A fatal flaw: Positive leadership style research creates causal illusions
[The Leadership Quarterly, #187, 02.2024, Thomas Fischer, Joerg Dietz, John Antonakis]
In diesem englischsprachigen Artikel argumentieren und zeigen die Autoren empirisch, dass Konstrukte und Messgrössen positiver Führungsstile, wie z. B. Authentic, Ethical oder Servant Leadership, keine wahrheitsgetreuen Darstellungen des Führungsverhaltens sind. Stattdessen verwechseln diese Stile Verhaltensweisen mit subjektiven Bewertungen von Führungskräften. In vier Experimenten zeigen die Autoren, dass positive Führungsstile Ergebnisse sind, die von nicht-verhaltensbezogenen, bewertenden Faktoren abhängen, wie z. B. Informationen über den früheren Erfolg einer Führungskraft oder die Übereinstimmung von Werten zwischen Führungskraft und Gefolgschaft. Noch wichtiger ist, dass die Messgrössen dieser Führungsstile kausale Illusionen erzeugen, indem sie objektive Ergebnisse fälschlicherweise vorhersagen, selbst wenn das Verhalten der Führungskraft und andere führerspezifische Faktoren konstant gehalten werden. Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass die vorliegende Studie ernsthafte Zweifel an der bisherigen Forschung aufkommen lässt, die behauptet, dass positive Führungsstile zu positiven Ergebnissen führen. Nach Ansicht der Autoren ist die Forschung zu positiven Führungsstilen nicht nur falsch, sondern auch praktisch nutzlos, da ihre Konstrukte und Messgrössen Amalgame sind, die keine konkreten und erlernbaren Verhaltensweisen isolieren. Die Autoren fordern eine radikale Neuausrichtung der Führungsstilforschung und skizzieren Optionen für eine solidere zukünftige Forschung.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2023.101771
The Battle of Irpin River
[British Army Review, #187, 02.2024]
This detailed report describes the fighting in the suburbs of Kyiv. By using interviews, it depicts the fog of war of the first days of the full-scale invasion and shows how leaders led even when faced with an unclear and rapidly changing situation.
Link: https://chacr.org.uk/2024/02/19/the-battle-of-irpin-river/
Military Leadership and Resilience
[Handbook of Military Sciences, 08.02.2024, Danny Boga]
Whilst civilian life and work can be stressful, it is rarely life-threatening and can often be avoided. This stands in stark contrast to soldiers and commanders mobilised for active service. Whilst it not being life-threatening, Swiss conscription forces young men from their civilian lives into a military setting. As stress rises, mental health suffers, thereby leading to a decrease in performance. In order to maintain the effectiveness of officers, NCOs and soldiers, they need to be resilient towards stress factors. Whilst the individual personality has an influence on personal resilience, resilience can also be strengthened through leaders who are open and supportive in regards to the mental health of their followers. This well-written journal article further discusses how leadership can lead to resilience and elaborates on the potential of resilience training in the military.
Link: https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-030-02866-4_101-1
Effects of Resilience Training on Resilient Functioning in Chronic Stress Situations among Cadets of the Swiss Armed Forces
[Healthcare Journal, 05.05.2023, Madlaina Niederhauser, Regula Züger, Hubert Annen et al.]
This journal article examines the effectiveness of resilience training in the specific context of the Swiss Armed Forces. The quantitative study suggests that resilience can be strengthened through training. Moreover, it shows that higher individual resilience is associated to coping with stress in a task-oriented way, as opposed to an emotion-oriented way which may exacerbate a stressful situation.
Link: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/11/9/1329
What the Ukrainian Armed Forces need to do to win
[War on the Rocks, 02.06.2023, Erik Kramer, Paul Schneider]
The authors have extensively trained with all services of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and summarise the weaknesses of the military training which they have observed. For one, they noticed a lack of mission command which results in indecision and a lack of adaptability. The authors also mention a lack of interagency cooperation. For example, members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defence were not able to use a training base of the Ukrainian national guard. Not only would this be beneficial so the available infrastructure and resources can be used efficiently, but also would more personal exchange within the different elements of the UAF lead to a better understanding of each one’s tasks and to less misunderstandings and mistrust.
Link: https://warontherocks.com/2023/06/what-the-ukrainian-armed-forces-need-to-do-to-win/
Strategy as engagement: What organization strategy can learn from military strategy
[Long Range Planning 55, 2022, Martin Kornberger und Eero Vaara]
Strategy process and practice research has illuminated the internal dynamics of strategy work – at the cost of backgrounding processes and practices that relate to engagement with external actors. In this conceptual paper, the authors argue for an extension of this body of work by shifting the focus of research from internal practices and processes towards externally oriented practices of engagement. They do so by critically building on the military strategy literature and develop the concept of strategy as engagement. This concept suggests understanding the role of strategy as bridge between policy and tactics; the importance of grand strategy as the making of policy; and the need to focus attention on tactics as distributed collective action.
Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2021.102125
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