Organization Application Paper #1 – Motivation When you think of the United States Army some of the first thoughts that come your mind may include courageous, disciplined, dedicated and selfless. One description that usually doesn’t come up is unmotivated or lack of motivation, most people believe the military is full of motivated Soldiers but that isn’t true. Throughout my 20-year military career, I have observed this as not being true. In this paper, I will describe a couple of situations where I believe motivation can be improved and provide recommendations for improvement within my organization. When describing the lack of motivation I am specifically speaking about fear of failure. The fear of failure is described as a subconscious belief that holds people back from healthy progress toward their hopes and dreams . The concern of failing is often debilitating, which can prevent us from pushing ourselves and our organization further than we have in the past. In allowing this fear of failure to consume us we may miss opportunities for us both professionally and personally in the future. If a Soldier fears failure, he/she …show more content…
Those that are always tasked with the projects are starting to get burned out and the creativity is also lacking. As you continue to do the same projects over and over you find yourself taking the easy way out and just doing what you did last time instead of looking at the complex problem through a new lens and generating new ideas. As these are the elite thinkers in the organization the lack of motivation causes a plateau of new ideas which in turns doesn’t move the organization further we become stagnate. Another thing this causes it that all of the knowledge gained in the planning process is now only learned by those one or two individuals, which is fine for them but we are missing the opportunity for others to learn and
This paper will not bore with the definition of a profession. The United States Army is about more than words, it is about action. The action of over 238 years of tradition and service. The Army is a profession. A profession requires its members to adhere to prolonged training and learn specialized skills. A member of a profession must wholly commit himself and his skills to a calling which is entrusted by the public. A profession provides its members with intrinsic value which motivates beyond financial gain. The Army is a higher calling which demands all of these qualities and more.
Soldiers fight in the battle field not always because of their will but because of their duty. The soldier's duty to their nation can at times feel similar to being dragged to a battlefield. Many soldiers felt as if they didn’t have a choice in what they were fighting for especially if they were drafted. As a result some of them resented their fighting cause. Bitter feelings such as “We ground our bitter bones for your bread”(Hays p.2) were not uncommon among soldiers. These negative emotions towards their fighting cause make sense especially during World War II when they weren't fighting for their own rights. Because war is dangerous a soldier will feel feelings of dread and hatred towards their cause and therefore possibly hate their duty. Although this is true there is also a positive side, being a part of any branch of the military means you have a certain set of duties you have to fulfil during times of war this can be a bonding responsibility between soldiers. For example, “But Ralph’s chest just swelled with pride as he replied, ‘That's how we Marines do it’”(Bradley p.110). Being a Marine is being a part of a whole system of people who share the same duties. This unity and brotherhood of duty is what makes the armed forces an effective collective unit and even a support system for the soldiers themselves. There are both positive and negative emotions towards duty and depending on hero’s emotions it could impact their
The primary challenge for leaders in the Army is taking a group of individuals and molding them into a team. The framework that is employed to the greatest effect uses task-oriented instruction and is called battle focus training. After major objectives are defined, they are broken down into smaller sets. These smaller sets are known as collective tasks and are designed to be accomplished by small teams of soldiers. Each soldier is assigned one or more individual tasks that work together to accomplish the collective task. Training begins by teaching soldiers how to accomplish each of the individual tasks. At this point, emphasis is placed on the soldier as an individual. Although training is conducted in small groups, soldiers are evaluated independently of their peers. Once individual task mastery is achieved, leaders have soldiers begin to work together to accomplish collective tasks. This method of battle focus training incorporates aspects of both individualism and collectivism to accomplish the ultimate goal.
USAA defines itself by its dedication to help manage military members’ finances throughout their military career and beyond. (usaa). USAA and its employees are simply already motivated by serving the military community because those in the military have sacrificed so much to serve their country. Serving those in the military gives employees a sense of purpose and doing meaningful work. Motivating employees isn’t that simple though, therefore USAA’s motivational techniques have been analyzed in order to determine what areas the company is succeeding in and what areas need improvement.
As our forefathers before us stated, ‘‘No one is more professional than I. I am a Noncommissioned Officer, a leader of soldiers. As a Noncommissioned Officer, I realize that I am a member of a time honored corps, which is known as “The Backbone of the Army (“The NCO Creed writing by SFC Earle Brigham and Jimmie Jakes Sr”). These words to Noncommissioned Officer should inspire us to the fullest with pride, honor, and integrity. The NCO creed should mean much more than just words whenever we attend a NCO’s school. For most of us this is what our creed has become because we learn to narrate or recite. The military from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard has an overabundance of NCOs who fall under their pay grade of E-5, E-6 and etc. Yet somehow there still not enough leaders. I believe that the largest problem afflicting the military today is our lack of competent leaders, ineffective leader development, and how we influence our subordinates under us who are becoming leaders.
