How to make the battalion system better 怎样对军校连队化作出改进.docx

How to make the battalion system better? We can give some advices.Zeyu CaoA Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Module of College English National University of Defense TechnologyJanuary 2015Abstract This paper reports a research study on the new battalion system, through this research, we want to dig out what influence this system have brought to the cadets and give some suggestions to polish it. Data were analyzed by questionnaires, interviews and observation. The findings indicate that even though the new system provides an opportunity for cadetships to experience troops life, it has also brought many troubles. There remains a long way to go to polish the system and we may need to do some changes to the management of system.ContentsAcknowledgements4Declaration4Chapter 1 Introduction41.1Research Background41.2 Research Aim and Question51.3 Project Route Map5Chapter 2 Literature Review62.1 Introduction62.2 Review of the Relevant Literatures62.3 Conclusion7Chapter 3 Methodology73.1 Introduction73.2 My Choice of Methodology73.3 My Way of Collecting Data83.4 My Way of Analysing the Data83.5 Rigour and Trustworthiness of the Research83.6 My Concerns of Ethical Issues83.7 Reflexivity8Chapter 4 Findings84.1 Findings in the Results of Questionnaire84.2 Findings in the Interviews and by Our Observation9Chapter 5 Discussion10Chapter 6 Conclusions11References11Appendices11Appendix I: Questionnaire (Invitation Letter are included in the questionnaire)11Appendix II: Table of the Results of the Questionnaires(Totally)15List of Tables and FiguresTables: Table 4_1 Attitude to the system from participants9Figures: Figure 4_1 The result of whether you think the system will improve your abilities better?9Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank my team members for their joining forces to do the research. They are Pei Yu , Chen Xiang, Jiang Zheng, Sheng Liyong and Zhao Ning. In this research, everyone makes efforts to make the research better. I am also grateful to Dc. Jessie Hou for helping us in our research and writing reports. She also gives us inspiration of the research. Thanks also to all people who have finished our questionnaire and who have accepted our interview and observation. They give me acknowledgement and wonderful support. Declaration I declare that the work contained in this thesis has not been submitted for any other award and that it is all my own work. I also confirm that this work fully acknowledges opinions, ideas and contributions from the work of others. Any ethical issues have been fully considered under the supervision of my supervisor, Dr. Junxia Hou. Name: Cao ZeyuSignature:Date:2014.10.8Chapter 1 Introduction1.1 Research Background There has been much interest recently in the concept of military school carrying out new battalion system and its relevance for the behavior and life of students in the military academy. Battalion system is a system where the students served as the backbone of autonomous management. In the system, the students take the duties of company commander, deputy commander, instructor and deputy instructor. The cadres come to the behind of scene instead of on the stage, guiding the students how to managing the whole company. This study attempts to explore the current influence of this system so that we can give some suggestions to improve the system. Owning to that this battalion system is a newborn system, studies of it and reports on it are hard to see. We have searched the data based on the internet. Surprisingly,only one article has been searched. Since the system have a close connection to army and our daily life, it would be useful to have a full understanding of what improvements we can make on the system.1.2 Research Aim and Question The main research question of this study is what influence the new system has brought to us? What can we do to adapt to the system better? This study aims to find out the advantages and disadvantages of the battalion system so that we can give students or team leaders who involved in the system some practical suggestions.1.3 Project Route Map This thesis is presented in seven chapters:Chapter One: Introduces the whole project with a brief description of the general background followed by the rationale, the derivation of the research question, and the aim of the project. Chapter Two: Introduce the methodology I have used in my research. My ethical concerns and critical reflexivity on the research process are also discussed. Chapter Three: Discuss what I have found during my research, including phenomenon and ideas.Chapter Four: Do further discussion over my findings and try to make some suggestions.Chapter Five: Make a conclusion on my research.Chapter 2 Literature Review2.1 Introduction This chapter provides a review of the literature in relation to the military academies company management system and finds what problems remain to be solved. This chapter will also show the reports contribution.2.2 Review of the Relevant Literatures Because of our researchs particularity, we can only found few document that are relevant to our research. The most official literature is from Ministry of National Defense of the Peoples Republic of Chinas government website. The news is as following, “在军队院校生长干部学历教育学员中实行连队化管理模式，是全军院校正规化管理集训明确的一项重要任务，是有效提高学员带兵管理能力的重要改革举措。 学员连队化管理，是院校参照部队基层连队的编成结构、建设标准和规范要求，在专职干部指导下，由学员依据条令条例实施自主管理的一种运行模式。其组织编成是：高低年级全程混编、高低年级分段混编、同一年级合编，学员连设连长、指导员、副连长、副指导员，排设排长、副排长，班设班长、副班长，各级骨干原则上由学员担任，保证每名学员在校期间至少担任一次排以上职务。推行学员连队化管理，是培养学员带兵管理能力的有效途径。旨在通过模拟基层连队编成，设置学员任职岗位，为学员搭建当兵、带兵、练兵的实践平台，让学员在近似连队的环境中经受从战士、班长，到排、连指挥员等不同岗位的锻炼，在工作实践中提高组织指挥、组训施训和带兵管理能力，在日常养成中锤炼合格军人必备的军事素质、身心素质和战斗作风，实现学员一入校就能经受连队生活锻炼，一毕业就能适应部队岗位任职需要。”