Military Corporate Culture - Essay Example

Military Corporate Culture Motivational Factors The aspect of motivating an individual to accomplish an assigned task successfully is usually significant when focusing on soldiers due to the nature of their work. The ability to get soldiers to move into a battle zone, attack an enemy while under fire and eventually succeed to neutralize the enemy requires effort. However, the impact bestowed on motivated soldiers cannot be underestimated. The respective unit leaders must successfully quell any emerging fears prior to battle and instead, instill in them a winning mentality. Motivating any army unit is considered as important for success. There are several ways through which soldiers can be motivated. They include: Acknowledging and satisfying the needs of the soldiers, rewards and sanctions, encouraging formation of cohesive teams and the leadership adherence to ethical provisions. A leader is a custodian of ethical requirement of the soldiers. Adhering to the stipulated ethical standards would provide an avenue for junior soldiers to emulate positive behaviors. These soldiers would look unto you to provide the moral standpoint. The junior soldiers also expect their leader to perform his or her duties diligently and ethically. Under such a leader, the soldiers would be compelled to perform their duties as required. The process eventually leads to the development self-discipline, a vital component for soldiers while performing their designated duties. It is a human nature to possess a number of needs. Apart from the basic needs, there are other needs such as the need to feel accepted and belong to a place or group. In addition, one needs to feel he is capable to make a difference, need to feel secure and the feeling of being important among others. With needs, if they are not met, a feeling of emptiness, internal wanting and destabilizes ones’ equilibrium. The process will act as a demotivating factor to the soldiers. Failure to acquire these needs will result to one regressing to a lower level. Therefore, conducting a research on identifying thesoldiers’ needs and formulating ways unto which these discovered needs are addressed is critical when ensuring the soldiers are motivated to carry out their mandate. Groups play a significant role in a soldier motivational aspect. In these groups, the members will attempt to invent ways that will ensure the success of the group. For instance, it is necessary to invent new strategies that are capable of ensuring victory. These groups act as family to the soldier and will instigate corrective measures whenever necessary. These bonds created in the groups are sufficient to motivate the group. As a leader, it is vital to encourage the creation of these groups and join them. As evidenced before, most acts of heroism done by soldiers are attributed to the functioning and cohesion of these groups. In a group, one is confident that colleagues watch over you while you do the same to them. Rewarding individuals after successive completion of an assigned duty is considered as a motivating factor in encouraging continuous undertaking of assignments. Rewards have been continuously been utilized to continuously encourage positive behavior and mentality. There are several ways that can be used to reward successful soldiers. Certification, bonuses, rank promotions and awards are useful. However, punishment for unwarranted behavior should never be ignored. Punishment is an effective tool used to deter the occurrence of undesired behavior and failure. Just like a reward regime, an appropriate punishment regime should also be put in place. Military Ethics Military code of ethics guides the behavior and conduct of the military. These code of ethics are specifically spelled out in the Department of Defense Regulations 5500,7-R. Chapter 2 of these regulations specifically dwells on the standards of ethical conducts and is directed at all the security departments and personnel. These ethics are considered an integral part in the life of any soldier. However, these ethics revolve around the aspects of confidentiality, love, trust and integrity. These are the basic principles that guide the way live of any military personnel. Role Models and Mentors Just like any other profession, the aspect of mentors and mentoring is active in the military. Mentoring stipulates that a more experienced military personnel assumes the role of a tutor and a guide to his less experienced counterpart. Through the wisdom accorded to the mentor by his experience, the junior soldier will learn how to act and behave in different occasions. The mentor actively takes part in the career development of the junior staff. For instance, he will challenge, counsel and support the junior staff. Mentorship is known to enhance productivity, acquisition of the necessary skills, enhance job satisfaction and foster career success. Such is the profound importance accorded to mentorship that a former Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Vernon Clark, requested that each service member on duty should be assigned a mentor. Most mentoring initiatives in the military are attributed to the informal interactions between junior and experienced soldiers. Closely related to mentorship is the aspect of role models. Everyone has that one individual whose success one wants to emulate. The military is no different. Junior soldiers look upon the achievement of the senior or veteran soldiers and have their success be the benchmark of the success they ought to achieve. Through this, they are able to channel all their efforts to ensure the achievement of their objective. Most of the accomplished soldiers at one time had a role model whom they wanted to emulate. Organizational Policies Military organization refers to the structuring of the armed forces according to a ranking system. It involves an efficient chain of command in the military. It aids in the executive control, administration and management of the military departments. Through these policies, military is able to identify and neutralize both internal and external threats. The policies are used to set the goals and objectives of the military. For instance, military readiness, organization and their roles. An example of such a policy is the Army Command Policy. It stipulates an array of policies that include: Army Ready and Resilient Campaign Plan, military discipline and conduct, equal opportunity and the Army Sexual Harassment/ Assault Response and Prevention Program. Organization Incentives Organization incentives are known to enhance performance in the military. They induce personnel to embrace the desired behavior and mentality to achieve the intended goal. Through incentives, service men are more than willing to take up additional risks. Incentives is the most vital component in the military that has ensured that they attract and retain most of the service men. There are several incentives that are being utilized by the military. Rank promotion is the consistent form of incentive in the military. Rank upgrade is usually accorded to a soldier that was involved in an exceptional performance. Military rank determines their basic pay, bonuses and allowances among others. The other incentives schemes include deferred retirement compensation, student loan repayment programs, GI Bills,army college funds, partnership for youth success and better remuneration packages among others. Informal Communication and Spoken Rules Due to the nature of work the military undertakes, there has been an enhanced campaign to discourage informal communication and spoken rules. There is the need to seek approval from senior command before engaging in any undertaking. However, there are exceptions depending on the nature of circumstances facing the military. For instance, it is well known that there are certain dialects that are used by military personnel in stressful situations to disclose the gravity of their stress in order to seek immediate help. Some of these dialects are usually in a coded language and only the military can decode. There is also the increasing use of non-verbal symbols to communicate in the military. Informal communication also usually occurs when communication between the junior officers and their command breaks down. Read More