The United States Army: A Learning Organization?

During the L108, Organizational Development, block of instruction, the question, "Is the Army a learning organization?" was posed to the class. After a brief review of several published authors' definition of a learning organization, the class began to discuss the proposed question. Taking the various authors' views into account and drawing on my recent participation in the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) Graduate School, I define a learning organization as an institution that has identified routine processes they conduct, established a baseline for these processes and methods, developed a way of evaluating their operations, collecting lessons learned and distributing them throughout the organization. This definition is supported by the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), developed by the U.S. Department of Defense's Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Melon University. At its most simple, the CMMI outlines requirements/steps which must be present for an organization to be described as learning. The U.S. Army meets the requirements for Level-5 CMMI certification. I will comment on the five levels of CMMI, giving an example of the Army's compliance.

Level-1: Ad hoc
This level signifies a lack of identification for the need to be a learning organization. Routine tasks are conducted; however, similar isssues/challenges occur with each iteration. The organization fails to learn from its own mistakes and continues to suffer from them for the duration of its existence.

Level-2: Repeatable
This level is the first step toward becoming a learning organization, as this requires the organization to decide it will not suffer the same problems repeatedly. A organization at this level has identified its routine tasks and is able to execute them with similar results, without the same issues/challenges occurring.
The Army's base level of training, using the "Crawl, Walk, Run" for both day and night iterations for tasks is an example.

Level-3: Defined
This level signifies an organization has furthered its self-awareness through the definition of a standard. This allows various groups operating within the organization to accomplish tasks outside of their normal operation through the use of instructions and manuals.
The Army has an extensive library containing doctrine and training aids. Through the application of these products, elements can develop unit standard operating procedure s (SOP), allowing for a starting point for new Soldiers.

Level-4: Managed
The level outlines the an organization’s ability to establish metrics for gauging the execution of their operations.
The Army has Army Training and Evaluation Plans (ARTEP) and the Combat Training Centers (CTC), which are used to gauge a unit’s capabilities.

Level-5: Optimized
The highest level of CMMI deals with the optimization, or continuous refinement and improvement, of the processes. Additionally, n organization has developed a method of gathering information throughout the organization and distributing it for the benefit of all of its members.
The Army After Action Review (AAR) allows units to discuss recent operations and develop Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTP) to improve their SOPs. Additionally, the Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL) is an established publisher and distributor of its products Army-wide, allowing units to benefit from the lessons learned by other units.
Taking all of this into account, the Army qualifies as a learning organization. We have the doctrine, SOPs, CTCs, AARs, and CALL; all of which assist in setting Soldiers and their units up for success. As with may things, the product is only as good as the effort put into its creation, and willingness to admit there can be issues/challenges with the current way of doing things before there can be progress.
DISCLAIMER:
“The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.”