OCR Text |
Show CHAPTER HI THE BASIC STRUCTURE OF A MANAGEMENT STRATEGY FOR GREAT SALT LAKE A system might be broadly defined as a group of interconnected and interdependent components, each of which contributes to the overall functioning of the whole. Systems management implies a planned manipulation of a particular system and/ or its associated input functions so as to achieve specific objectives and goals. Management, then, is a dynamic process which must be continually responsive both to changing societal goals and objectives and to fluxes within the components of the managed system itself. Optimal management involves manipulation of the system so as to achieve optimal resource use in terms of the needs, objectives, and goals of the system users as a whole. The general management concept for a natural resource system, such as Great Salt Lake, is illustrated by Figure 2. As indicated by this diagram, there is first the need to understand and describe the physical components of the system through basic information and data. Next to be considered are the societal demands or use options which might be implemented in varying degrees through management measures ( both technical and non- technical) which alter certain characteristics of the physical system. Any management policy is imposed upon the physical system in order to produce a particular set of conditions. In turn these conditions are interpreted in terms of the needs of a particular social objective or set of objectives. Thus, while an achieved set of conditions might be desirable in terms of a given societal objective, these same conditions might represent disadvantages to other social uses or objectives. For this reason, a particular management plan is necessarily selected by means of some form of optimizing process which usually is based on cost and value factors. The selection, or optimizing, procedure often involves ' trade- offs' between value functions, but hopefully the management plan which ultimately is selected is able to provide the optimal resource use in terms of the needs, objectives, and goals of the society as a whole. Frequently, the plan which is adopted does not provide the optimal resource use in terms of economics alone. Finally, through the input of labor and capital, the physical system is modified to accommodate to some degree the requirements of the various resource use options which are emphasized by the management plan being implemented. As suggested by the preceding discussion, the selection of a particular management plan from a group of possible alternatives requires methodologies for assessing the degree to which each potential plan meets specific and defined management objectives. Obviously, it is usually not practical to implement and test a number of possible plans by manipulation of the real- world system on a " trial and error" basis. Many courses of action tend to be irreversible. For example, once a structure such as a dike or bridge is constructed, subsequent extensive modifications to the plan usually are not feasible. Frequently a system manager reaches a decision on the basis of his judgment from past experience and knowledge. However, in the case of highly complex systems, such as that of Great Salt Lake, the many interacting processes and interdependencies cannot easily be perceived and expressed. In this situation computer modeling has great practical utility. To the degree that the model represents the system being managed, the technique enables various possible management alternatives to be tested quickly and effectively under a wide range of known and assumed physical and social conditions. For this reason, computer modeling is proposed by this report as the basic framework of a management strategy for the water resource system of Great Salt Lake. 11 |