Many change and improvement frameworks miss critical, interdependent, layers of systems that drive change dynamics. Consequently, managers and decision makers lack a holistic mental model that could improve their decision calculus. This presentation presents frameworks, which capture interdependencies among the critical aspects of change efforts, starting with a discussion of the interdependent concepts of System Architectures, Enterprises, and Flexibility/Innovation. We then present framework that captures interdependencies across people, organizations, processes, and technologies, discussing how differing rates of change and interdependencies across these categories inhibit change. We close with a historical case study, findings and recommendations.

Flexibility is a key requirement for complex military operational organizations. Stereotypically, military doctrine for command and control is applied in rigid inflexible organizational relationships and structures. These often fail in the face of enemy action, shifting political priorities and unforeseen events. We studied four separate uses of combat air power between 1991 and 2003. In each case, the command and control architecture, while set up for centralized command and control of air power, was modified to suit the unique political and military contexts of each conflict as well as the need to adjust to the inherent uncertainties of each. These uncertainties required responsive feedback from the Combat Air Operations Systems (CAOS). This feedback was often difficult to achieve in the doctrinally imposed centralized command architecture. Our studies observed responsive feedback loops at multiple levels of organization hierarchy and were manifested as lateral connections acro