Research Paper Week 7
Organizational Commitment in the military
Jacqueline Andryc
BMAL 500
4-29-2020
Abstract
For this project, I decided to use my unit in the Air Force as the
organization and review the organizational commitment issues among the
newer recruits. I found several good articles pertaining to military retention,
commitment and issues associated with this. The article I chose was that was
published in Air and Space Power Journal called, “What do people want from
work? This simple question that can transform unit engagement and
retention.” By George Reynolds. During this paper, I focus on the lack of
retention and organizational commitment among members who have served
less then 6 years in the military. I also review how senior leadership can help
potentially engage the members and hopefully retain them. I identified some
of the issues that are known, and some solutions and recommendations
based off the chosen research paper.
Step 1
Organization Summary
The organization I chose to review for this research paper is the United
States military, in particular my unit in the Air Force Reserve. I am currently
assigned to the 910th Medical Squadron in Youngstown, Ohio; We are a small
clinic of approximately 150 individuals supporting the largest remaining free-
standing Air Wing with approximately 1500+ members. Our base is one of
the only aerial spray missions in the Department of Defense, this mission
alone keeps our base alive. In recent years, the medical squadron has lost
their tasking and has turned into an auxiliary unit with no deployable
mission. We are attached to a sister base, in which, if they are unable to fill
their deployment needs then we may be able to send one or two members at
a time to assist the mission. Otherwise, our daily mission is to keep the flyers
flying, so that means physicals exams to keep them current. We are a non-
treating facility, so even though we have doctors, nurses and dentist we
cannot assist in any form of treatment or medical emergency.
Synopsis of the organization challenges
One of the main issues our unit is currently dealing with is, retention. It
cost a large amount of money to send these young airmen through
bootcamp and to their specific job training. When these airmen come back
from training a lot of them separate from the military or transfer to another
unit. These younger airmen comeback with no commitment or loyalty to the
organization, they are unmotivated to work, or be a part of the team. They
don’t attend unit functions or participate in any intermural activities after
hours. They skim by doing the bare minimum until their contract is up, or
they can transfer out. They put low effort into their career progression and
produce low test scores on their Career Development Courses, which is taken
approximately one year after initial training. They seem to have a very
limited desire or no desire at all to be in the military or be apart of our unit.
In an attempt to help keep members on track, supervisors have
initiated better communication with the member and have implemented bi-
annual review sessions. We have teams who invite the new airmen to lunch,
or to after hour activities to try to help them find a connection. The Air Force
Command puts out anonymous surveys several times a year in attempt to
collect statistics on unit climate and overall employee satisfaction. Most of
the younger airmen do not participate in the surveys, so a lot of the data is
based off people who have been in the unit 6+ years and are satisfied with
their jobs.
Step 2 of the problem-solving framework.
The main issues related to this Squadron’s retention problem is directly
related to organizational commitment and organizational climate.
Organizational commitment is the level of commitment the individual
identifies with its organization and commits to the goals of the organization.
To have a strong organizational commitment among the military, the
individual and the organizations values must align. The member must have a
sense of meaningfulness in their work being performed, the overall
organizational climate must be desirable, leadership’s behavior must be
ethical, organizational culture, and the quality of the employees
psychological contract for commitment to the organization must be at full
capacity (Kinicki & Fugate, 2018). The psychological contract “represent an
individual’s perception about the reciprocal exchange between him and
another party” (Kinicki & Fugate, 2018, pp. 57). The psychological contract is
the perceived give and take between the employee and the organization. If
the organization fails to provide what the employee thinks they are entitled
to receive then the employee’s commitment, job satisfaction and overall
performance will decrease and there is a higher likelihood that the employee
will eventually quit (Kinicki & Fugate, 2018).
Within the past six months, there has been a change in command. For
the past 10 years or so the Commanders selected to run the unit, led with a
“good ole boy’s mentality”, they showed favoritism and promotions to those
who they socialized with after hours. Discipline was swept under the rug,
because they didn’t seem to want to do the paperwork. When the new
Commander arrived, many changes were made. All members regardless of
rank are now held to the same level of accountability, if you arrive late for
anything, you receive disciplinary action. The new Commander is structured,
concise with her words, and appears to be a virtuous leader focusing on the
greater good of the unit and its outcomes. She treats people with respect
and dignity, she seems to represent the Air Force core values with integrity,
service before self and excellence in all she does. Regardless of her
appearing to be an outstanding Commander so far, members young and old
are refusing to accept the organizational climate and leadership changes.
