Command Relationship

Introduction

The battle command style of the commander shapes the structure of the supporting communications system. The commander is able to move freely about the battlefield and is electronically linked with the command post to access time-sensitive data and to influence the battle. Reliable communications are imperative to battle command and to control. Effective battle command requires reliable signal support systems to enable the commander to conduct operations at varying tempos over extended distances. Good signal planning increases the commander's options to exploit success and facilitate future operations. Tactical information must be communicated among commanders, staffs, and weapons systems. The commander must be able to communicate his intent while moving freely about the battlefield. Electronically linked with the command post, the commander must be able to access time sensitive operational and intelligence information to assess and influence the battle at the critical time and place. A seamless, secure communications network that provides horizontal and vertical integration of voice, data, graphics, imagery and video information is essential. This network supports integrated combat operations and focuses on the warfighting commander.

Discussion

The decentralization of decisions was a necessary shift in establishing distributed organizations such as multinational corporations. Challenging conventional notions of command and control, most based in the works of Max Weber and Frederick Taylor, the decentralization of decisions enabled decisions to be made at the point at which the most information and the quickest response were available, according to Van Zandt. Recent trends toward more robust hardware and increasingly versatile communications software have challenged the premises of decentralization, yielding comparable speed and quality of information at many nodes throughout the organization, including its headquarters. Van Zandt's work with bounded rationality in decentralized processes is a useful start, and more research will yield a greater range of options in the design and management of organizations.

The outsourcing and offshoring of work to lowcost providers in locations such as India, China, and Singapore has challenged conventional ideas of where an organization's boundaries lie. Pfeffer and Salancik stated in 1978 that “the organization is the total set of interstructured activities in which it is engaged at any one time and over which it has discretion to initiate, maintain, or end behaviors . . . the organization ends where its discretion ends and another's begins.” Given this definition, there is a case to be made that an outsourced offshore provider is within the boundaries of the organization. ...