Civilian and Military Organizational Competencies Compared

Introduction

This essay examines instances of planning for and implementation of information technology in civilian and military organizations that require similar organizational competencies. Across domains such as staff restructuring, financial management, and supply chain logistics, civilian and military institutions have increasingly converged on shared best practices.

Air Force A-Staff Restructuring and Business Alignment

When the military adopted A-staff restructuring, it not only implemented standard business practices to improve communications and efficiency, but also communicated the news much as many businesses would. The Air Force Print News website provided details of the realignment to the A-staff structure, much as a business newsletter would communicate a similar organizational change. The article discusses the Air Force's adoption of an organizational structure that closely mirrors the Army's G-staff, the Navy's N-staff, and the joint J-staff. According to Brig. Gen. Sabol, the effort helps the Air Force optimize internal communications and communicate more efficiently with other services (Lopez, 2006).

The affected Air Force functions were to be renamed and realigned so that similar functions at all levels were referred to by the same name. According to Lopez, those same functional groupings would closely match other services and the joint staff. Similar functions at all levels were to be remapped to nine standardized A-staff areas of responsibility. The A-8 level designates Strategic Plans and Programs, which includes financial management. General Sabol stressed that the reorganization would make it easier for Airmen to do their jobs, both within the Air Force and the joint environment. By adopting the staff structure, the Air Force eliminated the difficulty sometimes encountered when leadership at one headquarters attempted to contact functional counterparts at another headquarters (Lopez, 2006).

Price's article also discusses the Air Force realignment of internal processes in terms that are particularly similar to business process realignment. The goal of realignment activities is to create more efficient operations in staff and field activities by improving internal organizations and processes. One of the ways the reorganization achieves this is by making key staff relationships more visible. The article focuses on financial management functions, and it could well be describing the finance unit of any large corporation: working capital, costing, systems and technology, financial services, analysis, and budgeting (Price, 2004).

Financial Management and Stakeholder Buy-In

Like any effective business manager, Price makes the case for the proposed changes in order to achieve the buy-in of stakeholders and others. He cites the need for American taxpayer support for defense budgets and explains how the A-staff organization is specifically designed to promote warrior-oriented decision-making. The article also describes the effect the realignment will have across organizations — and given that the A-staff structure could be implemented Air Force-wide, this is a strong selling point (Price, 2004).

Price also spells out the benefits of the changes. Implementing the A-staff structure will keep like functions aligned within the Air Force comptroller community. Having professional comptrollers in A-8 leadership positions will allow them to play a leadership role in reengineering MAJCOM staff organizations. The result will be a warrior-oriented structure with solid financial management expertise at every level of the A-8 team. The information Price discusses underscores that civilian and military management best practices for optimizing financial management are very similar in this instance.

Supply Chain Management: Military and Commercial Convergence

"Managing Supply Chains" (2003) highlights best practices for both civilian and military organizations, focusing in particular on what the different organization types can learn from each other. Supply chain management, as defined by BusinessDictionary.com, requires the commitment of supply chain partners to work closely to coordinate order generation, order taking, and order fulfillment. As a result, supply chain partners create an extended enterprise spreading far beyond the producer's location ("Supply Chain Management," 2011).

Following the 9/11 attacks, it was critically important to streamline the military's supply chain system, exploit information technology, and slash costs by adopting business practices from the corporate world. At about the same time, business leaders recognized that there was something to be learned from studying the military, for which there is no parallel in the commercial world when it comes to logistics.

According to "Managing Supply Chains," the Department of Defense has long funded major research to improve logistics. Over the past fifteen years, the commercial world developed innovations in supply chain management, including methods that exploit information technology systems to streamline and monitor business processes. The article quotes William Pagonis, Sears logistics executive and retired Army logistics expert: "IT technology has jumped so dramatically in the last 20 years and particularly in the past five years that the DoD is finding it better to go out and get technology from the civilian sector" (2003). Borrowing technology between civilian and military management demonstrates the convergence between the two sectors.

Conclusion

Reviewing both commercial and military operations clearly shows areas where both use similar organizational competencies to plan and implement information technology and related procedures and processes. Whether through staff restructuring, financial management reform, or supply chain innovation, the evidence consistently demonstrates that civilian and military organizations benefit from studying and adopting each other's best practices.

Works Cited

Lopez, C.T. Staff Sgt. (2006). Headquarters Air Force realigns similar to 'J-staff' model. Retrieved July 8, 2011 from http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123015891

Managing supply chains: What the military can teach business (and vice-versa). (2003). Retrieved July 8, 2011 from http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=894

Price, D.E. (2004). Organizing for expeditionary operation: Transforming headquarters financial management into the commander's A-8 staff. Retrieved July 8, 2011 from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m4018/is_3_38/ai_n6355526/

Reese, J. (2006). Army adopting Lean Six Sigma. Army News Service. Retrieved July 8, 2011 from

Smith, J. (2010). Wal-Mart's push for sustainability: Always low prices, always low impact? Retrieved July 8, 2011 from

Supply chain management. (2011). BusinessDictionary.com. Retrieved July 8, 2011 from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/supply-chain-management-SCM.html