FLAT ORGANIZATIONS FOR EARTH-SCIENCE

The institutions that made American science famous figure less and les s in the leadership and management of American science. Causes for thi s decline, especially evident in ocean and atmospheric sciences, inclu de large programs thal cut across institutions, the volume of federal funds, the scale of scientific instruments and facilities, easier trav el and telecommunications, and time horizons of entrepreneurial scienc e. The pattern emerging results not from a deliberate policy of bypass ing major institutions and their management, but from radical changes in the structure of scientific activity. Science is matching industry in a trend toward flatter management and functional, rather than geogr aphic, organization Some risks and needs arise with the new balance-or imbalance-of power.