Case Study Analysis

Ashley Vargas, Adriana Soto, Joseph Ventura Business Team 7

Summer 2014

History of the US Army

The United States Army (USA) is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services. The modern army has its roots in the Continental Army, which was formed on 14 June 1775, to meet the demands of the American Revolutionary War before the establishment of the United States. When the American Revolution broke out, the rebellious colonies did not possess an army in the modern sense. Rather, the revolutionaries fielded an amateur force of colonial troops, cobbled together from various New England militia companies. They had no unified chain of command, and although Artemas Ward of Massachusetts exercised authority by informal agreement, officers from other colonies were not obligated to obey his orders. The American volunteers were led, equipped, armed, paid for, and supported by the colonies from which they were raised. In the spring of 1775, this "Army" was about to confront British troops near Boston, Massachusetts. The revolutionaries had to re-organize their forces quickly if they were to stand a chance against Britain's seasoned professionals. Recognizing the need to enlist the support of all of the American seaboard colonies, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress appealed to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia to assume authority for the New England army. Reportedly, at John Adams' request, Congress voted to "adopt" the Boston troops on June 14, although there is no written record of this decision. Also on this day, Congress resolved to form a committee "to bring in a draft of rules and regulations for the government of the Army," and voted $2,000,000 to support the forces around Boston, and those at New York City. Moreover, Congress authorized the formation of ten companies of expert riflemen from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, which were directed to march to Boston to support the New England militia. George Washington received his appointment as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army the next day, and formally took command at Boston on July 3, 1775. From its formation, the United States Army has been the primary land based portion of the United States military. Though not solely used as a military force, sometimes helping in domestic violence and disaster situations, the Army's primary responsibility has been the fighting of land battles and military occupation. The U.S. Army has had several major periods of combat including the War of 1812, American Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War. After the Cold War ended, the Army has had considerable involvement in UN and NATO peace-keeping efforts as well as the recent War in Iraq and the War in Afghanistan. Nowadays, The U.S. Army, a key component of the U.S. Armed Forces, is made up of the best-trained, most dedicated, most respected Soldiers in the world protecting Americas

freedoms at home and abroad, securing our homeland, and defending democracy worldwide. A Soldier in the U.S. Army is the embodiment of physical strength, emotional strength and strength of purpose. The Army, as one of the three military departments (Army, Navy and Air Force) reporting to the Department of Defense, is composed of two distinct and equally important components: the active component and the reserve components. The reserve components are the United States Army Reserve and the Army National Guard. Regardless of component, The Army conducts both operational and institutional missions. The operational Army consists of numbered armies, corps, divisions, brigades, and battalions that conduct full spectrum operations around the world. (Operational Unit Diagram and descriptions) The institutional Army supports the operational Army. Institutional organizations provide the infrastructure necessary to raise, train, equip, deploy, and ensure the readiness of all Army forces. The training base provides military skills and professional education to every Soldieras well as members of sister services and allied forces. It also allows The Army to expand rapidly in time of war. The industrial base provides world-class equipment and logistics for The Army. Army installations provide the power-projection platforms required to deploy land forces promptly to support combatant commanders. Once those forces are deployed, the institutional Army provides the logistics needed to support them. Without the institutional Army, the operational Army cannot function. Without the operational Army, the institutional Army has no purpose.

Mission
The Army exists to serve the American people, protect enduring national interests, and fulfill the Nation's military responsibilities. Specifically, the Army mission is to provide to combatant commanders the forces and capabilities necessary to execute the National Security, National Defense, and National Military Strategies. Army forces provide the capability-by threat, force, or occupation-to promptly gain, sustain, and exploit comprehensive control over land, resources, and people. This land power capability compliments the other Services' capabilities. Furthermore, the Army is charged to provide logistic and other executive agent functions to enable the other Services to accomplish their missions. The Army is organized to accomplish this mission.

SWOT Analysis for recruitment practices for recruitment offices in El Paso, TX

Below you will read valuable information on how important it is to alter the current recruitment process for possible recruitee's for the United States Army. It is important to implement new procedures when screening possible recruitees to weed out individuals who are not fully dedicated to the United States Armys mission and values. This process will also eliminate individuals who seek only the benefits of the Army, such as tuition assistance, and job security. It is imperative that recruitees understand basic Army knowledge before being sent to Basic Training. In addition this new process will include new ways for recruiters to reach out to possible recruitees in a professional manner. This includes recruiters using social networking sites such as Facebook, and LinkedIn to keep constant communication between all recruiters in the El Paso area, and possible recruitees. Furthermore, it is important that all recruiters are aware of the current errors in the existing recruitment process to correct them and avoid potential slip-ups. In order to set our standards higher for possible recruitees entering the Army it is vital that all recruitment offices in the El Paso area keep constant communication when implementing these changes. Strengths Recruiters are able to market and advertise the Army for certain locations using the process of blue printing, and getting to know the communitys they are in. With this process, demographics and cultural standing are used to determine marketing procedures. This includes marketing to determine the needs of possible recruitees, for example knowing how each individual can benefit from enlisting. Recruiters are also good at helping individuals who are in a limbo phase and can provide different career paths in the army for them. When recruiters become involved in these communities it becomes easier for them to get support from local high schools, malls, and local businesses. Weakness Budget cuts have begun to play a major roll in the recruitment process. Due to the down sizing of the army, funds are being concentrated towards assets of the army, leaving little to no funds for recruits. Not allowing Recruiters to take their recruits to activities and socially interact with them on a personal level can damage a recruiting station. Also public perception of the army can make or break a recruiting station. Not informing a community of the good the army has to offer can damage their recruiting numbers. Recruiters can also become a weakness by not properly screening recruitees and/or fabricating a recruitees history just to meet the quota.

