Internal and External Factors of Management

Internal and external factors can really affect how a business is run or how leadership is accomplished. Management is critical, something that everyone must have in order to accomplish goals and be successful. Controlling, organization, planning, and leadership are four vital things that are needed for an organization to run smoothly. However throughout these functions of management globalization, technology, innovation, diversity, and ethics really play an important role and affect the four functions of management. Every organization whether it is a company or a branch of military service must exercise the functions of management and what it must do to maintain order and accomplish task at hand. Think of the United States military as an example. The United States military is structured with required regulations and standards that must be adhered to in order for it to be an effective global force. Throughout history controlling could be considered the most important of the four functions of management for the armed forces, but, as society has evolved, so has this approach to management and leadership. With Members of the U.S. military working side-by-side with the services of other nations around the world, American military commanders often find themselves in a position of leadership over a very diverse group of nationalities. The way in which this collective assembly of individuals is managed must be adjusted by taking into consideration all of the variances of not only possible language barriers, but also the cultural differences that are present. Common goals must be presented in such a way that they do not comprise the respect for cultural differences while enhancing the sense of unity and camaraderie (Alberts & Hayes, 2006). Advances in technology have made it possible for a manager to provide more immediate feedback to the performance of the workforce. Today’s military leadership depend on the ability to utilize multiple types of media in order to make effective decisions of how to best employ the manpower and resources in order to successfully meet mission objectives. While utilizing all the tools available to accomplish these important goals, a military leader must weigh and burden numerous ethical dilemmas. Differences in beliefs and ideologies exist even amongst the strongest of allies. The decision to use military force on an enemy to accomplish a tactical or strategic goal has heavily weighted consequences. In the 21st century the technological superiority and overwhelming might of the U. S. military and its allies has made the typing of a few keys on a keyboard as much or even more deadly than pulling an actual trigger of a weapon. Leaders in today’s military must make even tougher ethical and moral decisions than most of the predecessors in the past whether it is putting their subordinates in harm’s way or unleashing the relentless fury of an unequaled military machine against those who would dare to attempt to extinguish the very existence of what America stands for. Organization is one of the most important core functions of management in the United States military. The military is the very best at organizing the wide range of diverse people from around the U.S. into a functioning fighting force that protects the nation’s interests at home and abroad. Globalization is a main focus for politicians concerning the military. Many law makers on both sides fret over the idea of the U.S. military being a global protection force used at the expense of American lives and money. Technology is the equalizer for this growing concern. The more that technology is pumped into everyday soldier lives not only saves money but also lives. Organizing American troops to become more familiar with technological advances in battle through training has been the main focus to make the deployment forces stronger. Continuing innovation in technology through organized research between the four branches of service allows for joint missions to be carried out with more ease. As long as there is an organized government in the U.S., continual ethical practices will not only meet but exceed desired expectations. Practicing ethical behavior is highly encouraged in the military from a general down to a soldier. An organization, such as the military, is too big to allow multiple cases of unethical actions to go unnoticed or unpunished. With the continuing support of gay rights activists, practices of highly ethical behavior are necessary to avert complications during its difficult transition into a more culturally correct military. The ever changing culture in and out of the military dictates how the massive government organization operates and expands in the 21st century. As is the case with most organizations, planning is perhaps the most important function of management for the United States military. The Department of Defense employs more than 3.2 million people and in 2012 had a budget of $553 billion (U.S. Government Printing Office, 2012). Obviously, an incredibly large amount of planning has to go into using all those resources and personnel in the correct ways at the correct time. The military is a global organization at its core. If our country was able to completely shut itself in and not worry about or deal with global problems, there would be no need for a military in the first place. Therefore, all military planning is done with a global viewpoint. Equally, technology plays a large role in the planning stage of management of the U.S. military. Technological superiority has been a long standing goal of our military, and it must be planned for to be achieved. "Modern procurement planning may concern programs that require many years to develop and complete ... For example, in 1999, the US Navy suffered a $100 million cost overrun in fielding the joint strike fighter." (Brown, Dell, & Newman, 2004). Clearly, military planning is centered on innovation. In order to remain the dominant military force on the planet, we must constantly be fielding the most innovative equipment with soldiers trained in the most innovative ways. Finally, all planning must be done ethically with an understanding of the inherent diversity of the organization and those it serves. If military operations are carried out without an ethical plan, the U.S. would quickly become hated by all other nations. Also, with 3.2 million employees, the workforce is obviously very diverse. Couple that with the fact that much of the military's work is carried out overseas, and a failure to plan for diversity in and around the military would lead to vast financial and political problems for the United States. Just like planning, leadership is very important when it comes to leading the military. It is very crucial that every military leader from team leader all the way up to the commanding officer have good leadership skills. Many people including the family members of the service members are depending on the leaders of their son or daughter. Military leadership is very important, because it is very different compared to any other type of leadership. . Military leadership is defined as influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation, while operating to accomplish the mission and improve the organization (headquarters Department of the Army, 2007). When military operations are taking place whether it is overseas or in the United States leadership never stops. Adding leadership into the four functions of management really makes accomplishing management possible. Having good ethics is really important just like when a person goes to boot camp or officer candidate school. Ethics are taught when you go to these places. Having good ethics defines a person on what is right and what is wrong. Without good ethics and leadership many things can go wrong. Whenever you are on the battlefield decisions has to be made by the leader in order to insure the safety of the men under him in order to achieve overall success and make sure that they come home alive. However diversity really comes into play. Everyone is different in so many ways no matter how old they are or where they are from. This is something that is very hard for the military to decipher. Trying to get an individual to change what there viewpoints are on certain things is something that is very hard but in order to come out alive and have overall mission success this has to be done. The world that we live in today a person must change his or her viewpoints in order to achieve success. Unfortunately many people have trouble doing this and can really go off the deep end. Whenever this happens the military leaders can learn from this issue. They need to step back and evaluate and ask the question what we can do on our part to insure that this doesn’t happen in the future. It’s all about how the individual is taught in his or her school and they need to understand that life changing decisions has to be made. These are important factors that determine overall goals being accomplished. There are always internal and external factors to think about but with the right guidance and understanding a person can achieve goals and accomplish things they would have never imagined. Globalization, technology, innovation, diversity, and ethics play an important role in the four leadership’s traits of management. With all of these goals being accomplished in management you can never go wrong. This is one reason why the United States military is so successful today and the strongest fighting force in the world. Implementing these traits is something that is very important for everyday operations and success. With these vital tools in hand a leader in the military can really go far overtime. In a perfect world all of this will be done right unfortunately there will always be mistakes made but with the right ethics, diversity, globalization, technology, and innovation the military will always be the number one fighting force in the world. These goals must always be a success to insure that everyone comes home alive and individuals can serve his or her country honorably. That is what matter in the world that we live in today.

References
Alberts, D. S., & Hayes, R. E. (2006). Understanding Command and Control, The Future of Command and control, Washington D.C: DOD CCRP Publications.
Brown, G. G., Dell, R. F., & Newman, A. M. (2004, Nov-Dec). Optimizing Military Capital Planning. Interface, 34(6), 415-425.,
U.S. Governement Printing Office, (2012, February 13). 2012 Budget of the Unites States
Retrieved from http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BUDGET-2012-BUD/pdf/BUDGET-2012-BUD-7.pdf
Rozcenkova, A., & Dimdins, G. (2010). The Relationship between Self-Reported Transformational Leadership and Social Identification in the Military .. , 11(1/2), 5-17.