Applying Knowledge Management Theory to Army Doctrine Development: Case Study of a Web-Based Community of Practice

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The study addresses the question of whether knowledge management is an appropriate strategy for revising the Army doctrine development process in the contemporary operational environment. Case study examines knowledge management theory as applied to the proposed web-based Army Field Manual (FM) 7-1, Battle Focused Training, and then compares the case study to the Army's doctrine development process. Discussion addresses three knowledge management theories, and develops principles of knowledge management from two of the knowledge management theories. The thesis concludes that knowledge management provides only a partial solution for the problem of consistency and timeliness of the doctrine development process, and that knowledge management does not solve the problem of validating and testing doctrine. The thesis proposes Chris Argyris' theory of double-loop learning and knowledge management as a means to solve the problem of validation as well as consistency and timeliness of doctrine development.