Senior leadership including, the Chief, the First Sergeant,
superintendents and supervisors are struggling to bridge the gap between
the younger enlisted and the new commander’s regulations. I’ve heard
grumbling amongst younger airmen, and even some senior leaders. I can’t
speak on behalf of everyone in this group, but within my section we like the
new Commander and the changes she has made so far. We work hard to
positively communicate the new changes for those beneath us, we make the
corrections and lead by example as best as we can. The main challenge we
face monthly are higher demanding workloads on all individuals and not
having enough time for face to face communication.
The final group of individuals are the young airmen, under six years
served in the military. This is the group who is resisting the change to the
new commander the most, and feel they are being punished greater than the
rest. They haven’t experienced a disciplined military and are unsure of how
to stay out of trouble, or even whether or not it’s worth it. This group are
mostly millennials and we are now starting to recruit Gen Z’s. The
generational difference poses uniqueness to identifying what they what out
of the military, how we can magnify their level of commitment? How can we
create meaningful work for them, when we don’t have a deployable mission?
Understand that their time is valuable, and we need to utilize them while we
have them or else they will leave. One of the main problems is in the career
field of the 4Ns, they have 57 individuals and only 20 physical positions or
places for them to work. As I mentioned before we are a non-treating facility,
so they are working in height, weight and blood pressure or helping the
records room file charts, which is not what any of them signed up for.
Our retention issues have been noted among all levels within the
organization. The Wing Commander initiated a climate change or shift and
created teams in each unit to help trouble shoot and resolve this issue. Since
Covid-19 we haven’t had our monthly meetings, everything has gone virtual,
but we are reading a book called “above the line”. This book teaches that
talent cannot replace leadership, true leadership is someone willing to take
others where they are going, and leadership is based off of trust that you
have earned (Coffey, 2015). This book is initiating our organizational climate
change encouraging us as a team to take responsibilities in our actions and
that our performance is based off our behavior. There is always going to be
an event and an outcome, the only thing we have control over and can
change is our response to the event which affects the outcome (Coffey,
2015). As part of this team, we are trying to instill a cultural change,
especially in the younger airmen. For example, the airmen who are mad
about the discipline for being late and teaching them to take responsibility
for their actions and understand that they are in control of the outcomes of
their careers. Also, this is team is to help airmen understand that we have a
wartime mission and a peacetime mission, and even though we are currently
not deploying our job is to be ready, trained and fully qualified to deploy. We
also ask that even though their job is not ideal, that they perform every task
with an “Above the line” mentality, and a positive attitude. Try to look for
ways to make your day better, instead of sitting and complaining about what
it is not.
Step 2
Article analysis
The article I chose for this research paper is titled, “What do people
what from work?”, this article was published in the Air & Space Power Journal
in 2019. This article mentions how the military is no different than civilian
organizations when it comes to finding ways to attract, engage and retain
talented people. The military and other organizations are forced to adapt
their focus to a be an employee-centric approach (Reynolds, G., 2019). He
pointed out during exit surveys that airmen all seem to have similar reasons
to leave a job, interesting and balanced work, assignment flexibility, meaning
and purpose, enjoyment and career progression opportunities (Reynolds, G.,
2019). The author mentions five categories for improving organizational
commitment within the Air Force, compensation, enjoyment, interesting and
balanced workload, career opportunity, and recognition. Each individual
might prioritize these in different order, but they will consider all five of these
attributes when planning on joining, staying engaged or remaining within the
organization (Reynolds, G., 2019).
