129: Socialization and Training -- The Private SNAFU Series (Part 2)
In Part 2 of the episode on the Private SNAFU video series, we recount the various trials and tribulations of developing training modules for organizational use. What kinds of media and approaches would be most effective and most efficient, given the increasing breadth and complexity of workplace rules and policies that need to be socialized among the workforce?
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129: Socialization and Training -- The Private SNAFU Series (Part 1)
Private SNAFU was a series of black-and-white animated shorts of three to five minutes in length recounting various misadventures of the title character as he goes to war. The purpose of the training videos was to socialize and reinforce the importance of adherence existing US Army policies and procedures and helping to introduce soldiers to potential hazards and challenges that they would face in combat. Produced by Warner Bros. using a Looney Tunes animation style, the shorts used comedy to get the points across that failing to adhere to the rules would compromise the mission and likely get oneself killed or seriously injured. We examine these videos through an organizational socialization lens – how to impart the needed rules and regulations to a large number of homesick and nervous soldiers and make the messages stick?
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129: Socialization and Training -- The Private SNAFU Series (Summary of Episode)
For this year’s movie episode, we elected to take on a video series used during World War II to help socialize US Army rules and procedures among forces either deployed or getting ready to deploy. Private SNAFU was a series of black-and-white animated shorts of three to five minutesin length recounting various misadventures of the title character as he goes to war. We will examine these videos from an organizational studies perspective.
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128: Meaningfulness of Work -- Andrew Carton (Part 2)
In Part 2, we continue exploring the case study of NASA in the 1960s. Having discussed the strategies used by President Kennedy to inspire NASA’s members to the ultimate goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade, it was then up to the members to connect their work activities (many of which had nothing directly to do with spaceflight) to that ultimate goal. To what extent could this be replicated, we asked ourselves? Or was the moon shot so unique that replication is not really possible? Turn in and see what we have to say on the matter.
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128: Meaningfulness of Work -- Andrew Carton (Part 1)
In this month’s episode, we examine a historical case study about how meaningfulness of work can be shaped by leaders’ actions. One frequently cited example of the solidarity felt among members of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the decade-long runup to the Apollo XI moon landing is the often-repeated—but apocryphal—story of a NASA janitor who, when asked by President John F. Kennedy what he was doing, replied, “I’m not just mopping the floors, I’m putting a man on the moon!” This is the title of an article by Andrew Carton, who examined thousands of documents to uncover how President Kennedy and NASA leaders instilled meaningfulness and purpose among workers, allowing them to connect their individual work activities to the overall organizational purpose. The janitor story may be a myth, but the general sentiments were real and this paper based on archival data shows how leaders can be architects of meaningfulness.
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