T. Owen Jacobs recently helped the Society to obtain a number of key research papers that were foundational to the use of Stratified Systems Theory and Requisite Organization for over 30 years by the U. S. Army.

Sourcebook: Military Command, Organization, and Leadership - Some Implications of Stratified Systems Theory for Organization and Manning in the U.S. Army

by Elliott Jaques
U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences
December 1983

An outline that sets out a systematic approach to military organisation and manning, using Stratified Systems Theory.

Senior Leadership Performance Requirements at the Executive Level

by Elliott Jaques, S. Clement, C. Rigby and T. Owen Jacobs
U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences
Research Report 1420
January 1986

This report deals with the changing nature and increasing complexity at the various GO/SES levels. A general theory of organizational structure is proposed which would facilitate leader development and provide information and decision systems support for executives. A program of action is posited based on findings from interview data which lays out major systematic leadership requirements for a hierarchy of levels of work. Higher level work (structured within a joint, combined, and unified command) is characterized as requiring an international perspective and collegiality. Professional development and competency requirements at the top-most levels are consistent with a time horizon of 20 years or more.

Longitudinal Research Into Methods of Assessing Managerial Potential

by Gillian P. Stamp
U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences
Technical Report 819
October 1988

This report describes research on the prediction of executive potential. An assessment technique, the career Path Appreciation (cPA), was developed by Gillian Stamp, based on the logic of Jaques’ Stratified Systems theory. lower and middle level managers were assessed and followed up over periods ranging from 4 to 13 years. Predictive validities ranged from 0.7 to 0.9, strongly suggesting that (a) development beyond the lower and middle levels of organization is heavily dependent on conceptual ability, and (b) individual development beyond lower and middle levels should focus strongly on enhancing conceptual skills, as opposed to knowledge-based instruction. these results strongly support the logic of Stratified Systems theory.

Executive Leadership: Requisite Skills and Developmental Processes for Three- and Four-Star Assignments

by Patricia A. Harris and Kenneth W. Lucas
U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences
March 1991

This report describes the investigation of work and skill requirements for three- and four-star general officers. It is based on content analysis of tape-recorded interviews of eight of the then-available four star general officers in the U.S. Army. This work was part of a larger project designed to test Stratified Systems Theory application to military organization and processes. Interviews were intended to learn the nature of three- and four-star assignments, career paths, and developmental patterns. Requisite skills included consensus building, envisioning, climate setting, self-evaluation, sharing frames of reference, risk taking, and dealing with uncertainty. Implications for executive development are described in terms of level-specific organizational and individual requirements.

Senior Leadership in a Changing World Order: Requisite Skills for U.S. Army One- and Two-Star Assignments

by Kenneth W. Lucas and Joan Markessini
U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences
April 1993

For this report, as part of a larger effort, interviews were conducted with 48 Brigadier Generals and 26 Major Generals to identify key position performance requirements. The interviews were theory-based, exploring the correctness of Stratified Systems Theory (SST) formulations about the structure of work at senior and strategic levels. Content analysis of the tape-recorded interviews provided broad support for SST. As expected, complexity of performance requirements systematically increased with increasing position grade. However, there were some inversions, e.g., the addition of installation command responsibilities to table of evaluation unit command invariably increased position complexity profoundly. The analysis explicitly focused on cognitive skills required for successful performance. In the view of incumbents, key requirements included cognitive skills (mental mapping, problem management, planning/envisioning), dispositional skills/traits (dealing with uncertainty/risk taking, controlling through indirect means), interpersonal skills (networking, consensus building, getting feedback, using communications technology, interfacing effectively with the external environment, and communicating cross-culturally and precisely), and resources management (personnel and materiel). Findings at the one- and two-star level were compared with earlier findings at more senior levels.

Executive Leadership: Requisite Skills and Developmental Processes for the U.S. Army's Civilian Executives

by Joanne Markessini, Kenneth W. Lucas, Nicholas Chandler and T. Owen Jacobs
U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences
December 10, 1993

This report is one of several from a larger project to assess applicability of Stratified Systems Theory principles to top-level military and civilian leadership. Findings from interviews of Army General Officers from one-star to four-star have been published elsewhere. The present report details parallel analysis of interviews with twenty-seven civilian members of the Executive (ES) and Senior Executive Services (SES). They were included in the overall program of research because in many cases, given full mobilization, they would assume the staff duties of those of their uniformed counterparts who would be reassigned to field duty. General findings were that members of the SES reported similar task performance requirements and the need for similar skills and abilities as their General Officer counterparts. Nearly half of the sample was performing duties judged to be strategic in scope and scale. However, there were indications that the potential of some members of the SES exceeded their duty position requirements, i.e., they were not being fully challenged by the complexity and responsibility inherent in their jobs.

Early Military Applications of Stratified Systems Theory

by T. Owen Jacobs
U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences
1992

This report describes work accomplished during a six years period, much of it by Professor Jaques himself, to investigate the applicability of Stratified Systems Theory (SST) within the U.S. Department of Army. Two broad possible areas of application were apparent at the outset. The first concerned the structure of the very large department and its subordinate elements. (With a uniformed strength of approximately 780,000, and a civilian strength of more than 400,000 the Department of Army matches in scope and scale the largest of private sector multinational corporations.) The second concerned executive leadership, and the process whereby executives (senior generals) are developed within the Department. (The possibility of meaningful sequential development is inherent in the SST formulations of progressive complexity of performance requirements in successively higher strata of large scale organizations.)