Science, Strategy and War The Strategic Theory of ... - Boekje Pienter

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The process of learning, and the previous insights were taken up in managementstudies. The metaphor of the organization as an organism and as a learning brain provedfruitful correctives for the prevalent view of the organization as a machine, which haddominated management theory up till the 1960s. Both metaphors were based on opensystems theory 167 . This spawned two related schools of thought in management literature:the Cognitive School of strategic management and the Learning School, both of which canin turn be considered part of the Organic School of management theory. The idea thatorganizations are more like organisms guided the attention toward the more general issues ofsurvival, organization-environment relations and organizational effectiveness, and away fromgoals, structures and efficiency, which were key themes in the machine metaphor. It alsoinduced a focus on information flows. In the process, organization theory became a kind ofbiology in which the distinctions and relations among molecules, cells, complex organisms,species, and ecology are paralleled in those between individuals, groups, organizations,populations (species) of organizations and their social ecology.The organic school of management emphasizes the environment in which theorganizations exist. Morgan asserts that the open systems view suggests that we shouldalways organize with the environment in mind. This has important implications fororganizational practice, stressing the importance of being able to scan and sense changes intask and contextual environments, of being able to bridge and manage critical boundariesand areas of interdependence, and of being able to develop appropriate strategic responses.The dynamic of organizational learning resembles the process described by Boyd. Even inthe simplified form as depicted in the introduction, the OODA loop is obviously a very closecopy of graphic renderings of organizational learning processes shown above. Included inBoyd’s notion of Orientation is the idea of institutional memory in the form of doctrine,practices, values, and shared experiences, that guide action and that inform newcomers in theorganization. Other traits too betray the ‘organizational learning’ character of the OODAloop. The OODA loop model includes double feedback loops that allow an individual ororganization to monitor the continued relevance of its goals, its repertoire of responses andthe adequacy of the lens of its institutional memory. The following overview gives animpression of definitions of organizational learning in which both the cybernetic as well asthe evolution-theoretical elements are evident 168 .Organizational learning means the process of improving actions through better knowledge andunderstanding;Organizational learning is defined as increasing an organization’s capacity to take effective action;An entity learns if, through its processing of information, the range of potential behaviors is increasedOrganizational learning is a process of detecting and correcting error;Organizational learning is defined as the process by which knowledge about action-outcomerelationships between the organization and the environment is developed;Organizations are seen as learning by encoding inferences from history into routines that guidebehavior;Organizational learning occurs through shared insights, knowledge, and mental models [and] builds onpast knowledge and experience – that is, on memory.World History (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000), p.27. See also J.W. Burton, Systems, States,Diplomacy and Rules (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1968) for one of the earliest applications,in particular chapter 1.167 See Morgan (1986), p.44. Chapters 3, 4 and 8 are based on evolution theory, systems theory andcomplexity theory and provide an early synthesis of these developments and apply the to organizationtheory.168 This is adopted David A. Garwin, Learning in Action (Harvard Business School Press, Boston, Ma.,2000), p.10. Garwin quotes seven different studies.114
Drawing together these tenets, Garwin offers the definition that ‘a learningorganization is an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, interpreting, transferring, andretaining knowledge, and at purposefully modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledgeand insights’ 169 . Boyd’s views on the required organizational features of an organization inconstant or at least potential conflict and operating in uncertainty are close to the ‘LearningSchool’ of strategic management. Mintzberg, et al, note that the organizational capacity tolearn is essential for professional-type organizations, that operate in highly complexenvironments, where the knowledge required to create strategy is widely diffused, or thatface truly novel situations, and/or that operate in dynamic and unpredictableenvironments 170 . Adaptability and flexibility, for which learning is essential, is the definingparameter for corporate success, i.e., long-term survival 171 . In a very Boydian passage,Warren Bennis notes thatif we view organizations as adaptive, problem-solving, organic structures, then inferencesabout effectiveness have to be made, not from static measures of output, but on the basis ofthe processes through which the organization approaches problems. The measure for healthis flexibility, the freedom to learn through experience, the freedom to change with changinginternal and external circumstances 172 .In Organic Design for Command and Control Boyd argues for a permissive and loosely structuredorganization, and again his view is in accordance with organization theory developed in theseventies and eighties. Chris Argyris and Donald Schon for instance suggested in 1978 that aloosely structured organization, unfettered by rigid internal hierarchies andoverspecialization, would be more amenable to a free internal debate that would facilitateorganizational learning and so facilitate change 173 . Others agree, noting that this and thefeatures listed in the table on page 116 are both characteristic as well as the determiningparameters for the organizational learning capability 174 : Several authors have since thenidentified specific facilitators for learning and tools an organization can implement 175 .Facilitators for learning include a broad base of contributors and data sources; a process forsharing diverse perspectives and points of view and a willingness to embrace contradictoryand unexpected findings; quick feedback; and forums for brainstorming in which new ideasare generated and creative thinking should be stimulated. When organizations interpretacquired information, they should adopt a dialectic mode in which various views are debatedand tested. When information is transformed into action, new approaches must be tried,even when they result in some mistakes and failures 176 .169 Ibid, p.11. Interestingly Garwin, pp.20-28, distinguishes three stages of learning that resemble threeelements of the OODA loop: acquiring information, interpreting information and applyinginformation.170 Mintzberg, Strategy Safari, p.229.171 Garwin, p.9172 Cited in Garwin, p.9.173 Chris Argyris and Donald Schon, Organizational Learning: A Theory of Action Perspective (Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass), 1978, pp. 38-39, 143, 145.174 Adapted from J.Edward Russo & Paul J.H. Schoemaker, Winning Decisions (Doubleday, New York,2002), pp.227-28.175 Garwin, p.42.176 Ibid,pp.28-43.115
