Global Challenges and Regional Responses Organizing for the Future
Abstract
The advent of globalization and the revolution in military affairs necessitates making substantive changes to the Army's organizational structure. The current traditional hierarchical structure worked well in the Cold War era but is now a source of rising tension between warfighting effectiveness and peace keeping efficiencies. Acknowledging the impact of globalization on the Army, Army Chief of Staff General Eric K. Shinseki stated his willingness to tackle tough organizational change. This monograph researches organizational change from the perspective of international corporations responding to the forces of globalization. By studying corporate organizational structure and corporate organizational change, numerous lessons can be drawn that are applicable to the Army's transformation efforts. An analysis of General Motors demonstrates the need for large, traditionally structured organizations to embrace change while the study of Shell Oil demonstrates the necessity of sustaining structural change. Given the difficulty and the importance of the organizational redesign process, it is critical that the Army's leadership studies past efforts to reorganize the Army and researches corporate case studies focusing on organizational transformation. Many of the concerns that General Shinseki is facing in his attempt to organize the Army into a strategically responsive force are identical to the ones faced by chief executive officers in the corporate arena. A failure to study corporate America's reorganization efforts increases the risk that the Army's transformation efforts will fail, leaving the Army isolated and operationally and strategically irrelevant in comparison with its forward looking sister services.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2000
- Accession Number
- ADA382165
Entities
People
- Michael E. Mathes
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College