Allegiance, Ability, and Achievement in the American Civil War: Commander Traits and Battlefield Military Effectiveness

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 194-206
Author(s):  
Jeffrey B Arnold ◽  
J Tyson Chatagnier ◽  
Gary E Hollibaugh
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Organizational Performance ◽  
American Civil War ◽  
Military Effectiveness ◽  
Military Leaders ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Latent Features ◽  
Definition Of Success ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract How do the characteristics of military leaders relate to battlefield outcomes? To answer this question, we employ original battle-level data and biographical information on hundreds of commanders in more than 250 battles in the American Civil War. We examine the relationship between two common measures of battlefield success (victory and casualties) and two latent features of commanders—competence and loyalty—that have long been seen as important in the broader study of executive appointments. We find that competent commanders are associated with more successful battlefield outcomes, as are more loyal Confederate commanders. More broadly, our analysis suggests that focusing on the relationship between military appointments and battlefield outcomes—with the latter's relatively clear definition of “success”—allows for direct examination of the relationship between appointee traits and organizational performance. As such, our results have implications for the study of conflict as well as bureaucratic politics.

High Commitment Work Systems in Chinese Organizations: A Preliminary Measure

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 403-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhixing Xiao ◽  
Ingmar Björkman
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Construct Validity ◽  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Human Resource ◽  
It Industry ◽  
The West ◽  
Work Systems ◽  
Work System ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship

The concept of a high commitment work system (HCWS) has mostly been used in the West to study the relationship between a firm's work systems and organizational performance. In this paper, we introduce a preliminary measure of HCWS in China based on the definition of Baron and Kreps (1999). In study 1, we tested the measure by surveying 442 employees in China's information technology (IT) industry. In study 2, we re-tested the same measure from the perspective of human resource (HR) executives in 126 foreign-invested companies. The analyses not only provided some evidence for the construct validity of this preliminary measure of a high commitment work system, but also produced some interesting results that can only be understood with regards to the history and institutional backgrounds of Chinese organizations.

INTERESSES PROVINCIAIS NO BRASIL NOS ANOS DA GUERRA CIVIL NORTE-AMERICANA: uma mirada transnacional sobre relações entre o Império e as Prová­ncias

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (27) ◽  
pp. 276-299
Author(s):  
JULIANA JARDIM DE OLIVEIRA E OLIVEIRA
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
North American ◽  
International Perspective ◽  
American Civil War ◽  
Cotton Production ◽  
National State ◽  
International Context ◽  
The North ◽  
Lower House ◽  
The Relationship

Este artigo aborda o tema das relações entre Império e Prová­ncias no Brasil a partir de um olhar internacional e em um contexto de ”crise da década de 1860” e da Guerra Civil nos EUA. Dentro do contexto de uma guerra que tem implicações transnacionais, analisaremos dois focos de debate na Cá¢mara dos Deputados do Brasil que sofreram a influência do conflito nos EUA: as propostas de retomada de produção do algodão e os problemas relativos ao recrutamento de soldados em meio á  guerra. Busca-se demonstrar que a Cá¢mara dos Deputados foi palco importante para que os deputados se posicionassem a partir de diferentes interesses regionais ou provinciais, frente a um contexto internacionalizado. Em suas falas é possá­vel observar que em face ao conflito norte-americano e o contexto internacional, os parlamentares foram capazes de fazer uso de um ”jogo de escalas” para discutirem demandas e interesses regionais, explicitando relações nacionais, regionais e internacionais.Palavras-chave:  Estado Nacional. Guerra Civil. Prová­ncias.  PROVINCIAL INTERESTS IN BRAZIL DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR:  a transnational view of the relationship between the Empire and the ProvincesAbstract:  This paper discusses the relationship between the Empire as a central power and the Provinces in Brazil from an international perspective within the context of the ”crisis of the 1860s” and the American Civil War. In view of this national conflict with transnational implications, we will focus on two debates in the Brazilian Lower House of Congress: the debates over the investments in cotton production and the army recruitment in times of war. The Lower House was an important environment for Brazilian Congressmen to defend different regional or provincial demands, in view of an internationalized context. In their speeches it is possible to assert that, when faced with the North American conflict and the international context, congressmen were able to use a game of ”scales” to expose their regional demands and interests, highlighting national, regional, and international relationships.Keywords:  Civil War. National State. Provinces.  INTERESES PROVINCIALES EN BRASIL EN LOS Aá‘OS DE LA GUERRA CIVIL NORTEAMERICANA:  una mirada transnacional sobre relaciones entre el Imperio y las ProvinciasResumen:  Este articulo trata del tema de las relaciones entre imperio y provincias de Brasil a partir de la mirada internacional en el contexto de la ”crisis de la década de 1860” y de la Guerra Civil de los EEUU. Dentro del contexto de una guerra de carácter internacional, analizaremos dos enfoques de debate en la Cámara de los Diputados de Brasil: las propuestas de retomadas en la producción del algodón y los problemas relacionados al reclutamiento de soldados en el medio de la guerra. Es objetivo probar que la Cámara de los Diputados fue un escenario importante para que los diputados se posicionaran a partir de diferentes intereses regionales o provinciales, frente a un contexto internacionalizado. En sus declaraciones es posible observar que ante el conflicto norteamericano y el contexto internacional, los parlamentarios fueron capaces de hacer uso de un ”juego de escalas” para discutir demandas e intereses regionales, explicitando relaciones nacionales, regionales e internacionales.Palabras clave:  Estado Nacional. Guerra Civil. Provincias.

