Military Leadership in the 21st Century Research Paper

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Introduction

It’s the cumulative effort that yields success in form of victory but how do individual forces join hands to develop into a larger entity. The answer lies with just one word i.e., leader. It has been wisely said that a right leader in the right place at the right time has always been critical to victory. The whole entity of a leader gets evolved into a concept and vision termed as leadership when an institution such as Army or Military comes into the picture. This conceptualization of leadership skill describes a possible difference between individual leaders and institutional leadership. Modern age Military Organizations and Institutions have profound importance which has persisting political, cultural, and social values. Their success is the outcome of collective leadership founded on a system that transcends individuals into an ongoing process of collective responsibility and vision.

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So, the military in this 21st century faces the most significant challenge which will transcend to the development of the leadership. The development must undertake the issues that would be faced in the future. The future challenges will require considerable qualities and skills. These are some of the vital issues that the current leadership needs to sort today. Now keeping up with the theory; according to John Maxwell, there are 21 irrefutable laws of leadership, which serve as the basis for any successful entity. It’s really worth taking a look at them. Names and explanations can be found in Table 1.

Table 1. “21 laws”. (Adopted from the book “21 Irrefutable laws of leadership” John C. Maxwell)

Law ofShort Explanation
1. LidLeadership ability determines a person’s level of effectiveness
2. InfluenceThe true measure of leadership is influence nothing more, nothing less
3. ProcessLeadership develops daily, not in a day
4. NavigationAnyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course
5. E.F. HuttonWhen the real leader speaks, people listen
6. Solid GroundTrust is the foundation of leadership
7. RespectPeople naturally follow leaders stronger than themselves
8. IntuitionLeaders evaluate everything with the leadership bias
9. MagnetismWho you are is who you attract
10. ConnectionLeaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand
11. Inner circleA leader’s potential is determined by those closest to him
12. EmpowermentOnly secure leaders give power to others
13. ReproductionIt takes a leader to raise up a leader
14. Buy-InPeople buy into the leader, then the vision
15. VictoryLeaders find a way for the team to win
16. Big MoMomentum is the leader’s best friend
17. PrioritiesLeaders understand that activity is not necessarily an accomplishment
18. SacrificeA leader must give up to go up
19. TimingWhen to lead is as important as what to do and where to go
20. Explosive growthTo multiply, lead leaders
21. LegacyA leader’s lasting value is measured by succession

Leadership

The first challenge of any leadership is to feel the inevitability of tomorrow, meaning that one should be aware that one cannot lead forever and therefore, the delegation of authority should be a part of the leadership process today. Then a leader should be capable of identifying opportunities and threats in a prompt manner. And then he/she should acquire followers. And hence the current crop of Military leadership should always be part of the mentioned solution rather. The advent of technology and its development for management is also part of the solution as technology integration and usage form an equal basis for technology-based leadership. The common notion is that leaders without the knowledge of technology skills are more of an obstacle to any future technology integration and assisted control system (Hughes & Zachariah, 2001). But the same person can provide efficient leadership by becoming aware of basic technology skills and some imaginative thought processes. This includes the creation of a vision and then sharing and implementing the vision through the arrangement of proper funding. Now things are being taken for planning the process with proper coordination from various entities so that the curriculum development and training can be undertaken for administrator is very much established defines:

  1. Leadership and Vision
  2. Learning and Teaching
  3. Productivity and Professional Practice
  4. Support, Management, and Operations
  5. Assessment and Evaluation
  6. Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues (Koop, 2005).

The term leadership is related to something which is meant for a group raring to achieve a goal under the guidance of a single person or in some cases some personalities. It’s the leadership that sets a goal; envisions a path and divides the whole process into various modules. Now, these modules are none other than people who work for achieving the goal while sticking to the guidelines provided by the leaders. Technically it’s the leadership that influences the whole system as if it’s the brain of an intelligent with different modules acting as various parts of the megastructure craving for success (McClelland, 1971). The standards provide a clear statement and parameter that would help in analyzing and measuring the knowledge of school administrators and what more should now be added so that the technology could be easily be induced into the education system This specific information will provide ample guidance to the administrator so that his efforts in attaining basic technological skills and sufficient competency over the required knowledge base for same would result in desirable result. The administrator’s acquaintance with these issues and their impact on technological standards actually gives an in-depth view of the very basic platform over which administrators’ knowledge stands. His knowledge and understanding of technology is perhaps the most important factor that determines whether the assimilation of education and technology will work in the organization or not. Leaders who are technologically more precise are more comfortable with the team that uses technology-driven equipment for defense and attack (Hughes & Zachariah, 2001). They generally work in direct contact with juniors thereby the exchange of ideas from both sides could be achieved and hence the possibility of better results from this technology implementation would be achieved. The administrator would also convince the individual elements in cooperating with the commanders and other important elements of the complete implementation staff.

