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Military Management and the Agency Problem
Agency theory can be helpful for understanding any organizational conflict or behavior, and applies equally as well to the private and public sector. Applied to the military organization, agency theory "offers insight into how military strategies relate to political objectives," an important consideration (Petrina, 2005, p. v). When it is applied to the corporate world, agency theory also offers insight into how executive decisions are made and how executives can become corrupt when they possess significant power and separation from agents or shareholders. There are differences in corporate versus military governance and organizational culture, but those differences to do not cloud over the essential applicability of agency theory to both the private and public sector.
A traditional view of agency theory as it applies to military organizations is that "civilians set oversight measures to monitor the behavior of the military and the military responds based on the probability of its behavior being discovered and its expectation of punishment from civilian leadership," (Petrina, 2005, p. v.). Civilian leadership is defined in part as agents in the federal government including both the executive and the legislative branches, and to a lesser degree the judicial branch. A hierarchal organizational structure...
Things become more complicated when the concept of agency theory is expanded outward from the federal government to reveal that the actual agents are the citizens of the United States. Military leadership is not up for public election, but congressional and presidential leadership absolutely is, making the military indirectly accountable to the public. At the same time, the military's role in protecting national security means that its operations are by definition not necessarily public knowledge and so communication and decision making occur without public oversight.
The agency problem in the military may work its way out in different ways depending on the situation. Occasionally principals may turn directly to the President and senior advisors, as in major national security crises. The intimate relationship between military and executive branch is more open to problems than the more formalized and bureaucratic relationship that typically exists with Congressional oversight (Petrina, 2005). In some ways, military leaders or principals are even more accountable to the agents than in the corporate world due to formalized chains of command. Some, but not all, corporations have formalized chains…
In addition, the Marines have a much smaller force than the army. On the other hand, the army cannot be as selective as the marines because it needs to maintain a much higher number of troops. The article explains that the army "needs 80,000 new soldiers this year and must find them in a populace that is in many ways less willing and less able to serve than earlier generations
Military vs. Domestic Public Safety Agency Preparedness Military vs. Domestic: Public Safety Agency Preparedness In the military, critical incidents must be managed. Public safety agencies at the domestic level also have to handle incident management, but the question is whether these domestic agencies handle these incidents with the same level of preparedness as the military. In the opinion of this researcher, the military has a higher level of preparedness. The reason behind
And members of the military who contemplate suicide should be helped by their fellow members, health professionals, military leaders and others in their community. Conclusion Problems affecting the physical and mental health of the members of the military beset its management. Causes may be known or unknown but they are not without solutions. These can range from the introduction of appropriate training programs, the application of new tools or procedures, a
Military Ops Military-Led Reconstruction and Fiedler's Contingency Theory In light of the unfolding instability, violence and difficulty that characterized the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States military must reexamine its approach to the strategic invasion, occupation, reconstruction and power-handover that have evolved into a war-making template for the nation. Accordingly, the research conducted hereafter considers the need for a change in leadership orientation, using Fiedler's Contingency Theory as the lens
Attendance will be required for all group members to optimize the effect of the sessions. Group members will be allowed to leave the group as long as the intention to leave is provided in writing. No reasons will be required. Because of the nature of the group, a mutual confidentiality agreement will be signed by all group members, including leaders, at the first meeting of the group. There will generally
Military Intelligence The objective of Part One of this study is to examine the use of Unmanned Vehicle Systems in intelligence collection and how this has expanded significantly. This work will discuss the major trends in UV utilization in intelligence collection, as well as some of the moral and ethical concerns when utilizing UVs. Part Two of this study will examine Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), which has been around for many