Abstract
Women and veterans have long been ignored as far as combat is concerned. Health issues associated with women could easily be controlled, if the issue of women and combat was carefully legislated. However, recent changes in the United States military organization have stressed that women should be given equal opportunities to participate in combat as men. Therefore, this research paper aims at analyzing various constraints to organizational behavior that led to such legislation. Furthermore, analyzes of the best organizational behavior theory that can best enhance the performance of the organization, and hence eliminate cases of women and veterans facing adverse health complications.
Moreover, the paper uses a suitable research design to establish the relationship between health issues specific to women in combat, and policies that have been formulated to ensure that women’s abilities in combat are not overstretched in such a way that it jeopardizes their health and psychological state. The analysis in the paper entails the mission, values, structure and culture of the United States army that encourages women to participate in combat.
Introduction
Women have been playing an auxiliary part in the United States military, but the ordeal has given rise to controversial arguments of whether it is necessary to open up all military positions and mandates to women (Miller, 2012). Women’s and veteran’s role in combat has been preceded for many generations, as combat brings more harm than good, as far as women are concerned. Therefore, the implied challenges faced in the battlefield by women, or the overall alterations military training has on women, is yet to be fully understood (Miller, 2012).
Thesis Statement
This research study aims at investigating women’s ability in combat, and the reparations that precede conflict should be well considered, and necessary interventions made to prevent women from participating in combat.
Objectives of the research study
Research objectives provide a basis to establish an extent to which the research study will cover in a bid to solve the research problem. Therefore, this research study will be guided by distinct objectives, which will help in uncovering the implications of women’s participation in the military combat.
This study aims at establishing the motives of women who engage in military combat
The study seeks to determine the relationship between combat, and associated health, physical and psychological breakdowns in women.
This study aims at engaging the military organization, recent changes in the military organization, and ways in which the gap that women seek to fill in the military can be constituted otherwise
Therefore, the research study will be embedded in uncovering hazards that women in combat are likely to face, with the help of the formulated research objectives. Consequently, the research objectives cover all necessary areas which drive most women into joining the military.
Research Questions
Research questions are an emblem in making sure that the investigation objectives are attained. Moreover, research questions give the research question a motive of existence. In this accord, this research study will employ research questions that will help to bring out the concern in the research problem
What circumstances drive women into joining the military?
Are women capable of keeping up with the physical fitness ordained to men?
What alterations would women’s involvement in combat bring?
Background of women participation in combat
Apparently, women have been participating in combat at the United States military for over two centuries, and most have become veterans of war (Miller, 2012). The United states army commenced its operations during the fight for the independence of the United States of America. Initially, women were not given the chance to participate in combat, as cultures and norms forbade the women from fighting. Various reasons made it impossible for women to be recruited into the military. For instance, during the seventeenth and eighteenth century, the military organization in the United States was not well organized and did not have the legislation to incorporate women into the military (Miller, 2012). Therefore, disguise was the only chance women had in participating in combat. Many women disguised themselves as men, in order to get a chance at fighting. However, the military administration did not welcome the idea of having women in the armed forces under any circumstance as women were deemed as a dead weight in battle, which snarled the pace of war.
However, during the world wars, women’s participation was voluntary, but the participation in combat was still restricted and banned women from the battlefront, where the abilities of men were deemed superior. Furthermore, roles played by women in combat mainly included the provision of medical care to individuals or veterans wounded in the battlefield. Thus, the role women played in providing fitness to men could not be overlooked, despite the danger being involved in the health and mental state of women and other veterans (Iskar, 2010). Today, women play a major role in the battlefield and compose about fifteen percent of the United States Army.
Apart from hazards faced by women, women impact various military units differently than men (Iskra, 2010). The difference in the way war affects both genders, and the way it is up taken by the civilian community also raises concerns. For instance, women are more likely to get injured than men on the battlefield. More injuries because of lack of masculinity causes a slow down in combat activities and the execution of vital orders for the superiors may also be delayed, leading to dire delays.
