NCO Duties, Responsibilities, and Authority

[Admin]

[size=14pt]1^st Ranger Battalion
NCO School
Able Company[/size]

"You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do."
-Henry Ford

What is Responsibility?
Responsibility is being accountable for what you do or fail to do.

What does Individual Responsibility make a soldier accountable for?
It makes them accountable for their personal conduct.

What is Command Authority?
Command authority is the authority leaders have over soldiers by virtue of rank or assignment. Command authority originates with the Commanding Officer.

What are the two most important responsibilities of a leader?
Mission accomplishment and the welfare of the soldiers.

What does Command Responsibility make a soldier accountable for?
Command responsibility refers to collective or organizational accountability and includes how well the unit performs their missions. For example, a company commander is responsible for all the tasks and missions assigned to the company; his superiors hold him accountable for completing them. Commanders give military leaders the responsibility for what their sections, units, or organizations do or fail to do. NCOs are therefore responsible to fulfill not only their individual duties, but also to ensure that their team and unit are successful.The amount of responsibility delegated to you depends on your mission, the position you hold and your own willingness to accept responsibility.

The authority of command that one individual exercises over others is acquired as a result of what?
Grade and assignment.

What is a NCO's principle duty and responsibility?
Training.

Name some basic responsibilities of a NCO?
Maintaining discipline
Maintaining government property
Training soldiers
Ensuring the welfare of the soldiers
Executing the mission

What is authority?
Authority is the legitimate power of a leader to direct those subordinates to him or to take action within the scope of his position.

Every soldier has two responsibilities. What are they?
1. Individual responsibilities
2. Command responsibilities.

What is power?
Power is the ability, either physical, mental or moral to have a positive control over the actions of others.

What are the five types of power?
1. Legal
2. Reward
3. Coercive
4. Referent
5. Expert

What is legal power?
The power derived from law and regulation.

What is reward power?
The power derived from the capacity of the leader to provide desired rewards to a soldier for good performance.

What is coercive power?
The power which influences a person to perform or behave in a manner contrary to how that person desires to behave at the time.

What is referent (charismatic) power?
The power derived from the leader's personality and is effective as a means of influencing soldiers to the extent they respect and admire the leader.

What is expert power?
The power derived from the leader's accumulation of knowledge, skills and capabilities.

How do you determine the amount of supervision needed to accomplish a task?
By considering your soldiers' competence, motivation and commitment to perform the task.

To insure your soldiers understand and are carrying out the task, you should do what?
Supervise the task.

What is general military authority?
General military authority is authority extended to all soldiers to take action and act in the absence of a unit leader or other designated authority. It originates in oaths of office, law, rank structure, traditions and regulations. This broad-based authority also allows leaders to take appropriate corrective actions whenever a member of any armed service, anywhere, commits an act involving a breach of good order or discipline. For example, if two members are engaged in a heated argument, it is within your general military authority to break up the argument, even if the members are not in your squad or platoon.

What are the four fundamental steps in supervising subordinates in the accomplishment of a task?
1. Assign the task
2. Set standards
3. Check progress
4. Determine if standards have been met (follow-up)

What is supervision?
Keeping a grasp of the situation and ensuring that plans and policies are being followed; the art of checking without undue harassment.

What are the three different types of duties?
1. Specified
2. Directed
3. Implied duties

What is a specified duty?
Specified duties are those related to jobs and positions.

What is a directed duty?
Directed duties are not specified as part of a job position. A superior gives them orally or in writing. Directed duties include being asked to show up to training or serving within some other means, where these duties are not found in the unit?s organization charts.

What is an implied duty?
Implied duties often support specified duties, but in some cases they may not be related to the job position. These duties may not be written but implied in the instructions. They?re duties that improve the quality of the job and help keep the unit functioning at an optimum level. In most cases, these duties depend on individual initiative. They improve the work environment and motivate soldiers to perform because they want to, not because they have to. For example, while not specifically directed to do so, you hold training sessions weekly, outside of drills to give extra practice for the members of your squad.

And as always:
[size=14pt]Prior Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance

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