...Philosophy of a Learning Organization STEPHEN G. LIND Central Michigan University Dr. Spyros Catechis MSA 620: Effective Administration and Organizational Behavior October 21, 2008 Philosophy of a Learning Organization The purpose of this essay is to provide my philosophy and discuss my beliefs and ideas of a learning organization. It will answer questions such as, what is a learning organization?; what are the characteristics of a learning organization?; what research or doctrine supports my philosophy?; what assessments would be used to document that the organization is learning?; and how do you know the organization is effective? BusinessDictionary.com defines a learning organization as: An “organization that acquires knowledge and innovates fast enough to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing environment. Learning organizations (1) create a culture that encourages and supports continuous employee learning, critical thinking, and risk taking with new ideas, (2) allow mistakes, and value employee contributions, (3) learn from experience and experiment, and (4) disseminate the new knowledge throughout the organization for incorporation into day-to-day activities” (BusinessDictionary.com, 2008). This definition covers succinctly, how my philosophy of a learning organization should think and operate. It is important to consider the mindset and goals of an organization, as well as the definition...
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...The Salvation Army Week4TeamC Ethics and Social Responsibilities 17 June 2013 Professor Ward Scheitrum The Salvation Army The Salvation Army’s duty to the community stems back in history. In, 1852, William Booth started his ministerial profession, desiring to win over the hearts and minds of England and bring them to Christ. He would walk the streets of London as an advocate for the gospel of Jesus Christ and would primarily focus his messages to the needy. He disagreed with the ideas of the stance that the churches of London took. He decided to take his idea to the people, instead of fighting the church. His commitment led to the disagreement with the religious leaders, who believed in the teachings of the churches beliefs. He decided to leave the church because of that reason and toured across England, to establish meetings in order to gain substantial like minded believers. This essay keys in on a few important points, such as; influences of the organization’s social commitment, social responsibility, and their potential moral and ethical effects on the world today. What many people do not know is that the Salvation Army is motivated by the Christian church. The Salvation Army improves the quality of life and to meet the needs of those less fortunate regardless of religious preference or any other bias. They are here to help but their main focus and social initiative is to spread the word of God and to help others in his name. This is their...
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...October 23, 2014 The United States Army Organizational Structure The United States Army is one of many legal types of organizations of the armed forces and has been since June 1775. It is the largest and oldest of all the branches of the military and continues to dominate all threats aimed at the United States alongside the Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Marines. Like many other organizations in the United States, the U.S Army has a structure of its own. From the top down, it functions as any other organization, but unlike most, every member of its team carries rank and has a chain of command to abide by. In the following I will describe and evaluate the structure and functions within the United States Army, compare it to its fellow branches, and explain its organizational design that has been the primary reason Americans have been kept free from tyranny and enjoy the freedoms taken for granted every day. Army Organizational Structure What is an organization? According to "Businessdictionary" (2012), an organization is a social unit of people, systematically structured and managed to meet a need or to pursue collective goals on a continuing basis (Organization). The United States Army has a structure that starts as high as the President of the United States down to the newest and youngest recruit soldier. Its organizational structure far exceeds that or your local neighborhood Wal-Mart, yet has far less “employees”. As of 2012, the U.S Army has a total strength of on or about...
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...United States Army is one of many legal types of organizations of the armed forces and has been since June 1775. It is the largest and oldest of all the branches of the military and continues to dominate all threats aimed at the United States alongside the Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Marines. Like many other organizations in the United States, the U.S Army has a structure of its own. From the top down, it functions as any other organization, but unlike most, every member of its team carries rank and has a chain of command to abide by. In the following I will describe and evaluate the structure and functions within the United States Army, compare it to its fellow branches, and explain its organizational design that has been the primary reason Americans have been kept free from tyranny and enjoy the freedoms taken for granted every day. Army Organizational Structure What is an organization? According to "Businessdictionary" (2012), an organization is a social unit of people, systematically structured and managed to meet a need or to pursue collective goals on a continuing basis (Organization). The United States Army has a structure that starts as high as the President of the United States down to the newest and youngest recruit soldier. Its organizational structure far exceeds that or your local neighborhood Wal-Mart, yet has far less “employees”. As of 2012, the U.S Army has a total strength of on or about 1,130,000 soldiers, that which include the Army National...
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...Salvation Army The Salvation Army is a Christian Charity Organization with programs that include international aid, assistance to children and families and disaster relief. The mission statement reads, “The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the Universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs without discrimination.”(the salvation army history, n.d.) In 1852 William Booth started his ministry career in London, England, taking the message of Jesus Christ to the people face to face. He left the church and the pulpit and began traveling as an independent evangelist. Booth became a well known religious leader with a dedication to fight for the souls of men and women. Some of his first and foremost converts to Christianity were thieves, prostitutes, gamblers and drunks. The converts became soldiers for Christ, known then and now as “Salvationists”. The Salvation Army moved into the United States in 1878 and began an evangelist crusade there. By 1886 the Salvation Army was located in 13 states across the United States. “The Salvation Army movement quickly expanded into Canada, Australia, France, Switzerland, India, South Africa, Iceland, and local neighborhood units.” (the salvation army history, n.d.) The Salvation Army is active in every corner of the world. The Salvation Army has...
