Interview Assignment 1

Executive Interview

Leadership Professional Ethics 350

For my interview I chose to interview Fire Controlman Senior Chief Petty Officer Gary Hively who holds the Combat Systems Maintenance Manager (CSMM) position and Combat System Departmental Leading Chief Petty Officer. As a CSMM you are required to have an extensive knowledge of the Aegis Combat System Suite, all the necessary administrative tools to maintain the suite and know how to deal with personnel. He needs to not only know his job but the specifics of everyone elses job. The nature of the position and person who is the Combat System Maintenance Manager directs and coordinates maintenance actions, test and performs operational procedures on all AEGIS Combat System elements to achieve performance standards meeting design specifications. He needs to have the moral integrity to know what is right and wrong, who is lying and telling the truth, be able to make the tough decisions when it comes to personnel arguments and stay true to his moral fiber. Direct and coordinates the efforts of AEGIS Combat System personnel to ensure an integrated approach to achieving full combat system operational status. Combat System Departmental Leading Chief Petty Officer Leads the department of 85 personnel that operates, maintains and troubleshoots the core of the Aegis Destroyers war fighting capabilities. The department is comprised of Fire Controlmen, Interior Communication technicians and Electronic Technicians. When I asked Mr. Hively about his likes and dislikes about his position he answered “I will start by answering what I like the most about my job. I love the challenge of my job and the ability to think outside the box. Unlike most positions on the ship, I report directly to the Commanding Officer on the status of the Combat System Suite, but with that comes a level of trust and responsibility that needs to be built over time. A Naval ship is a living, breathing animal that requires tender loving care 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days out of the year. If you don't take care of her or respect her power she will bite you. I love serving my country and ensuring the safety of my shipmates. I believe I'm the exception to the rule as far as the pride I take in my work and my job. So that sums up the challenge of my job and what I love about it. What I like least about my job is funny to answer because it also some of the most rewarding aspects of my job. It is all the personnel issues you are required to deal with on a departmental level. You are required to resolve sexual assault and harassment cases, driving under the influence, racial tensions, personality conflicts, relationship issues at home and list goes on. What is difficult about these issues are finding ways to help your Sailors cope and focus on the ships mission while showing empathy and compassion for their situation. I understand you don’t choose you Sailors and they don’t choose you but you are a team that needs to fulfill a mission. Your Sailors come from different cultural and economic backgrounds. They come from good and dysfunctional homes but you need to find a way to connect and work with each of them differently based on their personalities. You are required to put on the brave face and act like "Superman" while dealing with your own issues at home. As a senior leader you are looked upon to resolve all issues both on the ship and off with very little time for yourself. On the flip side of that you watch your Sailors grow and advance to become the future of the Navy. You are able to make a positive impact on their lives both inside and outside the Navy. My job is a job where you are constantly looking into the future and not resting on your past achievements. The Navy is constantly in flux because of the high turnover at your present command and also throughout the Navy hierarchy. Some individuals like put their personal touch on things, some don't like to "reinvent the wheel" and some are type "A" personalities and it has to be done there way or else. The Navy always needs to look forward and remove the blinders because there are bad people out there that like to do bad things. We don't work in a 4x4 cubicle and we don't wait on the French fry timer so change is good in my line of business. Technology is always advancing and the government wants to be on that forefront in order to help those Sailors and Soldiers out there helping protect the world.” (Hively, G 2014 Personal Interview. June 10th 2014)
Meeting all the different groups of people with many different personalities was a bit overwhelming. Just when you think you know a lot there is always someone out there that knows way more that you do, almost made me feel like I had been under a rock for the past 8 years I don’t know how he is able to come in to work every day with a good mood and a smile on his face. I would be pulling my hair out. I thanked him for his time and all the extra explanations he had to do for me so I could understand what he was talking about. To me he was a leader that exhibited the ability to be an effective leader, able to build and keep trust, resolved ethical issues, dealt with diversity in a positive way and was able to overcome personal stress while helping others get over their stress. In the military these are very important skills that a leader must have along with strong moral fiber and communication skills. Mr. Hively has strong moral fiber and great personal communication skills, he was able and willing to communicate effectively and relate to all the sailors on one level or another. Having this skill and using it effectively he gained a lot of respect from even to most unlikely people. When certain touchy situations came up like the sexual harassment of one of his sailors he refrained from being bias, he looked at the situation with a sound mind and open heart. He didn’t take one persons side over the other, he gather all the facts and made an ethical decision based on the rights and wrongs of the Navy and his code of ethics. As he approached each situation he never stuck to one stale specific way of attack. He evolved his views and positions on issues based on facts and did not let personal gain or outer influence sway him from his decisions.
