I currently work fulltime at an active Air Force base in Madison, WI. It has an organizational culture very different from that of most civilian employers; honoring thy basic tenets of “Duty, Honor, and Country.” That being said, I work in a tightly organized establishment with strict standards in structure, professionalism, and appearance. In general, the military emphasizes discipline and hierarchy, and even has its own governing body of law (the Uniform Code of Military Justice). The “group” always takes precedence over the “individual” and loyalties are developed to the specific branch one resides in. Of the four major theories of organization discussed over the course of the semester, bureaucratic formal organizational theory best describes the military and my organization. Plainly stated, the military operates around specific goals and operations with several interrelated groups (subsystems) governed by clearly defined and enforced rules and norms. While formal organizational theories may seem dated, the military has strong roots in its development. German Sociologist Max Weber created a bureaucratic model with five key components that strongly interrelates with military life and structure. In fact, the military was his prototype. The first element of Weber’s theory is that of labor division and functional specialization, where he divides jobs into fixed categories based on competence and functional specialization. In the military, you are placed into a specific
The Army’s Organizational Life Cycle Model contains eight phases (U.S. Army War College, 2015-2016). This paper identifies and explains four of those phases, acquisition, training, distribution, and deployment.
The United States Army is a complex organization made up of several commands and managed by different command levels. The U.S. Army is an organization different from that of a business in many unique ways. Specific examples of these differences include: financial reporting, disciplinary review procedures, and tactical operations. Although different in many ways, the Army shares many similar characteristics of a normal profit business. Army personnel are managed by supervisors arranged in a command structure similar to that of a business hierarchy. The Army will also encounter internal and external factors that could impede or enhance operations. As such, planning, organizing, leading, and controlling must be used by managers appropriately
The situation in today 's Army is clearly much different from what existed years ago. Many changes have occurred, moving the Army 's EO program from a strictly educational and training initiative to a multifaceted management program with clear goals and objectives. These goals and objectives are also an integral part of human relations and are nurtured and developed through a professional military education system.
The Army as a Profession of Arms is a statement of truth and a concept to adopt. Soldiers generally characterize themselves by their specialty and not the ability to use lethal force. The classification of Soldiers own core purpose is what must shift within the Army culture. Army leaders must train and prepare Soldiers to successfully meet the challenges they will face as the Army pursues the campaign of Profession of Arms. The Army Values embody the core foundations of the skills needed for success; Soldiers at all levels must strive hard to live and model these values. Soldiers are shown pride in their organizations and the Army as a whole by the artifacts that are displayed on the walls and in cases at the units in which they serve.
An Army White Paper: The Profession of Arms details an in-depth analysis into what it means for the Army to be a ‘Profession of Arms’ and what it means to be a ‘Professional Soldier’. It is not an authorative article nor is it directive, but more of an actual point of discussion. It all allows the reader to apply some critical thinking to the subject matter and to form their own assessment, as well as applying the role of a Human Resources Sergeant to the subject matter.
I have chosen to write about the United States Army for my Organizational profile. Not only was it extremely interesting to look at the organization that I love and how it functions, but it is the one business that I feel most comfortable with. The Army employs approximately 530,000 Active Duty Soldiers and 330,000 civilians, making it one of the largest, most powerful corporations in the world. Founded in 1775, it is one of the oldest businesses in the United States and is rich with history, symbolism, and structure (citation, year).
The U.S. Government 's Department of Defense (DoD) is a very large organization with many leaders at various levels. From a macro-level or overarching perspective the DoD is very hierarchal and bureaucratic. Then, from a micro-level perspective, there are leaders within the DoD who practice more lateral or flat approaches to leadership. Furthermore, the DoD has both a military side where leadership is hierarchal as well as transactional, as well as a civilian side which is much more transformational. These varying leadership approaches within the DoD 's macro-level, micro-level, military, and civilian structure are all very appropriate and effective leadership approaches for this large
I agree with you there needs to be order or there is chaos so with organizational structure gives all parties the information or ways to get information to accomplish the goal. When I was in the U. S. Navy there was structure with a chain of command and if you did not follow it you had to answer to your commander. You also knew your place in the chain of command and be prepared to answer any and all questions that were addressed to you while having respect for the party that was addressing you. Just think of it this way what if we were aboard ship and decided to go back to Hawaii without the superior officer’s orders then we would probably all end up in the brig.
Any corporation that is strongly adamant about having their employees conform to the organization’s “expectations and beliefs” is only trying to accomplish one thing. (pg. 188) There are two primary reasons why the military wants their members to conform to the organization.
The military faces many challenges every day. Amidst the obvious of protecting the country from outside, hindering sources there are other flaws that members face regularly. One such issue is an ethically driven problem revolving around sexual assault and misconduct. Over the last few years there have been many reports of sexual abuse starting in Lackland, Texas, at the training annex, and all the way to some of the highest ranking officials. In response to the uptick in these cases, the Air Force has pushed an awareness initiative.
Here at Product Manager Soldier Maneuver Sensors (SMS), we have a different type of organizational structure than the rest of the Army. My organization is heavily civilian based, but still maintain a military aspect as far as rule and regulations. The design or make up of my organization is a flat structure with small elements of departmentalization and decentralization. SMS’s flat structure is possible within the Army’s hierarchy structure because we have similar aspects of a small business. The chain of command is short with just one layer of management (Flat Organizational Structure, www.learnmanagement2.com). This allows the organizations leadership to practice more consultative management procedures (Nordmeyer, B., Characteristics of a
There are often parallels drawn between war and business because both are represented as ruthless zero-sum games. Understanding the intersection between these two settings is most important because there are immensely valuable business lessons that can be drawn from the battlefield. The following study is also important to members of the armed forces who aspire to enter the corporate world, informing them on the military knowledge they can apply. In both environments, it is indisputable that leadership and interactions within groups are crucial to success. Therefore, this paper specifically examines the similarities in leadership and group dynamics between the American corporate world and the US army.
There will always be issues in a person’s place of employment. Everyone would love to work in an environment where everyone got along, where everyone knew what his or her roles were and stayed in their lane. Most of all people enjoy working in an atmosphere where the managers provide a sense of pride and welcome to all employees. The attitude of the staff is usually a direct reflection of the person in charge. If the top person seems never to be happy or is a strict micromanager then the attitude of the work center is going to reflect negatively to this. If the manager is viewed as having a low work ethic or uncaring about the job, employees will soon develop that same low work ethic or begin to not care about the production of the work center, this is called the organizational culture of the work area. Nahavandi, Denhardt, & Denhardt, define organizational culture as “the set of values, norms, and beliefs shared by members of an organization” (2014, p. 39). Most people believe that those of us in the military do not face the same issues that our civilian counterparts encounter. Everyone knows that service members live by a creed of integrity and strive for excellence in all we set forth to do. However, just as one would find in the civilian sector the organizational culture in the military also has its time where managers or leaders do not present the best image for others to follow. The military has issues, with favoritism, racism, and sexism just as
It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services. The modern army has its roots in the Continental Army which was formed on 14 June 1775, [2] to meet the demands of the American Revolutionary War before the establishment of the United States. The Congress of the Confederation officially created the United States Army on 3 June 1784[3] [4] after the end of the Revolutionary War to replace the disbanded Continental Army. The army considers itself to be descended from the Continental Army and thus dates its inception from the origins of that force [2] (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).
members range from their 20's to their 40's. The Standard to Join the US. Army