...been trained to treat soldiers equally and promote discipline through enforcing orders. Insubordination is not tolerated as it can affect a military unit and destroy all existing discipline. Hence, the restrictions that apply to the permission of disobedience are extremely narrow in the military. Commanders are aware that the sanctioning of a soldier's laziness one day, and the permission of sloppy work habits on another, distorts the uniformity of the military unit specifically and the military in general. The quality of leadership and followership declines and affects the overall standard of the military as a result. It is therefore of crucial importance to maintain the standards set by the military with regard to following orders and showing one's respect, trustworthiness, honesty and commitment to the work. This is simply not a negotiable aspect of military life.
This type of dysfunctional operation of an organization has many ways and opportunities for failure. The basic fundamentals of this process are the beginnings of failure as groups seek conformity and unity they sacrifice everything in order to maintain peace within the group. Many times this will take the individuals creative thoughts and ability to voice the creative edge thinking away. In many organizations this is a process that is continually used. It is perceived that management wants the organizations operation or process to run without any type of question or waves. Below are listed eight of the main symptoms of group think as detailed by Janis, I. L & Manns book “Decision making”
Abstract The purpose of this paper is to define and identify what an Army Legacy Leader means to me. A type of legacy a Military professional would like to leave behind and continue to inspire one’s life. As well as, the kind of legacy, I would like to leave behind. What makes a Military professional in the United States (US) Army a legacy leader? A Legacy Leader in the US Army can be anyone that achieves extraordinary awards such as receiving a Medal of Honor. A Legacy Leader can, also, be anyone who has the ability to endure exceptional pain to accomplish the mission. In my opinion, a Legacy Leader is a Military professional that can mentor, lead, motivate, train and provide a sense of wellbeing to their subordinates. As well as, encourage
The Army demands a high degree of professionalism, dedication, and resilience from its personnel. Soldiers are entrusted with safeguarding national security and stability,
However in the current state, this is hard to do, because many of the Sergeants and Team Leaders have little motivation to even try waking their squads up let alone taking the time to note the specific problems they face in doing so. To solve this it is important to select cadets based partly on their experience at the school, but also largely based on their commitment as well. In the past experience has played a greater role than actual motivation which has led to ineffective cadre. Many of the New Boys enter the school motivated, but see a lot of time pass before they are considered for rank. During this time, which can be as long
Often, the goals and visions of the projects are not clearly discussed. The project management team doesn’t understand the needs of the organization.
"The core of a soldier is moral discipline. It is intertwined with the discipline of physical and mental achievement. Total discipline overcomes adversity, and physical stamina draws on an inner strength that says drive on." - Former Sergeant Major of the Army William G. Bainbridge
Motivation is the process of getting someone to act on a particular situation. According to (Adelhardt, S, K. 2015, December 2) lack of motivation in the workplace is the most problematic subject for all managers, because it leads to decreasing productivity, performance and yet it increases the chances of employee resignation. Many employers suppose that managers these days are struggling to motivate their employees due to lack of significantly vital experience as well as knowledge in the employee engagement developing process. One of the successful strategies that managers can use to increase employee inspiration is by offering an attractive remuneration and benefits to their employees. Remuneration and benefits such as an extrinsic bonus
According to Greenberg (1999), motivation is defined “as a process of arousing, directing and maintaining behavior towards a goal.” Where “directing” refers to the selection of a particular behavior; and ‘maintenance” refers to the inclination to behave with consistency in that manner until the desired outcome is met.
“A vision without action is merely a dream.” (Kevin Gates) The Army Profession Model is a great vision but if we do not fixed the basics in our upbringing of Soldiers then it will only be a dream. Imagine a panoramic view of an early morning sunrise over a military base. The sun is starting to burn off the morning dew. Formations of soldiers are starting to pop into the picture. Each soldier is in uniform dress sharp and moving as a single unit. Some formations are double timing moving out. Everyone has a purpose and stepping off to get to his or her next obstacle of the day. All Non-commissioned officers are enforcing nothing less than exceeded standards. Soldiers are toe to line in formations for inspection. Senior Non-commissioned