Being a leader is difficult enough and not everyone is meant to be a leader. In one article I read about someone very similar to Mr. Hively, a man named Peshawaria “he distills his own years of boardroom learning and observations into a practical framework for capturing the hearts and minds of individuals, teams, and companies. While grounded in bottom-line realities and objectives, introduces values-based methodologies that promise to galvanize even the most jaded executive.” (Peshawaria,J. 2011) He takes the skills he has learned over the years and turned them into his own leadership style that not only helps others learn but grow as leaders. By being an effective leader he is able to provide a positive influence to others on how to be a great leader. Another ethic that I saw was his ability to build trust from the top of the command down to the most junior sailor. For some people building trust is an up hill battle because they lack the personal communication necessary, he did not. He mentioned in the interview that what they do and how they do it is the basis on whether or not this ship will be ready to fight in wartime. “We develop theory that distinguishes trust among employees in typical task contexts (marked by low levels of situational unpredictability and danger) from trust in "high-reliability" task contexts (those marked by high levels of situational unpredictability and danger).”(Colquitt, Lepine, Zapata, Wild. 2011) If military workers don’t have trust in their leaders during a maintenance phase than trust will not be there in a high risk situation like war and chaos will reek havoc on the ship. Trust is a necessity in the work place especially in the military. When a leader knows how to handle various ethical issues that arise like the ones Mr. Hively mentioned in our interview builds that trust, and gives others the faith in you that no matter the situation you can handle it. One article that I read stated that “Mathematical, physical, biological, social and even psychological and ethical sciences were viewed as integral parts of a unitary scheme. In a practical way, this issue has also been faced by administrative officers of colleges, universities and foundations in resolving the problems of organizational structure within their institutions.”(Alpert, H. 1955) When I read this I correlated it to his ability to see and solve ethical issues from many aspects including those of the Navy. Being able to work with and deal with a diverse work group every day takes a toll on a leader. As he mentioned you have to worry about your personal life and the personal lives of all your junior sailors, because it might affect the quality of work completed and the overall readiness of the ship. Diversity has many positive aspects but no matter how hard a leader tries to make fair decisions there will always be one person that sees it as unfair, “managing work-force diversity concerns the rationale for the procedures used and the outcomes produced by programs perceived to be unfair.”(Kirby, S. Richard, O. 2000) Mr. Hively told me some stories about how he had to make the best decision for a diverse group that would make most people happy, he knew he wouldn’t and couldn’t make everyone happy and that is just the nature of the beast. As stressful as it may be to be the one to make the decisions that will not appease everyone there are ways to deal with stress and a leader must know those tips and tricks, not just for them but for their people. There is no denying that life in the military is stressful, but leaders can be the difference to some people. Mr. Hively always seemed to maintain composure during the interview as he was bombarded with work issues and sailors coming in asking for advice on personal situations of their own or on behalf of a sailor that was struggling. “Organizations with high stress and conflict levels exhibit considerable structural deficiencies and an atmosphere shaped by a reenactment of the traumatic world of clients.” Based on the article I found about work related stress it is imperative that leaders get in front of these work related stressors as Mr. Hively did. If people are left to wallow in their stress pools they will drown and the organization will suffer for it. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen a departments man hours suffer because they lost a sailor due to a situation that could have been prevented if someone would have seen the red flags of work related stress and got them help.
