The Army's Institutional Values: Current Doctrine and the Army's Values Training Strategy

Army leaders state that values enable leaders to do the right thing, but the Army needs a system that enables soldiers to make good decisions in a complex environment. As prioritized lists of what matters, values help people make deliberate and hasty decisions. The primary question is, Are the Army's doctrine and its institutional values training strategy adequate to ensure that the future force can meet emerging challenges? Institutional values fit within two categories: organizational values and member values. The seven Army Values are actually virtues. The Army's real institutional values are assumed but evident in Army doctrine. FM 22-100 suggests four assumed organizational values: mission performance, member development, tradition cultivation, and team building. The Army's member values are less apparent in FM 22-100. Currently tradition trains values and helps the Army meet challenges, but doctrine does not capture this process. The Army must define its professional absolutes by stating its institutional values as required actions, not as desired virtues. Values training is most effective when it is integrated into mission-focused training. Values inculcation must go beyond maintaining assumed values and relying on shared culture; it must be a conscious objective in all training.