Aligning the Stars

Improvements to General and Flag Officer Management

Margaret C. Harrell, Harry J. Thie, Peter Schirmer, Kevin Brancato

ResearchPublished Apr 29, 2004

Private-sector corporations identify their high-potential employees early on, placing them in positions in which they can develop skills that will eventually be of valuable use in senior executive management and leadership positions. Such investment in these maturing assignments adds a stability and influence to the company, bringing years of expertise and experience to the highest levels of decisionmaking. The Department of Defense (DoD) wants that same type of experience and tenure in its general and flag officers (G/FOs) but currently encounters a high turnover from these most-senior employees. Moreover, a concern exists that simply lengthening the stay of senior officers will only clog the system, stagnating promotions throughout the entire officer corps. In response to this, RAND researchers analyzed the current system, reviewed literature on corporate management practices, and modeled different ways of managing G/FOs. They categorized officer assignments as either "developing" or "using" and looked at how much time officers spend in each to evaluate current and potential promotion flow. In addition to proposing variations to the promotion model, the authors address the concerns expressed by those in DoD and Congress about implementing such changes.

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  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Available
  • Year: 2004
  • Print Format: Paperback
  • Paperback Pages: 130
  • Paperback Price: $20.00
  • Paperback ISBN/EAN: 978-0-8330-3501-1
  • Document Number: MR-1712-OSD

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RAND Style Manual
Harrell, Margaret C., Harry J. Thie, Peter Schirmer, and Kevin Brancato, Aligning the Stars: Improvements to General and Flag Officer Management, RAND Corporation, MR-1712-OSD, 2004. As of September 19, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1712.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Harrell, Margaret C., Harry J. Thie, Peter Schirmer, and Kevin Brancato, Aligning the Stars: Improvements to General and Flag Officer Management. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2004. https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1712.html. Also available in print form.
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The research described in this report was sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). The research was conducted in the RAND National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center supported by the OSD, the Joint Staff, the unified commands, and the defense agencies.

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