MINNESOTA. SELF-SURVEY:

The self-survey of Minnesota government, 1955-1956, was deemed necessary after the 1955 legislature established a new salary schedule, to be effective July 1, 1955, but appropriated no new money to cover any additional costs. The new salary schedule could be adopted only if enough savings could be found through reorganization of state agencies to eliminate waste, duplication of effort, and inefficiency of services. Instead of hiring outside consultants to study the state government and make a report, Governor Orville Freeman decided Minnesota would conduct a self-survey using its own administrators, technicians, employees, and legislators. The Commissioner of Administration, Arthur Naftalin, directed the self-survey.

Operational task forces, one for each of 33 state agencies, were established. Most task forces had five members including a chairman (a budget examiner from the Administration Department who was familiar with that agency), an administrator from the agency, an employee of the agency, a technician from another agency of state government, and a state legislator. A policy committee wrote a standardized work manual that was used by all of the task forces. This work manual, comprising more than 160 questions with room left under each question for answers and notes, was arranged into three sections: personnel, salaries, and management; operating procedures; and long-term needs and prospects.

Operational task forces (see boxes 1-6) submitted their completed manuals and reports in July, 1956. During the spring and summer of 1956, ten functional task forces (see boxes 7-9) were established to survey general functions, correlating the data from all agencies that had been collected by the operational task forces. Their final reports were finished in October, 1956. Some additional task forces operated during 1958, 1959, and 1960.

While all the goals and the accomplishments of the self-survey are too numerous to mention here (see published reports in box 13), the primary goal of the survey was accomplished. The new pay scale was adopted for the 1957-1959 biennium. In addition, many felt that the survey made progress in six major areas: improved personnel management; better administrative procedures (computerization and central payroll, etc.); improved budgeting and central control; better structural organization; improved physical working conditions; and more systematic attention to planning.

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The records consist of the completed task force work manuals; supplemental files of agency forms; files of survey director Arthur Naftalin, Department of Administration employee Carl Vorlander, and budget examiner Donald G. Zahn; published final reports of the functional and operational task forces; and other formal reports and memoranda.

The operational task force work manuals consist of a copy, for each surveyed agency, of the standard self-survey work manual, with answers to the survey questions written or typed onto the manual pages. Answers vary from cursory to very detailed, often with additional explanatory pages, sample forms, and the like attached. Agencies surveyed included the major administrative departments of state government, the constitutional offices, and the state schools, hospitals, and correctional institutions. For the Highway Department and the Public Welfare Department, including the state institutions, Part II, section 8 of the work manual (Paperwork and Forms Control) comprises very large supplements, which are filed separately following the main sequence of work manuals.

The functional task force work manuals, instead of being organized by agency, are organized by administrative function - accounting, employee classification and salaries, intergovernmental relations, overall structure, personnel, physical plant, research/reports/public information, seasonal help, systems and procedures, and transportation and communications. Each manual is then subdivided by agency. They include some correspondence of the task forces or relating to their work.

Note to users: Where there were duplicate copies of work manuals for a given agency, the best copy has been retained. Nevertheless, many are riddled with self-adhesive tape, and some segments are on poor-quality paper or otherwise in poor condition. In some cases, a second copy of the manual, or selected carbon copies of manual segments, was kept as well.

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These records are organized into the following sections:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited volume and page or item and folder title here]. Minnesota. Department of Administration. Minnesota Self-Survey Records. Minnesota Historical Society. State Archives.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number(s): none

Processing Information:

Processed by: Heidi Zimmermann and Richard Arpi, 1997; administrative history by Arpi.

Catalog ID No.: 0800005363 RLIN ID No.: MNHV616-A

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Includes correspondence, memoranda, minutes, and related descriptions of departmental functions. The files primarily relate to operational task forces, and date 1955-1956.

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Memoranda, work manual drafts, and other papers relating to Zahn's membership in the task forces listed below.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Administrative agencies -- Minnesota -- Management.

Executive departments -- Minnesota -- Management.

Public institutions -- Minnesota -- Management.

Surveying.

Places:

Minnesota -- Politics and government -- 1945-1980.

Persons:

Naftalin, Arthur.

Organizations:

Minnesota. Department of Administration.

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