Moreover, mental, physical, as well as the moral response of women and that of men differs considerably, and researchers have shown that a military unit of men is more active than a military unit made up of a mixture of genders (Iskra, 2010). Efficiency is a vital role in ensuring the victory is achieved, and efficiency cannot be achieved without mental cohesion. Apart from the incapacity of the female gender to participate in combat, many cultures in the world, including the United states, calls for the masculine genders to protect the feminine genders, mandated to oversee the continuity of generation. Thus, allowing women to participate in combat does not only expose them to health and mental hazards but also goes against the cultural practices of many civilizations in the world (Iskra, 2010).
Research Design
Research design involves all the steps involved in sourcing data for a research study, regarding type of data to be collected, or the building elements of the research at hand(Creswell, 2013). Therefore, a research design is mainly characterized by the research sample, the techniques used by the researcher to establish data segments, as well as the overall survey techniques used to obtain data from the research samples (Creswell, 2013). In this regard, the nature of the research study call for the application of the mixed research design, to enable the research study to collect both historical and current data (In Baran, & In Jones, 2016), necessary for the success of studying the challenges faced by women in combat.
Apparently, the mixed methods research designs incorporate the use of both qualitative and quantitative research methods in obtaining data (In Baran, & In Jones, 2016). For instance, qualitative research design is important in getting historical and empirical data about a given research problem or phenomena (In Baran, & In Jones, 2016). Consequently, the nature of methodologies used in qualitative design allows the researcher to provide evidence of the existence and significance of the research problem being studied. Thus, to provide evidence that the participation of women and veterans in combat causes adverse health and physical impacts, qualitative research methods would best assist in attaining a formidable conclusion.
Furthermore, quantitative research methodologies involve a vast use of survey techniques, which provides a broad range of reliable data. The core problem of the research study is quite sensitive, and the use of qualitative data collecting methods cannot give rise to tangible data which can be used to establish a desirable trend (Creswell, 2013). Therefore, the use of methods such as interviews, questionnaires, together with observation and review of secondary information will give the research study a basis to institute necessary recommendation with a concrete understanding of the way forward for adapting to the volatile gender strife. Data collected from the research study will be based on the mission of the United States military, the values held by the military, as well as structure and leadership of military battalions.
Sample Size and Sampling Techniques
Sampling will be done randomly from different military units, and a sample size of twenty respondents will be drawn from each distinct military unit. However, purposeful sampling will be done on women who already have served in the military, and also those who have engaged in real life combat, to establish if there is a significant alteration to their health and psychological reacceptances. Moreover, stratified sampling will be done on men who have also served alongside the sampled military women, to gauge the difference in health status, and psychological reactions to combat.
Mission of the United States Military
Conversely, the task of the United States Army aims at providing competence of combat units, as well as the constituting efficiency of duty of military officers. The mission of the United States military is ‘provision of military forces needed to prevent and deter war, and provide security to the country’. In accordance with the mission, both women and men will be subjected to surveys, which will establish the advantages and disadvantages of having women as part of the military, based on their adherence to the mission of the military.
Therefore, the mission statement of the United States military does not provide any exception of situations that women are exposed to in order to attain national security. Hence, the question of health and psychological conditions that befall women and war veterans is not considered, given the fact that women are not likely to conform to the fitness requirements of a job traditionally reserved for men.
The United States Army has existed for a long time, providing major assistance in times of warfare, and thus providing ambient security to the nation. However, its transition to the current state has not been a smooth sail, as legislations from congressmen, has been a major drawback to military development. In this perspective, scrutiny and debates about the incorporation of women soldiers into the United States Army has been around for a long time, but the debate bore fruits in the twenty-first century, when competitive positions in the military were open to women. Thus, women are subject to following all values which men must have, to serve efficiently in the military.
Values
For instance, loyalty to the government of the United States government by members of the military is mandatory, regardless of gender. Loyalty is a crucial value in the United States military, as it prevents cases of collusion with enemies of the state, which may jeopardize the security of the country. To establish loyalty levels among women in the military, interviews, and close-ended questionnaires will be used to obtain data, and then the data will be analyzed to establish the difference between the loyalty levels of men, and the loyalty of women to the United States military.
