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In addition to using ADM concepts, leaders also have a unique set of tools and techniques to help frame the problem. Leaders serving in the highest echelons of the United States Army solve complex problems consistently. The Army design methodology (ADM) process enables commanders and staff members to frame an operational environment (OE), recognize problems, and create solutions. The ADM process also promotes continuous assessment of the OE and reframes problems and solutions, ensuring leaders think critically and creatively. Through the ADM process, commanders and staff members can understand, visualize, and describe operations (Department of the Army, 2015).
Using the Army Design Methodology Process to Frame Problems
However, LTC Moore and his staff put little effort into understanding the current state of the OE before their assault on LZ X-RAY. When asked, Col. Ostlund highlighted the priorities he has laid out to best prepare The Duke Brigade for decisive action when in the Army's available pool of forces. Like other ADM activities, there is no recommended format for developing an operational approach. However, some activities that help the CDR and staff to frame solutions include reviewing the environmental and problem frames, formulating an operational approach, and documenting results (DA, 2015).
Army Design Methodology: Operational Art in Combat
Joint Operational Design, Re-imagined… - smallwarsjournal
Joint Operational Design, Re-imagined….
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Graphics help stimulate understanding and organize information that shows the relationships between variables better than just through a narrative. He said, "Design is a strategic thinking construct that enables leaders to conduct the necessary Intellectual Preparation of the Battlefield in a manner that informs Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield activities." According to Britannica (2020), at the national strategic level, American leaders were concerned that communism in Vietnam would cause a domino effect and spread to neighboring countries. According to Builder et al. (1999), LTC Moore knew that enemy forces were slipping toward the border of Cambodia. Under the circumstances, he and his staff anticipated that the enemy would continue across the border and regroup for another attack. The Americans understood the relationship between the NVA and other Vietnamese citizens and wanted to prevent the rise of communism under any circumstance.
Army Design Methodology: Framing the Operational Environment
During practical exercises at the SGM-A, students use classroom resources to brainstorm obstacles impeding their instructor’s guidance. The overall synthesis of framing activities, key concepts, tools, techniques, the role of the senior enlisted leader, and the Ia Drang battle in Vietnam has demonstrated the importance and effectiveness of ADM through all stages of framing the OE. The lack of ADM used during the battle of Ia Drang highlights the implications of not fully understanding the OE and enemy.
The Army Design Methodology: Enhancing Decision-Making in a Complex World
Using the key concepts provides a foundation for building knowledge and understanding to find solutions to any problems. The activities discussed guide formulating of operational approaches, even though there are no prescribed ways. The products documented in framing solutions are essential for developing detailed plans for CDRs and staff. Lastly, the SGM being the most experienced and knowledgeable is an excellent asset in facilitating the ADM process in his organization by providing guidance and expertise when developing the right operational approach to achieve the desired results. Ill-structured problems require the use of ADM, and framing the problem is an activity within the ADM process, which involves a unique set of activities of its own.
He is married to Victoria Fonseca, and they have four children, one son-in-law, and two grandchildren. He has served inevery leadership position, from Section Chief to Noncommissioned Officer Academy DeputyCommandant. He currently attends the Sergeants Major Course at the US ArmyNoncommissioned Officer Leadership Center of Excellence. On the macro scale of actors, Vietnam has a history of foreign rulers, from China's imperial rule to France's colonial rule. After World War II (WW2), Americans decided to intervene in Vietnam after the attack on a U.S.
Framing Solutions in Army Design Methodology
The Department of the Army (2015) highlights that the desired end state defines the preferred conditions, relationships, political factors, or other circumstances within the OE. Moreover, the end state represents the overarching operational goal of higher levels of command and nests within critical strategic decisions. American commanders clearly articulated their desired end state to all levels of command in Vietnam. COL Brown issued the order to search and destroy the fleeing NVA forces to LTC Hal Moore (Builder et al., 1999). Staff members identify the future state of other actors to assist in framing the problem in the OE (Department of the Army, 2015). Additionally, knowing alternative end states help the commander and staff understand points of contention or support between others and their end state.
Following the activities within the ADM process allows commanders and staff members the ability to frame an OE properly. To facilitate framing a problem in organizations, leaders must understand what framing the problem entails as an activity, including understanding key ADM concepts, and tools and techniques. Using the ADM concepts of operational art and systems thinking assists leaders with framing ill-structured problems. Brainstorming and questioning assumptions as a staff are critical problem framing tools and techniques needed to identify obstacles impeding the desired end state. Operations and Financial Management SGMs can facilitate framing the problem in organizations by brainstorming obstacles in preparation for an FTX and using data analytics to create and narrate visual models.
CDRs and staff also check if the desired end state will remain the same, and if no new variables have come up for a need to formulate a new operational approach. This article offers a case study for application of design to a real world problem, the 2nd Battalion, 32nd Field Artillery Regiment’s combat operations in the Tikrit and ad Dawr districts of Salah ad Din province, Iraq, from 2009 to 2010. In the process, we learned a number of lessons and developed a number of techniques that leaders can easily transfer to any situation that calls for a design solution.
To solve ill-structured problems, Army leaders use ADM. To properly facilitate framing a problem in organizations, leaders must understand the problem framing activity, key ADM concepts, and tools and techniques. Framing is a key concept used in the ADM process that uses models of reality to understand, organize, and interpret situations to solve problems (Department of the Army, 2015). Moreover, visual models and narratives enhance framing activities by demonstrating the relationship between actor goals, culture, history, and other variables within the OE. The senior enlisted leader, sergeant major (SGM), or command sergeant major (CSM) assists the commander by assessing, leading, and directing the staff. Additionally, the CSM uses years of experience to assist staff members in the framing process by facilitating the understanding of the relationship between variables and how they have reacted in past scenarios (Department of the Army, 2022a).
Many descriptions also seek to convert the methodology into a linear progression, much like traditional military planning processes. Additionally, U. S. Joint Doctrine conflates Design Methodology with the traditional operational art concept of Operational Design which hurts the ability to fully understand both important concepts. S. Marine planner present on the ground to describe the first successful use of Design Methodology in the Battles of Fallujah, Iraq in 2004. It stresses the need to employ the methodology as its originators intended; as conceptual planning meant to be an open, flowing group discussion of what is learned about the complex problem at hand. Leaders that understand framing the problem within the ADM process have an inherent responsibility to facilitate the activity in organizations. A key influencer within the Army is the Sergeant Major (SGM), who serves as the senior enlisted advisor to the commander and staff sections within an organization.
Commanders cannot understand the OE without framing problems, making the ADM step an integral part of the ADM framework. To be successful in all levels of war, leaders must understand the various parts of systems and how each part is related. As a concept of ADM, “systems thinking is a process of understanding how parts of a system work and influence each other as part of a greater whole” (Department of the Army, 2015, p. 1-7). The OE is a complex system that leaders must frame to facilitate a commander’s activities. Using the example of providing security to a main supply route, leaders will use systems thinking to employ the command and control warfighting function to organize the different elements of combat power. The use of systems thinking enables leaders to integrate the elements of operational art and exercise the critical and creative thinking needed to identify obstacles under the framing the problem activity.
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