Military Organizations, Complex Machines Modernization in the U.S. Armed Services

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Demchak, Chris C.

Series:

Cornell Studies in Security Affairs Series

Cornell Studies in Security Affairs

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States (Armed Forces)--Management.

United States.

Management.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Edition:

1st ed.

Manufacture:

Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2021

Place of Publication:

Ithaka : Cornell University Press, 1991.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Chris Demchak explores the reasons why military machines surprise their users and how they can change both the complexity and effectiveness of tactical organizations. She uses the Army's experiences with its M1 Abrams tank, as well as other examples, to explain the interaction of complex technology and militaries that seek to control uncertainty. Under some conditions, Demchak demonstrates, complexity in critical machines induces increased complexity in the organizations that use them, and can produce an army different from the one that was intended. Drawing on organization theory and her data, she argues that understanding this interaction will heavily influence whether armed forces reductions, savings, and modernization produce rapid, successful military organizations or lethally unpredictable ones.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

1. The Role of Complexity

2. The Power of the Phenomenon

3. The Lure of the New Technologies

4. The Army as an Organization

5. Assumptions Driving Managerial Responses

6. User Responses to Complexity

7. Surprise, Complexity, and Battle

8. The Costs of Complexity

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781501723681

1501723685

OCLC:

1083598079