Ukrainian leader asserts control over armed services

Purpose – Ambiguity surrounding “follower competence and commitment” of Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership theory (SLT) has rendered validation difficult. The purpose of this paper is to address this difficulty by presenting different perspectives for determining follower development level and applies these perspectives for testing the validity of SLT. Design/methodology/approach – The study population was drawn from 80 supervisors and 357 followers. Financial organizations were chosen because much of the existing research on SLT has so far focussed on service-oriented organizations in education, healthcare, and armed services. Findings – Measuring the degree of agreement between leader rating of follower competence and commitment and follower self-rating was found to be a core issue for determining follower competence and commitment. SLT predictions are more likely to hold when leader rating and follower self-rating are congruent, rather than using leader rating alone, which has been applied in previous studies. Practical implications – Both leader and follower need to diagnose follower competence and commitment, first individually and then together, to discuss similarities and differences and attempt to agree upon the determination of follower competence and commitment. If the rating is based on some mutual agreement, then it is assumed in accordance with SLT that the leader can provide the follower with an appropriate amount of direction and support. Originality/value – The findings in the present study are of great importance for future research on SLT. It may change the approach for testing the validity of the theory. A leader-follower congruence approach will, in the authors view, constitute the future research avenue for research on SLT.

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Extremism is rising in Europe's security forces

Emerald Expert Briefings ◽

10.1108/oxan-db250838 ◽

2020 ◽

Keyword(s):

Western Europe ◽

Armed Forces ◽

Sensitive Information ◽

Security Threat ◽

Far Right ◽

Intelligence Agency ◽

Security Forces ◽

Content Type ◽

News Reports ◽

Armed Services

Subject Extremism in security forces. Significance According to recent news reports, Germany's military intelligence agency launched investigations into 550 cases involving far-right extremism in the armed forces in 2019. The figures shed light on the risks of radicalisation and infiltration of armed and other security forces by far-right extremists. Across Western Europe, the risk of far-right violence has increased, prompting investigations into security forces personnel. Infiltration of armed services poses a security threat by giving extremists access to weapons, training and sensitive information. Impacts Extreme right groups are becoming better organised and equipped. Far-right political parties are unlikely to show support for individuals found guilty of extremism within the security forces. The risk of Islamist radicalisation within the security forces is greater in France than other countries.

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An integrative approach to identifying factors related to long-term career commitments

Career Development International ◽

10.1108/cdi-05-2013-0071 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 163-178 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Mark H. Jordan ◽

T.J. Gabriel ◽

Russell Teasley ◽

Wendy J. Walker ◽

Mike Schraeder

Keyword(s):

Organizational Support ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Survey Methodology ◽

Initial Study ◽

Self Report ◽

Integrative Approach ◽

Content Type ◽

Logistical Regression ◽

Armed Services

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine an initial set of characteristics and traits that may reduce officer recruitment turnover by increasing a cadet’s decision to contract vs those that do not contract (contracting represents a written commitment to commission into an US Armed Services Organization after graduation). This paper is the first of a larger, long-term project. The factors of particular interest in this initial study are generalized self-efficacy, grit, and perceived organizational support (POS). Design/methodology/approach – Computer-based surveys containing variables of interest were administered to a random sample of freshmen, sophomore, junior, and senior cadets over a period of three years. Data for 517 cadets responding to the survey were analyzed using logistical regression to test hypotheses examining whether or not self-efficacy, grit, and POS were positively related to cadets’ decisions to contract. Findings – Logistical regression results indicated that self-efficacy and grit were not significantly related to contracting decisions. However, cadets’ decisions to contract were significantly related to POS. Research limitations/implications – A significant limitation of this study is the fact that data were collected using a self-report, single survey methodology. However, there were no patterns of significant correlations between self-report variables that seemed to indicate that this was a major issue in the current study. The primary implication of this study is that cadets’ perceptions of support (i.e. POS) provided by the organization do seem to influence their decisions to contract, with this influence being particularly notable in their freshmen year. Originality/value – The current study represents a unique context where individuals are making decisions to commit to an organization for a minimum of four years after graduation. Further, the commitment is being made to a military organization. The initial findings of this analysis provided the organization in this study with keen insight regarding possible factors to address or be aware of in relation to cadets’ decisions to contract. This approach and these findings can be extended to other organizations in understanding factors impacting decisions related to long-term commitments of individuals.

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Sustainable management of national resources through implementation of balanced scorecard

Management of Environmental Quality An International Journal ◽

10.1108/meq-12-2020-0294 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Muhammad Arif

Keyword(s):

Balanced Scorecard ◽

National Development ◽

Management Tool ◽

National Defense ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Content Type ◽

The Balanced Scorecard ◽

Sustained Development ◽

Management Concepts ◽

Armed Services

PurposeThis study has been undertaken to find as to how the Pakistan defense services being resource-intensive organizations can help to secure the natural environment and achieve sustained national development by adopting modern management concepts like the balanced scorecard (BSC) while not compromising on their core aim of achieving strategic national defense objectives. With this main purpose in mind, this study focused on locating the core functionalities of Pakistan armed services to be adopted as the key perspectives for building their BSCs.Design/methodology/approachThis study is quantitative in nature, and after the formulation of hypotheses by carrying out a thorough literature review, the distributed questionnaire collected quantitative data to test the hypotheses using computer-based SPSS software. Personnel of all the three arms of Pakistan defense service, namely army, navy and the air force, formed the population of this study.FindingsThis quantitative study has found that pursuit of national purpose, availability of resources, internal processes and building for future are the main core functionalities of Pakistan defense services and can be safely adopted as the main perspectives for the development of their BSCs to ensure sustained national development by exercising economy of resources without overburdening the natural resources and the environment.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this study are based on cross-sectional data rather than longitudinal; therefore, these are not a representative of a dynamic situation. As the data collection for this study is limited to Pakistan, its findings cannot be generalized globally.Originality/valueThis study is unique in a way as it endeavors to bring out empirically that how a public entity like defense force can contribute to the safe keeping of environment while achieving sustained development. Most importantly, it highlights that how BSC as a management tool can help the defense force leadership to achieve desired state of sustained national development through intelligent application of precious resources placed on their disposal.

