This study explores the effectiveness of the Marine Expeditionary Rifle Squad (MERS) in support of Distributed Operations in urban terrain. The Marine Corps is evaluating the Distributed Operations concept as a solution to new threats posed in current operations. In order to employ distributed tactics, a more effective and capable Marine Rifle Squad is needed. The MERS concept seeks to increase the effectiveness of the current rifle squad, enabling smaller, more lethal, and more survivable units. Those issues are explored using agent-based modeling and data analysis. The most significant finding is that the MERS must be evaluated as a system; factors cannot be analyzed in isolation. The two factors that most affect the effectiveness are survivability and lethality. Maximizing these two factors leads to the lowest friendly casualties, highest enemy casualties, and highest probability of mission success. Agent-based modeling provides the maximum flexibility and responsiveness required for timely insights into small unit combat.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Johns Hopkins University, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 374-406).

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio State University. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-140). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2004. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 168 p.; also includes graphics. Includes abstract and vita. Advisor: Phillip Ward, College of Education. Includes bibliographical references (p. 130-137).

Thesis (M.S. in Operations Research)--Naval Postgraduate School, June 2004. / Thesis advisor(s): Thomas Lucas. Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-91). Also available online.

Recent studies into the political aspects of large scale change in organisations have highlighted the need for a deeper understanding of managerial elites in the change context. The extant literature is guilty of conflating large scale change into a single process, and commentators describe and prescribe political processes and behaviours without differentiating between the proposal and implementation stages of change. The research presented in this thesis provides insights into the nature and characteristics of large scale change proposal coalitions and the behaviours and tactics of coalition leaders in top management teams across a range of organisational settings in the UK private sector. Data was collected and analysed using a qualitative methodology. An elite style semistructured interview schedule was used with a research sample of fifty members of top management teams drawn from across fourteen organisations in thirteen industries. The findings suggest that large scale change proposal coalitions follow a five phase lifecycle: initiate, build, sustain, dissolve, and capture and transfer. Within these phases coalition leaders tend to perform three primary roles: builder, sustainer and dissolver. The sequence of gathering support to build a coalition is heavily influenced by the hierarchical position of the builder, and the behaviours and tactics used are contingent upon whether an individual is engaged in an upward inter-tier, intra-tier, or downward inter-tier support gathering exercise. Once a large scale change proposal coalition had been established the leadership role changes from building to sustaining. Four principal types of coalition are identified: aligned coalitions, unaligned coalitions, unfocused coalitions and fragmented coalitions. Different leadership skills are required for each. Once a proposal has been approved or rejected the evidence suggests that coalitions should be dissolved as rapidly as practically possible using one or a combination of three dissolution techniques. These findings have important implications for academic enquiry and practitioners.