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Science, Strategy and WarThe Strate
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We are survival machines.Richard Da
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CONTENTS1. INTRODUCTION............
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Introduction.......................
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1. INTRODUCTIONTo flourish and grow
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testing of the decision selected by
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momentum and tempo, which in combin
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tracing the history of war Boyd saw
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in general. Referring to Karl Poppe
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constitute an argument about strate
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2. ON STRATEGY AND STRATEGIC THEORY
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its internal make up and the dynami
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strategist’s task is not to creat
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must be holistic, paying due respec
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Such a division can also be discern
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sensibility that would be capable o
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Why strategic theorizing is difficu
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truth is independent of human belie
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policy, is policy’ 107 . Subseque
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of systems of thought which will gu
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Science and Strategic TheoryDominan
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the major intellectual currents tha
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friction, which is infused with the
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3. THE SEEDS OF A THEORY AND THE FE
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Slowly his writings matured. In 196
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This situation also reflected the d
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at the cost of airspeed depletion)
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and air power theorists are notably
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Lawrence wrote Liddell Hart that fo
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The Indirect ApproachThe foregoing
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in weakening the opponent’s will
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standing in a direct theoretical li
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perfect information, so Chapter 9 r
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According with the enemy is the ass
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preconceived battle plan depends up
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Page 78 and 79: Turbulent environmentThis convictio
Page 80 and 81: the introduction of the M1 Abrams t
Page 82 and 83: campaign with which it was most com
Page 84 and 85: The debates resulted via the improv
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Page 88 and 89: 4. SCIENCE: BOYD’S FOUNTAINKnowle
Page 90 and 91: The list exceeds 20 pages. Indeed,
Page 92 and 93: counter-culture. He had read severa
Page 94 and 95: Popper’s Evolutionary Epistemolog
Page 96 and 97: species. Finally, theories, unlike
Page 98 and 99: discovery’ 39 . ‘We have here t
Page 100 and 101: for failure and an encouragement fo
Page 102 and 103: investigated and a change of the ru
Page 104 and 105: Paradigm shiftBeyond NewtonIn the p
Page 106 and 107: philosophical aspects, Prigogine an
Page 108 and 109: uncertainty in another “conjugate
Page 110 and 111: The link between thermodynamics and
Page 112 and 113: As Ludwig Bertalanffy noted, the gr
Page 114 and 115: assessing deviation from coursecoun
Page 116 and 117: the system by the environment or ot
Page 118 and 119: A slightly more complex model from
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Page 122 and 123: The model below shows this process
Page 126 and 127: Positive indicatorsNegative indicat
Page 128 and 129: In Patterns of Conflict he also emp
Page 130 and 131: progressed and developed a new lang
Page 132 and 133: advances in knowledge, adaptation,
Page 134 and 135: TraditionalReductionismLinear causa
Page 136 and 137: exist only because they are open. T
Page 138 and 139: Concentration of chemical ANew stab
Page 140 and 141: It preserves the web-like pattern o
Page 142 and 143: Orientation shapes the character of
Page 144 and 145: either. The edge of chaos is where
Page 146 and 147: The final region is the boundary be
Page 148 and 149: Levels of adaptationThis naturally
Page 150 and 151: Operate inside adversary’s OODA l
Page 152 and 153: Organisms which are internally cons
Page 154 and 155: The last mentioned feature implies
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Page 158 and 159: Such efforts have lead to suggestio
Page 160 and 161: processes are maintained simultaneo
Page 162 and 163: Boyd’s views on command and contr
Page 164 and 165: Several of these ideas surface in B
Page 166 and 167: problems they seek to comprehend or
Page 168 and 169: ehavior in reaction to what the oth
Page 170 and 171: sciences, which he termed a new int
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as focus for military planning on t
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A Discourse and the scientific Zeit
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Sharpening our mental capabilities
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perceive it’ 184 . By trying to c
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Ensure a large variety of conceptua
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The main intent of the effort is to
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e true. Thus tested and refined, it
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particulars or we can start with th
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inconsistencies may emerge to stifl
