Unit Cohesion Cross Leveling and Readiness: Viability and the Effects of Cross Leveling on Unit Readiness and the Impacts on Unit Cohesion
Abstract
As the Army transforms and the force is restructured it becomes incumbent on the Army to extend the utility of its most vital resource, Army personnel. It further became evident that in today's volatile, dynamic environment, Army Transformation must consider unit cohesion as a key element in its force development strategies. To that end, the study team adopted the following definition for Unit Cohesion: The bonding together of members of an organization in such a way as to sustain their will and commitment to each other, their unit and the mission, as quoted from a 1995 Naval Postgraduate School study by Earnest G. Cunningham. It addresses both the group dynamics of an organization and the unit effectiveness in terms of the will and commitment of its members to sustain through a binding relationship of those members. This definition was used throughout the study as the foundation as guiding principle for the study. It is the overall conclusion of this study that most reserve component soldiers have a positive perception of their deployment and the unit in which they served. They predominately agreed that the unit was cohesive and they would want to deploy in that unit again. The Army Transformation through the ARFORGEN model will have serious challenges in achieving the Reset-Ready-Available construct for reserve component forces given the current process of cross leveling, not necessarily because of the impact on unit-cohesion but because of the widespread deficiencies it creates in those units being cannibalized to produce the personnel to fill the other units requiring the cross leveling. There are areas of concern which could have lasting impacts on the ability to maintain the All Volunteer Force with specific concerns about recruiting and retention. There are also some areas for policy development in the areas of leadership, training, and equipping the reserve components.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 28, 2006
- Accession Number
- ADA463157
Entities
People
- B. Thornburg
- Christine D'angelo
- Kenneth G. Powell
- Mike Nowak