Management Practices Apply to Terrorism

During the past two decades, military strategies espoused in such books as “The Art of War” and “The Book of the Five Rings” have been translated into business practices.

The time has come for management to return the favor.

Add management practices to the growing arsenal in the War on Terrorism, says a management expert at the Rutgers University School of Business at Camden in the current edition of the Journal of Counterterrorism and Security International.

In an essay published in the prominent journal, considered to be a major global source of information on terrorism issues, Dr. Alok Baveja, an associate professor of management at the Rutgers University-Camden business school, stresses the need for adversaries of terrorism to emphasize communication and prioritization – cornerstones of good management – in their strategies.

Baveja has long applied management science and technology to combating street-level drug trafficking in American cities. He sees many similarities between the War on Drugs and the War on Terrorism, and suggests that the latter must learn from the successes and failures of the former.

Setting attainable goals is a key element for both campaigns. “Extensive experiential learning from fighting illicit drugs suggests that public expectation or a policy goal of complete elimination of the objective – be it drugs or terrorism – is unrealistic,” he says. “Such an expectation should be replaced with the more pragmatic and effective objective of containing terrorism.”

Baveja specifically suggests that the reduction in incidence and intensity of terrorism, as well as the likelihood of harm from terrorist acts, would be the sort of targeted goal that law enforcement agencies would set as a clear and actionable item.

The mere reduction of terrorist incidents, of course, still suggests that terrorism cannot be completely eliminated. Baveja notes that the continuum of scenarios “makes it impossible to be vigilant against every possibility. However, a pragmatic solution to this quagmire may be possible.”

By remaining clearly focused on the policy objective, the managers of the War on Terrorism would then, according to the Rutgers-Camden management expert, place the possible scenarios in a hierarchical list giving highest priority to those that have a high risk of occurrence and/or damage. Resources then would be allocated systematically based on this prioritized list, with more resources being dedicated to those incidents placed higher on the list.

“Such a methodical and hierarchical allocation of proactive and reactive resources based on the expected harm would minimize the potential damage from terrorist attacks in an overall sense,” says Baveja.

One area where the War on Drugs could serve as a “best practices” model for the War on Terrorism is in helping the American public to incorporate the core issues into their everyday lives. “The government asks us all to live our lives normally, while also urging constant vigilance and caution,” observes Baveja. “History has shown us that such slogans, especially if they appear contradictory, are rarely fruitful.”

He holds as an example the slogan “Say No to Drugs,” which did not offer any discernible impact until specific training was provided to parents, students and teachers on how to deal with the problem of narcotics. “Training and education are crucial enablers of behavioral changes that may eventually allow us to live a ‘normal’ life,” says Baveja.

Despite rapid strides in combating terrorism, the American people still do not have a strong knowledge base for assimilating the war into their lives. “Teams of experts need to come up with tips for average citizens to implement at home, in the workplace, and elsewhere,” suggests Baveja. “Ambiguous alerts such as watching out for ‘suspicious behavior’ could result in a high number of false alarms; these should be replaced with better training on where and how to vigilant.”

Baveja’s research at the Rutgers University School of Business at Camden focuses on developing decision aids for managers in the service and manufacturing industries. He also has worked on projects incorporating location analysis and general management into new models for fighting street drug crime.

He recently was been named to the editorial board of the Scheduling and Logistics focus issues of IIE Transactions, a premier journal for industrial engineers. Baveja and colleague Dr. Briance Mascarenhas, a professor of management at Rutgers University-Camden, co-authored an article that has become a best-seller for Harvard. The duo, joined by Dr. Mamnoon Jamil of IBM, wrote “Dynamics of Core Competencies in Leading Multinational Companies,” which originally appeared in California Management Review, a top management journal published by the University of California at Berkeley. The article then was republished in a leading textbook, “Strategic Management: Crafting and Executing Strategy,” prior to being printed by Harvard Business School Publishing as a case.

Among the 7,500 publications offered by Harvard Business School Publishing, the Rutgers-Camden faculty case has become a best seller, positioned as one of the top five cases sold by Harvard for use in business classroom around the world.

The Journal of Counterterrorism and Security International is published by the International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals (IACSP), a global organization with a strong membership base of professionals actively working to combat worldwide terrorism.

Article continues below

---

advertisement

---

Author: Mike Sepanic