Defence Forces Review 2010

Defence Forces Review 2010In essence it is a methodology that allows staff to understand their commander’s intentions.The staff are told what needs to be achieved and why, but not how. For the purpose of thisessay MC will be defined as “a system of decentralized command under which a subordinatecommander is assigned a mission without being told how it should be accomplished.” 6LEADERSHIP IN HIGH STAKES ENVIRONSMETHODOLOGY VISION / PLANNING COMMUNICATIONMISSIONPLANNINGSCENARIOREHEARSALBRIEFING• CASCADE• ALIGNMENT• CLARITY• DIRECTIONDE-BRIEFING• PROGRESS• REVIEW• IMPROVEMENT• INTELLIGENCE• SUCCESSES• MISSION SCOPEDEVELOPMENT OF BEST POSSIBLECOURSE OF ACTIONFigure 1: Steps of Mission Command (Riley, 2005:4) 7AimThe aim of this essay is to present the reader with an overview of MC; providing the readerwith a background of how and why it has evolved within the military over time and thereafterto inform the reader of the current discourse which surrounds this highly relevant topic. Havingtraced its origins and defined MC, the author will now outline how the human-in-command(i.e. the human element of command) is central to the debate on MC, and how in turn thisis supported by several supporting pillars, namely; organisational culture, organisationalstructure and morality/values.The Human-in-Command ApproachIn their seminal work, McCann and Pigeau state that in order for command and control(C2) to be effective across the full spectrum of operations, “it is essential that it be humancentred.”8 They argue that because of the allure of technology, C2 has become “obscuredin conceptualization of rigid structure and process” and that the human element has been“chronically under-emphasized and under-researched.” To counteract this, they present a new6 McCann, C. and Pigeau, R. (2000) The Human in Command: Exploring the Modern Military Experience, New York, Kluwer Academic/Plenum, p. 217.7 Riley, A. (2005) ‘Mission Command – A toolkit for leadership under pressure’, Cognition EoS Ltd. (online) (cited 08 October 2008). Available from:http://www.cognition-eos.com/news.html. The fundamental principles of MC are broken down into three key leadership activities, which form acontinuous cycle of planning, communication and review. The process is designed to be repeated at each level of command using the same format; thisdrives alignment8 Op Cit, p. 164.2