Senior Non-Commissioned Officers: A Developmental Analysis - Application of Civilian Business Practices with Company Case Studies of Chick-Fil-A, Southwest Airlines, Lampo Group (Ramsey Solutions‪)‬

This report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction. Senior Non-Commissioned Officers (SNCOs) are developed to support combatant commanders. They are systematically trained and given much guidance, but not with regard to higher civilian education and business acumen. The contrast between military and civilian organizations is sharp. The military's hierarchical structure intends to foster and build talent from within. Similar to the military, some businesses hire, train, develop, and advance employees from entry level to senior leadership positions. However, businesses also have the ability to recruit external talent. An analysis of developmental practices within three civilian organizations is performed using both organizational citizenship behavior and the traits of hierarchy contrasted with the internal unit structure of SNCO development. This thesis investigates the application of civilian business practices to those of the United States Military SNCO corps. The final recommendations provide both talent management insight and potential opportunities to enhance SNCO developmental practices.

This compilation includes a reproduction of the 2019 Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community.

The U.S. Military provides both tangible and intangible outcomes for the American Public. The deployment of troops to eliminate an enemy force is concrete in nature and observable, while freedom and its defense are provided by military forces but are intangible. In a similar manner, civilian businesses provide goods or services that are either consumed in finite periods of time (ex: food, transportation) or drawn upon over a period of time (ex: legal advice, lawn services). Just as military units can be of varying sizes and exist for different purposes, so to can civilian businesses. The civilian businesses chosen for primary analysis are Chick-Fil-A, Southwest Airlines, and The Lampo Group. The selection of business cases is based upon companies of a large, medium, and small presence that have national level influence within their given product or service. Similar to the military, as civilian companies they are successful within their specific industries and held in high regard with employees and customers alike. Their organizations exhibit outcomes similar to a hierarchical military force of higher employee tenure, internally grown (bottom-up) employees, and low employee turnover rates that counters industry trends in the modern economic environment. As the need for competitive advantage lends most government and civilian organizations to maintain secrecy in business practices, these three organizations were chosen through the criterion for analysis based on readily accessible and publicly stated employee practices. Each of the selected companies openly provides numerous cases of employee development.