Perception of military vs civilian organization personnel

[sennef@cimic-coe]

This generic list was part of a module to make visible the exisiting prejudices living amongst personnel of both organizations working in mission areas

Military vs Civilians

Disciplined vs Independent
Hierarchical vs Decentralised
Command & Control vs Consensus & Agreement
Whole career training vs On the Job training
Doctrinal Publications vs Few field manuals
End State Approach vs Long Term View
Objectives driven by politics vs driven by humanitarian concerns
Extension of State vs State
Extension of State vs State free
Extension of State vs Multilateral
Extension of State vs Governmental
Extension of State vs Intergovernmental
Extension of State vs Non Governmental
Hierarchical vs Non Hierarchical
Tradition rich vs Tradition rich
Formal vs Informal
Doctrinal vs Principles
Rigid vs Ad-hoc
Highly Structured vs Loosely Configured
Boys with Toys vs Non Guided Organizations
Rigid vs Children of the Sixties
Authoritarian vs Flaky do gooders
Conservative vs undisciplined
Impatient vs unpunctual
Civilian Phobic vs anarchic
Excessively Security Conscious vs self righteous
Militaristic vs anti military

[BayonetBrant]

Boy, that sounds like it's trying to get a heavy-handed reaction out of each side by accentuating as much of the negativity on either list.

Was it put together by 10th-graders?

[Tom Odom]

I rather look on it as a military version of apartheid (and I am retired Army)

[John T. Fishel]

is the fact that the list lumps all civilian organizations together. That is also a problem with the military organization side although not as pronounced - even the Air Force shares a military culture and language. But civilian organizations really do come in all shapes and sizes. The culture of civilian govt bureaucracy is quite different from that of private sector bureaucracy. And all bureaucratic organizations differ greatly from many NGOs....

So, without some differentiation among kinds of organizations, I would not find this module particularly helpful because the discussion it is likely to provoke may tend to reinforce stereotypes a nd oversimplify a really complex issue.

Cheers

JohnT

[sennef@cimic-coe]

You are all correct in your comments. This is a compilation of existing prejudices
As in this thread, it never fails to generate fantastic discussions between all parties (intra-military, IOs, NGOs), breaking the ice. Because one gets to know one another, co-existence slowly turns into cooperation.

[Ken White]

Originally Posted by John T. Fishel

even the Air Force shares a military culture and language.

Darn, I missed the memo. Nobody ever tells me anything...