Free «Organizing Functions at the United States Navy» Essay Sample

Introduction

The United States Navy (U.S. Navy) is a warfare organization in the United States of America that serves as unit under the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the seven disciplined forces in America. The U.S. Navy was founded as the Continental Navy in 1774 during the American Revolutionary War. A few years later, the Continental Navy was abolished and the present-day U.S. Navy created by the U.S. congress (Morris, 2010).

Organizing is a management function that concerns the definition and assignment of roles, authorities and responsibilities within an organization. Organizing also entails structuring of human and nonhuman resources and activities of the organization to enable effective and efficient accomplishment of goals and objectives of an organization. Owusu (2011) and Bateman and Snell (2009) define organizing as the synchronization or bringing together of human, physical and financial resources of an organization with an aim of attaining organizational goals. Organizing is fundamental in allocation of resources, division of work and assignment of roles and responsibilities within an organization (Bateman & Snell, 2009).

In my opinion, organizing involves establishing healthy relationships between human and nonhuman resources of an organization in order to achieve desired results. Organizing helps in defining the relationships between authority and responsibility in an entity. Some of the functions carried out during organizing include identification of activities, classification and grouping of activities, creation and assignment of duties and responsibilities and delegation of authority within an organization.

Organizing Physical Assets at the U.S. Navy

According to Green (2008), the U.S. Navy is the largest navy in the world.  It has a tonnage of battle fleets that is twice larger than the combined fleet tonnage of the top-ten largest navies in the world (Green, 2008). In addition, the U.S. Navy has the largest carrier fleet in the world. This carrier fleet has twelve fleets currently in service, one fleet is being constructed and another one is in reserve (Morris, 2010). The U.S. Navy also operates a total of two hundred and ninety two ships and warfare vessels such as amphibious assaults ships, and nearly four thousand aircrafts. In addition, the U.S. Navy has fifty one thousand non-combat vehicles and more than seventy five thousand buildings. The total area of land owned by the navy is approximately four million acres (Green, 2008).

Due to this huge asset base, efficient organizing and coordination of the Navy’s physical assets is essential in order to enable the organization realize and achieve its goals and objectives. The organizing functions of the management of the U.S. Navy in relation to physical assets include assignment of warfare ships and vessels such as the amphibious assault ships, aircrafts and non-combat vehicles to provide essential water, air and land transport services during wars and battles as well as to facilitate movement during non-warfare operations. Similarly, surface vessels offer autonomous striking operations.

Another organizing function at the U.S. Navy is the assignment of missile weapons such as bombs in attacking conflict regions and enemies. In my view, operations involving use of weapons by the navy are well-defined, dispensed, coordinated and organized in order to overpower the enemies. Similarly, warfare fleets such as The Great White Fleet owned by the U.S. Navy that have greater capability on blue-water attacks are usually assigned to major battles and operations. The management of the U.S. Navy has also used organizing function in ensuring continued development of new war ships such as the Littoral Combat Ship, weapons and aircrafts such as the Gerald R. Ford, thus enabling the organization to operate effectively and competently.

Organizing as a management function has also been used by the U.S. Navy to effectively manage physical resources such as buildings in creating good relationships with foreign countries such as Japan, Italy and Greece. For example, the U.S. Navy has a foreign base called USS Kitty Hawk in Japan (XXX). Moreover, the organization has used organizing as a management function in ensuring efficient management of physical assets through continuous maintenance, repairs and upgrading by ensuring that physical assets such as warfare ships, aircrafts and vehicles are used in cost-effective ways.

Through proper organizing and management of the physical assets, the U.S. Navy has also been able to foster systematic approaches to decision-making, for example, fewer warfare ships or aircrafts are usually assigned to light battles in order to ensure cost reduction during the battles. Similarly, destructive weapons such as bombs have only been used against enemies with heavy defense and in areas or regions that do not have heavy populations. This has helped in reducing the negative impacts of using such weapons during battles. In my view, this indicates how the management of the U.S. Navy has effectively utilized organizing function in operations and usage of physical assets.

I would also assert that the U.S. Navy has effectively used organizing as a function of management to ensure that use of its physical assets such as battleships, aircrafts, vehicles, weapons and buildings are purpose-driven and focus towards the mission, goals and objectives of the organization. Adequate management of physical assets at the U.S. Navy has also facilitated flexibility within the organization. For example, through proper management of vehicles and warfare vessels, transport services at the organization are enhanced. Thus, the U.S. Navy has become more capable of responding to battles within the shortest time possible. This has also helped in improving the performance of the navy over the years. The organization has also been responsive to changes in conflict management by acquiring new physical assets that would facilitate its operations.

Organizing Human Resources at the U.S. Navy

The United States Navy has nearly five hundred thousand personnel with three hundred and twenty five thousand personnel on active duty and more than one hundred thousand on the Navy Reserve. Sailors constituted eighty percent of all personnel of the navy whereas commissioned officers constitute fifteen percent. The remaining percent represent midshipmen and general staff.

In relation to human resource management, the U.S. Navy has effectively used organizing function of management in deploying its personnel such as sailors, medics and pilots to various battle fields. A good example of a situation in which the U.S. Navy has used organizing function to manage its personal is during the 2011 Tsunami in Japan when it deployed workers to assist in the clean up operations after the Tsunami. The U.S. Navy has also deployed forces to patrol across the sea and ensure that transport activities are not disrupted by pirates. In addition, the U.S. Navy has used organizing to define the various roles, duties and responsibilities as well as the qualifications required for its personnel, for instance, during assignment of authority to officers of different ranks. Similarly, the U.S. Navy requires all workers to master skills relating to conflict management as well as to complete and pass the Personnel Qualification Standards (PQS) examinations. Organizing has also been used to ensure continued training and development of workers at the organization. This has facilitated the adoption of new maritime warfare techniques amongst the U.S. Navy forces.

Similarly, the U.S. Navy has used organizing to ensure that the employees work collectively with employees from other organizations such as the Coast Guard and Maritime Corps in prevention of piracy and other crimes on blue-waters. Lastly, the U.S. Navy has applied organizing functions in implementing various staffing activities such as recruitment, selection, placement and promotion of personnel.

Optimal use of Physical Assets and Human Resources at the U.S. Navy

In my opinion, the U.S. Navy has optimized the use of physical assets and human resources to ensure that its functions are accomplished effectively and efficiently. For example, battle ships have been used to control most piracy activities along the American coast and her waters. Physical assets and human resources have also been used to support foreign countries during civil wars, for instance, in Middle East and East Asia. These resources have also been used efficiently to ensure rapid response to regional crises, help in peace-building missions and provision of defense to America from intrusion and invasion by foreign countries.

Lastly, physical assets and human resources have also been effectively used in creation of international partnerships, for example, through active participation of U.S. Navy forces in peace-keeping missions such as the Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq.