Determining the Best Loci of Knowledge, Responsibilities and Decision Rights in Major Acquisition Organizations
Abstract
The Department of Defense (DoD) is a large, bureaucratic, rule-intensive organization that may not be well suited for its environment. Due in great part to the large size and many rules associated with Defense acquisition in particular, the organizations responsible for DoD acquisition activities tend to be large and rule-intensive themselves, reflecting the kinds of centralized, formalized, specialized, and oversight-intensive forms corresponding to the classic Machine Bureaucracy from Organization Theory. The problem is that this classic organizational structure is known well to be exceptionally poor at responding to change. In the context of military transformation, such a problem should be clear and compelling. Arguably, one or more superior organizational approaches must be available to replace the current acquisition organization. But which, if any, is most appropriate? On what basis should acquisition leaders and policy makers choose between such competing organizational forms? What evidence supports claims of superiority for one organizational approach versus another? Questions such as these are difficult to answer through most research methods employed today to study acquisition organizations (e.g., case study, survey). Building upon prior research of acquisition centralization and knowledge dynamics, the authors employ computational methods to assess the behavior and performance of different organizational designs in varying environments. The results reinforce Contingency Theory and suggest that particular characteristics of different acquisition environments make one organizational form relatively more or less appropriate than another. Practically, answers to their research questions have direct and immediate application to acquisition leaders and policy makers. Theoretically, they generalize to broad classes of organizations and prescribe a novel set of organizational design guides.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA498405
Entities
People
- John Dillard
- Mark Nissen
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School