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

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Boyd’s views on command and control. Small teams operating relatively autonomously,pursue entrepreneurial opportunities and share know-how among themselves 114 . Cellularorganizations tend to mirror the complexity of the environment with requisite variety, asindividual cells sense new entrepreneurial opportunities. When environmental demandschange, new cells can be formed and old ones disbanded as necessary. Like an amoebachanging with its surroundings, the operating logic of the form is based on flexibility withaccepted protocols of knowledge sharing substituting for hierarchical controls. The freedom ofactivity is a key to enabling self-organizing behavior, a theme residing in the heart of Boyd’s work.Control of such a networked organization is not provided by tights top-downcontrols. In stead, a combination of loose-tight controls is applied. The shared values ofcorporate culture in belief systems provide tight, but internal and perhaps even ‘tacit’ controlas a form of protocol. Loose control comes from interaction between supervisor andemployees that encourages information sharing, trust and learning. The key to loose controlis management’s trust in employees to act according to the shared values, therefore settingthem free to search for opportunities, learn, and apply accumulating knowledge to innovativeefforts 115 . Successful leaders of complex organizations allow experimentation, mistakes,contradictions, uncertainty and paradox, so the organization can evolve. Leaders in tune witha complexity approach shared a common trait: tolerance for paradox. The fundamentalparadox in this leadership style is leading by not leading. Since processes unfold in complexsystems in non-linear ways, leading organizational change cannot come about by simplyadhering to a conventional command and control approach, which is essentially linear.Managing an organization as a complex system means letting go of control and a focusinstead on the power of the interconnected world of relationships and the feedback loops.How people interact influences what emerges. By focusing on relationships organizationscan be viewed as interconnected human webs, living organisms that unfold and adapt. Amanagement practice that focuses on a network of relationships is a way of engaging thedynamics of a complex adaptive system. It is effective because enhancing interactions leadsto the emergence of a creative and adaptable organization 116 . These too are ideasrecognizable in Boyd’s work.Strategy and planning do not escape from the application of insights from complexitytheory. Relating Complexity Theory to Strategic Management Theory, Gell-Mann observestwo sources of unpredictability are the problem. The first is that the fundamental laws of theuniverse are quantum mechanical: these give a set of probabilities for alternative histories ofthe universe-not a clear prediction that one history will occur instead of the others. Second,there is the phenomenon of chaos to contend with, which involves extreme sensitivity toinitial conditions. Tiny changes in initial conditions can distort the outcome by hugeamounts. Thus it is frequently impossible to find a best strategy. Instead what is mostimportant is to have a family of strategies, such that one can vary the response to one’schanging circumstance according to success. Robustness doesn’t consist so much in having aparticular pattern of response as in having an enormous set of possible responses’ 117 . Or as114 Henry Coleman, ‘What Enables Self-Organizing Behavior in Businesses’, Emergence, Volume 1,issue 1, p.37.115 Ibid, p.40.116 Roger Lewin and Birute Regine, ‘An Organic Approach to Management’, Perspective on BusinessInnovation, Cap Gemini Ernst & young Journal, Issue 4, pp. 19-26.117 Murray Gell-Mann, ‘The Complex Adaptive Business’, Perspective on Business Innovation, Cap GeminiErnst & Young Journal, Issue 1, p. 75-76. The literature on Complexity Theory and its relevance forthe humanities, social sciences, management theory is burgeoning. See for instance:; Shona L. Brown& Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, Competing on the Edge, Strategy as Structured Chaos (Boston, 1998); Uri Merry,152
Lissack asserts, in a complex world, strategy is a set of processes for monitoring thebehaviors of both the world and of the agents of the organization, observing where potentialattractors are and attempting to supply resources and incentives for future moves. It may bethan command and control are impossible (at least in the absolute and in the aggregate), butthe manager retains the ability to influence the shape of what complexity theory refers to as“the fitness landscape” 118 .The following overview shows the array of possible implications of ComplexityTheory for strategic management of commercial organizations. It contrasts the holisticapproach that managing complex organizations requires, to the mechanistic view of earliermanagement theorist such as Taylor 119 .THE NEW PLANNING PARADIGM AS DEFINED BY THE NEW SCIENCESFromLinearStatic, cause-effect view of individual factorsMicroscopic, localSeparatenessMarketplaceReductionistComponent thinkingTime cards, task analysisProblem solvingBrainstormingPolarizationStructure creates processPays attention to policies and proceduresthat are usually fixed and inflexibleStanding committeesPoliticsPlanning as discrete eventPlanning by elite specialist groupImplementation of planForecasting through data