Cultural Changes Required in the Army to Truly Achieve a Total Force
Abstract
This research paper uses a qualitative approach to argue that while efforts by senior leaders to incorporate the Army Reserve as a partner in an interdependent Total Force have been significant, no attempts have been made to address the underlying cultural differences between the components. In order to make long lasting changes to an organization, leaders must act now to address the underlying cultural differences between the two components and transform both to a shared culture. Otherwise, recent progress that has been achieved towards a Total Force could be destined to fail. This paper argues for implementing four recommendations to forge a common Army culture and institutionalize the progress that has already been made towards the Total Force concept. The first recommendation is to increase marketing, recruitment, and leadership communication in the Army Reserve. This increase would emphasize the Army Reserve as an operational force and dispel the notion of a weekend warrior. This would build trust in the reserve components and provide reserve component Soldiers with realistic expectations of their service and help them to be better prepared when they are called to deploy. The second recommendation is to reorganize the Title XI support to the Army Reserve by disestablishing the active Army's training support structure and harvesting those positions into operational multicomponent units and embedded positions throughout the Army Reserve. The result would significantly increase the readiness of the Army Reserve and the development of a shared culture by moving personnel to where they can have the biggest impact on the unit while ensuring a cross pollination of both components cultures and experiences.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 16, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1037695
Entities
People
- John Gobrick
Organizations
- Air War College