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All at sea – gender and leadership in Britain’s Royal Navy (RN)

Gender in Management An International Journal ◽

10.1108/gm-11-2013-0133 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 30 (6) ◽

pp. 434-456

Author(s):

Michael Dunn

Keyword(s):

Research Design ◽

Social Implications ◽

Small Scale ◽

Theory Approach ◽

Royal Navy ◽

Men And Women ◽

Gender And Leadership ◽

Content Type ◽

And Gender ◽

Armed Services

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the relationship between leadership and gender in the UK’s Royal Navy (RN) to answer the research question “Do men and women lead in different ways?”. Design/methodology/approach – The research collected factual data on personnel statistics and organisational structure in the RN. The primary research adopted a grounded theory approach using repertory grid and critical incident technique. The research design was to interview a snowball sample of 27 mid-ranking officers, equally split between men and women and drawn from the main branches in the RN. Findings – There is a significant gender deficit in the RN officer cadre with no women senior-ranking RN officers currently in post. A model of RN leadership was developed from a content and statistical analysis of the primary data. This was broadly equivalent for both men and women, except in one regard: women are expected to manage the impact of their gender so that their self-presentation conforms to the prevailing androcentric norms. The analysis also identified the consequences of unreflective leadership for followers and developed the term “damagement” to conceptualise this. Research limitations/implications – The small-scale research design precluded any generalisable findings, but further research, if confirmatory, should make a substantive contribution to both the theoretical field of gender and leadership, and the practice of leadership in the RN. Practical implications – These would relate the practice of leadership in the RN. Given further confirmatory research, the findings should inform the leadership selection, training and evaluation processes operated by the RN. It should also influence the Ministry of Defence’s policy on the wider deployment of women in the armed services, when the issue is next reviewed. Social implications – The research may have social implications for the wider acceptance of the valuable contribution that women can and should be making in the national armed services of the UK and beyond. Originality/value – The research was primary. It has added value though both its contribution to the leadership and gender debate and also the conceptualisation of leadership in the armed services, particularly the RN. In addition, it developed a new concept, that of “damagement” that could be critical in the development of more effective leadership styles.

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Spearman's Law of Diminishing Returns

Journal of Individual Differences ◽

10.1027/1614-0001.27.4.199 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 27 (4) ◽

pp. 199-207 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Peter Hartmann

Keyword(s):

Principal Axis ◽

Age Groups ◽

Principal Component ◽

Longitudinal Survey ◽

Male And Female ◽

Two Samples ◽

Diminishing Returns ◽

The One ◽

Armed Services ◽

Principal Axis Factor

Spearman's Law of Diminishing Returns (SLODR) with regard to age was tested in two different databases from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The first database consisted of 6,980 boys and girls aged 12–16 from the 1997 cohort ( NLSY 1997 ). The subjects were tested with a computer-administered adaptive format (CAT) of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) consisting of 12 subtests. The second database consisted of 11,448 male and female subjects aged 15–24 from the 1979 cohort ( NLSY 1979 ). These subjects were tested with the older 10-subtest version of the ASVAB. The hypothesis was tested by dividing the sample into Young and Old age groups while keeping IQ fairly constant by a method similar to the one developed and employed by Deary et al. (1996) . The different age groups were subsequently factor-analyzed separately. The eigenvalue of the first principal component (PC1) and the first principal axis factor (PAF1), and the average intercorrelation of the subtests were used as estimates of the g saturation and compared across groups. There were no significant differences in the g saturation across age groups for any of the two samples, thereby pointing to no support for this aspect of Spearman's “Law of Diminishing Returns.”

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The More Control, the Better?

Journal of Media Psychology Theories Methods and Applications ◽

10.1027/1864-1105/a000114 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 26 (2) ◽

pp. 81-91 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Jeeyun Oh ◽

Mun-Young Chung ◽

Sangyong Han

Keyword(s):

Mixed Design ◽

Negative Effects ◽

Story Structure ◽

Content Type ◽

High User ◽

User Control ◽

Rigorous Research ◽

Control Versus ◽

The Media ◽

The Impact

Despite of the popularity of interactive movie trailers, rigorous research on one of the most apparent features of these interfaces – the level of user control – has been scarce. This study explored the effects of user control on users’ immersion and enjoyment of the movie trailers, moderated by the content type. We conducted a 2 (high user control versus low user control) × 2 (drama film trailer versus documentary film trailer) mixed-design factorial experiment. The results showed that the level of user control over movie trailer interfaces decreased users’ immersion when the trailer had an element of traditional story structure, such as a drama film trailer. Participants in the high user control condition answered that they were less fascinated with, absorbed in, focused on, mentally involved with, and emotionally affected by the movie trailer than participants in the low user control condition only with the drama movie trailer. The negative effects of user control on the level of immersion for the drama trailer translated into users’ enjoyment. The impact of user control over interfaces on immersion and enjoyment varies depending on the nature of the media content, which suggests a possible trade-off between the level of user control and entertainment outcomes.

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