Program Planning in the National Forest System
本文回顾了美国国家森林系统使用的项目规划系统的历史与现状，分析了其优缺点，并探讨了对其他政府机构的启示。
A s the federal government has grown in size and influence over the past quarter century, there has been increasing concern over the allocation and use of public funds. Under the general rubric of budget reform many attempts have been made to limit government spending in total, to ensure that money is wisely allocated to appropriate problems, and, in general, to provide the most government services for the least cost. One of these efforts was the Program Planning and Budget System (PPBS). This approach was spawned in the early 1960s in the Department of Defense, implemented government-wide in 1965, and judged a largely dead-and-buried failure by 1972. Another attempt with some current favor is Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB), and while the jury is still out on this technique, some observers feel that it too has been less than successful.' There are, however, several federal agencies that continue to use many of the original PPBS concepts in combination with ZBB and Management By Objectives (MBO) as an integral part of their planning and control cycle. Given the importance of effective allocation and efficient use of government funds, any system which might be of help in these areas seems worthy of examination. This article will therefore review the history and current use of the Program Planning System (PPS) used by the National Forest System (NFS), the major branch of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). Based on observations made as part of a cooperative study between USFS and Harvard Business School, NFS experiences with PPS, both positive and negative, will be described and analyzed. The article will conclude with a discussion of the implications of the NFS experience for other government agencies, particularly in light of the specific tasks performed by the NFS and its organizational characteristics.