According to our textbook the motivation that drives an individual level
of organizational commitment is personality, meaningfulness of work,
organizational climate, leadership behavior, and organizational culture
(Kinicki & Fugate, 2018). The author of this article directly mentions the use
of increasing meaningfulness in the workplace, by creating interesting and
balanced work. He also mentioned the fact that based of the personality of
the individual they will prioritize these attributes in different orders
(Reynolds, G., 2019). Another article published in the Journal of Military
Studies mentions understanding your soldier’s role identity and personality
because it can predict their behavior and future job performance (Buijs, T.,
Goldenberg, I., Resteigne, D., & Kirvirahk, J., 2019). The author of this article
points out that organizational citizen behavior or OCB goes hand and hand
with the level of organization commitment. OCB is the unique aspect of
going above and beyond just doing a job within a workplace; Strong
organizational commitment increases the members OCB and willingness to
do more than what was originally asked of them (Buijs, T., Et al, 2019).
Knowing your troops can be a leader’s number one tool in fixing retention
and organizational commitment issues.
Relate the authors view into organizational commitment issues
The Air Force in the past couple years has noticed a decrease in
retention and organizational commitment, this is alarming because the
military spends numerous amounts of money to find and train qualified
members to become a part of their team. With constant turnover, it is hard
to have a powerful force, so identifying the problem and resolving them is a
top priority. Reynolds states, that The Air Force is too complex and too
dynamic with our current advances in technology and weapons systems to
rely and the ups and downs of the surge of new recruits or draftees, if
needed (Reynolds, G., 2019). The Air Force use retention models that usually
can produce accurate predictions, but this retention problem can’t be
focused on after then fact, we need to be actively engaging with our airmen
to solve this problem, before it becomes an issue (Reynolds, G., 2019). The
author mentions for supervisors and commanders to use his five-step guide
when mentoring their troops, changing the unit’s culture and the overall
culture of the Air Force. When adapting new policies and procedures, and
programs keep engagement and retention in minds, think about what the
airmen want and why they are serving. Today’s airmen especially after
training are highly educated, easy to motivate, and in demand, so it is
important to focus on what they want and put into perspective why we need
them (Reynolds, G., 2019).
When offering solutions Reynolds also mentions, empowering our
airmen to improve policies and procedures, having commanders and
supervisor’s question young troops on if there was anything you’d change
what would it be and how would you do it? He also mentions implementing
meaningful unit self-assessments, it is important to be true and honest when
identifying areas that are putting too much strain on the enlisted force.
Establish recognition and a rewards system for outstanding behavior, identify
those who go above and beyond let them know their work did not go
unnoticed. Finally, set the example and do not fake it. Commanders and
supervisors are always being watched so it is important to set high standards
and follow them with a positive attitude, especially when implementing
change (Reynolds, G., 2019).
I think what Reynolds has pointed out is that not only is there a
retention issue and organizational commitment issue in the Air Force, it’s
also an organizational climate and cultural issue. The organizational culture
of the Air Force is one that has been around a long time. There are four
characteristics of organization culture and they are: Shared concept, learned
over time, influenced behavior at work, affects outcomes at multiple levels
(Kinicki, 2018). This challenge of changing the culture cannot happen
overnight but can be changed overtime and with the help of our millennials
and our Gen Z’s. Engaging these members to improve policies, procedures,
and programs will help increase their meaningfulness at work. This can
potentially increase their overall job satisfaction and performance. Increasing
their satisfaction will hopefully increase their organizational commitment and
overtime change the culture of the organization. There is already a culture
shift currently in progress, of course we cannot change the mission, the
disciple or customs and courtesies, but we can change innovation and ideas
from the younger airmen. These new recruits are talented and have a lot to
offer, we need to engage them into the process and help improve the overall
military.
Step 3
Problem-Solving and Recommendations
With the military a lot of protocols and procedures are implemented
outside the unit level, which makes it difficult for commanders and senior
leaders to change things that aren’t in their direct control. Solving retention
issues and organizational commitment is complicated. According to the
textbook, one of the solutions mentioned is to “hire people whose personal
values align with the organization’s” (Kinicki, 2018). This solution is not
possible within the military, when recruiters only want to fill a position.
Recruiters don’t always look to place the best member suited for the
available job. Recruiters have had higher demands in the past several years
with the government increasing the numbers in the military overall, and the
number of available American recruits have decreased with more and more
young adults between the ages of 17-24 attending college instead of military.