analysisQuantitativeControlling, stabilizing or managing changeDinosaur behaviorChange as threatLeads to stagnation and extinctionToNon-linearDynamic, constantly changing field of interactionsWide angle, globalRelatednessEnvironmentNon-reductionistSeeing and thinking in wholesComplex Adaptive SystemsButterfly Effect, system feedbackSelf-organization, adaptationEnvironmental scanning plus mappingUnderlying processes and interactions of a system’svariables create self-organizing patterns, shapes and structuresPays attention to initial conditions, perking information,emerging events, and strange attractorsAd hoc working groups, networksLearningPlanning as continuous processPlanning requires whole system inputImplementation flexible and constantly evolving inresponse to emerging conditionsForesight through synthesisQualitativeResponding to and influencing change as it emergesEntrepeneurial behaviorChange as opportunityLeads to renewal and growthSource: adapted from T. Irene Sanders, Strategic Thinking and the New Sciences, Planning in the Midst of Chaos,Complexity and Change (New York, 1998), pp. 146-150.Coping With Uncertainty, Insights from the New Sciences of Chaos, Self Organization, and Complexity (Westport,1995); Raymond A. Eve et al, Chaos, Complexity, and Sociology (London, 1997); L. Douglas Kiel & EuelElliott, Chaos Theory in the Social Sciences (University of Michigan, 1996); Kathleen Eisenhardt andDonald N. Sull, ‘Strategy as Simple Rules’, Harvard Business Review, January 2001, pp. 107-116; Eric D.Beinhocker, ‘Robust Adaptive Strategies’, Sloan Management Review, Spring 1999, pp. 95-106; MichaelChurch, ‘Organizing Simply for Complexity: Beyond Metaphor Towards Theory’, Long Range Planning,Vol.32, No.4, 1999, pp.425-40.118 Lissack, p.114.119 Her views are shared by O’Connor & Mc Dermott.153
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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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mental or moral, instead they aim t
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calculation, based on the assumptio
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Turbulent environmentThis convictio
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the introduction of the M1 Abrams t
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campaign with which it was most com
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The debates resulted via the improv
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emphasized being more responsive, a
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4. SCIENCE: BOYD’S FOUNTAINKnowle
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The list exceeds 20 pages. Indeed,
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counter-culture. He had read severa
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Popper’s Evolutionary Epistemolog
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species. Finally, theories, unlike
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discovery’ 39 . ‘We have here t
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for failure and an encouragement fo
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investigated and a change of the ru
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Paradigm shiftBeyond NewtonIn the p
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philosophical aspects, Prigogine an
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uncertainty in another “conjugate
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The link between thermodynamics and
Page 112 and 113: As Ludwig Bertalanffy noted, the gr
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Page 122 and 123: The model below shows this process
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Page 128 and 129: In Patterns of Conflict he also emp
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Page 132 and 133: advances in knowledge, adaptation,
Page 134 and 135: TraditionalReductionismLinear causa
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Page 138 and 139: Concentration of chemical ANew stab
Page 140 and 141: It preserves the web-like pattern o
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Page 148 and 149: Levels of adaptationThis naturally
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Page 158 and 159: Such efforts have lead to suggestio
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Page 164 and 165: Several of these ideas surface in B
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Page 168 and 169: ehavior in reaction to what the oth
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Page 174 and 175: as focus for military planning on t
Page 176 and 177: A Discourse and the scientific Zeit
Page 178 and 179: Sharpening our mental capabilities
Page 180 and 181: perceive it’ 184 . By trying to c
Page 182 and 183: Ensure a large variety of conceptua
Page 184 and 185: The main intent of the effort is to
Page 186 and 187: e true. Thus tested and refined, it
Page 188 and 189: particulars or we can start with th
Page 190 and 191: inconsistencies may emerge to stifl
Page 192 and 193: although not exact1y -- since the u
Page 194 and 195: eality 29 . As indicated earlier, t
Page 196 and 197: He then incorporates a section of t
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Page 202 and 203: Boyd does not find fault with these
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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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