scholarly journals Toxic Leadership in the Military

10.28945/4577 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 065-079
Author(s):  
Anthony L Hinen
Keyword(s):  
Viable Alternative ◽  
Leader Behaviors ◽  
Toxic Leadership ◽  
Senior Leaders ◽  
Senior Leader ◽  
Emotional Quotient ◽  
Toxic Environment ◽  
Mitigation Techniques ◽  
The Military ◽  
Over 40 Years

In over 40 years in the workplace, I have witnessed creativity and communication stifled because of toxic leadership. Though my experience was in the military and my research was with the military, my goal is to better understand toxic leadership to inform potential mitigation techniques that are applicable to both business and military environments. Toxic leaders tend to draw conclusions hastily without thinking about viable alternative conclusions. They tend to weave a negative story out of the facts known to them and not appreciate that there is information or facts they do not know. My research suggests toxic leadership exists because senior leaders, those leaders above the toxic leader, allow it to exist, either unwittingly or knowingly. Furthermore, non-toxic leaders can create toxic environments by their inaction or inability to make timely decisions. That inaction allows problems to develop, then fester and ultimately, creates a toxic environment. Also, non-toxic leaders can create toxic environments by not dealing with incompetent subordinates, like the senior leader who allows a toxic leader to continue to act out toxic behaviors. Incompetent subordinates generate problems that can contribute to a toxic environment due to their technical shortcomings or low EQ (emotional quotient). The most effective mitigation is confronting and reporting toxic leader behaviors when they occur.

Toxic Leadership in the Military Organization – A Theoretical Approach to Failed Leadership

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 182-185
Author(s):  
Alexandru Baboș ◽  
Raluca Rusu
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Theoretical Approach ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Toxic Leadership ◽  
Military Organization ◽  
The Military

AbstractThe toxic leadership refers to destructive behaviours and leaders’ personal characteristics which cause serious damage to the subordinates and organizations. Still, what is toxic for the military in one country can be good in another one, given the cultural differences. This article wants to emphasize, from a theoretical approach, the main characteristics and effects of toxic leadership within the military organization.

Synergy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ozan O. Varol
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Viable Alternative ◽  
Military Rule ◽  
Military Interventions ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Working Together ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Military ◽  
Emerging Democracy ◽  
Real Chance

Balanced civil-military relations emerge from synergy. In this case synergy refers to civilians setting aside their ideological differences, working together to build credible democratic institutions, and constructing a viable alternative to military rule. If the civilians themselves are divided on the future democratic trajectory of the nation or the military’s exit from politics, the military may more easily exploit these divisions. Instead of trying for a quick power grab, civilians in an emerging democracy must shun any antidemocratic alternatives, including military interventions, to political rule. The more effective the civilian politicians are in constructing a stable, robust democracy, the less likely power vacuums and military interventions will occur. If political parties have a real chance to compete and win in the electoral marketplace, they are more likely to play the democratic game rather than violate its rules and resort to tanks and guns to oust their opponents.

scholarly journals The Impact of Toxic Leadership in Theater of Operations – Afghanistan

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 175-180
Author(s):  
Cristian Ene ◽  
Alexandru Baboș ◽  
Marius Bucurenciu
Keyword(s):  
Analytical Approach ◽  
Cultural Background ◽  
Toxic Leadership ◽  
Severe Damage ◽  
Personal Traits ◽  
Military Organization ◽  
The Military ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe toxic leadership point out damaging attitudes and behaviours which can affect leaders’ personal traits resulting severe damage to the organization and its subordinates. Given the multinational environment from a theatre of operations, what might be toxic for the military in one country might be accepted in another one, taking into consideration the discrepancies between cultures. No matter their cultural background or their national particularities, the toxic leaders reduce the effectiveness of the organization and of it’s operations. This article wants to highlight, from an analytical approach, the existing types of toxic leaders and their impact to the military organization in Afghanistan theatre of operations.

scholarly journals Redesigning the Senior Leader Engagement Program of the United States Africa Command

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-30
Author(s):  
Matthew Dabkowski ◽  
Hailey Conger ◽  
Collin Cooley ◽  
Sarah Juhn ◽  
Devon Richter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
The United States ◽  
Decision Analysis Model ◽  
Strategic Partnerships ◽  
Analysis Model ◽  
Senior Leaders ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Stakeholder Values ◽  
Senior Leader ◽  
Future Evaluation

