Writing

I. Background Information

For this assignment, I chose to examine my workplace on Langley Air Force Base. Our office is known as Weapons Standardization, where we train and evaluate weapons loaders to safely and securely load munitions on the aircraft. Our small office is broken into two different sections: The Loading Standardization Crew (LSC), which is comprised of three Senior Non-Commissioned Officers (SNCO’s), and the Standardization Lead Crews (SLC), which are comprised of two different crews of three personnel each, one NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) and two lower ranking personnel per crew. The LSC crew manages the office, schedules, and personnel issues, while the SLC crews manage day-to-day operations of training and evaluating aircraft personnel.

While I haven’t been in the office very long, I immediately noticed some barriers to communication. The first barrier I noticed is an ignorance of medium, as we use hand signals during weapons loading due to aircraft noise. The next is a language barrier, as one of the LSC members tends to be very sarcastic but some of the younger personnel interpret her words as anger or frustration. Following that, I have noticed an interpersonal barrier between LSC and SLC. The LSC crew tends to micromanage everything and keep an iron grip on the power they have, leaving SLC to feel their needs aren’t being considered and feeling distrusted. Finally, there is also an issue with individual barriers between members.

II. Barrier Definitions

· Ignorance of medium: This barrier is a misunderstanding of forms of communication that aren’t strictly verbal, such as signs, signals, or symbols used during a sports game to hide what your intentions/plans are from the other team.

· Language barrier: This barrier results from difficulties understanding different languages, vocabularies, accents, or dialects. The misinterpretations stem from a badly expressed message, unqualified assumptions, or wrong interpretations.

· Interpersonal barrier: This barrier shows a lack of trust in others. There can be misunderstandings conveyed by body language. There is a disregarding of others’ experiences. The barrier can result in a lack of cooperation, motivation, trust, and a fear of being penalized.

· Individual barrier: This barrier can occur when two individuals experience the same event but perceive it differently. It can result in poor attention and retention, defensiveness, or closed mindedness.

III. Barrier incidents

The communication example either as a direct quote or paraphrase	The name of the inhibitors that the example represents	A justification of your selection of the inhibitor
During a briefing, one of the SLC crew members was demonstrating correct hand signals to a crew he was training. A member of the LSC crew saw what they were teaching and did not understand the hand signals. The LSC member attempted to correct the member performing the training, showing an incorrect hand signal. This resulted in a debate on the hand signals, and almost resulted in a major injury during the actual weapons load shortly after.	Ignorance of Medium	These signals are widely used throughout our career field and are an important part of the communication for a crew. There was a communication breakdown between both the trainer and the crews performing the load, which almost resulted in injury and damaged the munition.
While having an office meeting, one of the LSC members called a SLC member out by name and said that he is lazy in a sarcastic manner. He is now under the impression that his superiors think he is lazy and unmotivated.	Language Barrier	While the LSC member did say he was lazy, she was actually attempting an ill-performed joke to commend him on his hard work. The SLC member does not think his work or opinion during meetings matters, and the LSC member does not understand why he didn’t understand her sarcasm.
A member of LSC tends to micromanage everything that happens in the shop, schedule personnel for any shift despite difficulties they may have being on that shift, and constantly reminds others that LSC is in charge and that SLC will do what they are told.	Interpersonal Barrier	The actions of the LSC member has caused poor relationships between the LSC and SLC crews. The SLC crews do not feel trusted or empowered by their superiors and feel that their personal needs are not an objective or issue to the office.
During a post-evaluation meeting, an LSC member sat down to discuss the professional demeanor of a member being evaluated by both me and another SLC member. The LSC member was frustrated and thought we had been allowing members to talk and act in vulgar or unprofessional ways. Though we were able to successfully explain the situation to him, the other SLC member interpreted the meeting much differently than I did. This resulted in the other SLC member being defensive and closed off when I was attempting to explain why the supervisor was frustrated.	Individual Barrier	While I was able to understand the LSC member’s frustration and issues, the other SLC member did not. She thought he was angry with us and wanted to “correct” us on professional behavior and what we allow during our evaluations. The lack of understanding between us caused an issue where I couldn’t explain to her the way forward and how we would change the way we evaluate.

IV. Evaluation

I would rate our organization at 75, or average.

While most of our communication tends to flow well at a broad level, there are several small communication issues that are beginning to pile up. There is an issue of communication flow between LSC and SLC that needs to be addressed. LSC tends to leave the SLC crews in the dark with many different issues and tend to be unrealistic about expectations or doesn’t pay attention to the clarity of their messages. While the expectations are that the SLC crews will carry the day to day tasks, LSC tends to try to micromanage SLC without being involved with the tasks, leaving SLC feeling frustrated, confused, and having an overall feeling their voices do not matter.

While the office itself tends to be more relaxed in comparison to other military entities, there is a strange rank dynamic in play. Most of the supervision wants to be down to earth and wants the lower ranking to communicate with them, but they do not set clear guidelines or expectations on what is acceptable communication and what is not. There is also an issue of lower ranking personnel feeling stressed and confused because they aren’t sure what is acceptable to say or do in front of higher-ranking personnel in the office.