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8/6/2019 OB Paper - Final
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Squadron Leadership
Running head: CHALLENGE OF LEADERSHIP
The Challenge of Squadron Leadership
Joshua Taylor
Anthony Wright
Gary Herbert
Columbian College of Arts and Sciences
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Introduction
The United States Navy has a proud history of serving our country. Its role is to defend
our coasts and project American power overseas. Since World War II, the primary means of
projecting naval power has been using carrier-based aircraft. While it is easy to fixate on the role
of high-tech weapons in Naval Aviations success, it is truly the Sailors that maintain and fly the
aircraft that add the most value to Naval Aviations product. Even the smartest bomb is useless
if not assembled correctly or if the aircrews are not adequately trained. In managing its people,
Naval Aviation, and the Navy as a whole, does some things better than others. Some
shortcomings in personnel management can be attributed to the limitations of the Navysnecessarily rigid structures and policies. Unquestionably, there is room for personnel
management to improve at all levels. This paper will examine a carrier-based squadron, the
primary organizational unit of Naval Aviation. It will highlight strengths, weaknesses, and
opportunities for improvement in personnel management via an examination of culture,
motivation, and leadership. To place this analysis in context, it will begin with a cursory
description of both the internal structure of a squadron and its environment.
Mission
The missions conducted by squadrons vary, but all require the generation of sorties,
flights by trained aircrew in fully mission capable aircraft. Different stakeholders use these
sorties for different purposes. The officers and enlisted Sailors of a squadron use them as a
metric to judge their efforts. The Operations Department uses the sorties to train aircrew. The
Commanding Officer uses the sorties to support the missions of his multitude superiors.
Ultimately, the United States Government uses sorties to support its foreign policy.
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Structure (See Fig. 1)
While squadron size varies by aircraft type, each has between four and twelve aircraft,
200-240 maintenance and support personnel and 20-30 Naval Aviators and Flight Officers. The
aircrews primary duty is to plan and execute flights. Additionally, they are assigned collateral
duties as managers of the enlisted members of the squadron. The enlisted ranks divide between
Chief Petty Officers, Petty Officers and Airmen (not to be confused with aircrew). There are
roughly 15 Chief Petty Officers, senior supervisors, at the top of the enlisted rank structure. The
chiefs are the repository of institutional knowledge and tradition and provide a buffer between
the officers and enlisted. Petty Officers are technicians of varying experience who earn greater leadership responsibility as they progress through the rank structure. Finally, the Airmen, not to
be confused with aircrew, are the primary source of manual labor as they work to learn their
intended area of expertise. The enlisted personnel in particular are organized in a rigid
hierarchical structure with a typical span of control of 8-14 people. The level of automation is
very low and training requirements typically equate to 10-15% of the total available man-hours.
Attendant to Navy manning policy, during a given year, a squadron can expect to turn over a
quarter to a third of its workforce.
The Commanding Officer (CO) and his Executive Officer (XO) lead the squadron.
Below the front office, the squadron divides into five departments: Operations, Maintenance,
Administration, Tactics, and Safety. Department Heads, the middle managers, lead each
department, which is typically broken down into divisions. Division Officers are junior officers
(JOs) who function as production managers. Finally, some divisions are broken down into
Branches grouped by technical expertise. While Department Heads work with the front office to
guide the squadrons course, Division Officers work with the chiefs to ensure that routine tasks
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go smoothly. The pyramidal rank structure of both the officer and enlisted corps expresses the
scalar principle and unity of command. Finally, the squadron structure displays the exceptions
principle in that Division Officers deal with routine matters thereby freeing the Department
Heads to advise the Commanding Officer.
Navy regulation delineates the structure and staffing of a squadron. The officers cannot,
in the short term, decide how many or of what specialty to hire. The process of firing an
individual is also difficult to control in the short term also. While most aspects of policy and
procedures are outside the control of the officers in a squadron, good leadership can nonetheless
improve squadron performance.
Environment
While outside the realm of organizational behavior, it is important to have an
appreciation for the environment that Sailors live and work in. Squadrons most often operate at
sea. Carrier squadrons spend an average of eight out of eighteen months deployed. Life onboard
an aircraft carrier consists of 12 to 14 hour days, seven days a week, in one of the most
dangerous working environments in the world. Conditions are cramped and often
uncomfortable. Plainly stated, carrier life is hard, particularly for the enlisted. It is in this
challenging environment that the Navy must lead and motivate its Sailors to mission
accomplishment.
