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17.462 | Fall 2005 | Graduate

# Innovation in Military Organizations

### Books to Purchase

Wilson, James Q. Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1991. ISBN: 9780465007851.

Christensen, Clayton M. The Innovator’s Dilemma. New York, NY: HarperBusiness Essentials, 2003. ISBN: 9780060521998.

Krepinevich, Andrew. The Army and Vietnam. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988. ISBN: 9780801836572.

### Readings by Class Session

SES # | Topics | READINGS
--- | --- | ---
1 | Introduction | Wilson, James Q. Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It. New York, NY: Basic Books, 1991, chapters 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, and 12. ISBN: 9780465007851. Wilson, James Q., and Peter Clark. “Incentive Systems: A Theory of Organization.” Administrative Science Quarterly 6 (1961): 129-166. Guillen, Mauro F. “The Age of Eclecticism: Current Organizational Trends and the Evolution of Managerial Models.” Sloan Management Review (Fall 1994): 75-86.
2 | Military innovation theories | Huntington, Samuel P. “Officership as a Profession,” and “The Military Mind: Conservative Realism of the Professional Military Ethic.” Chapters 1 and 3 in The Soldier and the State. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1981, pp. 7-18 and 59-79. ISBN: 9780674817364. Janowitz, Morris. “Technology and Decision-Making,” “Discipline and Combat Goals,” and “The Military Hierarchy.” Chapters 2, 3, and 4 in The Professional Soldier: A Social and Political Portrait. New York, NY: Free Press, 1964, pp. 21-37, 38-53, and 54-75. Moore, Lt. Gen. Harold, and Joseph L. Galloway. “Into the Valley,” and “The Storm of Battle.” Chapters 5 and 8 in We Were Soldiers Once…and Young. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 1993, pp. 55-64, and 92-105. ISBN: 9780060975760. Wilson, James Q. “Innovation in Organization: Notes Towards a Theory.” In Approaches to Organizational Design. Edited by James D. Thompson. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1966, pp. 195-218. LCCN: 65-26336. Posen, Barry R. “The Importance of Military Doctrine,” and “Explaining Military Doctrine.” Chapters 1 and 2 in The Sources of Military Doctrine: France, Britain, and Germany Between the World Wars. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1984, pp. 13-33, and 34-80. ISBN: 9780801416330. Rosen, Stephen P. Winning the Next War. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1994, chapters 1 and 9, pp. 1-55 and 251-262. ISBN: 9780801481963. Christensen, Clayton M. The Innovator’s Dilemma. New York, NY: HarperCollins Business Essentials, 2003, pp. 1-96, and 187-212. ISBN: 9780060521998. Sapolsky, Harvey M. “On the Theory of Military Innovation.” Breakthroughs 9, no. 1 (Spring 2000): 35-39.
3 | Strategic airpower | Frankland, Noble. “The Combined Bomber Offensive: Classical and Revolutionary, Combined and Divided, Planned and Fortuitous.” In Command and Commanders in Modern Warfare: Proceedings of the Second Military History Symposium, U.S. Air Force Academy. Edited by Lt. Colonel William Geffen. Colorado Springs, CO: United States Air Force Academy, 1971, pp. 253-267. (PDF - 16.7 MB) MacIsaac, David. “Voices from the Central Blue: The Air Power Theorists.” In Makers of Modern Strategy: From Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1986, pp. 624-647. ISBN: 9780691027647. Werrell, Kenneth P. “The Strategic Bombing of Germany in World War II: Costs and Accomplishments.” Journal of American History (December 1986): 702-713. Quester, George H. “The Impact of Strategic Air Warfare.” Armed Forces and Society 4, no. 2 (February 1978): 179-205. Cohen, Eliot A. “The Mystique of U.S. Air Power.” Foreign Affairs 73, no. 1 (1994): 109-124. Meilinger, Phillip S. “Air Targeting Strategies: An Overview.” In Air Power Confronts an Unstable World. Edited by Richard Hallion. London, UK: Brasseys, 1997, pp. 51-80. ISBN: 9781857532388. Sapolsky, Harvey, and Jeremy Shapiro. “Casualties, Technology and America’s Future Wars.” Parameters 26, no. 2 (Summer 1996): 119-127. Smith, Thomas. “The New Law of War: Legitimizing Hi-Tech and Infrastructural Violence.” International Studies Quarterly 46 (2002): 355-374. Beier, J. Marshall. “Discriminating Tastes: ‘Smart’ Bombs, Non-Combatants, and Notions of Legitimacy in Warfare.” Security Dialogue 34, no. 4 (2003): 411-425.
