Ethics of Us Army

ETHICAL CULTURE AUDIT of the United States regular army By Andrew Driscoll March 16, 2013 Each pass in the United States legions, or whatsoever multitude service, allow for perplex real unalike experiences with the good finish of their unit. Is this experience due to the schemeal culture or how its leading operate within that culture that creates such an unique experience for e really croak(predicate)(prenominal) soldier? The point is that if you ask 10 soldiers to conduct an respectable culture audit of the soldiers, I conceive you testament get 10 different answers that fall on all points on the continuum.Responses that the troops is highly honest would come from soldiers who shit internalized cultural expectations (p. 152). Since the Army has such a immobile culture, ethical or non, at that place be al authoritys going to be individuals who fight that culture and resist the internalization of some or all the values. Typically these soldiers separate fro m the phalanx during their initial reproduction or when their low term commitment is up, usually 2-3 long time. From my experience the United States Army has a highly ethical culture.One could sight any of several dozen s burndals or investigations from Abu Grhaib prison abuse to the 101st Airborne soldiers raping and killing a family of vanadium in Iraq to counter my assessment. But, I argue that these incidents occurred in spite of the punishing culture, where a combination of individual character traits (p. 198) and/or trauma suffered in combat operations caused unethical behavior contrary to the ethical development they received. To back up prevent such incidents and alike study behavior the US Army has developed the Center for the Army Profession and Ethic.Since 2008 the Army has corporate the research from this shaping and trained its mid-level leaders to implement its findings at the unit level. To remove a highly ethical organization, you need leadership that is affiliated to continuous improvement and not complacent with the current culture. In an organization with over 500,000 active soldiers the encephalon has to be, there is always room for improvement. This mentality of continuous improvement must also come from the leadership of the army to be effective and implemented.Similar to Kellehers philosophy of serving the needs of employees (p. 156), the Army has a strong tradition of taking cargon of soldiers and their families so they burn down let in cargon of the country. The leadership of the Army has set up and participates in numerous programs to assist soldiers with any issue from financial to marital problems. I completed my undergraduate education in Finance and then joined the military. I had no idea how to do my taxes and the Army taught me, not a $100,000 plus education. Once I knew how to do my taxes, as a minor(postnominal) leader I was required to assist my soldiers.Formal leadership in the military is prominent, from the understanding the Uniform Code of military Justice, to daily corrective actions for very minor offenses that in other organizations would probably go un nibd. This relationship tends to be very formal as all rules and regulations argon pen crop up and trained during your initial 12 weeks of raw material training. The leader is also trusty for continuous training to include a weekly briefing on good purpose making when off duty. The lax aspect is very unique for each leader, it typically comes from written policies that the leader permits his soldiers to dis-obey.Whether it is early acquittance on Friday, or a motto against regulations, it builds a trust a with soldiers that their leader is on their side as well. Except in ut around(prenominal) cases such as the Abu Grhaib prison unit, I have found that the informal systems atomic number 18 in alignment with the formal ones and where they differentiate are so minor that it does not cause issues. The trump way to sum marize ethical leadership is to know that soldiers react to your actions more(prenominal) than they do your words. A vernacular Army Office motto is Lead by Example. This motto best prevents hypocritical leadership (p. 162). To get the right hand type of leadership in the Army, recruiters look at every(prenominal)(prenominal) candidate with the SAL method, Student, Athlete, Leader. Candidates are given a score based on GPA, sports, clubs and leadership rolls held. The Army has historically not allowed individuals with a history of crime, drug abuse or drifting in, exactly due to recruitment issues they have started to antecede some requirements to meet goals. This replacement has been criticized and said to have diminished the quality of the US soldier.It was interesting to prove making goals or the number this as the of import reason to waive values in Aarons speech this week. It appears no organization is submit of the pressure to perform on a quantitative measure di sregardless of the effect to values. Selection for promotion in the Army is also very rigorous and has a set of standards that are very consistent. This prevents fraud and any possible quid pro quo from occurring. For General officers their appointments have to be confirm by Congress and top secret security clearance requires a polygraph test.This ensures that the nations military decision makers and individuals with information can be trusted and have been vetted. The US Armys values, mission statement and policies are naive exactly have withstood the test of time. The mission of winning the nations wars has remained constant, further Congress has added sub-statements to ensure responsibility and protection of the American people. In history winning at all cost was commonplace for the military especially in WWII. Since then collateral damage and fratricide are no longer acceptable consequences to accomplish the mission.The values of the military (leadership, duty, respect, uns elfish service, honor, integrity, and personal courage) are instilled from day one, and put on your chest right next to your dog tags for every day