Business Research Application Paper

Business Research Application Paper

Introduction

Research is very important to the United States Army because research can help the United States Army to improve in everything it does for the War Fighter. By conducting research for new weapon systems the weapon systems can be one hundred percent ready before they get sent to the War Fighter on the battlefield. In order to understand research we must first define research. According to dictionary.com (2008), research is a “diligent and systematic inquiry or investigation into a subject in order to discover or revise facts, theories, applications”. Research is important because it allows you to reduce risk and make informed decisions about a myriad of questions.

How is research used in the organization?

Research in the United States Army is used to protect the War Fighter although the research the United States Army conducts benefits the civilian world as well. The United States Army uses research when testing new types of equipment for combat and the United States Army even has a Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease to help the whole country combat infectious disease. The United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease conducts in depth research on different infectious diseases to include smallpox, nerve agents, and toxins. They use this research to allow medical personnel to have another way to deal with these infectious diseases because the way to treat infectious disease on the battlefield is very different than how you would treat infectious disease at a hospital in the United States of America where you have a full staff and all of the right equipment. The United States Army uses research in every aspect of what the United States Army does. Every major section in the United States Army has a research directorate that can ensure that everything the United States Army does is the best way to conduct business. I am in the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command and we have a research directorate that ensures that we are using the most up to date crime scene techniques and investigative techniques to perform our investigations. Once this research is conducted it is compiled and sent out to the different subordinate offices to ensure everyone in the organization understands the best way to conduct an investigation and too ensure that no piece of evidence is missed when conducting a crime scene investigation.

How can the research be used more effectively?

One way that the research that the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command gathers can be used more effectively is if the personnel conducting the research were criminal investigators. In the United States Army research must be conducted by Commissioned Officers and all of the criminal investigators in the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command are Enlisted personnel or Warrant Officers so if the United States Army would change its policy regarding who can conduct research the research for the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command would be more effective. As an organization the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command could benefit from criminal investigators being included in the research process because the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command wastes a large amount of money conducting research that never gets used because when it is passed down to the criminal investigators it is old information or information that the criminal investigators already knew. This problem has been brought to the attention of the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command but the United States Army is very resistant to change.

Another way that research in the United States Army can be used more effectively is if the research was documented on the Internet so that it would be more easily accessible to outside agencies such as with the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease. Right now in order to get information from the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease you have to petition them in order to get the information. The information from there research is passed onto civilian agencies but only after the United States Army has declassified it and sometimes this is a very long process and in the meantime civilian agencies