The National Security Council: An Organizational Culture Approach
Abstract
This study analyzes the United States (US) National Security Council (NSC) through an organizational culture lens. The author examines basic elements of US foreign policy, focusing on roles, structures and processes in the NSC, the development of the special assistant to the president for national security affairs, and the role of presidential style. Together, these elements create a dynamic organizational culture. An organizational approach is applied to three Republican administrations, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush, focusing on three areas: how the president embedded culture and how the other elements responded to these mechanisms; how the organization adapted to external challenges; and how well it managed internal conflicts. The organizational culture approach reveals that though an administration might have successful foreign policy outcomes, if the president tends toward an extreme of focusing on either tasks, as did Nixon, or people, as did Reagan, they are less likely to sustain that success over the long term. A balanced, collegial organizational culture like Bushs, while not perfect, is best suited to manage the tensions between tasks and people and to adapt the immense challenge of crafting foreign policy in a variety of international and domestic contexts.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2018
- Accession Number
- AD1079492
Entities
People
- Katherine C. Mack
Organizations
- Air University