Improving U.S. Advice to Third World Military Institutions: Lessons from International Development Assistance on Public Sector Management

The Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA) aims at providing American security partners with technical assistance and advice to improve defense resource management practices through the implementation of the Defense Resource Management Study Program (DRMS). However, IDA teams face multiple constraints that prevent an effective delivery of projects and the sustainability of reforms in host countries with limitations in cross cultural understanding constituting one of the main drawbacks for providing such successful technical assistance.

The Capstone team provided the client a literature review which sought to understand the dominant trends and practices in the fields of cultural training and change management by taking a close look at some of the important ideas thrown up by cultural training, total quality management, technical assessment and public financial management reform.