Organizational Culture In The Military

Organizational culture is the values, traits and behaviors of how an employee or a group reacts to situations, influenced by the organization. In the military, an Infantryman and a Medic have two different cultures. Infantryman that is not in leadership positons are taught to obey orders, “don’t think just do.” It is not until they are a team leader or squad leader that they start making basic level decision, but these decisions never supersede their bosses decisions or commanders intent. If they cannot follow direction, this could result in accidents, injuries or even death. As a medic, from the beginning of our training, we were taught to assess a situation, make multiple courses of action in an instant and make quick decisions, especially in the

If we do not react, and make educated decisions Soldiers will die. The military created a culture of strong decision makers in medics and great doers in Infantryman. This does not mean that an Infantryman cannot lead, but their leadership skills based on their superior’s leadership style or leaders that they admired. Another example of Organizational culture is, the Army Values, which are loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage. The Army instills these values in every Soldier, which guide our behaviors, traits and factors of how we react to situations.

Shafritz discussed four types of cultural manifestations: “Culture forms; formal practices; informal practices; and content themes,” (Shafritz, Ott, & Jang, 2011, p. 368). Culture forms include the use of jargon, the types of architecture, dress code, and rituals in an organization. An example of how a dress code affects culture forms is how military members cut their hair. You can see a distinct difference in how a Marine cuts their hair verses, how an Army Soldier cuts their hair. In the Army, Army Regulation 670-1, Wear and Appearance of the Army Uniforms and Insignia guide our dress