This monograph examines battalion commander and staff performance in conducting the tactical decision making process. The National Training Center and the Joint Readiness Training Center continue to report battalion commanders and staff have difficulty in executing the tactical decision making process in a time constrained environment. A trained commander and staff are an essential combat multiplier in the rapidly changing, chaotic battlefield of today and the future. This monograph, using Peter Senge's The Fifth Discipline, investigates the five disciplines and their application to the infantry battalion commander and his staff. It will determine if the battalion commander can apply the five disciplines to create a higher performing command and staff system and achieve the necessary leverage to consistently succeed in the tactical decision making process. It will provide a framework for the commander and staff to understand how they think about themselves and their organization; how it affects the commander's decision making and the staff's performance. Finally, this monograph offers recommendations to enable battalions to become a learning organization. Establishing a climate of openness, creating a mini-learning organization within the battalion staff, subordinate leader empowerment in decision making, and microworlds are all means to create the conditions for establishing a learning environment. The battalion as a learning organization is essential to improving the quality of commander and battalion staff decision making.

ADA 324344 Approved for public release; Distribution is unlimited. The opinions and conclusions expressed herein are those of the student-authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College or any other governmental agency. (References to these studies should include the foregoing statement.)