Statesmen, Soldiers, and Strategy: The Influence of Civil-Military Relations on U.S. National Security Decision-Making
Statesmen, Soldiers, and Strategy: The Influence of Civil-Military Relations on U.S. National Security Decision-Making
Making strategy: Civil–military relations after Iraq
The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have revealed the problems that both the United States and Britain confront in formulating strategy. In part this problem is intellectual: strategy is not just about the unilateral implementation of policy, it is also a process applicable in the dynamic and multilateral context of war. However, the difficulties are also institutional. Encumbered with unrealistic models of civil–military relations, the United States and the United Kingdom have allowed their machineries for the making of strategy to atrophy.
Project management education: The human skills imperative
Abstract This paper is intended to provide an insight into the importance of human skills in project management success and the apparent lack of emphasis placed on this within the context of university education. The discussion will call upon the viewpoints of many notable authors in respect to the human or ‘soft’ skills that are necessary in the management of projects. Against this background a review will be conducted into how well project management literature and university education equips potential project managers in the area of human skills. As the PMBOK ® Guide is one of the major recommended texts in Australian universities offering project management education, the paper will identify that it predominantly emphasises the required ‘hard (technical) skills’ at the expense of the ‘soft (human) skills’. Subsequent discussion will highlight the need for a balance between hard and soft skills within project management education in universities. It will conclude that educators within this discipline should recognise the importance of incorporating greater human skills aspects into their educational programs.