A large portion of the other available Americans cannot pass the Armed
Forces Qualification Test which has decreased the number of available
qualified recruits to less than 13% (Reynolds, G., 2019).
As the commander of the unit, one recommendation given by Reynolds
is empowering airmen at all levels of the organization to improve policies and
procedures will help them become more engaged and more satisfied at work
(Reynolds, G., 2019). Listening to Airmen and allowing them to contribute to
the continuing process improvement meetings, hearing what they have to
say, allow them to feel a part of the team. This will give meaningfulness, and
purposefulness to their work. This will increase their overall sense of job
satisfaction and possibly become more committed to the organization. As the
commander, I would ensure that my commanders calls are brief and time
efficient, cut down on the unnecessary communication. I would try and
understand that each person’s time is valuable and help them to find that
work and homelife balance.
As Senior leadership, I would work to support the individual goals of my
troops, finding out what they think is important and help them to find a work-
life balance. I would work to communicate better with my troops and really
get to know them. According to our textbook Type Talk at Work, being an
ENFJ, the extrovert in me loves communicating and being around people, but
I know I am not always a very good listener (Kroeger, Thuesen & Rutledge,
2002). Another thing mentioned about Extroverts that I can relate with is
sometimes I can say so many things in such a small amount of time, that I
have no clue what I just said (Kroeger, Thuesen & Rutledge, 2002).
Understanding this, I can take what Reynolds suggested and ensure that I
lead by example. Realizing that younger troops are always watching me, if I
say something I should remember what I said and follow through with it
(Reynolds, 2019). As a superintended, I will take the recommendations of
Reynolds and implement meaningful feedback sessions, in depth
communication and fight for feedback (Reynolds, 2019). I think focusing on
communication, understanding your troops, and actively listening to their
problems can help members feel connected and noticed as part of the team.
As mentioned in the Type Talk at Work textbook, I would implement
Typewatching and personality testing to help provide a better understanding
for my younger troops and hopefully enhance their careers. Young airmen
get a lot of pressure from parents and from high school guidance counselors
and sometimes can be blinded to all of the available options (Kroeger,
Thuesen & Rutledge, 2002). According to Reynolds, between 77 and 86
percent of the new airmen have parents who have served in the military
(Reynolds, 2019). With this idea, maybe they are unhappy because they
didn’t follow their true calling, as a supervisor getting using typewatching
might not help with retention, but it can help find committed troops will to
perform the job they are assigned. Helping the member identify who they are
can help their overall career goals and job satisfaction, maybe they would
like to transfer to a better suited position still within the Air Force. Still
keeping them in the Air Force saves the Air Force money and overall
everyone would be happier, and commitment levels would be higher.
In the Bible Ecclesiastes mentions, “If either of them falls down, one
can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them
up” (Ecclesiastes 4:10, NIV). In the military, we are trained as a team, and
taught that no man is to be left behind. This verse is a good reminder of what
God has called us to do, each and every member of the team is important,
and we should all look for ways to help these young airmen to engage,
commit, and feel connected.
Reference Page
Buijs, T., Broesder, W., Goldenberg, I., Resteigne, D., & Kivirähk, J. (2019). Warrior and
peacekeeper role identities: associations with self-esteem, organizational commitment and
organizational citizenship behavior, Journal of Military Studies, 8(2019), 3-15.
doi: https://doi.org/10.2478/jms-2019-0002
Reynolds, G. M., U.S.A.F. (2019). What do people want from work?: The simple question that
can transform unit engagement and retention. Air & Space Power Journal, 33(1), 4-18. Retrieved
from http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-
com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/docview/2190337125?accountid=12085
Kinicki, A. & Fugate, M. (2018). Organizational behavior: A practical, problem-
solving approach plus connect. McGraw Hill. ISBN 978126019295.
Kroeger, o., Thuesen, J. M., & Rutledge, H. (2002). Type talk at work: How the
16 personality types determine your success on the job (Revised and
Updated ed.). New York, NY: Dell Publishing. ISBN: 978044059288.
Coffey, W. (2015). Above the Line: Lessons in leadership and life from a
championship program. Penguin Random House LLC. New York, NY. ISBN:
9781101980712.
Holy Bible, NIV
