OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:

PCA-Choosing an Organization Worksheet

Worksheet Objectives:
1. Identify an organization and situation you want to study over the remainder of the course.
2. Describe the organization and the situation

Complete the following: support your ideas and cite from the textbook and other course materials
per APA guidelines. After the peer review, you can update this and format it for your Electronic
Portfolio due in Module 6.

1) Name and describe your organization.

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed
Forces and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. The USAF was
established as a separate branch of the United States Armed Forces in 1947 with the
enactment of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the second youngest branch of the
United States Armed Forces. The United States Air Force articulates its core missions as
air supremacy, integrated global intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, rapid
global mobility, global strike, and command and control. It is one of the significant
components of the United States armed forces, with primary responsibility for air
warfare, air defense, and the development of military space research. In addition, the Air
Force coordinates air services with the other military branches, NATO, and allied
countries. Air forces are composed of pilots who rely on significant support from other
personnel. In addition, the Air Force requires logistics, security, intelligence, special
operations, cyberspace support, maintenance, weapons loaders, and many other
specialties. The organizational structure of the Air Force is divided into commands,
groups, squadrons, and flights. This structure is responsible for the peacetime
organization, equipping, and training of air units for operational missions.

2) Describe your role in the organization (it can be an internal or external role).

My current role in my organization is as a Protocol Specialist. Its base commander

appoints a Protocol Specialist. Although duties vary from base to base, the tasks that I am
responsible for as a protocol specialist include sharing specific basic charges such as
hospitality duties of Air Force officers, advice on ceremonies and etiquette, and planning
official functions. In addition, Protocol Specialists advise courtesies and customs, flag
etiquette, and seating plans to the function organizers, attendees, and participants.

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 3) Describe the situation, including information you think will help the reader
understand the essential elements of the problem. (This will require selectivity: part
of case writing is separating the crucial facts from the mass of information that
might be included).

During the calendar year, we hold ceremonies to celebrate Airmen being promoted to
higher ranks. Promotions/notifications of promotion happen once a year for each grade,
five in total. Each ceremony has a different organizer, so we work with new people
constantly.

During one of the ceremonies, my team was responsible for advising an Airman whose
communication approach and lack of desire to coordinate with team members created
challenges. My team’s job is to advise project officers on planning and executing these
ceremonies. As soon as we were notified of who this project officer was, we reached out
to the individual to set up an initial meeting to discuss the ceremony’s scope, intent, and
details. At this initial meeting, we typically give them a timeline for planning and offer to
help with finding any resources they may need. Unfortunately, the project officer denied
this meeting and dropped communication entirely with my office. Nevertheless, the event
was still planned, and my office did all we could think of to contact the Airman,
including getting their leadership involved.

Time went on, and about one week before the event, the airman finally reached out to us
for help. We were happy to help but a little frustrated because an event as big as this
takes much planning. Unfortunately, the Airman did not realize this and started to pass
the blame onto myself and my team. Unfortunately, the blaming from the Airmen did not
slow, and they ended up talking to our supervisors and trying to blame us for the event so
stressful for them.

The event could have been better, and the project officer was highly stressed during the
set-up, yelling at multiple people. In the end, her leadership was contacted about her
behavior, and we set up new parameters on who gets chosen to lead and plan these
events.

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 Reference or References
(Choose the appropriate Title if Applicable and Delete the Rest)