Opportunities There are plenty of resources that can be used to help recruiters improve their recruiting process. Recruiters can take courses that focus on getting their recruit to score higher on the ASVAB exam so that they can receive a better, more rounded job title. Also there will be a course for recruits that will inform them all about U.S. Army, including what it has to offer, benefits and any other question the recruiter can think of. The courses main goal is to make all recruiters more knowledgeable on how to properly inform recruiters about the Army. Most importantly recruiters throughout El Paso can work as a team unit instead of individual units to relieve some of the stress of long hours, and meeting quotas. Threats Probable threats can occur if no change is made in the current recruitment process. For instance, Individuals will enlist not fully understanding the in and outs of the Army, which will cause them to not fully apply themselves. Without knowledge of basic Army procedures, and the chain of command, enlistees may become overwhelmed in Basic Training and regret enlisting. Regretting enlisting can lead to low performance, involuntary discharges, and depression for enlistees. Also the recruiting process now promotes individual work amongst recruiters, which requires them to put in long hour workdays and causes unimaginable stress.

THE NATURE OF THE COMPANYS COMMUNICATION CHALLENGE

For the past couple of years recruiting has come dominantly from high schools and it doesnt look like it is going to change any time soon. For students the promise of seeing the world while fighting for your country is enough. Others join to have a way to pay for college and enhance their education while learning a new trade. Recruiting is no easy task, they work long hours from sun up to sun down, it is an 8am to 8pm job, that leaves little to no time for their families. Recruiters must go out and get recruitees into their office, make sure all proper documentation is correct, and they have to explain the Armys mission and values. They perform all of these tasks individually with personal quotas to meet. Working individually along with outdated material can become stressful and take a toll on the individual and his/her personal life. During time of war the armys recruiting process is based on trying to enlist as many people as possible, which has played a major role in the type of recruitees chosen. Due to the long hours and outdated materials, recruiters are forced to do the bare minimum,

which leads to poor communication with potential recruitees. This, along with having to work individually, opens the door to potentially not giving a recruitee their full-undivided attention. Which in turn leaves the recruitee not fully aware of what he/she is getting themselves into, and can lead to serious problems when they get to basic training; from rebellious and emotional outbreaks to suicidal thoughts and actions. Doing the bare minimum and lack of communication may have a serious affect in the up coming years. Working individually with outdated material and long hours are key factors in a lack of communication between recruiter and recruitee. If recruiters were to have more time to spend with their recruitees they would be able to better inform them of their job title in the Army with more in-depth conversations. Also recruiters could have recruitees watch videos of current members in the service performing the job theyve chosen. The more the recruitee knows of basic army knowledge and their future job, the les adamant they are to change. Recruiters need to communicate amongst offices to make sure that recruitees are fully benefitting from their knowledge. Recruitees should be giving proper training material for ASVAB test, as well as informational material on job descriptions. Meetings between recruiters and recruitees should go into detail including info on benefits, housing, and Army language, Chain of Command etc.

Current Challenges and Purposed solutions:

The recruitment process is a major role in the U.S. Army; the process involves generating a group of qualified potential recruits for a particular job. In the recruitment process the U. S. Army must announce what it is that a potential recruit may face in this type of field and it must attract qualified candidates to sign up. The U.S. Army must seek possible recruits that may come from within such as Reservist or High School Senior to someone seeking better job security or to better themselves with the benefits but that also believe in the U.S Armys mission statement. Despite the importance of selecting the best potential talent, the recruitment process is sought with many challenges, the most important challenges of the recruitment process is determining who is a good fit, screening applicants and measuring their ability to perform along with several testing factors such as a written test and a physical requirement test. Weight and age plays a major role if anyone wanted to join. The weight and age requirement also make it a challenge to sign up potential recruits. If the individual has tattoos, or a criminal record is also a downfall for the recruiter. They have to have the tattoos removed or approved if not removed or approved they cannot join. This is one of the biggest challenges the U. S Army recruiters have, the written test. The test includes mathematical ability, verbal ability and mechanical ability. It must be passed

with a higher score in order to maintain a more well rounded position if the potential recruit scores low, they will have a low paying position in a not so good position. Which is discouraging to the potential recruit and at times they do not want to sign-up. The motivation of a possible recruit is very important. Geographical Areas also play an important role in finding possible recruits; being that we are in the El Paso Area we have one of the largest bases in the U.S, Fort Bliss. El Paso is considered an Army town, there are plenty of potential recruits but due the current challenges it is harder to find possible recruits. Recruiters have to know the area and become familiar with what it is a possible recruit is looking for. Lastly, a big challenge the U. S. Army faces is misconception of the U. S. Army. Possible recruits sometimes form the wrong impression about the U.S. Army and the prospects it may offer, such as the tuition assistance, housing, GI Bill, sign-on bonuses etc. The purposed solutions are to educate the recruiter to informer the potential recruit in all aspects of the U. S. Army, not mislead any potential recruit. Giving the recruiter the knowledge to be able to answer any and all questions a possible recruit may have. To give them the tools necessary to be able to recruit more potential recruits. Social Networking plays a huge role in the recruitment possibilities so we have enforced new resources to the recruiter to boost their quota. We have also encouraged are recruiters to take courses on Social Media so that they maintain the new age era and enlist thru Social Media. This has been very beneficial as most of the potential recruits are 18-21 years of age. Technology in general is always changing and we have to stay with the current trends. The ultimate goal is to make sure the possible recruit scores high on their testing and to be able to sign-up more motivated, educated recruits.