there after. It is these values that help leaders and soldiers accomplish the mission with the best course of action, rather than the quick or most definitive. As for policies, the military has a policy for how to do just about everything. The UCMJ is just the tip of policies in the US Army. any branch, every machine, every unit has a manual to dictate policy.Very rarely does a situation occur in peacetime in the military that there is not a written policy to follow. Ethics training starts sooner day one in the military. Before you report to initial training you take an oath of office or enlistment that defines your roll in the military and commitment to uphold the constitution. Everyday of 12 weeks in basic training you recite the values and Ethos of the Army. In the past there had been issues that units did not operate according t o individual training, so over the last ten dollar bill all training programs have been updated to ensure the best possible reproductive memory of how the real Army is.Companies seek soldiers after their service for one main reason, they have had the best training in their field possible, and I believe this is holds true for values as well. Performance management in the military is very structured. in that respect is a system in place and the exclusively thing preventing a soldier from getting a fair and utter(a) evaluation is their own failure to self evaluate. Each unit has very different performance tasks to evaluate, but all soldiers are evaluated on the heptad values of the Army at least twice a year. in that respect is also reverse evaluations where soldiers have the opportunity to critique their leaders. Lastly after every mission the Army conducts and after action review where everyone can go forth input. There is always a mandatory three positive comments peak and t hree improves to ensure continuous improvement while remaining positive. For most situations the military has set up a structure where it is impossible to cheat on evaluations. Whether the tasks are team or individualized, the test results are gravely to accomplish without actually doing the work.The key to performance management in the military is that the soldier knows what is expected of him or her and the consequences of not meeting those expectations, similar to how Joe Paterno toughened his organization. The Armys Organization structure is outlined by the compass of command. When to go above or around the chain of command is clearly defined in UCMJ as well as when you are current to dis-obey an order from that chain of command. While it is easy to say it is all written down, application in combat is the real test. The leadership in the organization will determine whether it works in the field or not.Soldiers can not be fearful of reporting wrong doing or proscribe result s, and that comes down to their leaders to ensure what is written is implemented. The Militarys decision making process (MDMP) is a 300 plus page manual of which I took a one month long course on learning the process. This process rivals six-sigma for in depth analyzing a problem and how to take the best course of action. The best example I can generate is that MDMP alone and how it relates to ethical culture in the military could be a five-page introduction.The Informal cultural system of the Army is the one that is most visualized in the movies and stories, from Code Reds in A Few Good Men, to the heroics of the circuit of Brothers in WWII these are the moments that soldiers live for. We spoke of the formal evaluation system, but the informal bond between leaders and soldiers is what really makes a soldier perform his duties to the best of his ability. Heroes are both formally and informally recognized. For every Medal of Honor winner there are 100 soldiers that have done impre ssive tasks that civilians could only imagine accomplishing.Norms, if they are positive are usually translated into doctrine over time, so most Norms only last a few years until they are wholly accepted. Rituals however are very unit focused and are usually never written down. They are passed from leader to leader as a ritual itself during the win over of command. Even today, 5 years removed from the military, the stories we tell amongst military friends are what motivate my actions to do the right thing. When we tell stories, you will immediately notice that we are speaking a language or code that is only understood by a few.Many of our values are questioned from the outside, by the way we speak in jargon or our fondness of tobacco and alcohol, but simply look at the actions of a military person and you will see his own language of values is thru deeds not words, my unit motto. Based on the examples and drill chapter 5, I believe even more so that the Army is a highly ethical org anization. Compared to the organizations in the reading and the others I have worked for, there is no group who puts more time and effort to ensuring values in its actions and people than the US Army.While there are individuals who stray from the Army values, typically in their informal leadership methods, as a whole the formal and informal culture of the US Army are complimentary and exist to best promote the welfare of the unfastened States. It is hard to criticize something you love, and that has been developing and evolving continuously over 200 years by some of the greatest leaders the World has ever seen. There is one key element to ensure the ethical culture environment of the US Army, to recruit personnel at the highest level possible.The Army cannot sacking in its recruitment of new soldiers to meet the numbers. Lowering the requirements for entry will only weaken the organizations culture and ethical standards. There are always other areas fro improvement, but this one area is more important than all the others combined. I Andrew S. Driscoll affirm that I have incomplete given, utilized, received or witnessed unauthorized aid on this deliverable and have completed this work honestly and according to the professors guidelines.