Organising and Staffing Programmes and Projects - Afforestation, Reforestation and Forest Restoration in Arid and Semi-arid Tropics - page 195

Chapter 8
Organising and Staffing Programmes
and Projects

Abstract Large-scale afforestation programmes can be complex tasks, with a large
number of varied factors determining their success. Whether it is a time-bound project
or a continued programme, a well-designed organisational structure is necessary to
implement it effectively. While the generic principles and best practices underlying
successful management of any enterprise would also apply here, the kind of organisa-
tion needed is in many respects distinct from the usual business model. This chapter
outlines a brief organisational framework, and delineates the roles of its different
constituents and their required strengths and skills. It then proceeds to outline the
basic guiding principles for modern day organisational effectiveness.

8.1 Organisation Structure and Staffing

Management of afforestation programmes is an integrated exercise involving men,
materials, and processes. Since the various components of the programme are linked
to each other intimately, one weak link can result in failure of the programme. An
appropriate organisation for managing an afforestation project should therefore have
a tightly coupled structure, with even some redundancies for creating resilience.
Organisations designed with convoluted structures having a large number of hi-
erarchical layers and multiple controls are ill suited in today's age for any business
activity. Matching the strategy and the structure of an organisation is an appealing
idea with trappings of elegance, but it does not translate well into reality because of
the human element. It is axiomatic that 'humaneness' should always be one of the
underlying criteria guiding the design of an organisation.

8.1.1 A Lean and Flat Organisation

An organisation with more than five layers of management hierarchy is likely to
degenerate into a bureaucratic bungle. In today's world with so many technological
possibilities for facilitating communication and co-ordination, it is no longer nec-
essary to have a deep structure no matter what the size of an organisation is. The
uniting force in an organisation should be its values, not authority. Subordination or