Using Organizational Structure to Overcome Uncertainties in Technology

Technology can be a formidable multiplier when used as a tool in accomplishing a goal or task especially during its initial deployment as operators become acclimated to using it. The uncertainties, though, in its use and the information it provides can provide a distorted picture of an emerging situation. This is especially true in the military environment when new technologies for supporting decision making are introduced. A classic example of this paradigm is the deployment and use of radar by the British during the Battle of Britain. The technology was very new, very primitive, and very fuzzy in the data it provided. But the RAF (Royal Air Force)recognized this and used a very tight organizational structure for the filtering, analysis and dissemination of the interpretations of the data provided by radar. Without their organizational structure, radar would have been of little value as a force multiplier given the inherent uncertainties in the data it provided. This paper will use radar in the Battle of Britain as a historical example to examine how the organizational structure in which the technology was deployed can be used to manage the uncertainty associated with it.