Technology is constantly changing and as Army leaders, we should embrace the changes in technology to be efficient and affect effectiveness in our organizations. We must address the change in Army culture with respect to changes in technology using internal and external military communication platforms to share resources and work in partnership. Internal and external platforms are used to push information, pull information, and collaborate with other professionals. Both internal and external platforms facilitate the sharing of information but at a different scope. The internal platform is determined to reach each person within the organization, whereas external platforms reach each person outside of the organization. Example of internal platforms …show more content…
As I work at the division level, I use email to push and pull information to the subordinate brigades including the processing of awards and personnel actions. Similarly, as required I push personnel information to FORSCOM and III Corps. Another platform that I use is the SharePoint to share and gather information such as the posting of the by-name of upcoming personnel gains to the division. Embedded in the share point are explicit knowledge assets such as division briefing slides for the weekly Battle Update brief (BUB), monthly Division Readiness Review (DRR) and monthly III Corps Personnel Readiness Review (PRR) for brigades and units representatives to review before the actual briefings. Brigades respond posting questions or concerns. In addition, the SharePoint establishes a collaboration between commands despite the geographic location of the brigade, for example, division is able to reach the fourth Maneuver Enhancement Brigade located at Fort Leonard Wood using the SharePoint. Additional internal platform that I use is the milSuite, S1Net community, within this platform Soldiers and civilians pull, push and collaborate human resources information with other professionals, not only with human resources professionals. I mainly use milSuite to pull promotion MILPER messages, latest ALARACTs and new human resources (HR) initiatives to stay abreast of …show more content…
The external communication platforms that I use the best is Facebook. In Facebook, I share the Division G1 best practices in collaboration with seven other division human resource warrant officers. The other external platform I use is the Youtube to find other professionals’ contributions to the human resources field. For example, I frequently search for the Student Support Institute (SSI) at Fort Jackson Youtube videos related to HR systems, which I pull and share with my Soldiers during training. In addition, I blog at all times. How I use blogs? When one blogs, one shares trends which can become of situational awareness to others. For example, in 2012 in the Army Live blog, Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell, then Commander of United States Army North - Fifth Army posted his thought about the inevitable change of the Army organizational culture, “there’s a powerful new technology to help us tell our Army story: social media.”1 He mentioned Facebook, Twitter and Youtube as tools to tell the world the Army story. In other words, we cannot avoid the change to our Army culture due to the changes in technology, so we should encourage our Soldiers to use the social media to share our Army story for each person to know what our Army
The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief analysis of the United States Army’s organizational structure and its culture and how these two elements impact its workers, associates and affiliates. This paper will first examine the Army’s history, development and structure to highlight the origins of the Army’s culture. Secondly, a brief history of the Army’s organizational development will be followed by a close examination of its philosophy and supporting beliefs. Lastly, this paper will discuss the role of the Army’s leadership, their response to critical issues and the organizational structure of the Army. An analysis of the army’s top leaders will help the reader to understand the Army culture more thoroughly in the context of the Army’s organizational structure. More specifically this section of the paper will examine the Army leadership’s response to the current geo-political environment and other related issues. In conclusion, this paper hopes to highlight the Army’s overall functioning from an organizational standpoint and emphasize that idea that the Army is like a functional corporation. This will be accomplished by addressing various key questions throughout this text.
A military officer must manage pieces of one of the largest organizations in the United States government - an organization that accounts for the third largest piece of the American budget and is comprised of 1.3 million active sailors, soldiers, airmen, and marines, many of whom are tasked with being deployable to any location within 48 hours. This is only possible through concise, professional communication on the part of every service member, especially
Evolving communications technology has changed the way business personnel communicate within an organization. The use of technology allows companies to be more dynamic and adaptive to changes by allowing instantaneous communications via interconnected computer networks. This dependency on information and communications technology has evolved these emerging technologies as crucial tools for providing operational support to business communications tasks (Wilkinson, 2006). Remaining competitive is a primary goal of organizations and effective communications help companies achieve this goal. Competency in communications is considered the root of success for many activities including planning, organizing, team work, and leadership (Waldeck, Durante, Helmuth, & Marcia, 2012).
