Other key examples and perhaps lessons for leaders in the
domain of knowledge management to be explored in this chapter
are after-action review, tacit versus explicit knowledge, and orga-
nizational structure.
After-Action ReviewAfter-action review(AAR) is a knowledge management activity
that fosters organizational learning. It originated in the U.S. Army
in the mid-1970s. As a consequence of the Vietnam War, U.S.
Army officers spent considerable time in a reflective, introspective
mode. What could be learned from that war? Being an all-volun-
teer fighting force, what could be done to ensure a more effective
future? One critical step from this reflection was to exert a more
concerted effort on training. The Army chief of staff, General
Creighton Abrams, in 1973 created TRADOC—the Training and
Doctrine Command. This command focused the Army’s training,
and new forms were established, such as the National Training
Center in the Mojave Desert. General William Du Puy, the initial
commander of TRADOC, was a great believer in leading and man-
aging according to clear standards and, when an Army unit fell
short of those standards, in learning why. What gradually evolved
was a process of taking the time to review what happened after
every training event. It is similar to, though not quite the same as,
coaches and players reviewing the film of a football game the day
after.
The purposes of an after-action review are simple: learning,
improving, and doing better the next time. The participants sit
down with a facilitator called an “observer-controller” who has
been with them throughout the event, and they all discuss what
happened. To do this effectively requires several things. First, there
must be a fairly good basis for understanding what actually hap-
pened. In the training centers, electronic data collection enables
high-fidelity recording and playback of events. This is very much
like reviewing football films on Monday morning; you may think
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