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 situation.

Complete the following making sure to support your ideas and cite from the textbook and other
course materials per APA guidelines. After the peer review, you have a chance to update this and
format for your Electronic Portfolio due in Module 6.

1) Describe your organization.

My organization is the US Military, specifically the US Air Force. This organization is

one of now six branches of military, all of which togther are a part of the Department of
Defense. The Air Force is broken down into Numbered Air Forces, then Major
Commands, Wings, Squadrons, and flights. There are also multiple levels within each of
those. I am assigned to a Civil Engineer Squadron that is attached to a Wing at Travis Air
Force Base in Northern California. There many different flights (or crafts) that make up
the squadron; HVAC (Heating Ventalation and Air Conditionig, EOD (Explosive
Ordinance Disposal), Entomology, Fire, Electric, Power Production, Environmental,
Emergency Management, Material Mangement, Pavements, and Structures, the latter of
which I am a part of. Within these flights, lies there own chain of command starting with
Foreman and Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge (NCOIC), then supervisors and
subordinates. As most people know the military is a very structured organization, and
based off of what I just told you, you can see that it is true. It has to be. There are just so
many facets to the Air Force, and military as a whole, to just leave things to chance.
Structure, order, and discipline are at the heart of the Armed Forces.

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

My particular role in the organization is internal, I am a supervisor. I am responsible for

taking on new Airman and training them up in our profession. They learn the basics in
technical training school, but when they arrive at their assigned duty stations is when the
real learning begings. I am also responsible for the continued development of those
Airman. I make sure that they are always learning and improving themselves. In addition,
I also have to do the job. As a supervisor, though, I am also afforded leadership
opportunites when it comes to doing the job.

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 3) Describe the situation. (see the Canvas instructions for details, especially about how
your situation will be analyzed from five different perspectives over the next five
modules)

The situation I will be analyzing will be one of my first opportunities in being a Project
manager. It was about a year ago now, I was selected to take over a project for someone
who was going on a temporary assignment. Because I was just taking over I was not a
part of the planning stages of the project. In fact, a lot of the material needed had already
been orderd as well, and a the project had technically already started. I say this because
there was one task that had already been completed. Anyhow, I was now in charge and is
was up to me to make sure that the project continued successfully. I had to pick a team,
come up with a work schedule, develop the risk management plan, and be a part of and
oversee the execution of the project.
The project was to remodel a training building for the squarons Emegency Mangament
section. The building was a one room building about 1,800 square feet in size and in
mostly good condition. However, it was left unfinished and the roof needed to be
replaced. When I say unfinished I mean you walked in and you could see the wall studs,
the roof trusses and the underside of the roof itself. There were no electrical outlets, lights
or HAVC system. It was determined that the building would need walls, ceiling, outlets,
lights, an HVAC system, but most of all the roof would need to be completely redone.
This being one of my first experiences as Project Manager I was both excited and
nervous. I made sure to brush up on how to do everthing the project required. Both so I
knew what I was doing and so that I could train those under me who had not done this
type of project before. I learned a great deal of things during project, and I am sure that
during this analysis I will learn more.

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 Reference or References

No references required due to the fact that all information presented is based off of personal
experience and a working knowledge of the subject matter.