Mr. Hively expressed concern for the overall well being of his sailors and the care of equipment on board the ship. I did not notice an inconsistencies, deficiencies or inadequacies in his ethical theories. I can summarize it all by take care of your people and they will take care of you. He was motivated by the pride he got from a job well done and from the appreciation and respect he got from others. There is no greater feeling in the military than knowing that when a tough problem comes up people would rather come to you for advice or guidance because they know you can be counted on. From what I heard and saw I feel that he acted appropriately in all situations personal and professional. I agree with his approaches and ethics and I admire his ability to maintain and control so much at once. I have been on both sides of the; take care of your people and they will take care of you saying. Its nice to be the one that is looked out for and its a great feeling to be the one to look out for others. After doing this interview I learned that I am on a solid path to becoming a great leader because I care about those who work for me as well as the work that they are to accomplish. I still have a long way to go compared to Mr. Hively but in time I feel I will reach that point. It was a true pleasure to interview someone of his stature and composure and it has truly inspired me to want more from myself as a leader, it really made me think about how I am as a leader and who I want to be as a leader.

References
Hively, G. (2014, June 10). Personal interview.
Peshawaria, R. Too Many Bosses, Too Few Leaders: The Art of Being a True Leader. Publishers Weekly, Vol.258, 256.Mar 21, 2011. Retrieved June 10, 2014, from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.libproxy.chapman.edu/eds/detail?vid=4&sid=2c0c8eb1-09ab-44d6-929b-34ada22868b2%40sessionmgr4002&hid=4113&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHVpZCZzaXRlPWVkcy1saXZl#db=eft&AN=59635669
Colquitt, J., Lepine, J., Zapata, C., & Wild, E. Trust in Tpica and High- Reiability Contexts: Building and Reactin to Trust Among Firefighters. Business Source Premier, Vol.54, 1015. October 2011. Retrieved June 10, 2014, from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.libproxy.chapman.edu/eds/detail?vid=6&sid=2c0c8eb1-09ab-44d6-929b-34ada22868b2%40sessionmgr4002&hid=4113&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHVpZCZzaXRlPWVkcy1saXZl#db=buh&AN=67347835
Alpert, H. THE SOCIAL SCIENCES AND THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: 1945-1955. American Sociological Review, Vol.20, 661. December 1955. Retrieved June 10, 2014, from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.libproxy.chapman.edu/eds/detail?vid=9&sid=2c0c8eb1-09ab-44d6-929b-34ada22868b2%40sessionmgr4002&hid=4113&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHVpZCZzaXRlPWVkcy1saXZl#db=buh&AN=12781406
Kirby, S., & Richard, O. Impact of Marketing Work-Place Diversity on Employee Job Involvement and Organizational Commitment. . Journal of Social Psychology, Vol.140, 377. June 2000. Retrieved June 10, 2014, from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.libproxy.chapman.edu/eds/detail?vid=12&sid=2c0c8eb1-09ab-44d6-929b-34ada22868b2%40sessionmgr4002&hid=4113&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHVpZCZzaXRlPWVkcy1saXZl#db=buh&AN=3308135
Pross, C., & Schweitzer, S. The Culture of Organizations Dealing with Trauma: Sources of Work-Related Stress and Conflict.. Traumatology: An International Journal, Vol.16, 108. December 2010. Retrieved June 10, 2014, from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.libproxy.chapman.edu/eds/detail?vid=17&sid=2c0c8eb1-09ab-44d6-929b-34ada22868b2%40sessionmgr4002&hid=4113&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLHVpZCZzaXRlPWVkcy1saXZl#db=pdh&AN=2011-01946-011