Terrorism, Civil War, and Insurgency

2019 ◽  
pp. 347-365
Author(s):  
Jessica A. Stanton
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Domestic Terrorism ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
Conceptual Clarity ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Causes Of Violence ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship

Much of the terrorism occurring worldwide is domestic terrorism carried out by rebel groups fighting in civil wars. However, many are reluctant to categorize domestic insurgencies as terrorist groups or to identify the tactics used by domestic insurgencies as terrorist tactics. Through a survey of the literature addressing the relationship between terrorism and civil war, I contend that research on the dynamics of violence in civil war would benefit from a more standardized definition of the concept of terrorism as well as greater consensus on how the concept of terrorism ought to be used in relation to the concept of civilian targeting. The lack of conceptual clarity in distinguishing between terrorism and civilian targeting makes it difficult to compare research findings, and thus to make progress as a field in our understanding of the causes of violence and its consequences. Despite the challenges associated with making comparisons across studies, this chapter attempts to do precisely this, drawing on research on terrorism as well as research on civilian targeting to develop insights on the causes and consequences of terrorist violence employed in the context of civil war.

scholarly journals Mission (im)possible? UN military peacekeeping operations in civil wars

2021 ◽  
pp. 135406612110466
Author(s):  
Darya Pushkina ◽  
Markus B. Siewert ◽  
Stefan Wolff
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Qualitative Comparative Analysis ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Peacekeeping Operations ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
Essential Components ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Definition Of Success ◽  
Definition Of

Under what conditions can UN military peacekeeping operations (PKOs) succeed in contexts of civil war? This is an important question given the prevalence and cost of civil wars and the high, yet not always fulfilled, expectations of very costly military PKOs as responses to them by the international community. Yet, the academic and policy debates on this question are as long-standing as they are unresolved. Our article contributes to existing scholarship in several ways. First, adopting a nuanced and multi-dimensional definition of success that considers violence, displacement, and contagion as its 3 essential components, we identified 19 cases of full or partial successes, and 13 full or partial failures, covering all 32 UN military PKOs deployed to civil war settings. Second, we develop an original dataset and analytical framework that identifies a wide range of plausible factors related to the dynamics of both the intervention and the underlying conflict it is meant to address. Third, applying qualitative comparative analysis to our dataset of these 32 military PKOs, our key finding is that what matters most and consistently across all of these missions is the presence or absence of domestic consent to, and cooperation with, deployed PKOs.

Epilogue

2020 ◽  
pp. 254-272
Author(s):  
Jerome Tharaud
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
National Culture ◽  
Mark Twain ◽  
Frederick Douglass ◽  
American Civil War ◽  
Literary Realism ◽  
William Apess ◽  
Conservation Movement ◽  
Phillis Wheatley ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter looks beyond the American Civil War to consider the ways evangelical space continued to shape how Americans saw the landscape and themselves in literary realism to the conservation movement. It mentions how Mark Twain became a representative figure of how a secularizing America remained haunted by a sense of sacred presence rooted in the soil itself. It reviews the story about the rise of white Protestant evangelicals within U.S. national culture and how their form of evangelical space became American space by the eve of the Civil War. The chapter explores the ironic story about how evangelical space escaped control as writers and artists from other traditions reconfigured the relationship between landscape representation, media, and the sacred to produce their own apocalyptic geographies. It recounts how William Apess, Frederick Douglass, Phillis Wheatley, Robert S. Duncanson, and Henry Obookiah appropriated and adapted evangelical space.

