Foundational Principles for Organizing a Joint Force Staff
Abstract
This paper proposes foundational principles for understanding and organizing a joint force staff. The traditional staff structure of j-coded staff directorates and the functional organization of a joint force staff are mutually supporting constructs. Both are necessary in order to form an effective joint force staff. Joint force staffs must operate in three event horizons in order to maintain a proper balance between and focus on current, mid-term, and long-term staff and mission requirements. The use of planning groups to manage planning teams allows the joint force staff to maintain focused planning efforts across and within these three event horizons. Cross-functional working groups and teams are the basic integration method of disparate staff capabilities and inform the efforts of the planning teams. No single staff procedure can adequately capture the multiple, simultaneous planning, estimate, and assessment tasks required of the joint force staff. Instead, the joint force staff battle rhythm is the basic integrating logic of how the staff operates and how it allocates its capabilities.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 18, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA498156
Entities
People
- Patrick E. Matlock
Organizations
- United States Army War College