MEASUREMENT OF PERFORMANCE OF ARMY TACTICAL UNITS

THE TRADITIONAL MISSION/TASK DECOMPOSITION METHOD OF ANALYSIS HAS LEAD TO A TASK ORIENTED FOCUS INSTEAD OF A MISSION FOCUS. WHILE A TASK ANALYSIS IS NECESSARY TO DEFINE THE TASKS TO BE PERFORMED, A MISSION FOCUSED MOE DEFINES HOW WELL THOSE TASKS MUST BE PERFORMED TO EFFECTIVELY ACCOMPLISH THE MISSION OBJECTIVES. DESIGN OF TRAINING PROGRAMS TYPICALLY RELIES ON TASK ANALYSES TO SELECT TASKS FOR TRAINING, TO ESTABLISH TRAINING GOALS, AND TO ESTABLISH CRITERION PERFORMANCE LEVELS. TRAINING A TASK TO CRITERION LEVEL, ESTABLISHED AS THOUGH THE TASK IS PERFORMED IN ISOLATION, PRODUCES TASK PERFORMANCE NOT NECESSARILY RELEVANT TO THE MISSION, AND OFTEN REQUIRES CONSIDERABLE ON-THE-JOB TRAINING IN SUBSEQUENT MISSION ORIENTED EXERCISES. A COMPOUNDING OF THE PROBLEM OCCURS WHEN SYSTEMS ARE DESIGNED TO IMPROVE THE TASK PERFORMANCE UNDER THE MISTAKEN BELIEF THAT IMPROVING TASK PERFORMANCE WILL ALWAYS IMPROVE THE UNIT'S MISSION EFFECTIVENESS. TWO HYPOTHESES ARE PROPOSED. ONE IS THAT A UNIT MOE CAN BE BUILT WHICH DISCRIMINATES UNIT EFFECTIVENESS AND EMPLOYS MOLAR PERFORMANCE INDICATORS. THE OTHER HYPOTHESIS IS THAT A SENSITIVE MEASURE CAN BE CONSTRUCTED FROM THE MOE THAT PROVIDES DIAGNOSTIC AND OTHER UNIT TAKE HOME INFORMATION BY ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF THE TASK PERFORMANCE ON OVERALL UNIT EFFECTIVENESS DURING A MISSION.