The following questions are designed to help you think critically about the readings. Dialogue with cohort members to expand understanding of the leadership concepts in this module and their applicati
As the Sergeant Major for the School of Infantry-East (SOI-East), I have the privilege to be around entry-level Marines every day. SOI-East is comprised of five separate organizations consisting of: three Training Battalions, one Headquarters and Support Battalion, and the Marine Combat Instructor School (MCIS). The organization I am selecting for my key assignment paper is the Marine Combat Instructor Course, which falls under the MCIS. The mission of MCIS is to develop Marines’ leadership, character, knowledge, and fitness in order to produce Combat Instructors who will lead, teach, and mentor entry-level Marines capable of conducting expeditionary combat operations within the Operating Forces. MCIS’s mission is in line with SOI-East’s mission of conducting standards-based common combat skills, entry-level infantry skills, advanced infantry skills, and advanced infantry skills progression training through Combat Instructors in order to provide professionally trained Marines prepared for service throughout the Marine Corps. The relevance of all this is that everything we do at SOI-East starts and ends with the Combat Instructor.
As a leader, I firmly believe it is essential to understand the many different ways Human Resource Development (HRD) can positively or negatively affect the organization and all those serving within its ranks. I associate this concept with the Marine Corps leadership principles that guide Marines toward being more effective leaders. The two specific principles this relates to the most are 1) Know your Marines and look out for their welfare, and 2) Know yourself and seek self-improvement. These principles are further expanded upon within the Marine Corps’ recently published doctrine: Marine Corps Doctrine Publication 7 (MCDP 7) “Learning.” The publication states, “Regardless of location or position, Marine instructors are knowledgeable, skilled, competent, and confident in their abilities. They know their Marines’ strengths and weaknesses and empathize with the learners’ challenges to better understand how they can tailor the learning environment to be more effective” (United States Marine Corps, 2020, p. 3-16). As leaders, we have an obligation and responsibility to those we lead to ensure we put all the mechanisms in place to enable the highest degree of learning.
The way I plan on conducting a needs assessment on which I will create my HRD plan is very similar to what was described in the case study at the end of chapter two. The case study refers to a new and exciting vehicle for learning identified as MOOCs: Massive Open On-Line Courses. The Marine Corps utilizes a very similar model of MOOCs called MOODLE. MOODLE stands for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. Just like MOOCs has several principles that are central to its successful operation, MOODLE does as well. Three of MOOCs’ principles that stuck out to me the most were Peer Learning, Instant Feedback, and Self-Pacing. These are almost identical to how I plan on conducting and creating my HRD plan. It will entail End of Course Critiques, Peer on Peer Evaluations, Self-Assessments, Instructor Rating Forms, On-Line Tests, and Guided Discussion Forums, to name a few. In the end, the more qualitative and quantitative information I can collect and evaluate, the better my HRD plan will be. The better my HRD plan is, the better prepared the new Combat Instructors will be at training, mentoring, leading, teaching, and preparing entry-level Marines to carry out their mission when they reach the Operating Forces.
References
McGuire, D. (2014). Human Resource Development (Second ed.). SAGE Publications Ltd.
United States Marine Corps. “The Learning Environment.” MCDP 7 - Learning, edited by
Department of the Navy, Headquarters Marine Corps, 2020, p. 3–16.
