Uniform change: an ethnography on organizational symbolism, volunteer motivation and dysfunctional change in a paramilitary organization

The United States Air Force’s (USAF) unpaid civilian auxiliary, the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) wears USAF uniforms and performs search and rescue missions looking for downed aircraft. After CAP members miswore the USAF uniform (Cheng, 1996), the USAF instituted a top‐down uniform change making the CAP uniform more distinct from the USAF uniform. CAP members, who affirmed that they were to be motivated solely by a desire to perform CAP’s mission, and not motivated by wearing USAF uniforms, quit and withdrew commitment. This participant observation ethnography studies how USAF’s misunderstanding of volunteer motivation and the symbolism of organizational uniforms led to dysfunctional organizational change. An alternative solution that makes positive symbolic change is proposed.