Searching from Within: The Challenge of Intraorganizational - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Searching from Within: The Challenge of Intraorganizational Recruitment in Specialized Units

Mike Mourouzis 14 May 2020

The Problem

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61% 29% 10%

Enlisted “Operators” in USSOCOM

Green Berets Navy SEALs Marine Raiders

2025 1694 1908 1839 1644 1494 1410 1206 1159 1042 1350 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

Active-Duty Enlisted Special Forces Recruits

Fiscal Year (1 October - 30 September)

GREEN BERET ENLISTED RECRUITS

Scope

• Beyond the scope of my research:
• Recruiters
• Special Forces Training
• Size of Special Forces
• Focused only on generating more active-duty

enlisted recruits

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Research Design

2017 Survey Reexamination Academic Literature Similar Organizations

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Army Special Forces / Green Berets

• WWII lineage
• Established 1952, Army branch 1987
• Specially trained and educated
• Small teams
• More senior, mature, and

experienced

• Indigenous approach, Special

Warfare emphasis

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65718 65800 64432 63569 61840 60475 57796 54189 53496 54188 55725 83653 85788 83277 83109 78627 74392 70068 64861 65441 65544 68070

135107 142720 147112 143090 128372 118406 119318 114509 110337 106466 110178 67293 69824 71629 62272 57180 53096 46215 47289 47451 50488 49628

351,771 364,132 366,450 352,040 326,019 306,369 293,397 280,848 276,725 276,686 283,601 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000 350000 400000 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

ACTIVE-DUTY ENLISTED ARMY SOLDIERS (PFC - SSG)

Staff Sergeant Sergeant Corporal/Specialist Private First Class

Difference of 90,000 Soldiers

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Recruit Demographics

5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56+ AGE

ENLISTED ARMY POPULATION BY AGE/RANK/GENERATION

PVT PV2 PFC CPL/SPC SGT SSG SFC MSG SGM

Gen Z – 39% Millennials – 54%

Baby Boomers – 0.04%

Gen X – 7%

50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56+ AGE

ENLISTED SPECIAL FORCES POPULATION BY AGE/RANK/GENERATION

PVT PV2 PFC CPL/SPC SGT SSG SFC MSG SGM

Gen Z – 0.4% Millennials – 82%

Baby Boomers – 0.03%

Gen X – 17% 7

Enlisted Active-Duty Army 2009 2019 Change Caucasian 61% 52%

• 9%

African-American 21% 23% +2% Hispanic 12% 18% +6% Asian 4% 5% +1% Other 2% 2%

Recruit Intention

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Theory of Planned Behavior (Icek Ajzen, 1991)

• 1. Attitude
• 2. Subjective Norm
• 3. Perceived

Behavioral Control

Attitudes – Realistic Job Preview

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Higher Job Satisfaction Higher Organizational Credibility Improved Organizational Honesty Better Organizational Retention Lower Organizational Attraction

Positive and Negative Information

Attitudes - Publicity

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Attitudes – Confusion

11 40% 57% 49% 67% 87% 2% 33% 20% 33% 77% 83% 72% 30% 58% 0% 69% 18% 47% 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Boston Globe Chicago Tribune Daily News Detroit Free Press Los Angeles Times NewsDay Orlando Sentinel Plain Dealer Arizona Republic Dallas Morning News Houston Chronicle New York Post New York Times San Francisco Chronicle Washington Post Washington Times USA Today All Newspapers

U.S. Newspapers

Misuse of the Term "Special Forces" in 255 U.S. Newspaper Articles

Subjective Norms

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Social pressure of Important Person or Group of People

Peers, Friends Family, Children Mentor Spouse / Significant Other

Word-of-Mouth Referrals

Perceived Behavioral Control

• Support from chain of

command to volunteer

• Fitness preparation

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Survey Analysis

• Awareness Matters
• Top Motivation - Serving with others who want to be there

and want to perform

• Top Barrier - Hardship on the family and home life and loss of

normal family life

• Spouse/Significant Other most important Influencer
• Current/Former SOF mentor very influential for Recruits

and Graduates

• More Recruits and Graduates knew a current Green Beret

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Similar Organizations

FBI Hostage Rescue Team Smokejumpers Marine Raiders

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RECOMMENDATIONS

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Expand the Recruit Labor Market

• Removing GT minimum cutoff score
• Establish Special Forces ASVAB composite score
• Develop new, easy to use screening tool
• Recruit former military service members
• DoD Issuance to simplify inter-service transfer

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2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

y = 0.0082x - 1071.7 R² = 0.8665 R=0.9309

1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 275000 300000 325000 350000 375000 Annual Special Forces Recruits Active-Duty Enlisted Army Strength (PFC - SSG)

ACTIVE-DUTY ENLISTED ARMY SIZE VERSUS NUMBER OF SPECIAL FORCES RECRUITS (2009-2019)

Recognize Recruit Demographics

• Mobile phone app
• Realistic Job Preview product
• Establish a Minority Advisory Group

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Increase Positive Attitudes

• Prioritize message – Serving with other volunteers

that want to be there and want to perform

• Incentives
• Increase Publicity Campaigns
• Advisory Panel for SF in Entertainment Industry
• Correct Misuse of the name “Special Forces”
• Embrace the SFAB

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Power of Subjective Norms

• Informing Spouses/Significant Others
• Special Forces Mentorship Program
• Special Forces Fellowship Program
• Assignments outside of Special Forces
• Referral System

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Improve Perceived Control

• Improving Preparation - Mobile

fitness app

• Improving unit leader support

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Marine Raider Fitness App

Counterarguments

• Requires additional resources
• Perception of changing/lowering standards
• Already doing some recommendations
• Lack of internal support from Green Berets

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Future Research

• Optimal size of Army Special Forces
• Funding from USSOCOM (training vs. recruiting)
• Overreliance on artificial intelligence in recruiting

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QUESTIONS

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