. The news from other website are similar to this. We also found some articles which are relevant to the company management system, but these articles mostly describe personal feeling. Surprisingly, we found that no extensive article has been published, so our work is necessary and significant.2.3 Conclusion According to the above, we know that the leaders original motivation to apply the new system is to improve military academies students management ability. They want the military academies students can further satisfy the requirements of the combat troops. No one has yet research the real effects of the company management system in military academies and the students opinion to the new system. We think the system still need improvement when it is applying, it needs our advice. So, our work is very necessary and valuable.Chapter 3 Methodology3.1 Introduction This chapter first presents my choice of methodology. It then moves on to a discussion on my way of collecting data. My data collection methods, including participant observation and in-depth interviews, are described and followed by an explanation of the data analysis process. My ethical concerns and critical reflexivity on the research process are also discussed. 3.2 My Choice of Methodology When it comes to my choice of methodology, I choose questionnaire and in-depth interviews. The questionnaire can make us aware of the students attitude towards the new system and give us an audio-visual understanding. Then, it is followed by the in-depth interviews, by which we can touch to the hearts of students and then have a deep understanding of the new system.3.3 My Way of Collecting Data We collect our data in several ways such as questionnaire, in-depth interviews and long time observation. From these ways we can find many aspects which were ignored by us before. As for the participants, we divided all the people in NUDT into four categories. Thinking of that the college two and some teams of the college nine has carried out the system from last term, and that the situation may be totally different between college nine and college 1 to 8, the four categories are students from college nine who have carried out the system before, students from college nine who hasnt carried out the system before, students from college two and students from college one to eight (in spite of college two). To make the data more convincing, the percentage of the participators has been changed, for example, there are too little girls in NUDT, and so we magnify the percentage of girls slightly. After analyzing the data collected by questionnaire, we choose someone who is willing to share with us his experience at random to make a deep understanding. From these ways, we can analyze many interesting things.3.3.1 Participant Observation/non-participant observation It was on October.1 that we hand out the questionnaire to the teams which we want to have further information.3.3.2 In-depth Interviews/Semi-structured Interviews/Structured InterviewsSamplingI adopted a purposive/random sampling strategy. 3.4 My Way of Analyzing the Data Data was analyzed by Excel. 3.5 Rigour and Trustworthiness of the Research The following steps have been taken to ensure the rigour and trustworthiness of the research and to provide authentic and credible findings. Multiple data sources have been adopted. Data were crosschecked to see if there were any inconsistencies Field notes were kept to provide authentic and credible evidence. Research diaries were written to save the ordinary data. Member checking was conducted to ensure the trustworthiness of the research.3.6 My Concerns of Ethical Issues When we carry on our research, we have taken a lot of methods to protect the participants rights, the methods are as follows: an invitation letter with an information sheet informed consent Voluntary participation Details of the complaint procedure Anonymity and confidentiality Pseudonyms for persons and settings 3.7 Reflexivity When manipulate the data collected, we didnt take all the questions into consideration. From the questionnaire retrieved, some of the participants didnt take the research seriously and the questionnaires which they fill in are useless, so we left those dates out.3.7.1 Lessons Learned in the Field To push on a research, what we need is to take proper and various methods to collect the useful data. For peoples attitude towards something, we are needed to do the questionnaire. For some details, we can do some interviews. 3.7.2 Things could be done differently This research has taken some special methods to collect data. Researchers have taken a long time to observe cadetships around them. The long time observation which follows the tracks of cadetships changing psychology is of great use.3.7.3 Limitations of the Study For that the battalion system is a newborn system, there are nearly none document about it, that all the data included in this research come from investigation instead of documents. So maybe this research lack document theories as support.3.8 Conclusion Maybe the document about the topic is lacked, but the research includes many methodologies, it means that, these research results can reflect the truth in a way.Chapter 4 Findings Just as every coin has two different sides, researchers find that the new system also has advantages and disadvantages. When it comes to the battalion system, there is no doubt that it has many advantages. First of all, most of interviewees hold the view that the battalion system can help cadetships make good preparation for their future operating post. Most cadetship will take charge of platoon leader immediately after graduation and there is no doubt that whether they can stand the anneal and trial, whether they can develop their