The Value and Challenges of Navy Culture
Navy units rely on their strong organizational cultures. The Navy leverages its culture to
get the most out of its people. More than other organizations, the Navy formalizes a great deal of
its culture. The Navy optimizes person-organization fit by carefully selecting recruits based on
their capabilities and potential for integrating into the Navy. For instance, a drug history or
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criminal conviction may disqualify a candidate. The socialization of personnel to Navy culture
begins immediately in boot camp. The Navy indoctrinates loyalty to the Navy in recruits
through the teaching of Navy Core Values: Honor, Courage, and Commitment. The Navy
emphasizes its unique culture for several reasons. First, it seeks to maximize social identity,
teamwork, and selflessness as exemplified in the Navy slogan, Ship, shipmate, self. Second, it
wishes to create a unity of effort and action in every command. Finally, Navy culture encodes its
history, knowledge, and experience.
Throughout their daily lives, artifacts of Navy culture surround Sailors and officers.
There is no way to avoid it. The most obvious artifact is the uniform, a visible symbol of commitment to a common goal. The uniform identifies a Sailor with the Navy, but also their
squadron as the uniform can be customized to a specific squadron. Further, the Navy has its own
language; e.g. head instead of lavatory, ladder instead of staircase, scuttlebutt instead of
drinking fountain, etc. Symbols in the form of the squadron crest and mascot are common.
Ceremonies abound such as the formal Change of Command. These artifacts are the visible
manifestation of the Navys values. The values are built on the assumptions that all Sailors are
patriots who will always choose to do what is right.
The culture of the Navy serves to dampen out variance in perception, convey central
themes, and establish accepted norms of behavior. Beginning in Boot Camp, the Navy instills
Navy Core Values in its people to fill any moral voids or weaknesses in recruits. Later, leaders
can leverage their Sailors character to accomplish squadron missions in the face of adversity.
Ultimately, the Navy uses these principles guide Sailor responses and action when faced with
challenging, but decidedly weak situations (Stroh et al., 2002) in the fog of war.
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Squadron life is rife with strong and weak situations. Standard Operating Procedures and
the Uniform Code of Military Justice mandate uniform, predictable, and expected responses.
There are regulations covering everything from how to order a wrench to how to fly in
formation. The challenge to officers and enlisted is one of knowing the applicable regulation and
complying with it. Thus, the Navy seeks to limit weak situations as much as possible. But, even
in weak situations, the Navy exercises a measure of control. Since the relatively fixed traits of
personality seem most likely to determine behavior in weak situations, the Navy relies on the
imbued Core Values to guide individuals decisions. Weak situations combined with
considerable authority raise the possibility that some superiors may abuse their power, however.To guard against abuse of discretionary power at all levels, the Navy has a myriad of Equal
Opportunity policies.
As in other organizations, Sailors react to the Navys strong culture in several ways.
Overwhelmingly, Sailors conform. For others, the Navy seeks to reinforce its culture by
punishing those who rebel and, perhaps, retraining them through the Corrective Custody Unit
(CCU). The CCU is a month long boot camp-like experience designed to reinforce the Navy
Core Values. There are also certain creative individuals who manage to skirt lesser regulations.
They gain leeway only due to their exceptional job performance. While frustrating to leaders,
these people are often the unorthodox innovators who challenge the status quo and bring change
to the organization.
The Navy and the squadrons strong culture manifest further problems. The workforce of
the Navy is largely homogeneous, not necessarily in appearance, but in belief. Male,
conservative, Republican, and Christian describes the vast majority of Sailors. This
commonality breeds familiarity, but also some degree of groupthink. Additionally, a resistance
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to change dominates Navy culture. The prevailing attitude can be summed up as, This is the
way its always been done. The squadron usually adopts change very slowly and only after
buy-in from the chiefs.
To guard against the negative aspects of the its culture, the Navy must continually
impress upon its leaders the importance of actively seeking and listening to dissenting opinions.
Additionally, leaders must ensure that they and their Sailors comply with regulations regarding
the rights of minorities. Finally, leaders must make every effort to work with subordinates to
develop and implement change. However, one must remember that the squadron is not a
democracy. Mostly, the Navys strong culture is an asset to the squadron. Sailors are trusted tomake the right decisions on their own in weak situations. The underlying values of patriotism
and sacrifice ensure that Sailors will pull together to accomplish the squadrons mission even at
the risk of life and limb.
