Monographie

21st-century challenges of command : a view from the field / Anna Simons

Type de contenu
  • Texte
Type de médiation
  • sans médiation
Type de support
  • Volume
Titre(s)
  • 21st-century challenges of command : a view from the field / Anna Simons
Auteur(s)
Autre(s) responsabilité(s)
Publication
  • Carlisle (Pa.) : Strategic studies institute : U.S. army war College press, 2017
Description matérielle
  • 1 vol. (XII-101 pages) ; 23 cm
Collection
  • Letort papers
ISBN
  • 978-1-387-58344-7
EAN
  • 9781387583447 br.
Appartient à la collection
  • Letort papers
Autre variante du titre
  • [View from the field.]
  • [Twenty-first century challenges of command.]
Classification décimale Dewey
  • 958.104 7
  • 355.330 973
Note(s)
  • "Mai 2017"
Note sur la description bibliographique
  • Consultable à l'adresse
Note sur les bibliographies et les index
  • Notes bibliographiques pages 81-101
Note sur le contenu
  • Overview Ethnographic observations Command : in theory and in practice Case in point : Afghanistan Singular hierarchy + ownership Further thoughts and other approaches
Résumé ou extrait
  • La préface indique : "For all of the attention that is accorded leadership, very little has been written about the day-to-day challenges of command. Dr. Simons' Letort Paper aims to redress this gap. She examines 21st-century challenges of command through the lens of Special Operations Force (SOF) experiences in Afghanistan (and to a lesser extent Iraq), primarily at the O-4 through O-6 level. Her purpose is twofold: to describe the kinds of choices commanders face under the dual pressures of too little time and too much (incomplete) information, an to draw attention to the debilitating effects of what she dubs 'objectiveless warfare.' The lack of clear, tangible objective is but one among a number of factors that, she contends, prevents commanders at all levels from being able to affect lasting changes. However, rather than use this to tee up the usual argument about the need for a coherent strategy, she concentrates instead on hierarchy, and argues that without a singular hierarchy, coherent strategy will prove insufficient. According to Dr. Simons, hierarchy is the most powerful antidote to paralysis humans have yet invented, whereas multiple hierarchies lead to 'stakeholder fratricide.' She makes a provocative case for why, in the style of General George C. Marshall, the military should revisit the rubric of 'singular hierarchy + ownership.' By this she means that one individual and his/her staff needs to 'own' the war or the problem (e.g. Afghanistan, Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS], etc.) until it is resolved, or until the commander is removed on the unlikely chance that the objectives one sets cannot be met. Simon highlights the importance of decisiveness, while also explaining how adoption of a 'singular hierarchy + ownership' approach can help both protect and promote variation within the officer corps. In her view, variation is essential for being able to out-think and out-adapt adversaries." (pages VII-VIII)
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