Human Resource Slack as an Antecedent to Instilling the Entrepreneurial Mindset Within Department of Defense Organizations

The Department of Defense has been called to transform the way it fights, thinks and operates to more effectively counter the changing threats to the United States. Private organizations have long been faced with a similar need to be flexible to meet the dynamic market which they serve. The Office of Force Transformation has been tasked to facilitate the mandated transformation of the DoD. Based on literature on slack resources, slack may be a necessary tool for proper transformation to a more innovative and effective military. The multiple case study methodology was utilized to gather private firms' best practices to utilizing excess human resources for innovation, termed creative capacity, and instilling the entrepreneurial mindset. Analysis of these practices resulted in the formation of a creative capacity implementation methodology as well as an organizational human resource slack typology.