Military Organizations Can Walk and Chew Gum at the Same Time

• Published date: 01 April 2022
• DOI: 10.1177/0095327X21991045
• Date: 01 April 2022
• Subject Matter: Commentaries

https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X21991045

Armed Forces & Society

2022, Vol. 48(2) 486 –492

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/0095327X21991045

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Commentary

Military Organizations

Can Walk and Chew

Gum at the Same Time

Steven Talbot

1

and Tiffany Fischer

1

Abstract

This article is a response to a recent publication by Hasselbladh and Yd´

en in this

journal, entitled “Why Military Organizations Are Cautious About Organizational

Learning?” Through their use of dichotomous logic, the authors argue continuous

learning poses a threat to the functioning of military organizations. The following

commentary argues for a necessary coexistence between the mainstays of the

traditional bureaucratic military organization presented by Hasselbladh and Yd´

en

and continuous learning required by military organizations to compete and cope

with technological advancements and gray zone challenges afforded by the modern

operating environment.

Keywords

organizational learning, military, gray zone, intellectual edge

In their recent article “Why Military Organizations Are Cautious About Learning?”

Hasselbladh and Yd´en (2020) represent military organizations and the way they

learn and operate as a fait accompli. The authors argue that military organizations,

like traditional bureaucratic organizations, adopt a rationality that is amenable to

routine, consistency, and predictability—as a means to impose order on chaotic or

disorderly settings and situations. This is a very structural-functionalist argument

which on the surface does hold some validity. After all, routine, consistency, and

order are valuable mechanisms that enable organizations to function, and this is

1

Defence Science and Technology Group, Edinburgh, South Australia, Australia

Corresponding Author:

Steven Talbot, Defence Science and Technology Group, PO Box 1500, Edinburgh, South Australia 5111,

Australia.

Email: steven.talbot@dst.defence.gov.au