The lesson Learning and Change in a Global Setting can be applied to any group or organization and the U.S. military is not immune. The military is manned by everyday citizens from all corners of the country and in some cases all corners of the world. The military is truly a reflection of society and although they are organizations of standards and conformity they change when needed to fit into a global setting. One of the best instances I can use to describe this is the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT). For those not aware of DADT it was a law put in place by President Clinton barring gay and lesbian service members from disclosing their sexual orientation. Repealing DADT was not without proper implementation and training from the Department of Defense(DoD) . The process of preparing all branches of the armed forces for this change utilized the four step process of social learning in attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation.
The training process started with attention. Attention was brought to the discriminatory actions of disqualifying able bodied individuals from serving their country based on the fact that their sexual preference was different. Hindsight is always 20/20 and even though I have been in the United States Navy for almost twenty four years and most of my career has fallen under the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell law I can’t even imagine it even being put in place to begin with. The training that the DoD put in place to transition into the repeal of this law was done to bring attention to why this law was no longer needed.
The retention portion of this process was asking service members to recall their training when faced with a new situation. The new situation that the DoD was referring to was when service men and women were confronted with a situation that they have not faced before.
Motivation in this process was not difficult when the DoD asked to people to serve along side those that happen to live their lives a little different than the majority. This motivation was made easy when comments by the current at the time of the repeal “chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, criticized the policy as one that encouraged military members to live a lie” (Reinke, 2011).
Finally reproduction is implemented in this case every day by each and every service member performing their duties without even thinking about this as ever being an issue that required a law. “Leadership matters most. Leaders at all levels must set the example to sustain unit effectiveness, readiness, and cohesion.” (Moran & Lynch, 2017) this was a quote from Commandant of the Marine Corps General James F. Amos when the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell went into affect. His statement is perfect concerning this topic and how change in a global setting should be handled.
References:
Moran, D., & Lynch, C. E. (2017). organizational culture and change: What impact will the united states marine corps’ culture have on the implementation of the don’t ask don’t tell repeal? Public Administration Quarterly, 41(2)
Reinke, S. J., & Smith, T. G. (2011). Out and serving proudly: Repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell”. Politics & Policy, 39(6), 925.
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