4 | Armored warfare | House, Captain Jonathan M. “The Interwar Period.” Chapter 3 in Toward Combined Arms Warfare: A Survey of 20th-Century Tactics, Doctrine, and Organization. Fort Leavenworth, KS: U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, 1984, pp. 43-78. Bond, Brian. “Mechanization: The Second Phase, 1933-39.” Chapter 6 in British Military Policy between the Two World Wars. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1980, pp. 161-190. ISBN: 9780198224648. Larson, Robert H. “The Years of Experiment: 1927-34.” Chapter 5 in The British Army and the Theory of Armored Warfare, 1918-1940. Newark, DE: University of Delaware Press, 1984, pp. 132-170. ISBN: 9780874132199. Cooper, Mathew. “The Battle for Ideas.” Part II in The German Army: 1933-1945. New York, NY: Stein and Day, 1978, pp. 113-166. ISBN: 9780812824681. Johnson, David E. “Alternatives for Armor.” Chapter 10 in Fast Tanks and Heavy Bombers: Innovation in the U.S. Army 1917-1945. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1998, pp. 116-152. ISBN: 9780801434587. Horowitz, Dan. “Flexible Responsiveness and Military Strategy: The Case of the Israeli Army.” Policy Sciences 1 (1970): 191-205. Griffith, Paddy. “Conclusions.” Chapter 11 in Battle Tactics of the Western Front. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996, pp. 192-200. ISBN: 9780300066630.
5 | Tactical airpower | Boog, Horst. “Higher Command and Leadership in the German Luftwaffe, 1935-1945.” In Air Power and Warfare: Proceedings of the Eighth Military History Symposium, USAF Academy 1978. Edited by Colonel Alfred F. Hurley and Major Robert C. Ehrhart. Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History, Headquarters USAF, and United States Air Force Academy, 1979. Hallion, Richard P. “The Genesis of Anglo-American Air Support: The British Experience in the Western Desert,” and “The Necessary Interlude: Doctrine and the American Experience in the Pacific, Tunisian, and Italian Campaigns.” Chapters 12 and 13 in Strike from the Sky: The History of Battlefield Air Attack, 1911-1945. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989, pp. 149-162 and 163-187. ISBN: 9780874744521. Muller, Richard. “Close Air Support: The German, British, and American Experiences.” In Military Innovation in the Interwar Period. Edited by Williamson Murray, et al. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 144-190. ISBN: 9780521637602. “Smart Bombs.” Chapter 8 in Report of the Commission on the Organization of the Government for the Conduct of Foreign Policy. Washington, DC: The Commission: Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1975, pp. 191-198. Watts, Barry D. “Unreported History and Unit Effectiveness.” The Journal of Strategic Studies 12, no. 1 (1989): 88-98.
6 | Submarine warfare | Burns, Richard D. “Regulating Submarine Warfare, 1921-41: A Case Study in Arms Control and Limited War.” Military Affairs (April 1971): 56-63. Cohen, Eliot A., and John Gooch. “Failure to Learn: American Antisubmarine Warfare in 1942.” In Military Misfortunes: The Anatomy of Failure in War. New York, NY: Free Press, 2005, pp. 59-94. ISBN: 9780743280822. Beesly, Patrick. “The First Twelve Months: A Lean Time,” “Triton to the Rescue,” and “January-May 1942: Climax of the Battle of the Atlantic.” Chapters 2, 10, and 11 in Very Special Intelligence: the Story of the Admiralty’s Operational Intelligence Centre, 1939-1945. London, UK: Greenhill Books; Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2006, pp. ix-xvii, 24-41, 154-171, and 173-185. ISBN: 9781591149248. Sapolsky, Harvey M. Science and the Navy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990, chapter 2, pp. 9-36. ISBN: 9780691078472. Cote, Owen R., Jr. “The Third Battle: Innovation in the US Navy’s Silent Cold War Struggle with Soviet Submarines.” (PDF - 2.4MB) MIT Security Studies Program, March 2000.