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...The Army as a Profession Kristopher D. Daupert March 04, 2014 When we try to determine whether the Army is a “Job” or a “Profession”, we must first define those two terms. The Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary defines a “Job” as “the work that a person does regularly in order to earn money” and a “Profession” as “a type of job that requires special education, training, or skill” . The main difference is some form of special education and training is required to be considered a profession and those same requirements are not necessary in order to have a job. For example, there is a hotdog vendor that sells hotdogs on the corner of a busy downtown street. No special education or training is required to do this job; conversely an architect designs buildings in that same downtown. The architect is required to have special education and usually attends other training throughout their career. To further clarify this point, one could go to the architect to buy a hotdog, but one would not seek out that hotdog vendor to design a building. Based on these definitions, the Army is a “Profession”. When a Soldier starts out in the Army, the individual attends what is the initial entry training that is where they start their special education and training. They learn basic soldiering skills along with learning the Army values and ethics. The Soldiers then continues their special education and training by completing advanced initial...
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...This diagram shows the command structure for the Army, however the Army’s rank system would explain better its hierarchy and who reports to who within the organization. I joined the U.S. army right after high school and just recently got out, the Army is the only organization that I have worked for. Although the Army is not a business, throughout history, the U.S. Army have tried to implement several business models to create a successful management of its resources and to increase its efficiency. According to Know How Nonprofit (n.d.) “Organizational culture are the habits and accepted norms that underpin how we work and what is and isn’t acceptable in our workplaces”. These are acceptable values that should be followed by people working for a specific organization. Researches have shown that there is a correlation between performance and organization culture (Tharp, 2009). Given this fact, it is important to understand the current organization culture in order to see how it will affect future actions of an organization. One important characteristic of the Army culture is that all soldiers must abide by a well-defined set of values. These values “serve as a foundation that focuses Soldiers' personal and professional agendas” Army.mil (n.d.). The Army also has strict...
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...leadership is the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction and motivation to accomplish the mission and improve the organization. (Army Publishing Directorate, 2012) Leading is not just getting your troops from here to there; leaders must make corrections and arrive there with a better product than he left with. The old military ways are over. That one angry Sergeant yelling and making Soldiers do push-ups is no more. Yes there are some though actives required to succeed in the military but they build confident, responsible, and disciplined leaders. General of the Army Omar Bradley once remarked: “Leadership in a democratic army means firmness, not harshness; understanding, not weakness; generosity,...
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... Trust is the Bedrock of the Five Characteristics of the Army Profession CPT Marc Hurst Team 6 LOG-C3 Class 15-006 02 September 2015 Every day a new group of civilians recites the oath to become a Soldier, and every day a trained Army unit deploys to a specific location to execute a specific mission. The Army is constantly molding and shaping individuals through training, to solidify an understanding of what it means to be a professional. No longer is the Army considered just another job, it is considered a profession. ADRP 1 states, “The Army Profession is a unique vocation of experts certified in the design, generation, support, and ethical application of landpower, serving under civilian authority and entrusted to defend the Constitution and the rights and interests of the American people.”1 The Army bases this profession on five characteristics: trust, military expertise, honorable service, esprit de corps, and stewardship of the profession. These characteristics go hand and hand with each other with trust being the foundation of the framework; without trust, you cannot build the Army as a profession. As mentioned before, trust is the foundation of the framework of the Army Profession. In order to drive that point home, Gen. Ray Odierno states, “Our profession is built on the bedrock of trust.”2 All organizations must build their framework on ethical and moral principles. Our leaders use these...
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...The biggest key part of success for nonprofit organizations is community involvement. Non-profit organizations are known to be dedicated to ending or helping a particular social cause, rather than making a profit for the organization. To grasp the community attention, most nonprofit organizations use an advertisement that shows a dramatic use of modes of persuasion, such as ethos, pathos, and logos. The Salvation Army are known for using modes of persuasion to gather community involvement and awareness. The Salvation Army was founded in London, United Kingdom by Catherine and William Booth in 1865, originally known as East London Christian Mission. (The Salvation Army). The Salvation Army is an international charitable nonprofit organization...
