| The practice of outsourcing within the Army increased exponentially since the start of the Global War on Terror (GWOT). The problem that was addressed in this qualitative case study concerned the U. S. Army's practice of outsourcing food service and subsistence sustainment missions, and the potential consequence of loss of tacit and organizational knowledge. The purpose of this study was to interview Army enlisted and officer personnel (logistics soldiers) who were engaged in functions related to food service and subsistence missions, as to how they perceived the practice of outsourcing may have impacted their abilities to conduct their missions. Organizational learning (OL) theory and Organizational knowledge creation (OKC) theory, introduced by Senge (1990) and Nonaka (1994), along with New public management (NPM) theory, were used to establish the theoretical framework of this study. OL theory and OKC theory as the theoretical framework of this study, were used to better understand the phenomenon of the practice of outsourcing the core logistics function of food service and subsistence missions previously performed by the Army to private sector firms in support of the GWOT. New public management (NPM) theory was used as part of the theoretical framework of this study, from a public administration perspective, in order to explain the phenomenon of outsourcing and its outcomes; with intent to reduce the public sector footprint in favor of gaining efficiency from use of the private sector. The Army's Operating Concept, Unified Land Operations: Win in A Complex World, was the applied framework for this study. The methodological approach for this research was a single qualitative case study, a literature review, and a field study conducted with experts in the subject matter; prior to conducting interviews that were conducted in an exploratory manner. All information was analyzed through pattern matching and qualitative content analysis. Seminal research emerged as a result of this study, regarding the relationship between SI theory, NPM theory, OL theory, and OKC theory related to military outsourcing of food service operations. |
