USNS Comfort Case Analysis

The USNS Comfort is a US Navy ship designated for humanitarian missions across the globe. The operation has been in turmoil for years due to the lack of good leadership onboard. Through coverage of media outlets like CNN, the missions act an image builder and positive publicity for the US military as well as the other organizations and volunteers involved. After data obtain via the Freedom of Information Act was revealed during an investigation by the Navy, a not so positive situation behind the missions was revealed. The investigation revealed that Captain Rachel Haltner, who is no long in her role onboard the ship, ran the ship with a dictator style of leadership. Crew members described her style as micromanaging with tactics such as degradation and fear. The crew felt beat down and emotionally and mentally exhausted with stress …show more content…
Rarely would crewmember approach her with problems or bad news in fear of an overreaction. When a leader creates an environment like this, productivity, motivation, morale, trust and many more crucial attributes of efficiency become obsolete. Haltner told investigators, “I can be very persistent about getting people to do things they may not necessarily want to do in order to achieve results they want to achieve.” This a leadership style that probably very few people would thrive under. The practice of micromanaging is very harmful to a work environment. Some crew members claim that Haltner would become involved and focused on unimportant decisions such as where to hang a television in the break area. When leaders micromanage they tend to fail to realize the importance of big decisions. According to technical writer, Jack Wallen, one of the many problems with micromanaging is loss of trust. The lack of trust causes a drop in efficiency and high turnover. On the USNS Comfort, crew members were so untrustworthy, they didn’t trust