AFRICOM conducts hundreds of senior leader engagements (SLEs) each year throughout the African continent in order to create strategic partnerships and military relationships that preserve American interests abroad. While AFRICOM has been planning and executing these engagements since the inception of the organization in 2008, it lacks a well-defined method to systemize its SLE process. As a result, SLE development is largely ad hoc, potentially decreasing the strategic effectiveness of the engagements and increasing their cost. This paper delineates a decision-making framework to redesign and enhance AFRICOM’s SLE program. In particular, it posits a multiple objective decision analysis model that quantifies key stakeholder values and develops several alternatives for future evaluation. Of note, potential solutions imagine a more expansive system where subsets of Senior Leaders (SLs) are assigned to clusters of African countries based on the SLs’ similarity to countries within each cluster, providing a basis for relationship ownership and mutual trust.

Senior leaders’ strategic role in leadership development

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 143-149
Author(s):  
Clinton Longenecker ◽  
Gary S. Insch
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Development ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Continuous Learning ◽  
Senior Leaders ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Focus Group Research ◽  
Senior Leader ◽  
Group Research ◽  
Strategic Role ◽  
Development Initiatives

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the specific practices senior leaders need to engage in to best support their organization’s leadership development initiatives. All organizations invest billions of dollars around the world in leadership development, but there is surprisingly little attention given to the important role that senior leaders play in supporting these efforts. This paper draws upon focus group research with those responsible for designing and implementing leadership development initiatives to identify the strategic role senior leaders play in formal leadership development efforts. Design/methodology/approach To explore this issue, we conducted structured focus groups with over 250 executives, HR leaders and talent managers from over 30 different global organizations. Participants were responsible for leadership development in their respective organizations, averaged 44 years of age, 18 years of work experience, and were 54 per cent men and 46 per cent women. These focus groups were being used to solicit the input of those responsible for leadership development to identify the specific things senior leaders need to do to best support these leadership development efforts. The participants were asked to answer the following question, “Based on your experience, what specific things do senior leaders in your organization need to do to best support your efforts at developing high performance and strong leadership talent?” Findings Focus groups identified a series of key senior leader behaviors that are necessary to support an organization’s leadership development efforts. These findings, included the importance of senior leadership commitment to the process, the identification of specific leadership behaviors necessary to support these initiatives, the requirement of clearly understanding the organizations leadership development process, providing appropriate financial, staffing and technology resources to support these efforts, creating a climate of continuous learning and role modeling appropriate behaviors, among other findings. Research limitations/implications While the focus groups in this research and the subsequent qualitative and quantitative analysis of the findings were rigorous, the participants were not a randomly selected group and were by definition a convenience sample. At the same time, the implications of this research are significant on this important subject and provide a solid baseline for both practitioners and researchers alike to help explore, identify and build on best practices for senior leaders to support organizational leadership development initiatives. Practical implications Leadership is the key to success in any organization. To maintain that success, leadership development and continuous learning is imperative. This paper provides ten specific practices based on the focus group research that can help senior leaders create a more supportive environment for effective leadership development initiatives. The methodology used to identify these factors can be duplicated in other organizations to help them build an appropriate model for senior leader support for leadership development in their enterprise. Social implications The social implications for improving any organizations’ leadership is significant. It is known that effective leaders foster innovation, improve teamwork, create a more positive workplace, drive continuous improvement in quality, reduce turnover and improve the financial performance of most enterprises. With this backdrop, organizations can and must do everything in their power to accelerate leadership development and to engage in activities that do so. This paper will help pinpoint leaders and leadership development researchers and experts in that direction. Originality/value This manuscript offers a unique perspective on the role of senior leaders from the perspective of those who design leadership development programming in their organizations. And given both the readership and focus of this journal, this is an important perspective which takes into account the operational demands of leadership development in the strategic role senior leaders play in supporting these efforts.

