Bridging the Planning Gap: Linking Conceptual Army Design to Military Decision-Making
Abstract
After almost a decade of war, some senior Army leaders have attributed the challenges experienced in both Iraq and Afghanistan to an inadequate response to complex environmental changes or even blatant misidentification of the problem. Today's global security environment is claimed to be more complex and uncertain than ever before. As expressed in the Army's November 2009 "A Leader Development Strategy for a 21st Century Army," the Army will require leaders to be "effective in the context of ill-defined problems against an enemy likely to present us with a variety of threats." With the vision of fostering more adaptive and flexible leaders, fundamental changes were made in "Field Manual 5-0: The Operations Process, March 2010." Ambiguity over the effective linkages between the Army's conceptual design approach to ill-structured problems and the military decision-making process exist in these changes. While conceptual planning is vital to successful operations, its benefit is limited if the linkages to the current detailed planning process remain ambiguous. Effectively bridging the planning gap between conceptual planning and MDMP with linkages provides the synergistic and responsive planning necessary to tackle the complex contemporary operating environment. Five substantive recommendations emerge from this research: (1) doctrine must return to the fundamentals; (2) the Army should combine Army design and MDMP into one rigorous and holistic planning process; (3) the Army should refine Army leader and Soldier training and education to instill and develop critical thinking skills at all levels; (4) the Army must focus on further development and publication of assessment, reflection, and reframing techniques in military operations; and (5) further research and experimentation will move the Army towards becoming a truly adaptive military organization.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 19, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA546321
Entities
People
- Erik K. Kober
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College