A dynamic and decentralised headquarters to thrive in uncertainty

Abstract Military headquarters have been seen as grown up to the point that this reduces the agility of decision-making and decreases the survivability of the headquarters and command posts in war. At the same time, war is becoming ever more complex and intertwined through the fast pace of information flows and technological advancements. This design science research aims to solve these problems of headquarters. The research was done by framing the problem with several theories and then designing a solution. Systems thinking and complexity leadership theories were used to understand the problem. After this qualitative coding was used to form complexity leadership themes specific to military headquarters. These themes were combined with organisational theories and the military theories of tempo-based operations. A solution was then designed through theory-based analysis and abductive reasoning and tested in exercises. This article suggests that military headquarters should not seek for one optimal organisational structure, but instead the structures should be intentionally and dynamically tailored according to the situation and context at hand. A headquarters seen through the mental model of a Dynamic Headquarters Structure (DHS) can adjust its own networking, information-flows and delegation of decision-making to thrive in different environments.