The Continuing Relevance of Morris Janowitz’s The Professional Soldier for the Education of Officers

2020 ◽  
pp. 0095327X2096048
Author(s):  
Suzanne C. Nielsen ◽  
Hugh Liebert
Keyword(s):  
Social Impact ◽  
The Political ◽  
Military Officers ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Military Establishment ◽  
Officer Corps ◽  
Senior Leaders ◽  
Strategic Success ◽  
Education And Development ◽  
The Military

In the current strategic environment, Morris Janowitz’s The Professional Soldier deserves renewed emphasis, especially from the military’s senior leaders who are responsible for the education and development of the country’s officer corps. Janowitz’s work is an especially valuable guide to the education of officers today because of his focus on the need for military officers to understand the political impact of military posture and military operations. The education of U.S. military officers to meet the country’s national security needs in the 21st century must go beyond Huntington’s formulation of expertise to an appreciation, in Janowitz’s terms, of “the political and social impact of the military establishment on international security affairs” across the spectrum of conflict. Janowitz’s formulation is the better guide because military means serve political purposes, and ultimately, a country’s strategic success will be judged in political terms.

Inter-sector senior leader transitions: experience and outcomes

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-93
Author(s):  
Robert McLeay Thompson ◽  
Christine Flynn
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Senior Leaders ◽  
Senior Managers ◽  
Organizational Relationships ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Senior Leader ◽  
Public Sector Leadership ◽  
The Cost

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the experience of senior leaders who move into the public sector from other sectors of the economy, a process referred to in this paper as inter-sector senior leader transitions. This is a little researched area of public sector leadership yet has significant implications for fundamental public sector reform. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs an interview design to elicit senior leaders' stories of their transition into the public sector. Findings – The data suggest that successful senior leader transitions are more likely when a set of conditions is met; the leader transitions into CEO role, rather than levels below CEO, ministers provide inter-sector transition support, senior leaders develop responses to stress, senior leaders reject high formalization, their change processes focus on building capacity, and senior leaders confront dysfunctional organizational relationships directly. Research limitations/implications – The research relies on a relatively small sample. However, access to senior managers at this level can be difficult. Nevertheless, those senior managers who participated were very willing to share their stories. Practical implications – If public sector organizations are to realize the value of successful leaders from other sectors, they need to invest in structured processes that facilitate the transition. A laissez-faire approach is not viable given the cost of such transitions. Originality/value – The paper focuses on a little researched area of leadership experience which has significant implications for the development and change of the public sector.

Effective Use of Public Perceptions in Assessments

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 285-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Lindquist ◽  
David Peng ◽  
Shawnette Rochelle ◽  
Dusty Turner ◽  
Matt Warshaw
Keyword(s):  
Operations Research ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Horn Of Africa ◽  
Senior Leaders ◽  
The Public ◽  
Senior Leader ◽  
System Analyst ◽  
Effective Use

Over nearly two decades of war, the Department of Defense has spent tens of millions of dollars to survey the public in war-torn areas such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Philippines, Syria, and the Horn of Africa. Most often these surveys are conducted by a private polling firm, which, in turn, conducts the field work. Since field work occurs in contested or enemy-dominated terrain, direct supervision of the field work is not possible. This lack of oversight is concerning to senior leaders, who may inform decisions and assessments using this polling data. This article reviews some best practices for the expeditionary operations research system analyst when faced with the task of planning, contracting, executing, analyzing, and reporting public perception polling data in conflict affected areas. Additionally, this work codifies some of the insights uncovered during a community of practice meeting in March 2018 to include the use of latent data sources such as social media. The purpose of this effort is to provide analysts the tools to increase senior leader confidence in the data that is oft relied upon to inform operations.

Corporate University: A Systems Thinking Situating Senior Leader Assessment and Development in Context to Enhance Organizational Viability

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 669-676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lihui Zhang ◽  
Kathleen Boies
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Development ◽  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Integrated System ◽  
Pivotal Role ◽  
Corporate University ◽  
Senior Leaders ◽  
Senior Leader ◽  
Organization Level ◽  
Or Organization ◽  
State Of The Science

Reynolds, McCauley, Tsacoumis, and the Jeanneret Symposium Participants (2018) present outcomes of the 2-day Jeanneret Symposium describing the state of the science and practice related to the assessment and development of senior leaders. They call for cross-disciplinary and/or organization-level research that examines “how organizations mature their assessment and development practices toward an integrated system embedded in a development culture” (p. 646). The purpose of this commentary is to answer this call and add to their work by proposing a systems thinking framework of organizational development where a corporate university plays a pivotal role.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document