l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 Internal Army Poll: Only 26% of Officers Say Army Headed in Right Direction-
-'Political Correctness' Cited
(CNSNews.com) – Is the U.S. Army headed in the right direction?
An internal Army survey that was conducted in 2011 and published this year
discovered that only 26 percent of active-duty Army officers say yes--and
that one of the two main themes cited by those who say no is that the Army
is now adversely impacted by "political correctness" imposed by both outside
policymakers and senior Army leaders.
The 26 percent who said the Army was headed in the right direction in 2011
was the lowest percentage who gave that response since the Army began
conducting this survey in 2005. It was also significant drop from the 33
percent who had said the Army was heading in the right direction in 2010.
In the 2011 survey, in contrast to the 26 percent who said the Army was
heading in the right direction, 38 percent said it was headed in the wrong
direction and another 36 percent remained neutral on the topic, neither
agreeing nor disagreeing that the army is heading in the right direction.
The report said that 24 percent of those who believed the Army was not
headed in the right direction provided additional comments on why they
believed that was the case. "Two themes stood out in these comments," said
the report. The first was concern over the downsizing of the Army and the
impact it might have on national security.
The second was the impact of "political correctness."
"Secondly," said the report, "several comments indicated that political
correctness or the influence of politics in the Army is a reason the Army is
not headed in the right direction. These comments generally cited the
negative influence of government policy makers (outside the Army) as being
detrimental to the future of the Army, and indicated that senior Army
leaders themselves felt the need to bow to 'politically correct solutions'
to appease policy makers, or to 'play politics' within their own
organizations."
The Annual Survey of Army Leadership, conducted by U.S. Army's Center for
Army Leadership, asked 16,800 commissioned and non-commissioned officers to
agree or disagree with the statement: “The Army is headed in the right
direction to prepare for the challenges of the next 10 years.”
Seventy-four percent, either actively or passively, did not agree with the
statement: And of those who did not agree, these were the top reasons:
-- 58 percent cited the Army’s inability to “retain quality leaders.”
-- 57 percent cited “a lack of discipline, or the “Army is too soft”
-- 53 percent pointed to “Ineffective leaders at senior levels”
-- 52 percent said “senior leaders focus on the wrong priorities”
-- 46 percent said junior leader promotions/advancements are happening too
soon
-- 39 percent said “resources/funding or technology are insufficient”
On leadership, the survey found that “interpersonal tact and innovation
were identified as the two leader attributes that consistently show the most
need for improvement across all levels of leaders.”
Ret. Lt. Colonel Bob Maginnis, a security and foreign affairs analyst, says
when it comes to leadership issues, the survey results are positive. But, he
added, “What this communicates is that below the surface, there is a lot
of tension. A lot of skepticism, and to a certain degree, pessimism.”
Maginnis added that “cultural trends” within the Army such as defense
budget cuts, political correctness and a shift in national security strategy
have deepened the pessimism of many Army officers.
“I’m very concerned about the cultural trends here. I’m very confident
that we have a very effective fighting force, but even the leadership are
beginning to see some erosion because of forces from the outside. They’re
concerned that they’re going to lose their capability because we’re going
to be so crippled in terms of cuts,” Maginnis told CNSNews.com.
The Center for Army Leadership, part of the Combined Arms Center, Fort
Leavenworth, Kan. has conducted this survey annually since 2005. It is a
scientific survey used to generalize findings for all Army leaders, Lt.
Colonel Jeff Allen told CNSNews.com in a statement.
Allen said there are more than 200 questions in the survey, and overall, the
survey shows “positive” indicators about “the current state of
commitment , satisfaction and engagement” of Army leaders.
According to Allen, “90 percent are committed to their team or immediate
work group, 83 percent are satisfied with their career in the Army, and 85
percent agree they directly impact the success of their unit.
“We, the Army, did this study on ourselves, this did not come from an
outside source. We think we are the most introspective organization in the
Nation and continually strive to get better. We listen to our young leaders
and value their input,” Allen added.
The 2011 Annual Survey of Army Leadership was conducted by ICF International
and has a margin of error of plus or minus 7 points. |
|
