Criticism and Knowledge Ideals in Military Organizations

Western military organizations are widely held to be poor innovators – process-oriented, resistant to change, and slow to learn, traits they share with other large bureaucratic organizations. This article argues that a particular knowledge ideal in military organizations founded on the four interrelated biases of action, relevance, conflict, and hierarchy (ARCH), hinders criticism, in turn thwarting innovation. ARCH serves to collectively discourage criticism on the individual level; on the organizational level, it prevents criticism serving as mechanism of self-correction. Using thematic analysis, these biases are identified through a most-different research design, comparing the military doctrines of the United States and Sweden. ARCH reflects and reinforces a dominant Western vision of how war is waged. Improvements in the organizational capacity for innovation may require a revision of institutional beliefs of military efficiency and warfare.