The Duties, Responsibilities and Authority of NCO's (RB 22-600-20)

This manual was prepared to further develop and refine the doctrine of the functional relationship which must exist between officers and NCOs at all levels within the Army. Included is the essential doctrine necessary for commissioned officers and noncommissioned officers to begin the process of clarifying their duties, responsibilities, and authority. The manual should be used in conjunction with other interpersonal skills and existing leadership doctrine. Chapter 1 presents a brief historical view of the traditional relationship among officers and NCOs. It presents facts and establishes a basis for discussing some of the major problems which exist in the Army today. Chapter 2 identifies the basic components that exist within an organization in which the officer and the NCO must effectively function. This is done using a systems approach which utilizes the Army organization effectiveness model. Chapter 3 explains the methods and channels of communication in the chain of command and supporting channels. Emphasis is placed on the NCO support channel and the need and use of feedback within the communication process. Chapter 4 is an explanation of the concepts of authority, responsibility, and duty. Authority is discussed followed by an overview of power as the means for establishing effective authority. In the discussion of responsibility, the responsibility of the individuals and the responsibility of commanders are defined and clarified. Finally, the concept of duty is developed with a distinction made between a duty and a task. Chapter 5 presents a model incorporating the traditional Army philosophy of supervision. Although perhaps confusing because the model is new, field testing has shown that it is useful and useable as a technique for training NCOs and officers. Examples are presented which transfer the principles of the model to common, easily understood situations. Lastly, the chapter focuses on developing teamwork and teambuilding processes. Chapter 6 outlines the primary functional duty areas of the officer corps and the NCO corps. Chapter 7 traces the emergence of the noncommissioned officers corps as a profession. It stresses the importance of ethics within the NCO corps and the need for continual policing of itself. Lastly, the text is summarized.