Command Culture Impacts to Naval Reserve Readiness

Abstract

In order to accomplish the Navy’s mission, the Department of Defense equips the Navy with materiel like ships, submarines, and aircraft. All of this hardware requires manpower to operate, maintain, and supply. Some of this manpower is derived from Navy Reservists. Throughout our nation’s history, men and women from the Navy Reserve have answered the call to support and defend our country. Now, more than ever, as technology advances rapidly and competitors prepare for a peer-to-peer conflict, our nation’s Reservists must be adequately trained and ready to fight. Navy Reservists throughout the country (including Guam and Puerto Rico) are attached to one of 118 Navy Reserve centers (NRC). The NRCs are manned by active-duty personnel responsible for supporting and training the Reservists, so they are ready to deploy at any given notice. This project aims to evaluate the command culture at several NRCs and correlate the findings to reserve readiness and retention. First, the culture will be measured using the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI). Next, the results will be evaluated to determine if a particular culture is more conducive to higher readiness. If a correlation is determined, the next step will provide senior leadership and individual commands with the results and literature regarding culture change, with the intention to improve reserve readiness.