Thesis (M.S. in Operations Research)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2009. / Thesis Advisor(s): Wood, R. Kevin. "September 2009." Description based on title screen as viewed on 5 November 2009. Author(s) subject terms: Shortest-path algorithm, mine countermeasure warfare, optimal routing. Includes bibliographical references (p. 41). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.A. in National Security Affairs) Naval Postgraduate School, December 1994. / "December 1994." Thesis advisor(s): Jan Breemer. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Leadership is a social influence process that is necessary for the attainment of societal and organizational goals. Leadership is both conspicuous in its absence and mysterious in its presence — familiar and yet hard to define. Leadership happens within the power and authority structures of organizations. The body of research on the influence processes of leadership has focused on organizations with clear hierarchical lines of power and authority between boss, subordinate and peer.This dissertation was designed to study the influence processes of leadership within a religious denomination, the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA). As a Christian community, ECUSA is guided by the biblical model of servant leadership as it was made known in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. To compare the behavioral influence tactics used by lay and ordained leaders in ECUSA, 152 participants completed the Episcopal Leadership Questionnaire and the agent version of the Influence Behavior Questionnaire (Yukl, 2000). In addition to demographic and contextual variables, participants identified the frequency of use of 11 behavioral influence tactics with a designated target (boss, subordinate, peer, or other/hard to define). Almost one-fifth of the respondents could not classify their influence target according to hierarchical categories. The responses of 75 ordained and 77 lay leaders in ECUSA revealed few statistically significant differences between groups on the use of Yukl's 11 categories of behavioral influence tactics. Both groups used collaboration, consultation and rational persuasion most often. Inspirational appeals, ingratiation and legitimating tactics were used somewhat often. Apprising, coalition tactics, personal appeals, exchange were used infrequently by both groups. Pressure was almost never used as an influence tactic by either group. ANOVA and discriminant function analysis indicated a slight tendency for lay leaders to use collaboration, coalition tactics and exchange more often than ordained leaders. Men used legitimating tactics somewhat more often than women. Women used exchange tactics slightly more often than men. No statistically significant differences were observed in the use of influence tactics when age, type of ministry, education or technical/adaptive work perceptions were used as the categorical variable.This study supported previous research on the directional use of influence tactics, while suggesting possibilities for future research in non-hierarchical organizations. Results also suggested a relationship between leaders' perceptions of their sources of power in the organization and their use of influence tactics. The paucity of statistically significant findings based upon ordination status and the clear presence of a non-hierarchical category of influence target suggest that the explanatory construct of servant leadership plays a role in the power, authority and influence processes of ECUSA. / Ph. D.

The debate of whether to standardise or to custom-tailor marketing strategies and tactics in international markets has continued to trouble academics and practitioners alike and has produced many and varied opinions. Supporters of global standardisation argue that a single marketing strategy and a standardised marketing mix (tactics) should be used in international markets to minimise total costs and promote a global corporate image. In contrast, advocates of international adaptation debate that marketing in overseas markets should be adapted to fit the unique dimensions of each local market. Opposing the two polarised positions, literature quoting practical evidence suggests that companies make contingency choices which relate to key determinants in each circumstance. This doctoral research focuses on the tactical level. It hypothesises that multinational companies' tactical behaviour is integrated as a result of several reasons `pulling' it towards the one or the other side of the continuum. Equally, it proposes that such behaviour and the importance of reasons `pulling' it, could be significantly different based on nine factors. Consequently, this research seeks to discover the unique way in which the reasons and factors interact with international marketing tactics in any given `country and company situation'. A review of the literature (chapters two and three) allowed the development of a framework (chapter three) that presents the main perspectives of the different schools of thought towards the processeso f adaptation,s tandardisationa nd integration of marketing tactics. Its formulation made possible two main stages in this research: it firstly allowed the researcher to formulate the secondary hypotheses, and secondly it permitted the design of a questionnaire to test these hypotheses and carry out the necessary empirical research and collection of primary data. Based on the Positivist philosophy, the research design (chapter four) involved a questionnaire survey on the 500 biggest UK multinational companies across five industrial sectors. The analysis (chapters five and six) was mainly quantitative and was undertaken with S. P. S. S. and Excel statistical packages. It utilised chi-square (x2) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistical tests. Research results identified that UK multinational companies do not solely utilise adaptation or standardisation across their marketing mix elements. When facing the dilemma of implementing marketing tactics, the researched UK multinational companies were found to integrate the processes of adaptation and standardisation. Both processes co-exist and multinational companies are striking to find a balance. This research identified that the level of integration is dependent upon a consideration of the relationship between the reasons and elements identified, and an understanding of how these are affected by a number of factors. Followed the results of the analysis, this thesis proposes a new modelling approach, the AdaptStand Process (chapter seven), which outlines different steps to be undertaken by multinational companies towards identifying the degree of integration across the marketing mix elements. Consequently, this thesis aims to enlarge the existing body of knowledge in the subject area and guide marketing directors acid managers in deciding on marketing tactics when competing in the international marketing arena.