Management and Military Studies

This book connects findings and insights authored by famous scholars in management and organization studies with challenges the military is facing today.

One assumes that management and organization studies is only about the rational, predictable, and manageable, and that military action is predominately irrational, unpredictable, and unmanageable; both assumptions are wrong. This book argues that the discipline of management and organization studies is highly relevant for the military in both peace- and wartime conditions, and for any situation in between. In all conditions, the giant and complex military organization needs to be structured, processed, administrated, led, and accounted for. Each chapter presented in this volume focuses on the contributions of founding thinkers in management and organization studies, with their work translated and applied to the military setting. These scholars are drawn from a variety of backgrounds, including organizational sociology, economics, political science, psychology, and engineering. Although the work of only a few explicitly refers to the military, the contributions of all these scholars are relevant in order to come to grips with security and military affairs. Together with many other academics? work, the contributions of these 18 scholars constitute the core of the field of management and organization studies.

This book will be of much interest to students of military studies, management studies, and organization studies.

'In our, often almost unthinkably, complex world the understanding of how the instruments of power work is vitally important. This book combines numerous studies that can help improve military decision making and demonstrates that there is a lot to learn. Together with its twin book Sociology and Military Studies it provides different but compelling learning material for those trying to understand how the military functions but more importantly for those that have to make wise decisions in the complex environment in which the military has to operate. The book mentions Odysseus, the Greek hero, who used both his warrior ethos and his wisdom to fight on his terms. That is how hybrid threats can be countered, that is how the military can win.'--Ton van Loon, retired Lieutenant General Royal Netherlands Army, commander RC South ISAF-operations, 2006-7

'Following his book on Sociology and Military Studies, Joseph Soeters now presents a fascinating collection of insights from the Management and Organization Studies literature selected on the basis of their relevance to the military domain. Classical and modern authors are presented with flair and a keen eye for the essentials of their contributions. Applications to military issues and challenges are made clear through many real-world cases. The book makes a unique contribution to the field of military studies and Soeters shows a wide-ranging grasp of the multidisciplinary nature of this domain.'--Hein Schreuder, board member of Vlerick Business School (Brussels), emeritus professor Maastricht University, and former executive vice-president corporate strategy & acquisitions, DSM

'Joseph Soeters, long-time Professor of Organizational Behavior at Tilburg University and the Netherlands Defence Academy, is well-known to those of us in Europe and the U.S. who study the military. He has spent a career investigating militaries with conceptual tools and methodologies from this field.  Management and Military Studies adds to his impressive resumé already brimming with keen observations and theoretical insights. Like his earlier and highly successful Sociology and Military Studies, Soeters serves as our guide through selected classic studies, some older, some more contemporary. Along the way, he points out for us gems ? some less obvious, some sitting there in plain sight ? that may have particular application to the study of the military. Once again, he has gracefully rousted us out of our disciplinary siloes and shone a spotlight where so many of us who are not management specialists (or, in the case of his earlier book, not sociologists) would have failed to look, much less see.'-- Wilbur Scott, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Behavioral Sciences & Leadership, U.S. Air Force Academy