Welcome to the Center for Defense Management Reform

 

We provide research-based solutions to the most persistent issues in defense management reform.

The Center for Defense Management Reform (CDMR) provides assistance, information, and research on business management reform in national defense. Our goal is to provide research-based solutions to the most persistent issues of defense business management, and to support current and future defense leaders by informing and guiding the design and execution of current and future reforms. We provide access to scholarly research publications, contacts with faculty experts, and opportunities to commission research on key issues in defense management. The Center’s leading defense management scholars engage with research sponsors to conduct applied research that is timely, accessible and useful.

Objectives

  • Be a source of education and research
  • Inform and guide the design and execution of future reform
  • Support current and future Defense leaders
  • Be the center of knowledge about the history, theories, themes, successes, and failures of past Defense reforms
  • Coordinate with other academic, professional, and governmental entities

Featured Recent Project:

Communication and Organizational Change

Transformation in Transition: Defense Management Reform and the 2008 Election

Full Text PDF: Click here

Full Text URL: http://defensereform.org/_files/FY2008/NPS-CDMR-GM-08-001.pdf

Report Number: NPS-CDMR-GM-08-001

Sponsor: n/a

Authors: Philip J. Candreva, MS, and the CDMR Research Team

Abstract:

Each presidential administration brings a management reform agenda to bear on the executive branch. Reform agendas differ between administrations, but tend to address a finite set of management problems. Because the origin of such agendas is part political, it is inevitable that the current reform agenda will change. Given the materiality of the Defense Department and its persistent management issues, reform agendas have a wide-reaching impact on the allocation of resources and the attention of senior managers. This report looks at the confluence of two dynamics. First, it explores the nature and recent history of defense management reform, with particular emphasis on the governance structures that are a hallmark of the Bush-era reform agenda. Second, it explores the nature of presidential transitions with particular attention paid to the role of the career executive in facilitating the change, and the unique circumstances in the DoD. It concludes with recommendations for the outgoing administration, the incoming administration and the career executives to help ease the transition from the current reform agenda to the next in a manner that exploits recent gains while being aligned with the strategies of the new administration. While written primarily for Defense officials, many of the lessons are generalizable to other parts of the federal government.

For more information, please contact:

Center for Defense Management Reform
Naval Postgraduate School
555 Dyer Road, Ingersoll Hall, IN-320, Monterey, CA 93950
Tel: (831) 656-3487  Fax: (831) 656-2253  E-mail: \n This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

 
 
 
 
© 2009 Center for Defense Management Reform