Human and Organizational Factors in the U.S. Naval Construction Force: A Qualitative Analysis of the U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Peacetime Deployment Construction Program

摘要

The U.S. Navy has had its own internal combat construction engineer force for over 60 years: the Navy Seabees. The motto of this cadre of engineering professionals is elegantly simple: With compassion for others; We build--We fight; For peace with freedom. The centerpiece unit of the Naval Construction Force is the U.S. Naval Mobile Construction Battalion: an entirely self-sufficient sustainable combat service support team trained to conduct contingency construction operations and defensive infantry combat operations. NMCBs cycle through a continuous training program designed to maintain their combat readiness and prepare them for rapid deployment in response to emergencies around the world. They must be ready to go into austere forward combat zones worldwide to provide direct combat service support of the US Marine Corps and other military forces as directed by the National Command Authority. In peacetime, these eight active duty battalions execute a complex program of construction projects all over the world as a training platform to maintain their combat readiness by sharpening their technical expertise and construction skills. However, their two-fold 'Build and Fight' mission statement has significant consequences for the Naval Construction Force as a construction organization. As with most other engineered systems and organizations, Human and Organizational Factors (HOFs) are a primary element that determines system quality. Considerations such as training and selection of personnel, task- organization, command culture and incentives all work together and affect the reliability of this system just as much as technical considerations such as design development and site conditions. This work will perform an in-depth analysis of the HOFs that determine system quality of the U.S. Navy Mobile Construction Battalion as they execute their deployment construction program.