Management Problem Final Essay

Military Women’s Association Problem

The Military Women’s Association is a 501(c)3 non-profit charitable organization. The Military Women’s Association is a 501(c)3 non-profit charitable organization. The association is exclusively for women who have served or are serving honorably in the United States Military. This organization was established in 1960 with the mission of preserving and promoting the history and traditions of women in the military from World War I to the present; conducting programs for charitable and educational purposes; promoting the welfare and well-being of elderly, disabled, and needy women veterans, as well as women currently serving in the military; providing entertainment, care, and assistance to hospitalized veterans and members of the Armed Forces of the United States’ sponsoring or participating in activities of a patriotic nature; and fostering the spirit of comradeship of women who have served or who now serving in the United States Military, regular or reserve components.

Within this organization, there are many challenges to overcome to keep the organization working. This paper will focus on the issue of a difficult person to work with who manages an important division of the organization. One of the most important focuses of the organization is to preserve the history of the women service members. The person who is currently appointed as the association historian and documents curator of the history collection is uncooperative and does not communicate; however, she has extensive knowledge of the items and the history of the service members. She has been in this position for about 30 years.

There are emails and phone conversations between the historian and the board of directors. This problem impacts the board of directors and other stakeholders such as the Women of the Military Foundation and those who donate money and items to the history collection. The length of the existence of this problem is unknown due to the high turnover rate of the board of directors.

The expectations and requirements of the position are outlined in the Military Women’s Association Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), How To Book, and via phone conversations and emails. There is also a board of directors meeting each month where problems, expectations, and resolutions are communicated during a phone conference.

When expectations and key deadlines are missed, there is no consequence; however, it is exposed through email and during the phone conferences. This is an all-volunteer organization, which creates many challenges when it comes to holding people accountable. According to “Unaddressed, necessary conflict simmers just below and erupts counter-productively above the surface at work” (Heathfield, 2017).

There is also an issue with how the SOP lays out the reporting chain for this position and the wrong people (organization president) entertaining conversations with the historian instead of leaving it to the 2nd Vice President who oversees the collection historian position. This causes major communication problems. The organization has relied on one person for history related information for a very long time. The organization allowed this person to become too important.

There are also some ethical issues with this person. Soon, the Women of the Military collection which is owned by the Military Women’s Association will be transferred to the Women of the Military Foundation. Someone who donated items to this collection did so for the Military Women’s Association. They found out about the collection being transferred to another organization and requested the items to be returned. The historian has refused to return the items. There is a conflict of interest because the historian is also a part of the Women of the Military Foundation.

Another issue that causes a poor reflection on the organization is planning for military expo support and display. The historian is late shipping the display items to the chapters that support the expos which causes poor planning or late receipt of the items; due to this, the association ended up missing an expo. The booth costs a lot of money which is covered by another organization. This is a poor reflection of the organization; it causes volunteer to be reluctant to support this function; and causes the organization to miss out on recruiting and networking opportunities.

So far, changes to the SOP have been drafted to reflect and update to the organization chart and roles and responsibilities of the association historian and clarifying the reporting chain of the documents curator and expo support procedures. While the SOP update is in the review process, expo planning is now the responsibility of the 2nd Vice President.

According to Nieuwhof (2013), the consequences of unresolved issues with difficult people in a volunteer organization can be huge and costly. This could lead to factions, dissent, gossip, resentment, lost potential, frustration, and low morale.

References

Heathfield, S. (2017). How to Deal With Difficult People in the Workplace. Retrieved from