ABSTRACT

Drawing upon extensive original research, this book explores best practice in army lessons-learned processes.

Without the correct learning mechanisms, military adaptation can be blocked, or the wider lessons from adaptation can easily be lost, leading to the need to relearn lessons in the field, often at great human and financial cost. This book analyses the organisational processes and activities which can help improve tactical- and operational-level learning through case studies of lessons learned in two key NATO armies: that of Britain and of Germany. Providing the first comparative analysis of the variables which facilitate or impede the emergence of best practice in military learning, it makes an important contribution to the growing scholarship on knowledge management and learning in public organisations.

It will be of much interest to lessons-learned practitioners, and students of military and strategic studies, defence studies, organisation studies and security studies.

chapter |16 pages

Introduction

Lessons-learned processes as the transmission belt from adaptation to innovation

chapter 2|23 pages

Theorising military learning

part Case study 1|92 pages

The evolution and performance of British Army lessons learned

chapter 3|29 pages

The development of the institutional architecture of British Army lessons learned

A tale of two potential absorptive capacities

chapter 4|21 pages

The performance of British Army lessons learned

Tactical-level success and operational-level failure

chapter 5|40 pages

The British Army’s knowledge transformation capability

The struggle to establish a culture of experimentation and creativity

part Case study 2|89 pages

The evolution and performance of German Army lessons learned

chapter 6|23 pages

The development of the institutional architecture of German Army lessons learned

Improving potential absorptive capacity

chapter 7|18 pages

The performance of German Army lessons learned

Limited adaptation, innovation and emulation at the tactical and operational levels

chapter 9|10 pages

Reflections on the sources of military learning and future research agendas

Getting leadership and processes right