Conflict and Ambiguity: Implementing Evolutionary Acquisition

In October 2000 the Secretary of Defense announced that a new policy of revolutionary acquisition would become the preferred approach to acquiring defense systems. Implementation of the new policy has been far from automatic. Today - two years after issuance of the evolutionary acquisition policy - the Department continues to struggle to adopt a consistent approach to policy implementation but also to achieve the kind of lasting cultural change that is critical to long-term policy success. The roots of this implementation struggle are explored paying particular attention to the concept of policy ambiguity and how such ambiguity can drive organizational conflict. Organizational conflict is inevitable but not necessarily counterproductive. In fact the original policy can be improved as the organization undergoes an iterative process of interpretation conflict and refinement.