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...holidays or perhaps visit the second hand stores of the Salvation Army, but there are many more programs and charitable works that are credited to the Salvation Army. The Salvation Army aides and feeds the homeless, assists communities during emergencies, offers adult rehabilitation, youth camps, and elderly services to name a few. There is also a strong business side to this non-profit organization. Basically run along the same lines as an Army with many military comparisons, the Salvation Army is comparable to companies in the business of making money for profit. Utilizing volunteers around the world, this international organization maps its business goals and strategies as a major marketable company would do. This Army’s internal planning and organizational functions of management stems from the religious beliefs of the organization. All of the individuals involved in management are Christians and believe in complete devotion to God and to His works. The commitment and dedication of this Army is as strong as any human resource officer would want. The internal financial situation is actually tied to the external factors of monetary strength. The public and its generosity drive their financial wellness. Operating on contributions, the organization helps millions every year by spending hundreds of millions to meet the needs. Other external considerations shaping the success of the Salvation Army would be competitors. During the current economic slump, many individuals...
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...Information Literacy’s Influence on Scholarship, Practice, and Leadership in the Army Shasheshe Goolsby University of Phoenix Dr. Barb Information Literacy’s Influence on Scholarship, Practice, and Leadership in the Army The quality of information accessed and used for analyses and decisions has a significant influence on the quality of the resulting consequences of such decisions. In this regard, it is of critical importance to ensure that information used is of the highest quality possible, and as appropriate as possible to the situation or context of the analysis/decision-making process. However, in this information age, one of the main issues is the availability of different kinds of information that could make it difficult to look for the most suitable and reliable information possible to support such quality objective. In order to address this situation, it is necessary for one to have information literacy. It is argued that information literacy has a positive contribution on the quality of the results of scholarship, practice and leadership in the Army. One of the important issues nowadays is the availability of large amounts of information. This condition can be disadvantageous and could pose issues, especially when a significant portion of such information is not reliable and cannot be considered as scholarly (Russell, 2009). As such, the inability of Army personnel to properly seek and use appropriate scholarly and reliable information could lead to...
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...Organizational Behavior Every organization is different, even if they sell, manufacture, or market the same product. Each of them has a unique organizational behavior, organizational culture, diversity and communication. All the above mention are essential part of any company, talks about what they are and where they want to in the future as an organization. In this essay I will explain each concept and how they are establish in the organization where I work, the Puerto Rico Army National Guard. The organizational behavior “is the study of human behavior in organizations. It is an academic discipline devoted to understanding individual and group behavior” (Schermerhorn J., 2008). In my organization that is known as the Army we have very different behavior than a civilian organization. We have a lot of rules that dictate our behavior in and out of our workplace. As a military organization the behavior needs to be one of discipline, loyalty, duty, personal courage and respect, all of them identifies our organizational behavior. The mission of my organization is to serve and protect our country regardless the situation in which we are found. As a member of the National Guard I believe in the organizational behavior with we live and practice every day. The organizational culture “is the system of shared actions, values, and beliefs that develops within, an organization and guides the behavior of its member” (Schermerhorn J., 2008). We in the Army have an organizational...
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...Rules Sarah Wegner HSM/240 January 25, 2015 Ricardo Castro Evaluating Eligibility Rules The Salvation Army of the U.S.A. is held in high esteem by the public as an excellent community and human services provider. This program is a compilation of programs under the principle of service through the word of Jesus Christ. They state as their mission: “The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God. Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination” (2009). The Salvation Army application of rules for prior contributions, administrative performance, private contract arrangements, use of professional discretion and confidentiality, attachment to the workforce, and application of proper judgment (2005) allow for best practices to be applied. They also use means testing which applies an analysis of need less assets plus income. All of these factors speak well for them in making an evaluation of this organization. Regardless of any other eligibility requirements, The Salvation Army offers its services to anyone who is in need. Anyone who is affected by a disaster can qualify for services through their programs. This is a simple process because of the fact that The Salvation Army acts as a second responder which makes it easier for them to accept many families. This allows the families...
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...Organizational Communication Information Flow The United States Army is considered by many as one of the most organized group both in terms of hierarchy and communication networks. This is based upon its traditional code of conduct that every Army unit operates at heart. Most important element in the Army is that it upholds specific chain of command without question, which can be distinguished by rank. Those who violate this primary rulebook and conduct is punished severely and, this is a common practice by the organization. Thus, the top official of the Army, as figureheads of the organization ideology, set tasks and commandeer the entire organization. Their orders trickle down to all their subordinates, which should be taken without question. Moreover, the communication flow in the United States Army runs mono-directionally. To do otherwise would be out of line of the organization’s purpose. It is for this reason that the flow of communication in the United States Army has and always been centralized. Its chain of command has always followed a centralized form of command and control. Centralization means simply as putting the decision-making authority to the top and their command cascades down to the rest of the organization. Nonetheless, the United States Army has historically integrated itself according to the changing environments. This comes from the organization Army leadership training programs. With all the change that occurs within the military and in the world...
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