Moreover, the United States military considers a commitment to duty a major value that all members of the military should ordain. However, considering the commitment levels of women and their prevalence to getting health and psychological complications from war, commitment to duty may prove a major challenge to women enlisted in the military (Iskra, 2010). Thus, the study will subject women to observation, as well as personal interviews, to establish extent to which women can commit to the sole duty of protecting the nation, without contracting health and psychological problems. Due to recent alterations to give women equal opportunities to enlist in the army, the research study will establish a wide sample, to obtain reliable data.
Respect and Selfless service are also another significant value highly held by members of the military. Both men and women should be indiscriminate in their missions, and should act to the best interests of the citizens of the country. The ability of women to depict respect and selfless service will be a target source of information, to establish mental alterations that combat can have on women, as well as how women deal with post-combat trauma. Apparently, researchers have determined that women are more affected by post-war trauma that men, and are also affected by combat injuries more than men (Iskra, 2010).
Current constraints facing the United States military regards the decision by the secretary of defense to incorporate women in major military posts. Therefore, the applicability of human relations theory in mitigating the situation at united stats military can be done by the use of human relations theory, which considers human cognitive factors, as well as concern for human welfare in division of jobs (Kreitner, & Kinicki, 2013). In this accord, women will not have to necessarily undergo pains in combat.
Structure, Culture, and Leadership
The core structure of the United States military has well-established roles and a chain of command that ensures the readiness of military units at all times. However, the structure of the United States Army is embedded in the long-held military culture of readiness, good ethics, and the ability to portray high-performance abilities. For instance, the president is the overall commander of the United States military and gives all orders to execute warfare. The secretary of defense compliments the president’s powers, as the second in command, flagged by the intelligence and technical staff. Women in the hierarchy and structure of the United States military are rare, but recent alterations seek to provide a gender balance in the hierarchy (Iskra, 2010).
Recommended Actions
Health and psychological implications to women in combat are inevitable, and it is important for the government to establish programs in the military, to cater for health and psychological needs of women. Human needs are important in assigning roles and jobs, and human relations theory for organizational behavior can be applicable to ensure that health and psychological traumas are not an issue to worry about (Kreitner, & Kinicki, 2013), as the role of women in combat will be well defined. Furthermore, the organizational theory can be used to establish less strenuous task for women who involve themselves in combat. Lastly, it would be important to provision the department of defense with the implications of human relations theory, to scrap off the involvement of women in combat.
Follow-up Actions
Follow-up activities pertains all events that aim at making sure that the needs of women in combat are catered, and that necessary measures are taken to prevent further damage. For instance, follow-up actions may include alienating certain roles from women, and also establishing less strenuous activities like pilots and nurses to be performed by women in the military. Setting up institutions to keep women versed with dangers associated with participation in combat (Ackerman, & DiRamio, 2009).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the involvement of women in combat is a sensitive matter that requires military officials and the secretary of defense to reconsider the decision of incorporating women into the military. Health hazards and psychological traumas that women are exposed to, would not be necessary if the mandate of protecting the nation was only delegated to men. Furthermore, Men are well versed and fit for combat missions than women, and can also attain more accuracy and efficiency than when sent to missions alongside women.
References
Ackerman, R. L., & DiRamio, D C. (2009). Creating a veteran-friendly campus: Strategies for transition and success. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Creswell, J. W. (2013). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, ©2011.
In Baran, M., & In Jones, J. (2016). Mixed methods research for improved scientific study. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications, ©2011.
Iskra, D. M. (2010). Women in the United States armed forces: A guide to the issues. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger.
Kreitner, R. & Kinicki, A. (2013). Organizational Behavior. New York, NY: McGraw
Hill Irwin.
Miller, T. W. (2012). The Praeger handbook of veterans' health: History, challenges, issues, and developments. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger.
