Adaptive Performance: Implications for Military Logistics

The Information Age we are operating in today has created pervasive changes in the basic nature of work. As the foundations of work are being altered, new demands are being placed on the individuals performing the jobs. Although technological innovations to cope with changes in work abound, the implications at the human level have been neglected. Within the military logistics domain, numerous networking technologies have been implemented in an effort to evolve with the new Net-Centric warfare environment. If the evolution is to succeed, a coherent systems approach is needed that also addresses the human component. Starting at the beginning, we must ask what aspects of human performance are imperative in today’s warfare environment. As the foundations of work itself are being altered, so are the dimensions of performance; therefore new performance models are needed that address how work is done today. Thus, I propose a study that examines a relatively new model of performance: adaptive performance. Validation of the adaptive performance model and identification of predictors would address the human side of networked logistics by aiding in the selection and training of a workforce suitable to operate within the dynamic and fluid military logistics system that has emerged.