ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTS ON POLICY IMPLEMENTATION IN A GEOGRAPHICALLY DISPERSED NATURAL-RESOURCES ORGANIZATION

Central administrators in the Minnesota Department of Natural Resource s (DNR), Division of Forestry perceived that policies were inconsisten tly implemented at the field level. Data were collected on implementin g five policies in 34 field offices and related to organization struct ure factors. Overall policy implementation was between 85% and 90%, al though nearly 30% of the respondents reported implementation of a give n policy at or below 75%. Significant differences were found in overal l policy implementation among the five administrative regions in the d ivision. Significant differences in implementation were also found amo ng policies and among field offices. Critical factors related to polic y implementation included direct influence by people in units above th e field office; physical location of the field office in relation to s upervisory offices; regional differences in biophysical, social, and e conomic factors; influence of other DNR units; and feedback from staff specialists about job performance.