Sailor Motivation
Working on an aircraft carrier as part of a deployed squadron is difficult at best. Quarters
are cramped and the work is endless. Under these conditions, how does the squadron motivate
Sailors to complete their tasks? The answer is in how the squadron satisfies Sailors internal
needs and how the squadron system rewards them.
Herzbergs Two-Factor Theory (Herzberg in Stroh et al., 2003) provides the most insight
into how the squadron seeks to fulfill its Sailors internal needs. The squadron is very good at
satisfying Sailor hygiene factors. The Sailor has a guaranteed salary and job security as long as
they perform their duties. While the working conditions on an aircraft carrier are inherently
hazardous, the squadron ensures that Sailors receive adequate safety training and equipment to
limit the danger as much as possible. Perhaps because of this risky environment, Sailors form
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unusually strong relationships with their squadron mates, thereby fulfilling their affiliation needs.
The hygiene factors thus fulfilled, the Sailor is not dissatisfied and will do their job acceptably.
Superior job performance, however, is encouraged through the motivators that a squadron
provides.
An obvious motivator is the award of medals to Sailors in recognition of truly
outstanding work. Awards are only superficial though, and leaders recognize that superior
performance is usually the result of subtler forms of motivation. Many Sailors joined the Navy
out of a sense of patriotism and squadron leaders continually emphasize the nobility of service,
thereby providing for the Sailors higher needs. Others joined out of a desire to learn a technicaltrade or as a stepping-stone to college. In these cases, a Sailor generally finds their work in the
squadron satisfying. Growth opportunities are inherent to the squadron system, but have some
serious shortcomings.
The squadron administers biannual, Navy-wide advancement exams. If a Sailor studies
hard and does well, they will pass and be eligible for advancement. Thus, the Navy gives even
the most junior enlisted Sailors an opportunity for self-actualization. Unfortunately, due to
current manning limits, many smart Sailors who pass the tests cannot advance because of caps
placed on the number of Petty Officers at a particular rank in a given specialty. Some Sailors
pass the test multiple times, yet there is no room for them. This leads to frustration and crushes
Sailor instrumentality. It is equally frustrating for the squadron that fully recognizes the value of
the Sailor. Squadrons are allowed to spot promote only two or three Sailors a year through the
Command Advancement Program. Even with this stopgap measure, many deserving Sailors
miss the rewards they deserve. After years of disappointment, many able Sailors leave the Navy.
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While the squadron cannot do much to shorten deployments or make life onboard a
carrier more comfortable, there are certain steps it can take to address some of the issues that
negatively effect Sailor motivation. With the Perform To Serve initiative, the Navy now requires
Airmen and junior Petty Officers in overmanned specialties to either advance, change specialty
or leave the Navy. To remain in the crowded specialty the Bureau of Personnel must grant the
Sailor a waiver. While causing some initial disappointment, the intent is to prevent Sailors from
running into promotion walls later in their careers. At the squadron level, leaders should give
their Sailors more informal positive reinforcement, always the hallmark of strong leadership.
Deck Plate Leadership
The tools available to squadron leaders include reward, coercion, and power. Rewards
include work description and length, freedom to leave the base or ship, and eligibility for follow
on assignments. It is important to note that squadron leaders have limited authority to promote
and none to hire or increase pay. The coercion tools available to officers may appear draconian
to civilians (three days of bread and water is an option at sea), but are strictly governed by the
Uniform Code of Military Justice. The only squadron leader with the authority to fire an
employee is the CO, though all leaders can nominate a candidate. Legitimate power is inherent
in the squadrons rank structure, but expert and referent power are important sources as well.
The biggest challenge for squadron leadership, as in all organizations, is to motivate
Sailors to put forth their best effort. To do this, the best leaders leverage knowledge of their
Sailors needs and align them with squadron mission accomplishment. The idea of attaining
personal goals through superior work performance is central to Expectancy Theory. Without
knowing the Sailors goals, however, it is difficult to motivate the individual. This is why many
squadrons have new personnel write out goals upon check-in and periodically review them
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Unfortunately, reinforcement techniques dominate squadron day-to-day operation due to
its ease and expedience. Punishments for regulations infractions are common, mainly through
Non-Judicial Punishment proceedings, but positive reinforcement is rare. Positive reinforcement
is generally limited to the occasional word of praise or limited personal recognition after
deployment. While a mark of weak leadership, this system prevents the worst behavior but it
also does not promote the best.
