The Marine Corps Way: Using Maneuver Warfare to Lead a Winning Organization

The Nature of Warfare

To understand maneuver warfare, you must first understand warfare ”the larger context into which maneuver fits. A resource-based conflict mediated by human and environmental factors, warfare is a continuous process of move and countermove where opposing forces are constantly trying to impose their respective wills on one another.

This ultimate test of will takes place on multiple levels. On the physical level it is a test of firepower, weapons technology, troop strength, and logistics. At the psychological level it involves intangibles such as morale , leadership, and courage. At the analytical level it challenges the ability of commanders to assess complex battlefield situations, make effective decisions, communicate their decisions through highly distributed information systems to widely dispersed forces, and formulate tactically superior plans to implement those decisions. If these dimensions seem familiar to most business leaders , so will the four human and environmental factors that, according to Warfighting , shape military conflict: friction, uncertainty, fluidity , and disorder :

1. Friction is the phenomenon that makes the simple difficult and the difficult seemingly impossible . ^[3] The most obvious source of friction is the enemy, but it can also result from natural forces such as terrain or weather, internal forces such as a lack of planning or coordination, the independent nature of human will, or even mere chance.

2. Uncertainty is the atmosphere in which all actions in war take place ”the so-called fog of war. ^[4] Uncertainty about the opponent s intentions and capabilities and about environmental factors cloud decision makers judgment and prohibit the optimal deployment of resources.

3. Fluidity describes the battlefield situation in which each event merges with those that precede and follow it ”shaped by the former and shaping the conditions of the latter ”creating a continuous, fluctuating flow of activity replete with fleeting opportunities and unforeseen events. ^[5] Combatants must constantly adapt to these changing conditions and actively seek to shape emerging events.

4. Combined, these three factors constitute the final key attribute of military conflict, the state toward which warfare naturally gravitates: disorder . In an environment of friction, uncertainty, and fluidity, according to the Marines manual, plans will go awry, instructions and information will be unclear and misinterpreted, communications will fail, and mistakes and unforeseen events will be commonplace. ^[6] Quite simply, disorder implies a competitive situation that deteriorates as time progresses.

Functioning ”or even surviving ”in a disordered environment is a major challenge. But the military commander, as well as the business leader, must be sure that his troops do more than survive; they must prevail. Because the four human and environmental factors that shape competitive encounters can rarely be controlled, the successful commander will opt for the only viable alternative: using them to his advantage. This notion serves as the core of maneuver warfare: instead of succumbing to disorder, the military commander turns friction, uncertainty, and fluidity against the enemy to generate disorder in his ranks, ideally creating a situation in which the opposition simply cannot cope.

^[3] Ibid, 5.

^[4] Ibid, 7.

^[5] Ibid, 9.

^[6] Ibid, 10 “11.