At the Fulcrum of Air Force Identity: Balancing the Internal and External Pressures of Image and Culture

摘要

This paper explores the roots of the Air Force's identity problems by applying a theoretical construct to explain why many previous identity initiatives have been so startlingly unsuccessful. It concludes that senior Air Force leaders have failed, in part, because of their disregard for the powerful roles that organizational cultures play in the day-to-day lives of the average Airman. The Air Force chief of staff who hopes to achieve a measure of success in shaping the future of the force will have to find the appropriate balance between the Air Force's external image and its internal culture. Among the other military services within the Department of Defense, the top Airman will have to make sense of the paradoxical mandates to cooperate to win the nation's wars while simultaneously competing for scarce resources in a zero-sum Washington, DC, budget battle. The chief who turns the corner will have to find an acceptable and durable equilibrium among the many organizational Air Force subcultures and, in particular, should consider ways to redefine the organization to achieve a more equitable power-sharing arrangement among the tribes. In the end, this leader will only be truly successful by discovering and communicating an emergent sense of Airman culture that resonates throughout the rank and file. Moving beyond the Air Force's 'what' and 'how', Airmen must be inspired with a clear and compelling 'why.'.