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although not exact1y -- since the u
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eality 29 . As indicated earlier, t
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He then incorporates a section of t
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Attack enemy’s plans as best poli
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planning process which included var
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Boyd does not find fault with these
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oth methods the same processes seem
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strategic planning in light of the
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gauged all the conditions indicated
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Blitzkrieg disrupts the connections
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- a medium to realize superior inte
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Only the fourth condition relates t
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Shape and exploit crises environmen
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penetrate an adversary to subvert,
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Maneuver Conflict - as practices by
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In light of his previous observatio
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difficult) subordinates that accept
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This then leads to the second wrap-
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mask one’s own system against any
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dimension on the behavior of a stra
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Theme for Disintegration and Collap
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Strategic AimDiminish adversary’s
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ApplicationRevisiting Sun Tzu, rein
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The general underlying idea of Coun
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to victory by connecting them to th
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destruction and creation to his inv
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Boyd’s inspiration also came in p
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The Big O: Orientation.The ensuing
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implicit cross-referencing process
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Magnify adversary’s friction and
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This differs from traditional views
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patterns that produced success in m
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General SurveyIn this section his i
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city, however, the situation is qui
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“Destruction and Creation”, by
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So Boyd discerns within the adversa
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On isolation and interactionPhysica
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The Art of Success:Shape or influen
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The meaning of strategy and the art
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however is not much different, but
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Examples from EngineeringSome Outst
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words, in order to gain a richer im
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what applies to science and enginee
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technology, is connected to the gam
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The real OODA loop270
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This relates the OODA loop clearly
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for a process of learning, of evolv
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thing any system is constantly faci
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communication and explicit directio
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8. CONCLUSIONThe history of science
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found himself in. To Sun Tzu Boyd a
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strategy. He elaborates on several
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ehavior, demonstrating the value of
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film, sociology, geography, literar
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That social scientific knowledge, o
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undertakes to improve its own perfo
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The reflexive nature of modern soci
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the context within which the situat
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“road maps for action”, but rat
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all point at the changes the techno
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central sign of post-modernity. In
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a revolution in military affairs oc
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This will affect war and warfare:
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Athena’s Camp. They see swarming
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commanders to improve their decisio
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Military War Beyond Military War No
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schemas. Gell-Mann developed the id
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extent in the novel approach for th
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ANNEX B: BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PATTERNS O
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LeBoeuf, Michael, “GMP, The Great
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Wolf, Eric R., “Peasant Wars of t
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Bartolomasi, Paolo: ‘The Realitie
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Cohen, William S.: Report of the Qu
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Fukuyama, Francis: The Great Disrup
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Hughes, Daniel: ‘Abuses of German
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Lewin, Roger, and Birute Regine:
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Murdock, Paul, ‘Principles of War
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Rosenau, James, N.: ‘Many Damn Th
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Walt, Stephen M.: ‘Rigor or Rigor
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