Background: In 2003, the Army published its guidance on the implementation of the principles of Mission Command (MC); the leadership philosophy adopted by the Army. The ideals and principles were discussed and implemented throughout the Army over the course of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom and are still being implemented in Operation Inherent Resolve. In 2012, the Army published updated doctrine to further explain and codify the principles of MC in ADP 6-0. The Army War College developed the Key Strategic Issues List for 2015-1016 and asked students in the FA49 ORSA Q-Course to identify one key strategic initiative and draft a white paper to discuss it. This white paper will discuss issue #7: "What cultural changes are needed in the Army for it to meet future challenges while embracing" MC? In this white paper, I will discuss what embedding and reinforcing mechanisms the Army senior leaders need to put into place to change the culture.
Technology’s direct effects on organizational structure have been readily visible over the past twenty years. The ascendancy of personal computer networks over mainframes has accelerated the shift away from ponderous bureaucracies toward nimble networks. In other words, technology moves decision making closer to the immediate situation. The Wall Street Journal article about Captain Ayers demonstrated how even such traditionally rigid hierarchies as the U.S. military now see the value of empowering lower level decision makers and encouraging shared experiences throughout the organization. Because of this, technology has been one of the key enablers for eliminating layers of management and encouraging the use of self-organized teams and networks of individuals, moving toward Miles and Snow’s projected cellular form of the future. They discuss how each cell can continually reorganize and use technical, collaborative, and governance skills to customize and improve its output. These teams can even assemble over long distances to share expertise, which enhances productivity, as Margaret Wheatley notes, “…self-managed teams are far more productive than any other form of organizing.”
We can identify three major cultural dimensions that help us to understand what leaders must focus on as they guide the transition of the Army. First, professional Identity, which is guided by Soldiers at all levels who are striving for excellence in their functional specialty, i.e., HR Sergeants. Soldiers who have goals and ideals of the Army to ethically put service and duty first. HR Sergeants are trained and well educated in their field. They are taught to put Soldiers first and have great customer support skills. Second, community, the sense in which Soldiers stop thinking about “I” and start thinking “we”. The bond among units who not only believe in cohesion with Soldiers, but their families too. The HR Sergeants are there to take care of Soldiers when financial issues arise with them or their families and don’t back down until the situation is solved. Last, hierarchy, which leads to order and control and provides Soldiers with moral reference and a sense of direction. The HR Sergeant has the mentality of mission first, knowing who to contact at the next level for assistance helps get the mission
We can take pictures with different groups at different events. We can use these pictures to post on places like the department face-book page. I will also work with my chief, the PIO, and my shift commander on developing an Instagram account for our battalion. I will coordinate with the rest of the companies in the battalion and create a place which we all can send pictures to be posted on our battalion Instagram account. Social media is the best way to reach thousands of people. Another benefit of social media is that it is free. Utilizing this media outlet will allow us to connect with people of all backgrounds and all age groups.
The United States Army has an effective way of delegating work and organizing the chain of command; they do this by categorizing the levels of leadership in to three main groups: Direct, Organizational, and Strategic. All three levels are extremely important, one level cannot stand without the other. While Direct level leaders tend to deal with people on a more personal level, the Organizational and Strategic level leaders need to be able to organize entire organizations indirectly and delegate the work load to the appropriate personal and do so
Blogging can be defined as the process of creating, maintaining, and updating a web journal (web log) and the consequences of the process. It involves reading, writing, more reading, commenting, and other technical aspects of maintaining a blog. Individuals blog for several reasons. One of the most popular reasons is to easily publish and get readers for the his/her writings. There is no pestering editor, and there is no screening process. Anything (s)he needs to convey can be published into the blogosphere with the click of a button, and could reach out to millions of readers. A few other people say that they blog because they "just love to blog/write".
