René Moelker

Leader development in natural context: A grounded theory approach to discovering how military leaders grow.

Despite an increasing number of programs that aim to develop or educate leaders, the underlying processes involved in leader development or growth are not well understood. This study was undertaken to discover what factors or processes are involved in leader development for junior military officers, from their own perspective and in the natural context of their career and life experiences. Military officers (N = 51) from 5 different countries were interviewed using a standardized approach, and interview transcripts were analyzed according to the constant comparative method of grounded theory, as elaborated by Glaser and Strauss (1967). Consistently across the 5 countries, the core of the process model of leader development is the social interaction between the young officer and his or her significant others (soldiers, peers, and superiors). In the favorable case, officers end this process feeling secure, being able to flexibly adapt their overt behavior on an underdistanced–overdistanced continuum according to situational demands, and have a firm professional identity.

Military Families and the Armed Forces

In this chapter we aimed mainly at presenting sociological and psychological theories that might help understand how military families cope with separation and how the military organization reacts to the needs and problems of military families.

A longitudinal study of partners of deployed personnel from the Netherlands’ armed forces

We examined the longitudinal relationships among work–family conflict, general life stress, social isolation, and psychological distress of partners of deployed military personnel. Regression analyses revealed that psychological distress experienced in early stages of deployment predicted psychological distress at later stages of deployment. After controlling for the effects of earlier psychological distress, partners who reported higher levels of work–family conflict and social isolation reported higher levels of psychological distress, particularly within that stage of the deployment cycle. Finally, we found that reports of life stress influenced psychological distress experiences before deployment but not at any other time in the deployment cycle.

Parents’ voice : The intergenerational relationship, worry, appraisal of the deployment, and support among parents of deployed personnel

Because of the high-risk deployments into Afghanistan, soldiers’ parents have become more important in public opinion as well as in activities of family support groups. Although their voice is heard louder than ever before, research into parents’ experiences in the course of deployment is sparse. This study among 1,098 parents of Dutch soldiers reveals, among other things, that the relationship between service members and their parents can be described as strongly cohesive and may even be strengthened by a deployment. Moreover, parent–child cohesion and parents’ appraisal of their childs deployment predict parents’ support for the armed forces and its missions.

News from the home front : Communities supporting military families

In this study the question is raised how family support should be organized so that it is as efficient and effective as can be. Exchange theory can provide an answer to this question while taking into account that the needs of individuals will differ. In the study that is presented here, generalized reciprocity is the key concept that is derived from exchange theory. All support systems, in the seven countries under study, have benefited somehow from generalized reciprocity. However, what is effective and efficient support in the perception of one individual will differ from someone elses, and also, support systems that are effective and efficient in country X will not be so in country Y. Even though benefiting from generalized reciprocity, in the end the support system has to be matched to the support arrangement, arriving at different solutions in different countries.

Military families and war in the 21st century : comparative perspectives

This book focuses on the key issues that affect military families when soldiers are deployed overseas, focusing on the support given to military personnel and families before, during and after missions. Todays postmodern armies are expected to provide social-psychological support both to their personnel in military operations abroad and to their families at home. Since the end of the Cold War and even more so after 9/11, separations between military personnel and their families have become more frequent as there has been a multitude of missions carried out by multinational task forces all over the world. The book focuses on three central questions affecting military families. First, how do changing missions and tasks of the military affect soldiers and families? Second, what is the effect of deployments on the ones left behind? Third, what is the national structure of family support systems and its evolution?. The book employs a multidisciplinary approach, with contributions from psychology, sociology, history, anthropology and others. In addition, it covers all the services, Army, Navy/Marines, Air Force, spanning a wide range of countries, including UK, USA, Belgium, Turkey, Australia and Japan. At the same time it takes a multitude of perspectives such as the theoretical, empirical, reflective, life events (narrative) approach, national and the global, and uses approaches from different disciplines and perspectives, combining them to produce a volume that enhances our knowledge and understanding of military families. This book will be of much interest to students of military studies, sociology, war and conflict studies and IR/political science in general.

Technology, Organization, and Power

After giving definitions of “technology” and explaining the concept of technological de-terminism this chapter proceeded with debunking some myths about technology, the myth of automatic introduction, and the myth of causality-that of technology being the only factor explaining change. Economic and political factors proved to be factors of influence. Power, vested interests, and organizational structures always are connected to the introduc-tion of new technology. When power structures are clouding decision-making processes, it is mostly the simple soldier who pays the toll. He might end up being equipped with inadequate technology. But power can be put to use in a positive way, in a way that furthers transparency and honest decision making. “Overcoming the Concealment of Power Rela-tionships by Myth of Technology” provided several examples of awareness of the power structures underlying the introduction of new technology and ways of dealing with the new technology. Of course, new technology can be rejected or it can be accepted (in due time). Acceptance of technology does not come around by itself. It is the result of integral man-agement adapting the organization and the people in it (their methods of working) in order to arrive at a symbiosis of new technology and organizational structure. In order to achieve this goal the military elite will need to be “change masters,” men or women who know how to overcome resistance to change.