1. ERDC Knowledge Core
2. Pre - Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC)
3. Concrete Laboratory - (8/1/1972 - 4/16/1978)
4. Publication
5. Miscellaneous Paper

Title:	Study of the project manager system of management for use in a materials laboratory
Authors:	Saucier, K. L.
Keywords:	Laboratories Management U. S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station
Publisher:	Concrete Laboratory (U.S.) Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.)
Series/Report no.:	Miscellaneous paper (U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station) ; C-73-9.
Description:	Miscellaneous paper Abstract: This is the report of a study cf the management system prevailing in the Concrete Laboratory of the Waterways Experiment Station R&D Center, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. 'l'he Waterways Experiment Station (WES) located in Vicksburg, Miss., is the principal research, testing, and development facility of the Corps of Engineers. It is engaged in research and engineering investigations in the scientific fields of hydraulics, soil mechanics, concrete, vehicle mobility, expedient construction, weapons effects, pavement, explosives excavation, engineering geology, and environmental relationships. Through basic and applied research in these and related field, the development of methods and techniques, and the testing of materials and equipment, it assists in the accomplishment of both civil works and military missions of the Corps of Engineers. In addition to laboratory and field investigations, the WES provides consulting services in its specialized fields of competence, as well as a central scientific reference service. It also operates Department of Defense information analysis centers for pavements and soil trafficability, soil mechanics, hydraulic engineering, and concrete technology. No federal budgetary appropriation is made for operation of the WES. Instead, it serves the Corps of Engineers on a reimbursement basis, with the customers paying all costs of the work involved. Its capabilities are available on the same basis to other Federal and Defense agencies, and when certain specified conditions are met, can be utilized by state agencies, foreign governments, and private concerns. Thus, the Station is somewhat like a private concern--it is financially self-supporting. The functional organization of the WES is fashioned around six laboratories, the hydraulics, Soils and Pavements, Concrete, Weapons Effects, Mobility and Environmental Systems, and Explosives Excavation Research Laboratories as given in Fig. 1. As such, the organizational structure is basically pyramidal, due historically to strong ties with the military, the champion pyramid. Until recently, each laboratory was subdivided into branches and branches into sections. Project leader or project engineer working under the direct supervision of the section chiefs is assigned specific projects or portions of projects for accomplishment. In the past decade, however, one laboratory, the Mobility and Environmental Systems Laboratory, and part of a second, the Weapons Effects Laboratory, have reorganized along the lines of the project manager concept. The project manager system as employed 1sually engineers, at WES involves assignment of entire projects to specific and concomitant disbandment of managers.
Rights:	Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/11681/11531
Appears in Collections:	Miscellaneous Paper