Teamwork harnesses individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives and is the key to spreading my 4th ABCT vision. Leaders and Soldiers alike, create synergy and a positive organizational environment by sharing in each other’s accomplishments and foster a culture of interest, instead of indifference. My intent is for 4th ABCT to develop an understanding of this team mentality, realizing how as individuals we are limited to the sum of our efforts and achievements, while as a team our efforts and achievements are multiplied. Pride, performance, and camaraderie in our organization will increase motivation because each individual achievement is shared by all. I will look to CSM Ivor, my brigade staff, and “battalion command teams” (Battalion Commanders and CSMs) to share and embody my vision of teamwork and foster the same within their commands. They will be my guiding coalition and lead agents for change, and I expect them to build our team through coaching, teaching, and mentoring their subordinates. This exemplifies engaged leadership and shares my vision because leaders are investing time in training and counseling our soldiers, and empowers our subordinates to execute it. I think that once we start acting like a team again pride in the unit will surge as leaders demonstrate engaged leadership with increased counseling and active mentorship programs. Members of the unit will spend more time together, strengthening professional and personal bonds and incorporating families at after hour unit evens. Our success will ultimately be realized when I MAJ Cobb more at church on Sundays than on my appointment
Upon graduation, each of us will face the challenge of building a cohesive team through mutual trust. Trust is the groundwork for any successful team. Just as the commander will learn to trust me, I in return will have to trust my commander. As a Command Sergeant Major (CSM) or Staff Sergeant Major (SGM), I realize that my Soldiers will not trust me right away, and I must gain their mutual trust through my daily interactions. By setting an example and living the Army Values, I will gain their mutual trust. My commander and I will plan team-building events often to maximize the opportunities to build the mutual trust within our organization with the staff and Soldiers. Understanding that team building requires an effort on everyone’s part but the chance to bridge any gaps tha...
Communication is critical to any organization and is necessary in every aspect especially in a military. Communication plays a role in Soldier development, peer to peer relations, Chain of command management, and virtually every aspect of a military operations. Commanders require it the most so that they can execute large scale operations without flaw and that alone requires ceaseless effective communication. If soldiers are informed and engaged, communications with other units are likely to be robust as well.
On the more positive side, wireless networking allows leaders to share resources with their team operating by means of wireless media, such as microwaves, cellular technology, and radio frequencies. Wireless networking is paving the way for technology integration around the world. The use of collaboration tools allows ongoing conversations among leaders, their subordinates, board members, and community members. Professional development is one area where collaboration can have an enormous impact on management leadership. When leaders can casually share new approaches and practices with each other through a technology connection to their workplace, both leaders and their team will benefit. One way of doing this is to create an Internet mailing list where they can share questions, problems, solutions, successful techniques, and less successful techniques. The Internet is enabling digital video to achieve professional-quality and two-way interaction. This will be one of the rare cases where management leadership will be leading a technological shift in society as a whole. Hand-held devices are high-tech gadgets, now more powerful than early Windows or Macintosh machines. Handheld devices offer more versatility than full-size computers and are much more portable than the alternative personal device, the ...
Blogs are a form of new media. The ability for bloggers to post any sort of text photos or even videos to other internet users that could interact have become popular.
There are so many things one could do with the relatively new medium of blogs. They can be almost anything a person wants: a journal, a compilement of links, a scrapbook of information, or even a discussion board. The only definition I've seen that can encompass it is that they are postings in reverse chronological order. Blogs are the newest Internet craze, but do they serve a purpose? Early on, experienced web users, who knew web-programming language, kept blogs to keep track of their mind’s wanderings. They were like a "Captains log on the quest of discovery" (Brown). For the average Internet surfer, they weeded out sites worth viewing from the rest.