WPPSS: Some Basic Lessons for Public Enterprise Managers

Washington State Senate Energy and Utilities Committee, Causes of Cost Overruns and Schedule Delays on the Five WPPSS Nuclear Power Plants, Volumes 1 and 2 (Olympia, WA: Washington State Senate Energy and Utilities Committee, January 12, 1981), p. 40.

Washington Public Power Supply System, Report on Implementation Status of Consultant Recommendations—Parts I, II, and III (Richland, WA: Washington Public Power Supply System, August 8, 1980), p. 1–1.

For a description of the special needs and characteristics of “threshold” companies, see Clifford Donald K. , Managing the Threshold Company (New York, NY: McKinsey & Co., 1973).

Cresap, McCormick and Paget Inc., Study of Management Organizations and Related Issues, Washington Public Power Supply System (San Francisco, CA: Cresap, McCormick and Paget Inc., August 1976).

Ibid., p. II-3.

For a useful description of the stages through which boards may evolve, see, Boulton William R. , “The Evolving Board: A Look at the Board's Changing Roles and Information Needs,” Academy of Management Review 3 (October 1978): 827–36.

For an extensive discussion of public authority boards, see, Walsh Annmarie H. , The Public's Business: The Politics and Practices of Government Corporations (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1978), Chapter 7.

Cresap, McCormick and Paget Inc., op. cit., p. III-17.

See, Theodore Barry & Associates, Management Study of the Roles and Relationships of Bonneville Power Administration and Washington Public Power Supply System (Los Angeles, CA: Theodore Barry & Associates, January 1979).

See the following reports to the WPPSS Board of Directors by the Institute of Public Administration: Survey of WPPSS Board (New York, NY: Institute of Public Administration, July 1979); Federal, State and Regional Oversight (New York, NY: Institute of Public Administration, October 1979); Organization of Public and Community Relations (New York, NY: Institute of Public Administration, October 1979); Report on Top Management Structure (New York, NY: Institute of Public Administration, November 14, 1979); Role and Organization of the Board of Directors (New York, NY: Institute of Public Administration, January 1980).

Connelly Joel , “‘Mr. Public Power’ Blames the Experts,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 28, 1982, p. D-7.