Kerry J Macintyre

Analysis in the Utility of Commercial Wargaming Simulation Software for Army Organizational Leadership Development Kerry J Macintyre

Publisher Marketing: As a result of the growing capabilities of computers, the Army has used wargaming increasingly for training and education activities, force planning, doctrine development, acquisition and cost analysis, operational test and evaluation, and campaign development. The intent of this monograph was to determine if commercial wargame simulations could be used to develop the organizational leadership abilities of Army officers. The initial step in this process selected commercial wargame simulations to evaluate for their ability to develop organizational leaders. Chapter two of this monograph discusses the history of simulations, the simulation selection process, and provides an overview of the simulations selected. This monograph then evaluated each simulation's ability to develop the four organizational leadership skills (interpersonal, conceptual, technical, and tactical) and to perform the three organizational leadership actions (influencing, operating, and improving) described and required by Army doctrine. The final chapter of this monograph concluded with a recommendation to use commercial simulations for developing organizational leadership skills, and suggested some commercial wargame simulations for future evaluation and possible integration into leadership training plans. This study suggests, from the ability of the small sample analyzed to meet the criteria, that it may be possible to the Army to use commercial simulations to help develop organizational leader skills and actions at a reduced cost.