Military Leadership, Organization, and sub-entities

Now moving out the structure to various modules, the real test of leadership comes into the picture. This phase is that of giving the modules a physical shape. The personals are being appointed for carving the modules. The leadership now looks for the same traits so that the modules can function in accordance with their objectives. Various traits and their measurement techniques have to be found so that necessary qualities can be quantified as well as compared so that the needed workforce can be identified as well as instated (Herzberg, Mausner, and Snyderman, 1959). Also, when dealing with subordinates, leadership in the Military will have to play the role of a gateway to success, satisfaction, growth, and knowledge. This level can be attained only when the leader has prepared itself with a solid understanding of the need of the organization and the ones at the lower strata of the whole organization. The leadership must be aware of the fact that even in the military the cumulative growth and success of it as an organization outlines the unifying factor among various sub-entities of the organization. The lower rung officers and soldiers are intelligent units of the complete organizational setup and are expected to follow the principles of the organization. The hierarchical graph might suggest that it’s the supervisors to whom the subordinates are answerable but still, the objective is to achieve the objective of the organization. But still, it’s the military that defines the level of homogeneity and is supposed to maintain the smooth functioning of the setup.

The hypothesis behind the reasons that led to the research work has its roots in the human philosophy on need and its fulfillment in the real world. The frustration is the outcome of the gap existing between the issues of need and its fulfillment and it is this satisfaction or frustration which dictates the attitudes towards ethical behavior. The complexity of the behavioral attitude goes for a high when the effect of narcissism is taken into consideration. The organization has its performance based on employee output and devotion. It defines some norms to which the employees are obliged but at the same time, there are many things that an employee would expect from its organization. It includes personal growth, respect, and job satisfaction. Any expectation from the employees without heeding their hope and desire would only result in dissatisfaction. In that case, any departure, on the part of employees, from the established norms of the organization wouldn’t be a surprise. The eventual laxness in the sincerity towards the job is going to be the final outcome. The article as a whole has pointed out that the organization’s obligation towards its employees is quite important and it finally translates into what employees’ improved performance in return. But another very important issue that has been made to share the picture is that of narcissism. A person’s narcissistic approach would make it difficult for him to remain a devoted employee. He would find himself more sensitive towards personal interests and the causes of dissatisfaction, in this case, will be much more than any normal employee. So here again the organization’s norms would get bypassed even if the organization follows the best possible policy for employee relations (Likert, 1961).

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The transactional leadership ability will provide the much-needed motivational requirements. It will works while making avenues through the creation of clear structures as per subordinates’ requirements and considerable necessity and at the same time, they are awarded for following the orders leading to observance of the company’s objective. The development of these specific and well-researched competencies helps in providing proper guidelines for establishing the administrator to maintain technology leadership and hence his assistants in advance level of technology integration in the military will yield far reaching results of technology literacy and enhanced level of security (Kopp, 2005).

Leadership Concepts for the military preparing for the future

Military leadership is now shaped by a number of trends. Classifying them into five broad categories, the first one would be the most essential one i.e., traditional hands-on leadership which has maintained its eminence right from the age when military concepts made their beginning. The second one is the thorough integration of various forces of the military under the umbrella leading to joint operations. Third category talks of non-combative roles to ensure peace and tranquility across the world and society. The major share of work of modern military would be the operations requiring non-combat roles for ensuring proper growth of the economic and social standard of the world. The fourth one is the technology-integrated aspect of the military. The new technologies are what the modern military aspires. Finally, the fifth one takes the issue related to fiscal constraints affecting military structure and modernization and making impacts on a military decision. These five would be the most essential factors that define the whole structure of military leadership and its further conceptualization (Kopp, 2005).

Cadets of today will form the leadership of tomorrow. As been mentioned earlier, the above-mentioned trends would require them to have an understanding of warfare of the modern age i.e., age of information as an executive who can establish a relation between the cost and quality of the required skill and equipment to tackle the same through extra social and personal carried over joint experience through the semblance of various cross-cultural and linguistic skills. The leadership of today is now shouldering the responsibility to develop an officer corps that would deal with the trends and environment of the future (Kopp, 2005). Hence, Effective military leadership should entail human relations training with decision-making with organizational responsibilities that would be responsive to both the socioeconomic and political environment and the condition in which it analyses the given scenario.

Reference

Herzberg, F., Mausner, B., and Snyderman, B. B. The Motivation to Work. New York: Wiley, 1959.

Hughes, M., & Zachariah, S. (2001). An investigation into the relationship between effective administrative leadership styles and the use of technology. International Electronic Journal For Leadership in Learning.

Kopp, Dr. C (2005) A Primer on Leadership Technique: Leadership Qualities and Technique, Monash University, Australia.

Likert, R. New Patterns of Management. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1961.

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McClelland, D.C. Assessing Human Motivation. Morristown, NJ: General Learning Press, 1971.

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IvyPanda. (2021) 'Military Leadership in the 21st Century'. 26 October.

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IvyPanda. 2021. "Military Leadership in the 21st Century." October 26, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/military-leadership-in-the-21st-century/.

1. IvyPanda. "Military Leadership in the 21st Century." October 26, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/military-leadership-in-the-21st-century/.


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IvyPanda. "Military Leadership in the 21st Century." October 26, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/military-leadership-in-the-21st-century/.

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