"Effing" the military: a political misunderstanding of management. Issue 4 (2nd October 2017)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- "Effing" the military: a political misunderstanding of management. Issue 4 (2nd October 2017)
- Main Title:
- "Effing" the military: a political misunderstanding of management
- Authors:
- White, Kenton
- Abstract:
- Abstract: The use of commercial business management techniques is widespread in all government departments, including the Ministry of Defence. This article examines the use of popular management techniques in the Armed Forces and argues that their application is misplaced. It looks at what the "effs" – "efficiency" and "effectiveness" – mean in the business world and to the Armed Forces. It compares the definitions both in business and the Armed Forces and finds that there are few, if any, situations where the same measurements can be applied. Whilst many management techniques are suited for business, the function of the Armed Forces and its output cannot be measured in the same way, complicated by the different metrics of "efficiency" in peace and in war. This difference may not be clearly understood by some politicians, or indeed by some senior military personnel. Using examples from some of the most popular management techniques such as "Lean" and "Agile" it is possible to see that their use might actually diminish the capabilities of the Armed Forces when it comes to performing their principal role – the use of force to achieve political objectives.
- Is Part Of:
- Defence studies. Volume 17:Issue 4(2017)
- Journal:
- Defence studies
- Issue:
- Volume 17:Issue 4(2017)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 17, Issue 4 (2017)
- Year:
- 2017
- Volume:
- 17
- Issue:
- 4
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2017-0017-0004-0000
- Page Start:
- 346
- Page End:
- 358
- Publication Date:
- 2017-10-02
- Subjects:
- Military efficiency -- military effectiveness -- management -- UK armed forces -- defence policy
Military policy -- Periodicals
International relations -- Periodicals
National security -- Periodicals
Defensive (Military science) -- Periodicals
355.0305 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.ingenta.com/isis/browsing/AllIssues/ingenta;jsessionid=52hca875dt89.circus?journal=pubinfobike://fcp/def ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/fdef20/current ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1080/14702436.2017.1351879 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 1470-2436
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 3546.206300
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 4812.xml