MIDN 3/C Enderle

CDR Evangelista
NS 401
04 OCT 16

As a platoon commander in the battalion, there are a few

ideas I have that can improve motivation, satisfaction, and

performance of the midshipmen within the unit. These have to do

with belongingness, goals, and then finally addressing

performance-to-outcome expectancy, specifically for the

freshmen.

The first has to do with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Pyramid. One thing that stood out to me is the “belongingness”

part because, from what I have noticed, it is not uncommon for

some midshipmen to not feel like they belong within the

battalion. In particular, the battalion as a whole is primarily

male, so it can be easy for female midshipmen to be left out. I

understand that they use to, or maybe still do, do pasta nights

for the females to grow a camaraderie with each other, but this

leaves out the camaraderie between males to females. As a

platoon commander, I can organize platoon morale events. These

have been talked about in the past, but never actually acted

upon. I personally feel motivated to get this started and get

my platoon to do activities outside the unit. This would just

need a little planning, but the after effects of something like

a morale event can reap big benefits.

 Another thing that I feel that can improve unit motivation

is making the Midshipman of the Month (M.O.M.) award more

attractive. I have noticed that M.O.M. has not really been

something that people are excited to get, but more of a hassle

and an inconvenience. I understand that MIDN Kaminski has

already wanted to change this also and make M.O.M. an award

upperclassmen would compete for instead of the 4/C’s, but I can

definitely help him and the rest of the battalion staff by

nominating people that are really deserving of this reward and

not just 4/C’s that are staying out of trouble.

This comes to my third point about performance-to-outcome

expectancy. Now that freshmen are not being nominated as much

for M.O.M., they need some sort of motivation to excel because

beating out the upperclassmen for the M.O.M. award is not likely

for most of them. Something that I have been thinking about is

rewarding outstanding 4/C’s. This gives them motivation to do

well in the unit and during unit activities. There are many

different ways of rewarding outstanding 4/C’s that are nominated

by their squad leaders, but something that I was thinking about

is missing a day of PT. The majority of the battalion likes

sleeping in, and for people waking up, knowing that someone is

sleeping in because they got nominated can motivate them to

perform as well.