Management Systems, Conflict, and the Changing Roles of the Military

J. Conflict Processes, Vol. 4, No. pp. 13-28, 1999

16 Pages Posted: 16 Mar 2009

See all articles by Maurice Yolles

Maurice Yolles

John Moores University - Centre for the Creation of Coherent Change and Knowledge (C4K)

Date Written: 1999

Abstract

Military roles need to respond to the change demanded of them with the decline of the superpower standoff. There are perspectives from which conflicts can be evaluated in terms of the optimisation of incursion outcomes, and from which judgements can be made about whether they can be won or lost. However, a new view is emerging that conflicts are not so simple as to make the notions of optimisation, or decisive lose outcomes, useful. To respond to this view, senior military strategists should adopt new ways of thinking that encompasses the idea of complexity. Viable systems theory, concerned with the survivability of organisations, provides a graphic way of exploring this.

Keywords: Military roles, change, conflicts, optimisation, strategists, complexity, viable systems theory

Suggested Citation

Yolles, Maurice, Management Systems, Conflict, and the Changing Roles of the Military (1999). J. Conflict Processes, Vol. 4, No. pp. 13-28, 1999, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1359885

Maurice Yolles (Contact Author)

John Moores University - Centre for the Creation of Coherent Change and Knowledge (C4K) ( email )

Liverpool John Moores University
Liverpool
United Kingdom

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