The American Civil War Considered as a Bourgeois Revolution

2011 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 45-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Davidson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Civil War ◽  
American Revolution ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Civil War ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Southern Society ◽  
Industrial Bourgeoisie ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThe discussion of the American Civil War as a bourgeois revolution, reopened by John Ashworth’s recent work, needs to be based on a more explicit conceptualisation of what the category does, and does not, involve. This essay offers one such conceptualisation. It then deals with two key issues raised by the process of bourgeois revolution in the United States: the relationship between the War of Independence and the Civil War, and whether the nature of the South made conflict unavoidable. It then argues that the American Revolution is unique for two reasons: the non-feudal nature of Southern society and the fact that the Northern industrial bourgeoisie, unlike their European contemporaries, were still prepared to behave in a revolutionary way.

Dark Tourism and Sites of Crime

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Lennon
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
American Civil War ◽  
Ancient Rome ◽  
Dark Tourism ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Public Executions ◽  
The Relationship

Dark tourism (sometimes referred to as thanatourism) has become established in the last decade as a niche tourism area. Death, suffering, visitation and tourism have been interrelated for many centuries (Foley and Lennon, 1996a; Seaton, 1999). Indeed for many years, humans have been attracted to sites and events that are associated with death, disaster, suffering, violence and killing. From ancient Rome and gladiatorial combat to attendance at public executions, sites of death have held a voyeuristic appeal. As previously recorded, the site of hte first battle in the American Civil War was sold as a potential tourist site the following day (Lennon and Foley, 2000) and viewing of the battlefield of Waterlook by non-combatants was recorded in 1816 (Seaton, 1999). These sites associated with death and disaster that exert a dark fascination for visitors are frequently linked to crime locations and the perpetration of lawful and unlawful acts. The sheer diversity of forms of dark tourism sites are significant and have been the subject of emergent research (see for example: Foley and Lennon, 1996a; Lennon and Foley, 2000; Seaton, 1996; Seaton and Lennon, 2004; Dann and Seaton, 2006; Ashworth, 1996; Sharkley and Stone, 2009). However the relationship to criminal acts and punishment for crimes is an important one that has received limited direct attention.

Employee loyalty and organizational performance: a critical survey

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 839-850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia Guillon ◽  
Cécile Cezanne
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Critical Survey ◽  
Employee Loyalty ◽  
Content Type ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Critical Overview

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between employee loyalty and organizational performance. It starts with the idea that the employee loyalty creates value for the organization. This statement is widely endorsed in the literature although there is little consensus on the definition of loyalty. The paper proposes a refined synthesis of the literature on the link between employee loyalty and organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach – The paper addresses the question of whether there is a robust positive link between employee loyalty and organizational performance. The paper starts by reviewing the various, sometimes divergent, approaches to employee loyalty in the literature and then compare the different indicators of loyalty in relation to their relevance to different indicators of performance. Findings – The paper provides a critical overview of the different existing conceptions of employee loyalty. It points out ambiguity about both the theoretical contours of the concept, and practical means of making it a source of value for the organization. The paper shows that the link between employee loyalty and performance varies according to the type of indicators used. Research limitations/implications – The paper highlights a variety of indicators for employee loyalty to their firm and for organizational performance. But much research remains to be conducted, notably on the managerial levers that might consolidate or improve organizational performance. Originality/value – This paper fulfills an identified need to survey a fragmented theoretical field of analysis.

Organizational Compassion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim S. Cameron
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Organizational Outcomes ◽  
Theoretical Rationale ◽  
Organizational Settings ◽  
Organization Level ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Level Of Analysis

In this chapter, we discuss compassion as experienced and expressed at the organization level of analysis. Shifting to this collective level suggests that the definition of compassion needs to be expanded to include two additional attributes: (1) the active demonstration of compassion through the organization and its members; and (2) actions motivated by inherent virtuousness rather than the acquisition of a reward. The chapter describes empirical studies in organizational settings in which the relationship between virtuousness and desired organizational outcomes is examined. Compassion by itself is seldom a singular predictor of organizational performance, but in combination with other virtues, it has profound effects. The chapter provides a theoretical rationale for why compassion has a significant impact on organizational performance. Three explanatory mechanisms are identified for why compassion predicts effectiveness. The chapter concludes by highlighting some fundamental principles that are needed to expand our understanding of compassion and its effects in organizations.

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