Leading Change: The Military as a Learning Organization
Abstract
Leveraging technology and responding to a fundamentally altered external environment has both forced change on the military and offered significant potential for new warfighting concepts. The capacity to effectively absorb such profound change, and exploit such potential, is possible only if the military organization transforms itself to become a learning organization. The difficulties of organizational change and the conservative nature of the military limits its capacity to absorb any revolutionary change or to adapt via rapid evolutionary change in peacetime. That the prospect of such change is threatening to impede the full potential of military organizations is, therefore, cause for concern. A learning organization leads change because it is proactive. It challenges the traditional resistance to change and is confident in acting boldly to confront the unknowns of the future. The essence of such an organization lies in an institutional willingness to learn and a climate of intellectual openness which perpetually challenges the status quo. The military as a learning organization can develop leaders who, by managing the interaction of the fundamentals of vision, culture, and people, can create the conditions necessary for stimulating positive, constructive and perpetual change. As the military seeks to ensure its relevance and success into the future, it must adjust its focus to embrace the operational realities of the future. It must be prepared to let go of what was comfortable about the past if it is no longer relevant. Adapting to change, and rapidly, will be vital to success.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA527721
Entities
People
- Richard M. Burr
Organizations
- Marine Corps University