Determining the Best Loci of Knowledge, Responsibilities and Decision Rights in Major Acquisition Organizations

Abstract

The DoD is a large, bureaucratic, rule-intensive organization that may not be suited well for its environment. Building upon prior research of acquisition centralization and knowledge dynamics, we employ computational methods to assess the behavior and performance of different organizational designs in varying environments. Our results reinforce Contingency Theory and suggest particular characteristics of different acquisition environments make one organizational form relatively more or less appropriate than another. Practically, answers to our research questions have direct and immediate application to acquisition leaders and policy makers. Theoretically, we generalize to broad classes of organizations and prescribe a novel set of organizational design guides.