Promotional Information

Argues that the key to unlocking innovation and transformation successfully lies in employing multiple levels of analysis; thus, the Department of Defense (and any organization striving for real change) must foster cooperation among various agencies to adapt to rapid environmental and technological change.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 1 Transformation and Learning in Military Organizations 2 Setting the Stage: Learning at the End of the Nineteenth Century 3 The Future of Military Aviation between the Wars: The Army and Navy Take Different Paths 4 Learning to Conduct Amphibious Landings 5 Cooperative Engagement Capability: A Multiorganizational Collaboration 6 Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author

Mark D. Mandeles is the author of The Future of War: Organizations As Weapons,(2005), Managing Command and Control in the Persian Gulf War (Praeger, 1996), and The Development of the B-52 and Jet Propulsion: A Case Study in Organizational Innovation.

Reviews

Mandeles seeks to look at military transformations in the past in order to facilitate such transformations in the present and future. He sees military transformation as requiring a number of critical ingredients that taken together explain how military organizations learn…..Recommended. Professionals and practitioners.
*Choice*

Mandeles examines previous large-scale changes in military capability and draws inference to current and future questions of military transformation. Early chapters compare how the Navy's aviation planners and the Army Air Corps approached technological and operational uncertainty, and how the U.S. Marine Corps and the Royal Marines developed amphibious operations before WWII. The conclusion lays out a very reasonable argument for keeping the Department of Defense structure multi-organizational, arguing that interaction among groups of organizations enables innovation by enhancing the application of evidence, inference, and tactical knowledge.
*SciTech Book News*

The historical sections, which make up most of the book, will appeal to an even broader audience. This book has the strongest possible recommendation for the serious military professional…
*RUSI*

Mandeles suggests two audiences for his book: senior military and civilian leaders within the national security establishment and the military analysts who serve them and the public. Both groups would be well served to consider this book and its implications for the future organization of the Department of Defense.
*Joint Force Quarterly*