THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY GENERAL: FROM INDIVIDUAL TO COLLECTIVE COMMAND

From the UK
"While generalship has always necessarily involved a co-operative element, in the 21stcentury, military command has become collective to a degree which has rarely, if ever, been seen before; decision-making has now become a truly ensemble, collaborative practice. Because commanders have to make many more decisions about a diversity of assets over a greater range of time and space, they need the help of staff and subordinates to assist them. As command points have proliferated, it has been necessary increase the capacity for decision-making in a military formation and integrate commanders ever more closely across echelons. Because they involve so many elements, decisions at every level have to be aligned, coordinated and synchronised. Local initiative remains vital, of course, but, in contrast to the twentieth century, it must be planned, anticipated and orchestrated. Highly professionalized command collectives have emerged, displacing a formerly more individualist, instinctual system of command. Command collectives, involving dense confederations of commanders, deputies, surbordinates and staff, have begun to manage complex, heterogeneous contemporary operations."