Sailor Perspectives and Recommendations for Communication About Divisive Events and Inclusion within the Fleet
Loading...
Authors
Aten, Kathryn
Subjects
inclusion
retention
current events
division
learning strategies
under-represented groups
diversity education
leadership
retention
current events
division
learning strategies
under-represented groups
diversity education
leadership
Advisors
Date of Issue
2022-12-15
Date
Publisher
Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
Recent divisive events, at both national and global levels, have brought to light the challenges leaders in private and public/governmental organizations face when communicating with employees about sensitive events that may impact organizational effectiveness. The Navy’s recent steps to engage in necessary conversations to address divisive events and leverage inclusion and diversity to fully promote warfighting excellence highlighted the challenges inherent in such communication and created the need to better understand how to help leaders engage sailors when divisive events arise.
This study uses a case analysis and a design-thinking approach to explore sailors’ perceptions of conversations about sensitive events to identify tensions and strategies for advancing successful and needed conversations. The data for this study are collected through forty-four semi-structured interviews with sailors ranking E1-O6 and are analyzed using a qualitative approach via well-established inductive theory building methods.
The integration of the participants’ responses with the related literature highlights four needed individual and organizational capacities to support successful conversations about sensitive subjects: metacognition, emotional regulation, cultural curiosity, and communication competence.
The study generates two key conclusions. First, sailors disagree on what topics require conversation: majority and minority groups’ perceptions differ, and the inability to engage effectively in sensitive conversations is a military vulnerability. Second, the Navy communication often demonstrates an inadequate capacity for managing these conversations: leaders lack self-awareness, emotional regulation is challenging, cultural curiosity is not developed, and the tensions generated by communication hierarchies limit communication effectiveness.
To facilitate change, we recommend drawing from successful programs such as bystander intervention and “see something, say something” to encourage responses to exclusionary communication, emphasize cohesion, and recognize disinformation and division as a security threat.
Type
Report
Description
NPS NRP Executive Summary
Series/Report No
Department
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
N1 - Manpower, Personnel, Training & Education
Funder
This research is supported by funding from the Naval Postgraduate School, Naval Research Program (PE 0605853N/2098).
Format
4 p.
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.