Order from us for quality, customized work in due time of your choice.
The Tentative Title of the Study
The spheres of business and leadership have become significant subjects of scholarly investigations lately. Researchers endeavor to find out what the most favorable features of a good leader are, what differences exist between leadership and management, and, most importantly, what qualities of a good leader can be transitioned from the environments that have proved to have the most successful leaders. One of the spheres in which leadership is the most crucial element of success is the military. Hence, the tentative title of the study is Combat to Corporate The Migration of Military Leadership Traits into Business. The main reason for selecting such a topic is that the investigation aims to determine what military traits are most likely to be incorporated in a business sphere and how they can benefit it.
The Drivers of Interest in the Research Topic
The interest in the research topic is mainly driven by the researchers example experience of service in the US army. Having served for over twenty-six years, I have encountered many questions related to leadership both in the military and civilian environments. My drive is to identify the military leadership traits that are transferable to the civilian business sphere. Specifically, I am interested in investigating how the differences between the two cultures affect the collaboration between the former military, who serve as leaders in business, and the civilians, who are the subordinates of these leaders.
Evidently, there are common and divergent things concerning the two environments, military and non-military ones. Both kinds of setting demand from a leader to be determined and dedicated and to inculcate these features in their subordinates. However, the inspiration of the leader is much more significant in the military since soldiers have no choice but to demonstrate their personal involvement and commitment in complicated conditions (Hussain & Hassan, 2015). While in civilian life, the utmost loss that can result from an insufficient level of loyalty is the financial one, in the military environment, peoples lives are under threat in case the subordinates are not fully dedicated to their leaders commands.
Another aspect of interest in the topic is the leaders personal apprehensions and ways of preparing to transition. Veterans face many obstacles when transferring to civilian life, which includes personal and professional apprehensions of not being understood or accepted. Thus, even if one has served successfully for many years in the military, they are not secured against being unaccepted by new colleagues in the civilian working environment. The mentioned drivers of interest serve as the major aims of initiating the current research project.
The Problem that Research Might Address
The problem that the study endeavors to help resolve is concerned with identifying transferable military leadership traits and the way they may be applied in a business environment. In this respect, it is crucial to analyze the features of leaders that are believed by individuals to be the most beneficial for organizations. Research by Smith and Chenoweth (2015) has found that the most valued leadership traits are responsibility, honesty, confidence, persistence, and optimism. Additionally, leaders should serve as role models for their subordinates, which means they should be a conscious example for others (Galunic, 2020, p. 237). Military leaders commonly possess the mentioned characteristics and can promote the development of organizations to which they are appointed. Veterans have highly developed command skills, which is another advantage for companies (Benmelech & Frydman, 2015). The identification of transferable military leadership traits and their application in business settings will promote the analysis of the selected research topic.
The Puzzle about the Area of Interest to be Solved
The main puzzle to solve concerning the area of interest is the transition from the military to civilian culture. As Galunic (2020) remarks, even if a person is respected and loved for expertise, charisma, talent, and personality, they may still not be fully accepted as a leader when lacking vital leadership traits and skills. Regulations and policies in the military and civilian environments are rather different, and military personnel should navigate a complex cultural transition when moving from one of these environments to the other. On the one hand, veterans are highly valuable to civilian organizations due to their ability to make vital decisions and take charge of situations. On the other hand, many former military members find it difficult to move from one environment to the other smoothly, which results in the lack of acceptance on the part of civilian colleagues.
When analyzing the transition from the military to civilian culture, one should consider the factors that make the military exemplary leaders. The three main features pertaining to great leaders in the military are training, organizational power, and self-sacrifice (Hamad, 2015). Military training is different from office training by the severity of the situations in which a soldier and an office employee may be placed. The training of the military is much more progressive and time-consuming, which makes military leaders able to keep calm in complicated environments and seek solutions where a non-military person might give up (Hamad, 2015). The organizational power of the military and civilians is also quite dissimilar since the former are trained to exercise it from the early stages of their service, whereas the latter are rarely given the freedom to lead when they only start work. Finally, and most importantly, former military personnel possesses an elevated sense of duty and self-sacrifice (Hamad, 2015). When they move into the civilian settings, they may feel awkward upon realizing that their new colleagues take care of their personal interests more than of the companys goals.
The process of transitioning from one culture to another poses difficulties not only for the former military but also for the civilian employees. The latter may not fully realize the effect of long-term and continuous military leadership training (Kirchner & Akdere, 2017). Meanwhile, companies owners and administrations understand that veterans can serve as role models for their organizations (Nazri & Rudi, 2019). Hence, the major puzzle of the selected area of interest is not only to trace the transition process but also to understand the difficulties faced by both sides of the military-civilian collaboration.
Suggested Research Questions
The following research questions will guide the study:
-
What specific features of military experience transfer into business, and how do they apply in a business environment?
-
What are the leadership traits that veterans possess that help to manage tasks in civilian organizations successfully?
-
What leadership styles are the most successful and productive in military leadership?
-
Are all of the successful military leadership traits easy to transfer into business, and why?
-
What are the difficulties the former military may encounter when starting to work in a civilian business environment?
-
What are the most common problems that the subordinates of the former military leaders may experience?
-
What are the leadership traits that business school students find the most useful?
-
What aspects of military culture may not be accepted easily by civilian employees?
References
Benmelech, E., & Frydman, C. (2015). Military CEOs. Journal of Financial Economics, 117(1), 43-59.
Galunic. G. (2020). Back to the front: Foundational leadership traits and skills. In C. Galunic (Ed.), Backstage leadership: The invisible work of highly effective leaders (pp. 233-268). Palgrave Macmillan.
Hamad, H. B. (2015). Transformational leadership theory: Why military leaders are more charismatic and transformational? International Journal on Leadership, 3(1).
Hussain, M., & Hassan, H. (2015). Military leadership and implications for business leaders in the light of alternative theories. Pakistan Journal of Science, 67(1), 94-101.
Kirchner, M., & Akdere, M. (2017). Military leadership development strategies: Implications for training in non-military organizations. Industrial and Commercial Training, 49(7/8), 357-364.
Nazri, M., & Rudi, M. (2019). Military leadership: A systematic literature review of current research. International Journal of Business and Management, 3(2), 1-15.
Smith, L. J., & Chenoweth, J. D. (2015). The contributions of student organization involvement to students self-assessments of their leadership traits and relational behaviors. American Journal of Business Education, 8(4), 279-288.
Order from us for quality, customized work in due time of your choice.