COMM 315 Week 3 Military and Civilian Cultures
Contemporary Diversity Issues: Military and Civilian Cultures Contrasted
Many people overlook factors other than race, ethnicity, and national origin when discussing culture. It’s not often thought of that a state, city, or even a small community can have many different cultures. One such culture, frequently disregarded, is the local tactical area. Even though the majority of U.S. military personnel are regular citizens of their states, it is clear that their culture is distinct from the majority of civilian communities.
The military community’s roles, regulations, and networks will be contrasted with those of the civilian community in which it operates in this paper. For curtness and the reasons for this paper, the local tactical area will be limited to that of the full-time power of the Fight Stream Air Public Gatekeeper Base. The civilian communities immediately surrounding the base will be the only ones to which it will be compared. Additionally, only aspects of the communities’ workplaces will be considered.
Roles
While many civilians are aware of the differences between the military and civilian organizations’ operations, most are unaware of those differences. A person’s workday might appear to be very similar to that of their military counterpart in a typical civilian setting. Car mechanics, for instance, generally perform similar errands in the regular citizen market as they would on the base. The same is true for warehouse workers, accountants, and medical professionals. The purpose of the work is where the two differ most significantly. A civilian jet engine mechanic at a company like Duncan Aviation does their job to make sure that a particular airplane can take its passengers to where they need to go. A nonmilitary personnel auto technician fixes vehicles and trucks with the goal that their clients will actually want to drive their vehicles. Regular citizen specialist really focuses on their patients to help them accomplish and keep an elevated degree of well-being. However, they all serve the same purpose in the military. In order to keep the base’s ability to fight wars, each individual completes their own tasks. The automotive mechanic repairs the vehicles so that they can be used in the fight, the jet engine mechanic keeps the jet running, and the doctor keeps his patients healthy so that they can fight. Every individual in the civilian community fulfills their work roles for a variety of reasons. Everyone in the military knows that their job is to support a war-fighting machine directly.
Rules
The fact that members of the military are a part of such a machine significantly alters the operating rules. The vast majority, while growing up, have heard their dad or mom utilize the expression, “This isn’t a vote-based system.” The military takes autocratic rule to an extreme, but not without good reason, unlike the majority of civilian occupations. In regular citizen work, on the off chance that a manager arranges a representative to accomplish something which the representative feels is rash or perilous, that worker has the option to decline the undertaking. An employee of the military does not receive that benefit during combat operations. Refusal to comply with a request in specific situations can convey very cut-off punishments, including fines, downgrades, detainment, or even passing. Even though these are the most extreme scenarios, the military member’s mentality extends to other aspects of their work. As a result, a lot of military personnel have an attitude of refusing to accept failure. The military member is taught that failure is not an option during basic training; The task will be completed regardless of the challenges faced. Civilians, on the other hand, rarely exhibit such a firm refusal to accept defeat. Instead, it is now widely accepted that a civilian businessperson might view what a military member might consider a failure as a valuable learning opportunity. Mistakes should be embraced and learned from, according to motivational speakers, business training seminars, and educational institutions.
COMM 315 Week 3 Military and Civilian Cultures
Writer and business person Tom Kelley shared the accompanying knowledge in a web-based article. Look underneath the outer layer of numerous extraordinary business victories, and you’re probably going to track down a path of disappointments that went before them. Thomas Edison stated, “I have not failed,” describing the laborious process of trial and error that resulted in the invention of the incandescent light bulb and General Electric. I have only come up with 10,000 ineffective strategies.” Kelley, 2005). Each member of the military is expected to carry out their duties in accordance with established guidelines. While these standards can be changed, the interaction is challenging and tedious. The rules of the civilian workplace are typically much more lenient, allowing for greater innovation and advancement, but managers must exert significantly more effort to maintain organizational balance.
Over the past decade or so, networking has become somewhat of a buzzword in corporate America. Businesses rely on their employees to use these networks to accomplish tasks and achieve goals at the lowest possible cost. Colleges and universities emphasize the importance of forming and maintaining relationships for workplace effectiveness. A corporate executive charging their administrative assistant to book airline tickets to a symposium or meeting is one example. Even though it might be simple enough to call the first travel agency that comes up in the phone book, it wouldn’t hurt if the administrative assistant could call one or two travel agencies that had a strong business relationship with them. Even though the outcome might be the same, the business might be able to save money if the travel agent offered a deal or an upgrade because of their long-standing relationship with the company. Situations like this one are common in today’s businesses. However, these kinds of networks are a little bit more closely monitored and regulated in the military. In the previous scenario, a military transportation specialist would have had to either call a civilian vendor based on a rotation schedule or use the military’s internal airline reservation service to purchase the tickets. However, this does not exclude military personnel from business networks; rather, employing them when civilian agencies are involved requires a little bit more caution. Between military individuals, notwithstanding, the guidelines are undeniably looser, and because of the broad travel done by most individuals from the military, the organizations are far bigger topographically. A tactical part positioned abroad calling a companion or associate at a stateside base for counsel or data is definitely not an extraordinary practice. In fact, many military personnel keep a contact list of former coworkers at multiple bases so that they can draw on their expertise and previous experience. In spite of the fact that networking serves essentially the same purpose in both cultures, the methodology and control of the networks are vastly distinct. COMM 315 Week 3 Military and Civilian Cultures.
Conclusion
This brief study examined the differences between the civilian community surrounding the Air National Guard community at Battle Creek and certain aspects of the military culture. There were differences in the roles people played, the rules imposed on them, and the networks each group used to accomplish its goals.
Although the military members share many mannerisms, language, experiences, and goals, it is not widely acknowledged that they belong to a separate culture. While there are certainly many similarities between the two cultures, closer examination reveals that there are also vast differences.
References:
Kelley, T. (2005, October 18). Failure as a Success Strategy. FC Now. Retrieved January 17, 2007, from
http://blog.fastcompany.com/archives/2005/10/18/failure_as_a_success_strategy.html? partner=rss