7 | Cruise and ballistic missiles | Sapolsky, Harvey M. The Polaris System Development: Bureaucratic and Programmatic Success in Government. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972, chapters 1, 2, 4, and 8. ISBN: 9780674682252. Sapolsky, Harvey M., Eugene Gholz, and Allen Kaufman. “Security Lessons from the Cold War.” Foreign Affairs 78, no. 4 (July/August 1999): 77-89. Liebowitz, S. J., and Stephen E. Margolis. “The Fable of the Keys.” Journal of Law and Economics 33, no. 1 (April 1990): 1-25. Friedman, Norman. Seapower and Space: From the Dawn of the Missile Age to Net-Centric Warfare. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2000, chapters 8 and 9, pp. 173-229. ISBN: 9781557508973. Levine, Henry D. “Some Things to All Men: The Politics of Cruise Missile Development.” Public Policy 25, no. 1 (Winter 1977): 117-168. Art, Robert J., and Stephen E. Ockden. “The Domestic Politics of Cruise Missile Development 1970-1980.” In Cruise Missiles: Technology, Strategy and Politics. Edited by Richard Betts. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institute, 1981, pp. 359-413. ISBN: 9780815709312.
8 | Failed innovation: Counterinsurgency | Shafer, D. Michael. “The Unlearned Lessons of Counterinsurgency.” Political Science Quarterly 103, no. 1 (Spring 1998): 57-80. Marquis, Jefferson P. “The Other Warriors: American Social Science and Nation Building in Vietnam.” Diplomatic History 24, no. 1 (Winter 2000): 79-105. Krepinevich, Andrew. The Army and Vietnam. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988. ISBN: 9780801836572. Hashim, Ahmed S. “Iraq’s Chaos: Why the Insurgency Will Not Go Away.” Boston Review, October/November 2004.
9 | Post-Vietnam innovation: The “transformation” of the U.S. Army | Posen, Barry R. “Introduction,” “Land Power in Modern Times,” and “The New Model Army.” Unpublished manuscript.
10 | Transformation: The Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) and beyond | Thirtle, Michael, Robert Johnson, and John Birkler. “The Historical Context for the Predator ACTD.” In The Predator ACTD: A Case Study for Transition Planning to the Formal Acquisition Process. RAND Monograph Report MR-899-OSD, 1997, chapter 2, pp. 5-17. (PDF - 7.8 MB) Anderegg, C. R. “Mud Beaters.” Chapter 12 in Sierra Hotel: Flying Air Force Fighters in the Decade After Vietnam. Washington, DC: Air Force History and Museums Program, 2001, pp. 119-142. ISBN: 9781931839044. U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment. “Summary.” Chapter 2 in New Technology for NATO: Implementing Follow on Forces Attack (FOFA). OTA-ISC-309. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, June 1987, pp. 15-46. (PDF - 3.7 MB) Cohen, Eliot. “Change and Transformation in Military Affairs.” Journal of Strategic Studies 27, no. 3 (September 2004): 395-407. Krepinevich, Andrew F., Jr. “Competing for the Future: Searching for Major Ellis.” Marine Corps Gazette 80, no. 11 (November 1996): 28-37. Shapiro, Jeremy. “Information and War: Is it a Revolution?” In The Changing Role of Information in Warfare. Edited by Z. M. Khalizad and J. P. White. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1999, pp. 113-154. ISBN: 9780833026637.
11 | Student papers |
12 | Student papers (cont.) |

### Related Readings

Sapolsky, Harvey, Benjamin Friedman, and Brendan Green, eds. US Military Innovation Since the Cold War: Creation Without Destruction. New York, NY: Routledge, 2009. ISBN: 9780415777919.

This book brings the course up to date by covering a period unexamined in the existing readings and lectures. For details, see the related resources section.

## Course Info

##### Instructors

- Prof. Barry Posen
- Prof. Harvey Sapolsky

##### Departments

- Political Science

##### As Taught In

Fall 2005

##### Level

Graduate

##### Topics

- Business
  - Innovation
  - Organizational Behavior
- Humanities
  - History
    - Military History
- Social Science
  - Public Administration
    - Military Studies
    - Security Studies

##### Learning Resource Types

notes Lecture Notes
assignment Written Assignments

Browse Resources

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