Organisational Structure and Information Technology (IT): Exploring the Implications of IT for Future Military Structures

This report provides a conceptual framework for describing organisational structures based on the work of Mintzberg (1979) and Groth (1999), and considers the implications of information technology (IT) for current and future military organisational structures. The various components that influence organisational structure are considered: coordinating mechanisms, design parameters and contingency factors. When combined together these components form various structural configurations. The role of IT in modifying and extending the range of coordinating mechanisms and structural configurations is also described. These configurations and associated components provide a framework within which military organisations can be categorised. This framework is used to describe a current joint operational level headquarters (HQ), and to explore the implications of emerging IT for future HQ. Approved for public release RELEASE LIMITATION