The U.S. Armys Brigade Combat Team: Applying Kotters Model to Army Modularity

Abstract

As the United States exited the Cold War, the Army faced a strategic environment that would require them to examine how, and with what organization, they would wage warfare in the future. From World War II though the end of the First Gulf War, the U.S. Army has undergone multiple incremental changes to their organization to cope with the changing environment and adversaries, but these changes had all been predicated on keeping a divisional organization. The problem was that the division was becoming too large and unwieldy. Beginning with General Reimer in the early 1990s, the Army began to explore what a modular, brigade-based organization would look like. Across three Chiefs of Staff, the Army developed concepts of these new modular units, but never made the concept a reality. With General Schoomakers nomination as the Chief of Staff, the Army seton course to shift to the BCT as the basis of its organization. Against a backdrop of Dr. John Kotters model for organizational change, this study seeks to examine how the United States Army under General Schoomaker achieved its transformation from an organization based on the division to one based on the brigade.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 23, 2015
Accession Number
AD1175810

Entities

People

  • Robert W. Appel

Organizations

  • Marine Corps University

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Army
  • Army Operations
  • Case Studies
  • Cold War
  • Combat Forces
  • Department Of Defense
  • Employment
  • Firepower
  • Force Structure
  • History
  • Iraqi-War
  • Lessons Learned
  • Maneuvers
  • Military History
  • Military Operations
  • National Security
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personal Information Managers
  • Second World War
  • Students
  • Task Forces
  • United States
  • Universities
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Organizational Process Management (OPM).