Megan M. Thompson

Development of two reliable and valid measures of stressors in policing: The operational and organizational police stress questionnaires.

This article describes the development and validation of the Operational Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-Op) and the Organizational Police Stress Questionnaire (PSQ-Org). In Study 1, a series of focus groups were used to elicit the most common stressors associated with policing. During this study,

Effects of Sleep Loss on Team Decision Making: Motivational Loss or Motivational Gain?:

Objective: To examine the effects of 30 hr of sleep loss and continuous cognitive work on performance in a distributed team decision-making environment. Background: To date, only a few studies have examined the effect of sleep loss on distributed team performance, and only one other to our knowledge has examined the relationship between sleep loss and social-motivational aspects of teams (Hoeksema-van Orden, Gaillard, & Buunk, 1998). Method: Sixteen teams participated; each comprised 4 members. Three team members made threat assessments on a military surveillance task and then forwarded their judgments electronically to a team leader, who made a final assessment on behalf of the team. Results: Sleep loss had an antagonistic effect on team decision-making accuracy and decision time. However, the performance loss associated with fatigue attributable to sleep loss was mediated by being part of a team, as compared with performing the same task individually — that is, we found evidence of a “motivational gain” effect in these sleepy teams. We compare these results with those of Hoeksema-van Orden et al. (1998), who found clear evidence of a “social loafing” effect in sleepy teams. Conclusion: The divergent results are discussed in the context of the collective effort model (Karau & Williams, 1993) and are attributable in part to a difference between independent and interdependent team tasks. Application: The issues and findings have implications for a wide range of distributed, collaborative work environments, such as military network-enabled operations.

The Development and Validation of the Army Post-Deployment Reintegration Scale

For military personnel, the post-deployment period can be associated with changes affecting their quality of life, the quality of their close relationships, and their attitudes concerning their military careers. There is, however, little published research concerning this process, and a major weakness of the previous work is the lack of an established measuring instrument. This article describes the development of the Army Post-deployment Reintegration Scale assessing the attitudes of military personnel in three key areas. Study 1 found support for a multidimensional model of post-deployment reintegration attitudes. Study 2 refined the dimensionality of the model to the positive and negative aspects of personal, family, and work reintegration and reduced the length of the scale to 36 items and provided preliminary evidence of its factorial validity and internal consistency reliabilities. Finally, in Study 3, the subscales were correlated in predicted ways with personal- and organizational-level outcomes (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD], organizational commitment).

What Would I Do? Civilians' Ethical Decision Making in Response to Military Dilemmas

This research explored the ethical decision-making process of civilians in response to real-world military dilemmas. Results revealed the complexity of these dilemmas, with about equal proportions of civilians choosing each of two response options. The moral intensity dimension of social consensus significantly predicted moral judgment in both dilemmas, whereas that of magnitude of consequences did so in only one dilemma, partially supporting our hypothesis. Both dimensions were significant predictors of moral intent in both dilemmas as was moral judgment, also supporting our hypotheses. We conclude with suggestions for future research questions in this compelling area.

Military Ethical Decision Making: The Effects of Option Choice and Perspective Taking on Moral Decision-Making Processes and Intentions

We investigated the ethical decision-making processes and intentions of 151 military personnel responding to 1 of 2 ethical scenarios drawn from the deployment experiences of military commanders. For each scenario, option choice and perspective affected decision-making processes. Differences were also found between the 2 scenarios. Results add to the emerging literature concerning operational ethical conflicts and highlight the complexity and challenge that often accompanies operational ethics.

Canada’s Civil–Military Seminar: An Approach to Narrowing the Civil–Military Gap

The “civil–military gap” is a significant factor that can hinder the success of complex comprehensive approach missions. Perhaps nowhere is this gap more apparent than in the relationship between military and civilian nongovernmental organizations. Interagency education and training have been suggested as ways to diminish this divide. This research describes one Canadian approach to interagency education: the Civil–Military Seminar. Quantitative and qualitative results demonstrate the promise of both the assessment approach used and the positive outcomes that may help to narrow the civil–military gap.

Trust and Information Sharing in Multinational–Multiagency Teams

International responses to humanitarian disasters, terrorism, criminal activities, and pandemics have increasingly involved integrated multiagency civil–military teams whose success depends on their ability to effectively share information. Trust is critical to effective collaboration and information sharing in civilian, military, and multiagency teams. This chapter defines trust and its essential characteristics, and then specifies the variety of ways in which trust can affect information sharing. We also outline the array of challenges faced by most multinational and multiagency teams that can undermine the trust–information-sharing relationship. We conclude by outlining principles that promote trust and some ways in which trust may be developed and maintained in the demanding context of multinational–multiagency missions.