Barber, C: Valuing Organizational Culture and Stakeholders i

The United States (US) government requires effective interagency planning to operate successfully in the current, global environment. However, the US government's performance while conducting interagency planning has been poor in the last 40 years. Interagency planning for operations in Somalia and Bosnia is representative of this record of poor performance. The US government has taken positive steps to improve interagency planning, especially in linking Department of Defense and Department of State planning efforts. However, interagency planning must improve further to address effectively the increasingly complex environment in which the US government operates. This paper seeks to identify ways to improve the process of interagency planning. To accomplish, the paper analyzes the strategic planning models of the DOD and the office of the coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization, as well as a contemporary business model. The paper identifies commonalities and best practices and concludes with recommendations for improving the interagency planning process. The papers recommendations are to incorporate a method to help interagency planners understand the culture of organizations participating in joint planning and to incorporate the interests and inputs of stakeholders, who are not formally part of an organization. These approaches, drawn from the business model, will improve understanding and facilitate collaboration among planners throughout the interagency planning process.