NUMBERS OR NETWORKS - SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONS OF TECHNOLOGY AND ORGANIZATIONAL DILEMMAS IN IDF MODERNIZATION

Western nations including Israel are modernizing their militaries. The y are turning to advanced technologies and information warfare as alte rnatives to nuclear weapons and as solutions to manpower and budget co nstraints. For the same reasons, technological modernization of the Is raeli Defense Force's ground organization has become a political and s trategic necessity. The modernization process, however, is precipitati ng a wrenching and non-obvious reorganization of the Israeli Defense F orce (IDF) as managers' expectations of the technology are imposed on organizational realities. The Israeli ground forces are developing int o a smaller, more professional, standing army that requires more coord ination and precise behavior. Achieving greater precision in operation s will prove difficult for the reserve oriented IDF. This article inve stigates the case of the IDF as an example of a general phenomenon in which complexity in machines drives the directions of organizational a daptation, making the capabilities of military organizations less clea r-cut. As a result, actors throughout the military organization are le ss able to accurately foresee the organizational consequences of decis ions involving these machines, especially during crises.