Develop an Organizational Development Report for Management During this unit, you will submit your final project. You will use the organization chosen in Unit I (The United States Army) to finalize an

Overview of the U.S. Army for Organizational Assessment

Eleni Kosters

Waldorf University

HRM 6800 – Organization Development

Professor Jonathan Green

08 October 2024

Overview of the U.S. Army for Organizational Assessment

The United States Army which is a division of the Department of Defense; DoD, is an important part of America’s defense and military. This overview covers a number of change areas that are pertinent to an organizational assessment and possible enhancements, offering understanding into the Army’s past, present, proposed role, relationships, structure and effectiveness.

Organizational History

The U.S army was founded earlier in 1775 and is therefore, considered one of the oldest military organizations in the world (Schofield, 2023). This institution has undergone dramatic changes through many wars including the Revolutionary War, Civil war, world wars, and the contemporary ones like the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The Army to transform and synthesize to the change of warfare tactics, technological advancement, and societal demand (Liu et al., 2021). Such a historical context is helpful to search for the modern problems, for instance, resistance to change and organizational inertia. This can be encouraging to have a culture of improvement and innovation in organization since this was the past history.

Organizational Mission

The US army’s main responsibility lies in the provision of ground force for the protection of the country’s interest as well as safeguarding the nation. This mission shows that the Army plays a pivotal role in enhancing the nation’s security and preparing for operations. To achieve these goals, changes need to closely relate to this mission to guarantee that improvements in learning, structures and training foster readiness and adaptation while modernizing the Army’s forces. The mission should be used to evaluate how current programs and initiatives are aligned with this mission, and where such alignment can be improved upon.

Organizational Strategy

Historical documents that define the Army’s strategic planning include the Army Vision, the National Defense Strategy and the Army Operating Concept. These strategies emphasize three core areas: preparation, infrastructure development, and collaboration. The major readiness strategy of the Army is based on its core principle of developing readiness to roll and operate within various contexts. Modernization efforts cover the incorporation of contemporary tools and the enhancement of the Army overall performance. For an organizational assessment to be effective, it should consider assessing the present practices based on how well they implement the identified strategic goals. For example, the change of the Army concerning technological development has been assessed as slow, suggesting a need for the increased activity of modernization which will increase the effectiveness of use (Bajracharya et al, 2023).

Organizational Structure

The U.S. Army follows a highly centralized structure of different branches and units tasked for performing efficient missions. The structure is very suitable for communication between the command center and the field require but may heighten bureaucracy and hamper communication. This structure creates a rather rigid chain of command where change at the top takes time to percolate down putting a lid on quick responses to threats. In future reforms, establishment of how or to what extent the existing organization structure does or does not facilitate operational efficiency is crucial. The enhancement of the tops, both in terms of decision making and communication, could enhance the ability to respond to new challenges with flexibility.

Organizational Relationships

US Army has extensive engagement with its stakeholders across the other branches of the military, federal, state, and local governments as well as civil society groups. Cooperation brings together different patrol car units needed for combined training and logistical and operational purposes. If the efficiency in these partnerships needs to be assessed different opportunities including effective work of partners in military operations and evidenced weaknesses like no interaction with civilian agents (Schofield, 2023). Additional cooperation between agencies could be encouraged and creating new outreach programs may help in this matter. The Army can increase effective support and enhance the perception by boosting multi-sectorial collaborations with civilians and local inhabitants.

Organizational Performance

Evaluation indicators are crucial for measuring efficiency in reference to standards within the Army as well as in other military companies and establishments. The Army using several performance indicators to manage operation outcome, and organizational readiness. The present study shows that some of the progress measures vary from one unit to another and therefore call for better measures. Applying standardized performance assessment models may help increase responsibility at work and maintain sustainable improvement throughout the organization. Further, identification of aspects such as the percentage of retained personnel, the efficacy of training programs, and organizational performance indicators will reveal areas requiring more focus.

Comprehensive Organizational Assessment

Assessment Table

Narrative Summary

The organizational assessment of the U.S. Army reveals several areas that should receive attention. Despite having the advantages of a long-standing tradition and a clear mission, the Army faces some important problems associated with its flexibility, mission compatibility, the presence of bureaucracy, and differences in performance indicators among divisions (Kumar et al., 2024). These challenges can hinder the organization’s performance and its ability to adapt to the new terrain of warfare.

Next Steps

1. Enhance Change Management: Promote change by formally training the employees on how to deal with it and how to undertake innovation. Mandatory involvement of leadership with regard to change initiatives, constant appeal for change orientation.

2. Align Strategies: Hold seminars to educate all formations concerning their responsibilities for contributing to the general mission and vision of the strategic plan. Produce a way by which units can report on issues faced or achievements made regarding the issuance of the mission statement.

3. Modernization Initiatives: Increase technology management by dedicating task forces aimed at research and development of such use. Engage collaboration with firms and research organizations in order to capitalize on the principles of innovation.

4. Streamline Processes: Analyze and redesign bureaucratic processes to expunge inefficiencies in order to adjust and improve the organization’s operation. Promote the decentralized decision-making approach where possible in order to respond to the emergent situations as quickly as possible.

5. Strengthen Partnerships: Create Militarization and civilian efforts to coordinate in order to address various challenges and facilitate inter-agency cooperation. Develop programs that will prepare and assist military and civilian agencies to work together efficiently.

6. Standardize Metrics: All units should adopt standard metrics for assessing readiness and effectiveness of performance evaluation systems. Implement data analytics in the context of performance indicators to determine potential optimization spots.

References

Bajracharya, R., Shrestha, R., Hassan, S. A., Jung, H., & Shin, H. (2023). 5g and beyond private military communication: Trend, requirements, challenges and enablers. IEEE Access.

Kumar, S., Chhabra, G., Sehrawat, K. S., & Singh, M. (2024). Developing a competency assessment framework for medical laboratory technologists in primary healthcare settings in India. Plos one, 19(4), e0294939.

Liu, G. D., Wang, N., Wang, H. M., Li, X., Shao, J. J., Liu, Z. F., ... & Chen, Y. D. (2021). Military medical research on internal diseases in modern warfare: new concepts, demands, challenges, and opportunities. Military Medical Research, 8, 1-5.

Rothwell, W. J. (2017). Assessment and Diagnosis for Organization Development. Taylor & Francis. https://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781315310596

Schofield, J. M. (2023). Forty-six Years in the Army. Good Press.