Question

In June 26, 1876, General George A. Custer’s 261 soldiers were killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. One historian has said this about Custer: “Generals who led men were rare; generals who won battles were rarer. It is no wonder that he was idolized from President Lincoln down. All the world loves a winner.” Another historian asks, “Was Custer a hero or a fool?”68 On February 27, 1991, the allied coalition forces of Operation Desert Storm led by Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf overcame the armies of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein in a victory that quickly became known to the world as “The 100-Hour War.” Shortly before the war, Schwarzkopf is quoted as saying, “I told my family that during the first month of any military campaign, the guy in charge is a hero, and it’s downhill after that.” We don’t normally think of military leaders as managers, but they are responsible for the actions of numerous employees in critical times.

They must be effective communicators to carry out this mission. These generals help demonstrate the differences in managerial communication that occurred during a span of 120 years. General Custer led his 261 men on horseback in southeastern Montana. Compare this to General Schwarzkopf as you think about him stepping quickly toward the podium in a fourth-floor ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Riyadh to address two hundred reporters from around the world. No doubt these two managers had different communication support systems, but they also had different responsibilities.

General Custer was managing an operation of 261 horse soldiers. General Schwarzkopf was coordinating a half-million strong international military force including the U.S. Air Force, Navy, and Army as well as the first Tank Division of the United Kingdom and corps from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and France. What a difference! But in some ways, their training was quite similar. Both were educated at West Point, went through army war colleges at Fort Leavenworth, were stationed at Fort Riley, and had a frontline battle experience. Both had experienced defeat and victory.

1 Compare the management communication systems of these two managers. How are the basics similar? What was the role of technology?

2. Which of the two generals had an easier job? Consider this question carefully because Custer had a much smaller group of men, but Schwarzkopf had sophisticated technology and organizational structure.

3. Which of the two managers required more advanced training in management communication? Why?

4. How would you compare these two generals to business managers during the same era?

Answer 1

Answer1:

In the management communications systems of each man, the goal was to urge orders and directives to each soldier underneath the command of every general. General Custer was able to do that solely by word of mouth and written, hand-carried communications. Additional fashionable technology was out there to General Schwarzkopf. He had access to satellite communications, computers, and fax machines, telephones within the field, and plenty of sorts of radio communication between himself and his troops.

Answer2:

In savvy, we'd say that Custer had a tougher time with activities along with his troops since all of them perished in battle. Had he had additional advanced communications systems, he might are able to come back to fight another day, saving the lives of a minimum of a number of his troopers. On the opposite hand, General Schwarzkopf had the lives of half 1,000,000 troops underneath his management, yet because of the lives of thousands of Iraqi and Arabian voters. With the quality of contemporary weapons, and therefore the mass casualties that might have occurred, Schwarzkopf’s job would most likely be thought-about the additional vital and therefore the tougher.

Answer3:

Naturally, Schwarzkopf needed additional advanced coaching in communication since he had to figure with numerous completely different mediums. Custer had solely to fret regarding written and oral, one-on-one communication.

Answer4:

In Custer’s era, the principles of Scientific Management were simply being devised. Custer’s goals were that his men adjust and do what he told them as with efficiency as attainable. Schwarzkopf had to trot out ism troops from several places on the world. He had to require into thought the needs and information of alternative officers concerned within the war, and he had to compactly communicate with individuals of the many languages victimization many sorts of technologically advanced communication devices. Today’s globally various firms need managers WHO conjointly possess all of those skills.