Lf
CHAPTER Ill
MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION
SECTION |
MANAGEMENT
The Holmes & Narver General Manager,

through the Heads of five Home Office Depart-

ments supervised and executed Contract Obligations. The Home Office Organization Chart,
Figure 3-1, shows this managerial arrangement,
which wasprecisely planned to assure coordination between such relevant functions as research,

design, construction, accounting, procurement

and security.

In any operation of this magnitude, a large

part of the work is experimental, and when

the site of operations is isolated from all normal
sources of supply, both personnel and material,
certain inherent difficulties must be considered
at the outset. Management-planning was based
on the realization that these difficulties would
be minimized by maintaining close liaison with
the Commission, the Jobsite, and the Home

Office. Close liaison was likewise essential between the various participants, including Military, Scientific, and transportation agencies. Examples of the essential inter-relation between
the H&N Management and other agencies are
borne out in the manner in which overseas
communications and transportation of men and
materiel were handled.
Transportation activities were closely coordinated through a system of advance estimates

which were periodically revised to meet chang-

ing conditions. The Contractor’s representatives
at Travis Air Force Base, the Naval Supply
Center in Oakland, and at Hickam Field in
Honolulu were in close contact with Task Group

representatives as well as with shipping agency

officials.

This closely integrated liaison greatly assisted in the orderly flow of air freight ship-

ments which, at times, far exceeded advance

estimates, particularly in those instances where
last-minute revisions in Scientific Stations required the expeditious supply of material, the
requirements for which had not been previously
indicated.
In addition to the close liaison maintained
by Management, Home Office supervisory personnel were alerted to the need for the immediate transmission of information to the field
forces at the Proving Ground. Critical information was normally transmitted via teletype
over Military networks or by AECteletype cir-

cuits; less critical information was sent by written memorandums.
Discussions were the most beneficial media
for the maintenance of complete understanding
of developments and criteria constantly undergoing revision, and were an organizational policy established near the close of OPERATION
IVY, and continued throughout OPERATION
CASTLE, i. e., the rotational assignments of
certain supervisory personnel between the Jobsite and Home Office. It was found that an
interchange of key individuals in these categories (at approximately three-month intervals)
broadened their knowledge of the over-all job
relevant to current developments in the Continental United States, and minimized the fatigue which occurred after prolonged duty at
the Proving Ground.
The Contract made provisions for the wid- .
est possible latitude to the Commission in the
scope and location of work. As the engineering
and construction work progressed, various modifications to the Contract were received. New
items were added, others were increased in
scope, and still others were reduced or deleted
entirely. Modifications to certain Scientific Stations presented particular difficulties because
of the short period of time allocated for their
completion. While some of these modifications
were not unexpected by Management, they imposed frequent changes in the distribution of
supervisory personnel at the Jobsite, and in
some cases in the Home Office as well, particularly in such functions as purchasing, expediting,
and transportation.
The General Manager delegated to the
Manager of Construction-Operations the authority to coordinate all activities affecting the construction and operation of all features of the
project. The Chief of Operations in the Home
Office represented the overseas Project Manager
in coordinating the various Home Office departments in matters pertaining to Jobsite operations. Part of this coordinating activity included the summarizing of all information necessary for scheduling design, procurement, and
construction in order to meet the Commission’s
program requirements.
After schedules were formulated, they were
checked frequently against various reports and
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