Development of alternative organizational models for forestry in Turkey

This study aimed at defining the current situation of forestry organization, the management and organization problems in Turkey, to develop alternative organizational models and to determine the most appropriate. To collect data, four different questionnaires were applied face to face to the 565 subjects from four different interest groups (employees, experts, relevant institutions and NGO representatives), and meetings were held with the forestry units under the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs in nine regions in Turkey. The interviewees were determined according to the stratified-simple random sampling method. The basic material of this study is the data obtained from the survey and interviews. Data were evaluated with descriptive statistics, the differences of opinions regarding the management and organization of the forestry according to the regions, the units, the task, and the experience were inspected by the Kruskal-Wallis H-Test and the different groups were determined via the Duncan Test. Within the scope of the research, the current situation of forestry organization in Turkey was determined, and the management and organizational problems were presented. The alternative organization and management models for forestry in Turkey were developed and it was determined that the most preferred models by four different interest groups were "Model-3" and "Model-2". In Model-3, the forestry organization is structured as six separate general directorates in the center, and only one strong forest district directorate on the basis of micro-basins with Regional Forestry Research-Development and Supervision units in homogeneous basins in the provinces. In Model-2, a centralized forestry organization is essential in organizing and managing from the head office, and in the regions, there are directorates and sub-district units on the basin basis as a single unit. Both models serve to manage the forest resources in a sense of integrity by resolving the conflict of authority-responsibility, to utilize resources effectively, to attain the organization a dynamic structure and to spread the staff from the top to the bottom. Proposals were developed by discussing the models and presented to the decision-makers and practitioners for consideration