Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

Nowhere is organization more important than in warfare. However, the ever changing nature of a modern battlefield was causing major problems for today’s soldiers. This was the situation faced by the American troops in Iraq during the Gulf War. Al-Qaeda's operations against American forces were unpredictable, haphazard, and lethal. Moreover, Al Qaeda's extraordinarily flexible and resilient nature had allowed them to render useless the conventional strikes of the U.S. military.

Facing this type of enemy can be frustrating, demoralizing, and deadly. So what did the U.S. Military do? They swallowed their pride and began to learn from al-Qaeda. While at a glance Al Qaeda may seem to be stuck in the last century, its organizational model is quite advanced and well adapted to the uncertain environment of the 21st century. Observing how more effective the organizational model of Al Qaeda was, the U.S. troops began to change the way they organized their military. By building a large networked structure of small teams, they allowed individual parts of their military to be able to react in real time without waiting to coordinate with every other soldier in the field. In this way, only the exact number of soldiers needed would respond to threats and if the situation changed they could call in reinforcements or back off quickly. The flexibility and nimbleness of these small teams transferred to the entirety of the American military force. This adaptability allowed the USA to overcome the instability inherent to the uncertainties in the Iraq theater of war, contributing to the ultimate result of defeating al Qaeda.

Based on the experiences of American soldiers in Iraq, this book showcases new organizational theories. The authors show how building more agile teams and using networked structures effectively deals with complexity.