To improve squadron congruence, squadrons should increase the number of required
formal counseling sessions from two to four a year. Quarterly counseling will ensure that Sailors
know how they are performing in the eyes of their evaluators and provide the Sailor with agreater chance to change their behavior accordingly. Squadrons should also institute limited
formal feedback from subordinates to allow officers to better align their own actions their
valences. Furthermore, COs should be granted the ability to give cash awards to Sailors for
outstanding service as is the case in the civil service. This would give squadron leadership a
powerful new tool with which to motivate their Sailors.
The Officer/Enlisted Relationship
Officer and enlisted perceptions are fundamentally different. Obvious differences exist
between college-educated, JOs and their 18-year old, high school graduate personnel. To add
complexity to an officers management task, many in the squadron are older with considerably
more time in the service. There are many tools available to assist JOs in managing such a
diverse group, but a fundamental truth of naval leadership is that those who work for you often
live in a very different world. Understanding the subordinates perspective is the key to
successful leadership.
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Construction of differing views may result from orders to work over the weekend. While
not enthusiastic about the COs decision, officers probably recognize its necessity to meet a
squadron mission. A young Sailor, however, may feel that the CO is simply harsh and punishing
the squadron for no reason. After all, the young sailor knows nothing of the Operations
Departments requirements for the next week. Chances are the officers received this information
at a weekly All Officers Meeting. All too often, such information never reaches the lowest
levels. That a substantial portion of the organization does not have the big-picture is a recurring
problem for squadrons. To avoid this situation, officers should make sure to share information
with their subordinates to the greatest extent possible.Certainly, not all officers manage in the same manner. Unfortunately, this produces not
only variance in how divisions, departments, and squadrons function, but also how Sailors
interpret a leaders actions and policies. One concerned leaders tough love becomes anothers
just being tough. The degree of understanding between officers and enlisted may depend on
the amount of time both have served in the squadron. The role of buffering between the officers
and the enlisted belongs to the chief petty officers. The best advice a chief can give an officer is
an appreciation of the enlisted perspective.
Consider that officers have a relatively strong internal locus of control, that is, they are
relatively able to manage events that affect them. Enlisted locus of control, however, is strongly
external. They are subject to the orders of supervisors, senior petty officers, chiefs and officers.
It is common for a sailor to receive conflicting orders from two different individuals to
accomplish tasks simultaneously. For instance, the flight doctor may order a Sailor to report to
Medical for a physical, while the Maintenance Master Chief requires him to man-up an aircraft
for a maintenance check. The conflicting orders place the Sailor in a no-win situation.
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Disobedience will not be tolerated by either leader, but the sailor cannot do both at once. To
prevent this situation, squadrons must stay keenly aware of the multitude demands placed on
their Sailors. Officers must be discouraged from developing the belief that their orders are more
important than anyone elses are. Sailors, in turn, need to communicate to the chain of command
legitimate concerns regarding conflicting orders.
Leaders also have an impact on their Sailors social identity. When leaders seek to
establish a positive social identity in their people, it imprints a military mindset, sense of
belonging, and builds unit espirit de corps . Unfortunately, managers can develop prejudicial
stereotypes. One derogatory term applied to Sailors is TED. TED, an acronym for TypicalEnlisted Dude, lumps all junior enlisted into a category of assumed marginal intelligence,
immaturity, and lack of sophistication. Squadron leadership must stamp out stereotypes of all
kinds. Accepting them in the squadron widens the divide between officers and enlisted and
potentially creates negative self-fulfilling prophecies.
Junior Officer Development Shortcomings
As demonstrated, the Navy stresses leadership at all levels to sustain its competitive
advantage. In theory, the Navy conducts extensive leadership training of senior enlisted
personnel and officers throughout their careers. The Navy Leadership Training Continuum
(NLTC) provides leadership training from Second Class Petty Officers up to COs. According to
the Naval Aviation Schools Command web site, The leadership continuum courses were
designed to familiarize personnel with leadership and management competencies. For enlisted
Sailors, NLTC is their first formal leadership training. Squadrons monitor their petty officers
closely to ensure that they receive this valuable training. Unfortunately, this is not the case in the
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officer corps. JOs often face their first leadership responsibilities with little or no practical
training.
