Civil-military cooperation has been becoming increasingly important in peace-keeping and natural disasters. An effective cooperation between civil and military actors facilitates the integrated mission in the specific host country.For this reason both civil and military actors developed guidelines on how civil-military cooperation should ideally work.
There are, however, conflicts that arise between civil and military actors. Due to different objectives of the organizations, there are disputes on how things should be done. There has already been research on how to analyze the differences and how to solve them but a solution has not been found yet.
In this bachelor thesis the Organizational Theory Modell is presented to explain theese conflicts. The Organizational Theory Modell is used by Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow to explain events that happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis. This approach to explain international conflicts is so far unique.
During the civil-military exercises of the first German-Netherlands Corps, one of the training objectives was to train civil-military cooperation. Also during these exercises, conflicts occurred between the civil and the military side. To make the conflicts better understandable the method of critical incidents of Alexander Thomas is used. He uses this method to describe critical incidents between different cultures. The method of critical incidents is altered in this paper to be applied on civil and military actors. After a description, the situations are analyzed with the Organizational Theory Model.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 Civil-Military Co-Operation
2.1 Civil Military Cooperation – NATO concept
2.2 Civil-Military Coordination – UN-Concept
2.2.1 Concepts
2.2.2 Humanitarian Principles
2.3 Arising Conflicts
3 The Essence of Decision: Organizational Theory applied to the Cuban Missile Crisis
3.1 The Essence of Decision – Background
3.1.1 Approach towards an Application of Organizational Theory
3.1.2 Explanation of the Cuban Missile Crisis
3.1.2.1 Deployment of Soviet Missiles in Cuba
3.2.2.2 Organizational Implementation
3.2 Organizational Theory
3.2.1 Bureaucracy Theory
3.2.2 Scientific Management
3.2.3 Contemporary Bureaucracy Theory: James March and Herbert Simon
3.2.4 The Human Relations Movement
3.2.5 Contingency Theory – Joan Woodward
3.3 Organizational Culture
4 Case Study Peregrine Sword
4.1 Purpose of the Exercises
4.2 Procedure of the Exercises
4.3 Background of the Exercises: “Tytan” Conflict
5 Application of the Organizational Theory
5.1 Critical Incidents
5.1.1 Bad communication
5.1.2 Unimportant NGOs
5.1.3 IAC
5.1.4 Overzealous military
6 Conclusion
Research Objectives and Themes
This thesis aims to analyze the persistent conflicts between civil and military actors during humanitarian operations by applying the Organizational Theory Model, originally developed by Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow for the Cuban Missile Crisis. The research explores how bureaucratic routines and organizational cultures impede effective cooperation, using the multinational exercises “Peregrine Sword” and “Quick Sword” as a primary case study to illustrate these frictions.
- Civil-Military Cooperation (CIMIC) and coordination challenges.
- Application of the Organizational Theory Model in an international context.
- Analysis of organizational routines, standard operating procedures, and bureaucratic behavior.
- Case study analysis of communication breakdowns and role confusion in exercises.
- The impact of organizational culture on mission effectiveness.
Excerpt from the Book
Analysis
The problem was that the soldiers had too many tasks and had to prioritize. Since the UN is an important player on the international scene and is involved in all major conflicts around the world, the military has been getting used to working together with the UN and the different UN-organization. An NGO like Pax Christi is less known. Thus, the soldiers had to prioritize between the multiple tasks that they had to do and they chose to establish contact with the UN rather than with the NGO. Since they did not know how to interact with the NGO, they just neglected the task and concentrated on other ones. According to Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow, this happens when organizations have to deal with multiple orders at the same time.
Maybe also another point played an important role in the decision of ignoring the NGO: The UN is the political power that decides over a mandate or if the NATO is being deployed to a mission. Since the military knows that the UN is the reason that they are actually on a mission they might be more willing to cooperate and support them than they might with an NGO.
Summary of Chapters
1 Introduction: Introduces the recurring conflict between civil and military actors and proposes using the Organizational Theory Model to analyze these interactions.
2 Civil-Military Co-Operation: Explores the conceptual frameworks of CIMIC (NATO) and CMCoord (UN) and highlights the inherent challenges of humanitarian and military cooperation.
3 The Essence of Decision: Organizational Theory applied to the Cuban Missile Crisis: Details the theoretical foundation of the thesis by explaining Allison and Zelikow’s model and various organizational theories.
4 Case Study Peregrine Sword: Describes the setting and procedure of the specific civil-military exercises analyzed in this paper.
5 Application of the Organizational Theory: Evaluates observed critical incidents during the exercises through the lens of Organizational Theory.
6 Conclusion: Summarizes findings, emphasizing how established routines and organizational culture prevent necessary flexibility in civil-military operations.
Keywords
Civil-Military Cooperation, CIMIC, Organizational Theory, Graham Allison, Philip Zelikow, Cuban Missile Crisis, Peregrine Sword, Quick Sword, Humanitarian Aid, Bureaucracy Theory, Standard Operating Procedures, Organizational Culture, Complex Emergencies, Interagency Center, International Relations.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core focus of this bachelor thesis?
The thesis focuses on explaining the persistent conflicts between civil and military actors in humanitarian missions by examining the structural and bureaucratic behavior of the involved organizations.
What are the primary themes explored in the work?
The work explores organizational culture, the influence of standard operating procedures, the challenges of coordination in complex emergencies, and the limitations of rational actor models in understanding international organizational behavior.
What is the primary research goal?
The goal is to provide a fresh perspective on civil-military conflicts by applying the Organizational Theory Model, demonstrating how internal organizational constraints, rather than just individual decisions, lead to operational friction.
Which scientific method is utilized?
The author uses a qualitative analysis approach, applying the Organizational Theory Model of Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow, combined with the "critical incidents" method adapted from Alexander Thomas to analyze real-world observations from military exercises.
What is the focus of the main section?
The main section investigates the specific dynamics of the “Peregrine Sword” and “Quick Sword” exercises, identifying critical incidents such as communication failures, NGO marginalization, and the misuse of the Interagency Center.
Which keywords best characterize the research?
Key terms include Civil-Military Cooperation, Organizational Theory, Standard Operating Procedures, Humanitarian Aid, and Organizational Culture.
How does the author define a "critical incident" in this context?
A critical incident is defined as a daily situation between civil and military actors that is experienced as confusing or conflicting, requiring knowledge of organizational behavior to be properly understood.
What conclusion does the author reach regarding organizational change?
The author concludes that organizations are inherently resistant to rapid change, often falling back into established routines during high-stress scenarios, and that meaningful change typically occurs only slowly or after major crises.
Why did the author specifically choose to analyze the "IAC" concept?
The Interagency Center (IAC) was chosen because it represents a newly introduced concept that suffered from confusion, clearly illustrating how organizations struggle to adopt new routines when they clash with existing, deep-seated operating procedures.
- Citation du texte
- Julia Krebs (Auteur), 2013, The Application of the organizational theory on civil-military Co-operation, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/231396
