Consulting Journal: Trends

Trends: After the war

by David Blakey

Do your views about the war affect your willingness to take consulting assignments after it?

[Monday 17 March 2003]

Consultants are occasionally presented with ethical issues. Usually, these can be resolved easily by eliminating options on the grounds of illegality, professional misconduct, and immorality. Consultants can use their own moral standards and ethical beliefs to decide which of the remaining options are most desirable.

With war, some of these issues can be clouded by emotion. It can often be difficult to find an ethical solution.

Influences

There are several influences that can help to form your ethical views.

Your own convictions can influence your decisions. If you believe that the war is a good, ethical, justifiable cause for the allies - principally the US and UK - then your decisions on some other issues may be different from those who believe that the war is bad and is being fought for unethical and unjustifiable reasons.

In this article, I shall use the word ‘military’ to describe any of the armed forces and the civilian infrastructure that supports them, such as the Department of Defense and the Ministry of Defence.

Would you work for the military as a consultant in peace-time?
Would you work for the military during a war?
If you were working for the military during peace and then there was a war, would you continue to work for them?
Would you usually be happy to work for the military during a war, but not during this particular war?

The issues are easier to work through during peace. You may decide that you would not work for the military under any conditions. You may decide that you would not work for them if they declared war. You may decide that you would continue to work for them if someone else declared war. You may decide that you would work for the miltary as a consultant under any circumstances. Once war has been declared, the decisions can become harder to make.

One conviction that you may have is patriotism. You may have a view of ‘my country right or wrong’, so that, even if you do not support Bush and Blair, you would work for the military. You should know that this is a conscious decision. It is not something that you should decide simply on the basis of your emotions at the time. Patriotism is something that you should embrace with a cool head, rather than in the heat of battle.

Another conviction is pacifism. You may consider that any war is wrong, and that there can never be a valid justification for it. Again, this is a conscious decision, to be made coolly. It is likely that, if you were a pacifist, you might choose not to work for the military, under any circumstances. Your decision would not be influenced by war.

You may be a patriot and a pacifist. Your decisions are likely to be influenced by the individual circumstances of the war and which of these convictions you feel more strongly.

Circumstances

There are three circumstances in which consultants are needed.

Peace

If there is not a war or any preparation for a specific future war, then the circumstances can be defined as ‘peace’. If there were total, universal peace, then there would be no need for any military organization. Our experience tells us that a nation or a state or a city continues to need a police force, even if the citizens are fairly law-abiding. In the same way, a military force that can operate within a country and also beyond its boundaries will still be needed. The US was at peace on 11 September 2001.

Many military organizations employ consultants during peace-time. As with corporations, a period of relative peace can be used to re-design processes, to upgrade systems, and to implement procedures and applications. As an example, the army is more likely to upgrade its personnel systems during peace-time than during a war.

War

Some consultants may be engaged by the military during the period before a war is declared. These consultants will be engaged either to complete ongoing work rapidly, so that it ready for war, or to provide specialist expertise. Specialist military consultants are likely to be working for the military or their suppliers, anyway; the imminence of war may increase their involvement.

Aftermath

After the war, the military may occupy Iraq and be involved in restoring stability. The political infrastructure may have to be re-built, so that Iraq can have a stable government. The logistical infrastructure may have to be restored rapidly, so that the Iraqi people can be fed, clothed and housed. Many projects may be undertaken to replace, to renew and to implement.

Consultants may be engaged to do much of this work.

This area is important for us in our ethical considerations. A consultant may have decided not to work for the military or not to work for the military during the war, but other factors need to be considered in the aftermath of war.

It is true that consultants may be engaged by a military organization. The military may be acting as an army of occupation, in control of Iraq. This may not be a situation that a consultant would wish. The aim of the occupation would be to rebuild Iraq. Consultants might wish to work for this objective, even if it meant being engaged by the military to do so. In short, a consultant might consider that the end - assisting post-war Iraq - justified the means - of being engaged by the military.

My advice

You should consider your options carefully. You may choose not to work for the military during peace or war. You should decide whether you would do so in the aftermath of war.

The situation is this. The allies want to restore Iraq, and to help its people recover from its long period of dictatorship. If this job is going to be done well, it needs the best people to do it. If you are one of those people, then the occupying powers in Iraq may need your skills and experience.

I am not suggesting that we form a kind of Consultants Sans Frontières. Few of us can afford that. We need to work on a commercial basis. We should, however, consider whether we would be prepared to undertake assignments for the military in the aftermath of the war.

There may be consulting work available after the war. The allies are already making plans for post-war Iraq, and they are already looking for consultants and contractors. You may find interesting and profitable assignments that will add to your consulting skills and experience and that may even introduce you to future clients, either at home or abroad.

Throughout this article I have made no reference to my own convictions about the war. They are irrelevant to the Consulting Journal. My aim has been to write about the consulting opportunities that may be available after the war and to urge you to make your own decisions about whether you want to pursue them.

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