 

 peatedly. In 1912, F. A. Silcox, then 

 regional forester of the Northern 

 Rocky Mountain region, had a study 

 made of the organization and opera- 

 tion of the Savenac Forest Nursery. 

 That was the first reported use in the 

 Forest Service of the Frederick Wins- 

 low Taylor approach to the study of 

 the work practices and organization, 

 which later became a primary factor in 

 the broader field of scientific manage- 

 ment. As is commonly known, this way 

 of studying and performing work has 

 been of help to American industry in 

 attaining its high place in the markets 

 of the world, because of the resulting 

 combination of high-quality products 

 and relatively low cost. 



The general principles of scientific 

 management gradually were applied 

 elsewhere in the Forest Service. That 

 was especially so in the California re- 

 gion under Roy Headley, as chief of 

 operation and acting regional forester. 

 Subsequently, when he became assist- 

 ant chief of the Forest Service in Wash- 

 ington, he and Peter Keplinger, staff 

 adviser on administrative manage- 

 ment, gave impetus to studying and or- 

 ganizing national forest activities in 

 this manner. The scientific approach 

 was more sharply defined under his 

 direction, beginning some 20 years ago 

 with the development and application 

 of "job-load analysis and planning" to 

 the rangers 5 and supervisors' work and 

 to other national forest activities. 



Job-load analysis serves as a controll- 

 ing basis for the manning of adminis- 

 trative units, for organization set-ups, 

 for the allocation of funds, and for 

 administrative, including the financial, 

 controls. It parallels in considerable 

 part the use of scientific management 

 in American industry. Among its sev- 

 eral aims are two principal ones: To 

 get the work done with as high stand- 

 ards of quality, quantity, and economy 

 as practicable, and to do so with un- 

 failing regard for the men who are to 

 perform the work. Included among the 

 corollary aims is a meeting of minds 



between the supervisor and the worker, 

 and a determination of the needs for 

 specialized training for each specific 

 assignment to each employee. 



The job-load analysis method as 

 applied to studying, organizing, and 

 administering national forest work con- 

 sists of five main steps. 



First, the objective sought in each 

 field is clearly established. Many of the 

 objectives are already available in re- 

 source-management plans, manuals, 

 handbooks, and work programs. All 

 subsequent steps in the analysis are 

 aimed toward reaching this specific 

 goal. Proper and sharp definition of 

 objectives provides a stimulating in- 

 centive to distinguished effort. It also 

 serves as a helpful shield against divert- 

 ing proposals. 



The second step is to break each ac- 

 tivity down into the component jobs 

 that must be performed to attain the 

 objective. 



The third step is to determine and 

 establish standards for each of the com- 

 ponent jobs; that is, the standards of 

 quality, quantity, frequency, methods, 

 and other practices needed to do the 

 work as it should be done. 



That is a job analysis up to this stage. 

 To develop it into a job-load analysis, 

 the fourth step is taken. That calls for 

 determining the unit-time require- 

 ments for doing each job as it should be 

 done. 



The fifth step calls for grouping the 

 separate jobs into the months in which 

 they can be done, as controlled by the 

 work requirements, the climatic condi- 

 tions, available time, and other factors. 

 A main purpose of this step is to re- 

 distribute peak loads to the less busy 

 periods of the year, to the extent prac- 

 ticable, and thus strive for a well- 

 balanced program of work, yearlong. 



The total of the time requirements 

 thus developed shows, of course, the 

 total job-load weight, in man-hours, of 

 the ranger district, forest, or special 

 project that is being studied. 



The job-load analysis method enlists 

 the cooperation of the entire organiza- 

 tion. To that end the analyst, in the 



