Using a Functional Simulation of Crisis Management to Test the C2 Agility Model Parameters on Key Performance Variables.

摘要

Increasingly, military and security organizations face the challenge to develop organizational structures and technologies that promote the agility required to deal with today's complex operational environment. Organizational agility (or command and control (C2) agility) has been defined as transitioning from one governance and management (GM) approach (or C2 approach) to another as required by situational complexity (SAS-065, 2010; SAS-085, draft). This paper describes a study that aimed to test key concepts of the Organizational Agility model (Farrell, 2011; Farrell & Connell, 2010; Farrell, Jobidon, & Banbury, 2012). The study focused on two approaches -- deconflicted and collaborative -- and tested the model's parameters of resistance and size under varying levels of complexity. C3Fire, a forest firefighting simulation, was used as the task environment. It allowed varying contextual and organizational characteristics to create conditions in which a transition can arise, and the emergent behaviors displayed by participants can be observed. Teams of four and six participants were trained in the two GM approaches and completed experimental scenarios, including combinations of resistance and complexity. Several metrics were used to assess the teams' response, how they adjusted their GM approach, and how situational changes and approach transition affected team performance and teamwork. Initial findings are presented and discussed.