Knowledge Management (KM) is taught at the Mission Command Center of Excellence (MC CoE) located at the back side of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Some will argue that KM is the mission command enabler and the bridge between mission command Warfighting Function (WfF) and the network (Kitchens, 2011). There are 12 principles to Army Knowledge Management Doctrine. A crucial piece of KM is leadership support and buy in. The four most relatable principles to me are: Principle 1, Train and educate KM leaders, managers, and champions; Principle 4, Use every interaction whether face-to-face or virtual as an opportunity to acquire and share knowledge; Principle 5, Preventing knowledge loss and finally, Principle 7, Embed knowledge assets in standard business processes and …show more content…
In simpler terms, make every event a sharing event. Each time staff sections or personnel within a unit interact, they are passing information back and forth. Some situations result in greater rewards than others. These are the events that must be capitalized. Through collaboration and discussion, knowledge sharing enables an understanding of the operational environment, problems to be solved, and approaches to solving them (FM 6-01.1). The operational environment dictates how the knowledge is shared.
In a field environment, face-to-face interaction is not always possible. This is why units must establish a standard way of sharing knowledge in any environment. Whether it is a Standard Operation Procedure (SOP), document libraries or even shared web based archives, files and reports. Information standardization is key to sharing knowledge. Standardization and collaboration between people, assist and support knowledge transfer (FM 6-01.1). Collaboration is a key competency of KM. Proper knowledge transfer prevents people from being left in the dark in a constantly changing atmosphere.
Principle
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.
The Army Human Resource System (AHRS) known as the Electronic Military Personnel Office or (eMILPO) is a web based multi-tiered application. It provides the Army Human Resource Community with a reliable mechanism for performing personnel actions and strength accountability. The System consolidates 43 Personnel Information Systems in one. This system provides visibility of the location, status, and skills of Soldiers in the United States Army. The primary users of this system are Human Resource Soldiers, Commanders, and First Sergeants. The primary features and functions of eMILPO include Personnel Services, Personnel Accounting, Reassignments, Promotions, Readiness, Workflows, System Services, PERSTEMPO, and DTAS.
...understand the benefits of working together toward a common goal, setting aside the traditional roles of manager and subordinate and hopefully opening up the workplace as a creative outlet for all who work there.
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.
Standardize procedures and project management. E.g. use the same language or coding and decoding of software.
Leaders must think to survive in every form of physical and mental conflict. Army leaders are responsible to solve problems, from “the mundane to the magnificent’ , with an expectation of complete success in determining the best possible decision to a given problem. Utilizing cognitive training tools to expand a stagnate mind (Drs. Paul and Elder’s Eight Elements of Thought) and following proven models of success (Army Problem Solving Process) facilitate a positive outcome for Army officers when they are making difficult decisions. Drs. Paul and Elder developed eight elements of thought that assist Army officers and provide additional definitions to the thought categories in the seven steps of the Army Problem Solving Process.
While Command Readiness programs are concerned with ensuring that there are enough Soldiers physically present and capable of mobilizing, my leadership philosophy is more concerned with ensuring that we have what it takes to get the job done, and to get it done as a functioning team. My leadership philosophy is built around the “Big Four” that I expect from all peers and subordinates, and what you can expect from me.
The most effective commanders through their leadership build cohesive teams. Mutual trust, shared understanding, and accepting prudent risk serve as just a few principles for mission command. Mutual trust is the foundation of any successful professional relationship that a commander shares with his staff and subordinates. The shared understanding of an operational environment functions, as the basis for the commander to effectively accomplish the mission. While my advice for the commander on what prudent risks to take may create more opportunities rather than accepting defeat. Incorporating the principles of mission command by building cohesive teams through mutual trust, fostering an environment of shared understanding, and accepting prudent risk will make me an effective adviser to the commander, aid the staff during the operations process, and provide an example for Soldiers to emulate.
However, I do not dismiss that actual knowledge management truly exists or is being utilized due to the differing understandings of the terminology. In fact, I have seen knowledge management at its best in a first-hand experience. My organization has a strict rule that certain positions must take a mandatory consecutive 5-days off of work each calendar year. While an employee is out of the office for 5 days, work must continue. Processes, procedures and training have been implemented to assist in passing on information relevant to taking over another position during this time. Cross-training helps in this endeavor, but actually performing the duties of another job for 5 days requires knowledge management implementation to achieve success. Due to this, the organization must “impart knowledge and skills that enable employees to be more effective in their positions” (Avtgis, Rancer, & Liberman, 2012, p.
Technology allows and provides the tools and framework to build and support knowledge management within a company. While cultural and organizational changes are vital to achieving knowledge system, a lack in ...
...bjectives and realize growth. Knowledge Management Knowledge management plays a key role in ensuring that the different functions and activities of a company are synchronized. In Google’s case, the purchase of Motorola (which has turned out not to have been the best business decision) probably could have been avoided if the knowledge within the company was managed and used better. Knowledge enables a company to create, recognize and distribute opportunities. When every employee of a company contributes his or her part of knowledge into the knowledge pool, it is very beneficial as it contributes to the overall success of the company. Proper application of the available knowledge in a company can offer several competitive benefits to both the company and the employees. Application of accurate knowledge at the correct situation helps a company to make good decisions.
A new vocation has developed within corporations that drastically impacts the way companies manage their information and internal knowledge. This position has many titles, but most commonly is referred to as the CKO, the chief knowledge officer. The responsibilities of this position primarily focus on managing unstructured information and internal knowledge. Xerox refers to this raw data as assets, or more formally, “intellectual capital,” “knowledge assets,” or “intangible assets.” Because knowledge management is considered a tactical occupation, Xerox considers the CKO a part of the upper management team. An effective CKO should be able to create an alignment with unambiguous knowledge and culture within a company (Leibowitz, 2002).
Hansen M., Nohria N., and Tierney T. (1999), “What’s your Strategy for Managing Knowledge?,” Harvard Business Review (March 1999), 106–16.
In general, knowledge management helps to manage the knowledge in a complex working environment, and then improve the performance finally. But knowledge management also will face some challenges in the period, the major problem should be people and culture issues. Sometimes, organizations usually ignore the people and culture issues, it may cause the knowledge management cannot reach a fantastic result. Not only that, conducting knowledge management in isolation from business goals, ignoring the dynamic aspects of content, and opting for quantity of content over quality (Dalkir, 2011), these challenges also bring some bad effects on knowledge management. In some organizations, there is one person in charge of managing knowledge- Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO). When knowledge management are applied to employees sharing knowledge, CKO and organizations should realize the threats of these challenges, only an effective knowledge management can helps employees to be focused on sharing knowledge and gain a competitive advantage for