Good Problems: How Excellence in Execution Leads to Greater Operational Difficulty

Authors

  • Darin Gerdes Charleston Southern University

Keywords:

ROTC, organizational growth, strategic management

Abstract

Lieutenant Colonel Alexandria Watson is the commander of the Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps (AFROTC) Detachment 772 at Charleston Southern University. She took over an anemic detachment, and she has grown the corps of cadets nearly six-fold in two years. By all measures, she has been very successful, but new challenges have sprung from her success.

Watson has assembled a team, gained support from the university and the Air Force for an expanded program, and managed her way to phenomenal growth, but success has led to new problems related to coordination, staffing, and overcrowding.

The case that follows demonstrates how effective execution helped Lt Col Watson and her team achieve these results and it allows students the opportunity to consider what she and her staff must do to manage their newfound success.

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Published

2020-04-17

Issue

Section

Cases