Forest Ranger Book Essay
Using Kaufman’s The Forest Ranger, compose an essay:
The organizational context and reporting structure above the District Ranger and his/her district (e.g., what agency is the U.S. Forest Service a part of, who heads the Service and to whom does he/she report, who else is over the District Ranger, how many Regional Supervisors are there, calculate the average number of Forest Supervisors per Regional Forester (see p. 41), calculate the average number of District Rangers per Forest Supervisor (see p. 41), how many Assistant Chiefs for staff support (provide example functional areas), on average how many acres per district (see p. 31), etc. )
General roles of the District Ranger (specify overall administrative role—see p. 47, indicate the general functions the District Ranger is responsible for (e.g., fire control,etc.) and present one general function/responsibility and some of its components to convey a flavor of the complexity of the job and the degree to which considerable skill, judgment, and discretion are required, etc.)
Diverse examples of major potential sources of fragmentation
Diverse examples of specific integration methods presented by Kaufman ( classify each one in terms of the mechanisms for coordination and control listed in Exhibit 3.2 on p. 32 of Tompkins; be sure to provide specific examples from Kaufman that in total reflect at least three of the mechanisms in Exhibit 3.2 of Tompkins)
Kaufman’s overall findings on organizational performance as of the time of his study (including relevant suggestive evidence); however, do add mention of some points/questions raised by Kaufman in this 2005 Afterword at the end of the book.
You may break this essay into distinct sections (e.g., a statement of essay purposes plus separate sections for a through e of the assignment).
