I have been taken to task by one of our future leaders. A cadet from the Rat Line (that would be VMI) wrote to challenge my comments about cellphones on the battlefield. I agree with him that , no one is suicidal enough to think about answering text messages or updating a Facebook status on duty. US soldiers are professionals..

However, this article by NY Times writer James Dao suggests differently at the outset Too connected???

The cadet goes on to highlight the benefits of realtime intelligence and communication with higher HQ. Again, I totally agree with his assertion that technology allows a soldier to take a picture, send it all the way up to higher command and get conformation as well as fragmentary orders in a matter of minutes instead of days.

He highlights what is good about the technology. Regrettably, I highlight what is bad. In the case of his last comment we create a situation that enables micromanagement from the highest levels. It is already happening. Micromanagement is one of the biggest DEmotivators and causes of disengagement in the workforce.

Clearly the technology is here to stay but our ability to wrestle with the legal, moral, and leadership issues has not evolved with it. As always, my intent is to highlight and get the conversation started. With the conversation at VMI addressing issues such as this, we can sleep well at night.

Is the conversation, and those in leadership, addressing the issues in your workplace?

This entry was posted on Monday, February 21st, 2011 at 6:25 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.