Population And Housing Census:

Organizational Structure

Arie Aharon

Israel Central Bureau of Statistics

Tel. 972-2-655 3417

FAX 972-2-655 3531

The purpose of this paper is to provide general background to the overall work of
the census as well as background to the following papers on computerization of the
field setting.

The census' organizational structure had two main component parts:

a. census headquarters (Headquarters)

b. the field setting

Census Headquarters

Census Headquarters was made up of three units:


Census
Director

Planning Operations Information

Team Staff
Technology (IT)

Census Headquarters, located in Jerusalem, was responsible for planning,
organization, administration, computerization, public information, command and control
of the field setting, and data entry and processing. At its peak Census
Headquarters staff reached about 150 persons.

Functions of Headquarters Units

Census planning team: was responsible for planning work processes of
enumerators and supervisors, i.e. planning the execution of the enumeration and
planning data entry and data processing for the census.

Census operations staff: was responsible for all fieldwork, i.e. for implementing
the census planning team's plans, including all aspects of administration and supplies,
staff, training, public relations, and organizing the field setting.

Census information technology (IT): was responsible for analyzing the
requirements of the planning team and the operations Staff; recommending and
implementing automated solutions to these requirements, including, inter alia, designing
and setting up the field setting computerization system.

The Field Setting

The field setting comprised the entire nationwide enumeration staff, the number of
fieldworkers peaking at 10,000, of whom almost 7,000 were enumerators. To
facilitate efficient fieldwork, a hierarchical system was designed under which the
country was divided into enumeration regions, each enumeration region divided into
sub-regions, and each sub-region divided into sections and each section divided to
enumeration areas (for further detail see below). It should be noted that the regions
differed in extent, geographical composition, population size, and the number of
component sub-regions.

The structure of the field setting

Planning and Implementation
Headquarters

Region Director
(16) Region

included 8- in charge of a Region
10 Sub-Regions

Sub- Sub-Region Director Field
( 134) Region

included 8-10 in charge of a Sub-Region Setting
Sections

( 1200) Section Supervisor

included about 6 Enumeration in charge of a Section
Areas

( 7000 ) Enumeration Area Enumerator

included 250-300 Households in charge of an EA


numbers in parentheses refer to the entire country

Region, Regional Director: A region is a broad geographical area comprising 8-
10 sub-regions and headed by a Regional Director (RD). The RD was responsible
for the execution of the census in his region and this entails responsibility for
setting up sub-regional offices, which in turn, were responsible for staff
recruitment, training, logistics, and command and control over the supervisors and
the fieldwork in each sub-region. Each RD had a staff of some 15 persons,
including Deputy RD's for fieldwork management and for administration and
supplies, a training coordinator, and an institutions coordinator. Total staff in any
one region was about 500-550.

Sub-Region, Sub-Regional Director: A sub-region is an organizational unit
comprising 8-10 sections and headed by a sub-regional director (SRD). An SRD's
duties were to organize all aspects of fieldwork (recruitment and training of the
staff reporting to him, i.e. supervisors and enumerators), to direct the supervisors'
work, and to solve professional and organizational problems as they arose. Total
staff in a sub-region ranged between 50 to 60 people.

Section, Supervisor: A section is an organizational unit comprising 6 enumeration
areas and headed by a supervisor, whose duties were to assist in recruiting and
training enumerators, to direct their work, and assist them when necessary. In every
sub-region there were 8-10 supervisors.

Enumeration Area: An enumeration area (EA) is the basic enumeration unit of the
census and the smallest organizational unit in the field setting. It comprised 200-300
households and was the responsibility of one enumerator, whose work was to drop
off blank questionnaires to all households in his/her area and pick up completed
questionnaires.

Organizational Structure - Main Principle

Recruitment and training were carried out by the 'ladder method', each rung of the
hierarchy recruiting and training the one below it. The top rung of fieldwork
managers (RD's and their regional deputies) were recruited and trained by Census
Headquarters. This method made it easier to cope with the challenge of rapid mass
recruitment and strengthened the organizational structure by creating an allegiance
between each rung and the one above it. Nor could any rung complain about the
quality of the staff it had at its disposal.