While officers receive leadership training at their accession source (Naval Academy,
NROTC, etc.), the training is mitigated due to the isolation of from enlisted personnel. Further,
aviation officers have up to three years of flight training before they have an opportunity to lead
Sailors. To bolster leadership and managerial knowledge, the Basic Officer Leadership Training
Course (BOLTC) is supposed to provide young officers with guidance on how to manage their
first division. Ironically, this training is offered at either the beginning or middle of flight
training. Many aviators never attend, as squadrons do not make it a priority. As a result, mostJOs assume their first roles as manager/leaders with minimal tools. It is a sink or swim situation.
What little leadership and management guidance JOs receive is through On the Job
Training to use the common euphemism. This informal training is via ongoing case studies in
the squadron. JOs observe Department Heads and COs and note apparently successful and
unsuccessful leadership strategies. Additionally, in one of their most important and difficult
roles, chief petty officers are informally charged with developing their Division Officer. While
seemingly contradictory, this system works in the squadron because referent and expert power do
not follow rank alone, but also experience. Unfortunately, JOs often lack the experience to
integrate situational determinates into their paradigm of leadership. In addition, they are often
heavily biased by personality, typically finding themselves in either outsider or insider groups,
described by the Leadership Member Exchange Model, for reasons they do not understand. All
too often, junior officers learn what not to do through negative experiences rather than through
any positive guidance on how to lead effectively.
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To improve the leadership training of junior officers, squadron COs should make BOLTC
mandatory before junior officers are put into division officer billets. Training should occur after
the entire flight-training syllabus when a JO is on the way to their first operational squadron.
The type-wing, the squadrons macro-organization, should provide the funds for the training at
existing centers or establish a BOLTC course at their home station. Short of that, squadrons
should use their own funds to facilitate junior officer training.
The Nature of Command
Due to a common organizational culture and environment, many COs share traits
conducive to effective leadership. Like all officers, COs are constantly and specificallyevaluated on leadership and integrity throughout their careers. The strenuous selection process
demands drive and a desire to lead. In addition, most enlisted personnel imbue the The Old
Man with referent power as they recognize that the CO sacrificed much to achieve his position.
The most effective CO is transformational and inspirational for reasons beyond the obvious.
Transactional leadership, with its concern for processes, is often wasted effort as squadron
structure and procedures are externally delineated. Additionally, the operations tempo is a
leadership neutralizer during large portions of the year, as it is largely dictated by an externally
developed schedule. This leaves shaping attitudes and motivation as his only real recourse to
transform a squadron. Typically, playing to patriotic instincts, aggressive military heroics, and a
work hard, play hard mentality best aligns the expectations of the mostly young and male
workforce with the squadrons mission.
The squadron task environment is typically unstructured with clear goals (sortie
generation). Subordinates are typically skilled in their tasks with high achievement needs.
Formal authority is extensive and the organizational culture supports participation and is
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achievement oriented. These situational characteristics coupled with a deeper understanding of
the Path-Goal theory of leadership would suggest most successful leaders use either Supportive
or Achievement leadership styles. The Supportive leadership style, in its typical manifestation,
is not compatible with a military culture. Empirical evidence indicates most successful squadron
COs use an Achievement leadership style.
The task of a leader is to strengthen their subordinates expectancy links. Here again the
results are mixed due to externalities. The first expectancy link is routinely very strong. The
Navy tells enlisted personnel from the first day of boot camp that they can accomplish anything
if they work hard and listen to their superiors. In fact, a squadron CO would have to work to break this link. The link between performance and consequence, however, is prone to
externalities with regard to schedule and the inputs required. The CO has some influence on
operations tempo and, therefore, has some marginal affect on the achievability of squadron goals.
Unfortunately, there are not many systemic changes possible to improve CO efficacy. It
is the nature of the squadrons fluid task environment that externalities will always influence
personnel instrumentality. To the maximum extent possible, COs should shape and capitalize on
the squadrons strong culture. By developing a clear squadron mission statement and conveying
a genuine regard for his people, a CO can instill in his squadron a positive belief in the
squadrons mission and their ability to complete it. A squadron without a committed,
enthusiastic Skipper is like a ship without a rudder.
Conclusion
To complete its mission, a squadron relies on its Sailors. These Sailors, imbued with
Navy culture, require well-trained, committed leaders to lead and motivate them. While there
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are significant shortcomings in personnel management practices, it is the combination of
leadership and dedication to duty that makes the United States Navy second to none.
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Figure 1
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