Is Integrated Environmental Management Feasible?

Abstract

Responsibility for administration of environmental programs will fall heavily on state governments in the years ahead. In state environmental agencies there are some who advocate “programmatic” organizations and some who advocate “functional” organizations and some who advocate “functional” organizations. Experiences with both types in North Carolina's Division of Environmental Management are reviewed. The “programmatic” organization has worked best. There are implications for the practical feasibility of integrating environmental management. Lessons learned include: the dependence of organizational effectiveness on leadership; the hidden costs of reorganization; the importance of bureaucratic and political realities; the uniqueness of situations; and the general importance of the subject to the effectiveness of state government.