Pros and Cons of Sustainability Management

Sustainment Management and Readiness Team (SMART)

Pros

To begin the first benefit of the support system is its structure. Structure is particularly important within a military context. Structure provides a standardized process by which all personnel can properly understand and abide by. Structure also provides consistency in regards to issues throughout the support system. Having a consistent means of remediation allows for an efficient response that reduces the need for explanation. Within the military, this is critical because the need for explanation can potentially reduce the need for higher ranking officials to spend their time on aspects that are not warranted. In addition, each unit member knows each point of contact within the value chain. Having a structured process that allows all members within the system to clearly delineate the overall process has another benefit as well. The process allows for fault information to be easily captured in the event of a malfunction. For example, when under review, the reviewer can easily assess where with the chain a breakdown occurred. This is very critical because it allows personnel to quickly and efficiently address any faults within the overall application of the process. For example, a DSE could contact the platoon representative to explain the errros made on his behalf. The DSE, with this system would not need to contact other levels within the chain because he easily sees that the error occurred on the platoon rep level.

Cons

Obviously, there is a tradeoff in regards to military structure and processes. For one, in exchange for structure, the overall process can be slow. As is typical with most organization of government, processes can stifle and suppress innovation. Particularly now, in a technology driven environment quick exchange of information is vital. Information is quickly becoming a natural resource that must be properly cultivated and harvested. With an antiquated process, it may be difficult to arrive at a response quickly. This is due primarily to the large levels of redundancy within the system itself. It is difficult to go straight to the DSE, instead, each point within the chain must be contacted. There is no guarantee that each point of contact will have the same since of urgency as the other points within the system. Further complicating the issues is the point of contacts themselves. They each must be available otherwise the information will not get reported. This causes further delays and latency within the system. Although the system is structures and can be easily clarified, it simply takes too long to implement. The added costs of delay, inefficiency and training costs can have an adverse impact on actual application.