managing quality is tightly connected to their future. The new battalion system provides a platform for cadetships to experience the system of army. By this way, cadets on grade 2 and 3 can gain the opportunity to enhance their managing ability and ideological education ability; they can polish their own required military quality in their daily life by taking charging of cadre. Whats more, in the new system, cadets from different grades are mixed so that it can strengthen the ability of both high grade cadets and freshman. For example, just as an interviewee says, the senior brother give those freshmen some guidance in how to get along with others, the senior brother have been in school for a long time, they understand the rules in military school so that they can tell the freshmen what they can do, what they are forbidden to do. Also, when the freshmen come across some dilemma, those senior brothers can give them some useful suggestions, this undoubtedly help those freshmen a lot. Also, the senior brothers are the leader of those freshmen, it is essential for them to set a good example; otherwise it may be hard for them to manage. Similarly, the excellent achievements of those senior brothers can encourage the freshmen to polish their own ability, which contribute to a virtuous cycle. In addition, this new system can carry forward excellent tradition and style of a company, from the experience of college 2 (which have carried out the battalion system for a year),the cadets in college 2 have make great improvement in their quality. For example, in 2013, they made better achievements in the stamina text, ranking the first compared with before. Also, according to their team leader, the adaptive capacity of those cadets who have experienced battalion system is obviously better.Last but not least, a cadet being the mainstay is much better than team leaders in some ways. For example, the cadets know more about the environment and situation of the company, they can focus on the problem of the company and blend in the company better. In various activities, it is much easy for them to build friendships, which is hard to see in the formal system.Even though the battalion has so many advantages, as a newborn, it also leads to many problems. Researchers have found that, the influence the battalion system has brought is different in different grades. For freshmen, the questionnaire shows that 63 percent of grade 1 cadets are against the battalion system. As cadets on grade one, it is very important for them to spade work. However, many grade 1 cadets complain that every time there are some public errands to do, there is often the case that cadets on grade 1 take the most of people who are going to do the work, some of them may volunteer, but some are enforced. These many and diverse errands occupy too much free time of them which could originally be used to study. Once in my class, one cadet of grade 1 is absent and the reason for this is that he is asked to occupy the training place for fellow students! Teacher A said. Also, because new system contributes to the connection of students in different grades, some teachers have found that there exists the case where some grade 1 students copy the homework of grade 2 and 3. When facing with problems, they choose to without consideration. In this way, some grade 1 cadets may rely too much on their elder brothers and sisters instead of study on their own. Besides, it is showed by the interview that the freshmen lack the opportunity to polish themselves. Students on higher grades take the host of cadre may result in thin responsibility of freshmen. Lacking the opportunity, some of the grade 1 cadets may have a tendency to being satisfied with the existing state of affairs and reluctant to move forward and it may be impossible for these freshmen to try to improve themselves. Whats more, affected by the fellow cadets, freshmen from college 1-8 tend to be more active compared to the other years, however, it may be different in college in college nine. The quantity of participant from college 9 in this activity is hardly less than before”, Fiona said. It is observed by the researcher that the system have the most influence on grade 2 cadets. Many cadets from grade may have heavy psychological burden. On one hand, they are managed by grade 3 cadets; on the other hand, they must set an example for those freshmen. It is hard for us to transform from the original system to the battalion system. We have used to the freedom and it may be difficult for us to accept the present situation. David says. It seems that the system also have some influence on grade 3 students. Because they dont need to do the public errand as often as before, they can spare more time on preparation for entrance exams for postgraduate schools. But this phenomenon also leads to many problems, some high grade students may become lazy reactive, they may rely on the freshmen to help them to do something, which sometimes may cause quarrel. However, high grade cadets are also confronted much stress. They are the first company cadres of battalion system; nearly everyone keeps an eye on them. When something bad happens, they have to shoulder the responsibility. Sometimes we are really stressed “Nancy told us, “also, we really miss our formal classmates, and we have been together for whole too years.I miss them. It cant be ignored that the relationship of cadets in the same grade is much better than in the different group. The battalion system also tends to bring some problems to the whole battalion management. In the first place, because the new company is consisted with cadets from different grades and they have to go to different classrooms to take lessons, which lead to difficulty in manageme