Trust, Transformation, and Army Modernization

Abstract

Given its mandate to lead the Army's Future Force Modernization Enterprise (FFME), the U.S. Army Futures Command (AFC) seeks to establish and maintain an aspirational culture built on trust as a means to improve unity of command, enable decision-making at the lowest possible level and rapidly innovate and deliver new warfighting capabilities to soldiers and combat formations. The purpose of this qualitative historical research study was provide research-based insights and recommendations to guide AFC transformational efforts through a comprehensive review of the theories, mechanisms and industry best-practices associated with organizational trust and managing culture change. Analysis of AFC climate/culture using 2019 OPM FEVS survey data indicated a strong work-unit orientation in all AFC sub-agencies and a workforce climate equipped to support unity of command, empowerment and innovation. However, workforce concerns related to rating employee performance, empowerment and senior leadership abilities to inspire/motivate indicate potential organizational trust issues. Furthermore, analysis of the AFCs structure, operating model and cultural profile suggests that grass-roots, task-centric approaches to drive culture transformation would be more effective than top-down driven efforts. Finally, given its demonstrated practicality to quickly assess key aspects of (trust) culture, the use of trust-focused pulse surveys merits further evaluation as a means to monitor the effectiveness of transformation efforts. It is anticipated that the results derived from this research will provide new insight and understanding related to the development of effective trust-building strategies to enhance the mission effectiveness of the AFC as well as other public and private sector organizations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 06, 2020
Accession Number
AD1097003

Entities

People

  • Joseph A. Brescia

Organizations

  • Defense Acquisition University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • Biomedical
  • C4I
  • Cyber
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Best Practices
  • Business Administration
  • Data Analysis
  • Employment
  • Governments
  • Knowledge Management
  • Management Personnel
  • National Governments
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personality
  • Personnel Management
  • Psychology
  • Public Administration
  • Reliability
  • Test And Evaluation
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Military Leadership and Professional Education.
  • Organizational Process Management (OPM).