Incorporating Heterogeneity in Command Center Interactions

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Handley, Holly A.H. | Levis, Alexander H.

Affiliations: C3I Center, MSN 4B5, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA

Note: [] Corresponding author: Holly A.H. Handley, 1022 Addor Street, Port Hueneme, CA 93035, USA. Tel.: +1 805 487 1072; E-mail: hhandley@gmu.edu. After 7/13/01: 10204 Rue Cannes, San Diego, CA 92131, USA.

Abstract: One of the many complexities of multinational coalition operations stems from differences in culture, military procedures, and command and control processes between the cooperating command centers.  These differences can influence the interactions between decision makers of different command centers and can affect the outcome of the coalition operation.  A coalition model, composed of individual models of the five-stage interacting decision maker model, was used in a virtual experiment.  The subjective parameters included in the decision maker model can be any attribute that characterizes the heterogeneity of the decision makers.  In this case, the parameters of power distance and uncertainty avoidance were used, two of Hofstede's (1991) cultural dimensions.  The accuracy and timeliness of the coalition's response was used to evaluate its performance as a function of heterogeneity. Including the presence of heterogeneity in the coalition model, through the use of subjective parameters, is the first step in formalizing the process for developing adaptive coalition architectures.

Journal: Information Knowledge Systems Management, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 297-309, 2001