XMGT/230 Factors That Affect Management Paper

Factors that Affect Management
Course/ XMGT 230

To get a good look at how external and internal factors affect management, we are going to look at the United States Army and how it is affected daily by global, technical, innovative, diverse and ethical issues. Today now more than ever the world has shrunk and it takes great leaders to command a company to achieve success in the world. By looking at the Army we can see all five examples of factors that affect leaders and managers trying to make a business or organization achieve its goals. Globalization and how it affects the Army leadership is that we now have many different contingency operations that are conducted in several countries around the world. With leadership spread out there is a larger need for instant forms of communications and not just any form of communication, but secure forms of communication as well. From the smallest squad in a remote operating base in the mountains of Afghanistan to the Commanding General of the entire area of operations, there comes a time when
instantaneous commands need to be given to or received to prevent a major international incident from happening. Not only do commanders in these remote areas need to concern themselves with their own employees or soldiers, they also need to be certain as to incorporate the local population into their areas of concern. As with civilian businesses, globalization promotes competition and that leads to advances in innovation and technology. The need to manage worldwide deployments requires some state of the art technology. Units that are deploying must coordinate and organize a listing of the equipment and personnel that they need to take in order to complete the mission. These listings must be sent back and forth for review and finalization. The technology needed to ensure safe communications that do not get intercepted by the opposing forces are constantly in a state of design and improvement. Companies are continually fighting for those contracts to sell their ideas for the needed technology. This demand for not only the communications, but the technology for tracking the equipment is driving these companies to produce down to the minute tracking devices that a unit can ensure their needs are met by being able to tell exactly where their shipment is. Logisticians depend on RFID tags placed on equipment to tell where it is in the supply chain. This is extremely helpful when a higher level Commander is asking when and where a certain piece of equipment will be arriving. These RFID tags are also placed in boxes for tracking repair parts. This technology can result in a briefing that is more in depth than just a plain description that “the part is on its way”. Giving a more in depth briefing makes you more confident as a leader and shows that you know what you are talking about. Innovation and diversity can go hand in hand for an Army unit.
As a leader of over 30 personnel, you can find many different talents and skill levels among your personnel. The ability to tap into the diverse backgrounds of these people can lead to new fresh ideas to fulfill goals of the organization. As stated before with the different settings of units around the world, they may have a unique need for a certain type of equipment and for example in the Iraq, Afghanistan campaigns the military was in need of a vehicle that could resist land mines and roadside bombs and protect the lives of the soldiers inside of them, so after much consideration the MRAP or Mine Resistant Ambush Protective vehicle was transformed into an American military vehicle. The need led to the innovation of a vehicle that could divert the force of an explosion out away from the crew inside and limit the
damage. Business ethics or ethics in general seem to be a huge topic in today’s society. Leaders sometimes walk a very fine line between good and bad ethics. Good business or leadership ethics ensure to the soldier or employee that the leader can be trusted and taken at his word. An example of poor ethics would be General Petraeus, he was a huge success in Iraq and Afghanistan and went on to lead the CIA only to be caught in a scandal that he had an affair on his wife. In the military a soldier is held to a standard and adultery is frowned upon, even punishable if proven. Soldiers could have been punished under General Petraeus’ command for such offences. Since he was exposed no one would ever trust him on his word again and definitely not take him serious when he is trying to give a brief on ethics. With social media so highly used by millions of people bad ethics can be caught on camera and shown to the world in seconds. As a leader in the world of business or the military, one must be very versatile and flexible. Factors that affect your ability to lead can change in an instant and require you to think on your feet and make a decision that in some case may cost a person their life. As a leader that can achieve high success you should look at these factors and be open to suggestion and conduct self-evaluations from time to time to ensure that you carry on with good ethics and set the example for others to follow. Stay on top of the latest innovative technology to be able to compete in the global market. If education is required, then go for it, Technology can get away from you if you let it and younger more adaptable leaders will take your place if you let them.

References
Chapter 1 Managing, n.d.
Chapter 2 The External Environment and Organization n.d.
Chapter 3 Managerial decision making n.d.