Cody Carroll- MGMT 535 Blog

      Innovation and creativity in the Army is an everyday occurrence. On the enlisted side of the Army, we always joke about it because the innovation and creativity usually comes from the officers. We call them "good idea fairies" because that's all most of them do. While the enlisted Soldiers are working hard to earn their paycheck, some officers don't have much to do besides side there and figure out ways to re-invent the wheel.       With that being said, the Army has been around for a very long time and the majority of our field training/practices have been the same. We keep them the same because they are effective and work. Most of the time, the new innovation and creativity ideas come along because people need something to claim for their yearly evaluation. In one of my last blogs, I spoke about how Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) get a yearly evaluation report card. Well, officers get them same thing. So, when they have not done anything all ...

 "Teamwork across organizational boundaries is unnatural"      The statement above, in my opinion, is only partially correct. I think, depending on the type of organization you are in, will determine if the across boundary teamwork is unnatural or not. In my current organization, the Army, it is very natural to have teamwork across boundaries. In the aviation field, us electricians have to work with mechanics in order to keep our aircraft flying. All of us mechanics have to work with the fuelers in order to fly. The aircraft have to communicate with the ground forces to seek out the enemy. This is a huge revolving teamwork ability for multiple jobs within the same organization.      On the other hand, you may have a more relaxed organization such as McDonalds, for example. At McDonalds, the employees don't work with anyone else outside of that location for most of the time. You may have to work as a team when more food is delivered on a truck to unload...

      In every organization, there are different levels of leadership. These levels of leadership all have their own tasks to accomplish that all tie into the same overall mission. In my organization, we have Company Commanders, Battalion Commanders, Brigade Commanders, Division Commanders, etc. These are different echelons with the same end goal. Within my organization, there are many achievements and many downfalls. Whenever downfalls occur, Commanders at the lowest echelon try to resolve the issue before it has to go to a higher level of leadership to resolve.     In situations that occur, leaders within my organization utilize the DIKA model without even knowing it is an actual Model to follow. In the Army, as unfortunate as it is, we have Soldiers that get DUIs more frequently than it should. When a situation like this occurs, that Soldier's Squad Leader, Section Sergeant, Platoon Sergeant, company First Sergeant, and Commander all hear about it first, from...

       Online presence in todays society is a must when it comes to career placement. In my organization, we have yearly evaluations called Non-Commissioned Officer Evaluation Reports (NCOERs). As leaders, we get evaluated quarterly and yearly. The quarterly counseling statements are made to let us know about our current performance and areas we need to improve. At the end of each rating year, we get evaluated between all of our peers and rated numerically from best NCO to worst, in easiest terms. Our yearly NCOERs are used every year to get promoted and to even get selected for specific positions of progression. The sections we are rated on are: Leads, Develops, Achieves, Character, Presence, and Intellect.     All military profiles/NCOERs are very different. Some people earn every achievement that is annotated on the evaluation, whereas, some have not done much work so there is a lot of "fluff". Fluff is when generic comments are inputted to take up the m...

       In the Army, there are many values and rituals that my organization does to build bonds between superiors and subordinates and esprit de corps. A ritual that takes place every year in every different unit, is a military ball. That is an event where every Soldier will get dressed up in their military dress uniform and bring a date to an event. At these events, there may be dancing, dinner, drinks, bonding, and competition between different units.     Pre Covid-19, my organization had a military ball in the local city. We all stayed in the hotel and brought our spouses/dates and our families. It started by having a formal presentation by our unit's commander, which led to an award ceremony and a dinner. After the dinner, all the sub units or companies competed in specific sporting events. After all the food and games, everyone was able to change into comfortable civilian attire and indulge in adult drinks, games, music, and conversation.     ...

      After watching the Ted Talk with Elizabeth Lesser, it brings a perfect scenario to my mind. In my current career field, Army Recruiter, the workplace is a very close community. In order to be successful, you need to work close and have great connections with many people around you. The problem we currently face is that, not all of our locations are producing like we are suppose to. With me being our top recruiter at the moment, my Company Commander continuously asks me for my opinion and tricks to help everyone else succeed.      I use those opportunities to speak with my Commander as openly as I can. Last week we actually went to lunch to discuss a lot of different topics regarding the mission and ways to fix the current issues. I enjoy having those opportunities to get to know my commander more because it builds trust in our working relationship, that way he knows he could rely on me more for other tasks.     My commander knows I am a very...