Effective leadership is an integral part of managing any system to establish operational processes and optimize the performance of subordinates. Leadership is especially relevant to uniformed services, where discipline, a hierarchy of authority, and rigid, strict management are key factors. Consequently, military leadership is one of the most relevant areas of human team management since these competencies directly determine national security. Nevertheless, it is a mistake to believe that the principles of army leadership are based only on aspects of brutality and strict accountability to authority. On the contrary, to remain an effective manager, an army commander must motivate, lead by example, and inspire. Thus, it is appropriate to conclude that army leadership is a broad and complex concept involving various categories of organizational morality. This informative essay seeks to present the above thought.
In fact, army leadership should be a formed system of values that defines the nature of team management. Since law enforcement is primarily interested in creating a favorable defense and security defense, discipline is an essential factor in the army’s management style. It is a discipline that defines the character of the unit and the willingness to make crucial decisions in a critical situation. An effective leader creates a local environment where each soldier is willing to follow the established rules because he understands their importance. However, in the modern American Army, there are three levels of leadership, among which are direct, strategic, and organizational. Direct leadership is the first line of interaction between the subordinate and the supervisor directly. Organizational leadership involves a much larger number of subordinate participants, and this can be expressed either through centralized management or through a system of hierarchies of power. Finally, strategic leadership has an even grander scale of influence and consists of leaders at the federal military command level. Despite the variety of levels of Army leadership, nevertheless, each must be based on essential leadership skills. Maintaining discipline at all three levels can guarantee order and no chaos in companies.
Any leader, including those in the Army branch, must be a confident, firm individual capable of inspiring others. A set of certain leadership qualities forms the backbone that ensures optimal and effective management. Thus, an Army leader must possess determination, confidence, competence, easy adaptability, and mental toughness (Ferrell). The above qualities form an overall portrait of the average leader who has the potential to lead the army to success. In addition, adherence to the Army code and civilian ethics that discourage misconduct and abuse of authority is of paramount importance. For example, situations where a unit commander demonstrates misconduct or uses official resources and force to achieve a personal, self-serving goal, should not be possible. At the same time, it is critical that this leader possess the competencies of empathy, seeking to develop a personalized approach to each subordinate. Soldiers should not be perceived as a faceless mass, for it is on them that the defense of an entire nation depends. It follows that an army leader must have comprehensive skills and follow many requirements to achieve organizational success.
The aspects mentioned above, however, are not the complete requirements for a true Army leader. The U.S. Army includes thousands of units run by hundreds of leaders. It is a mistake to think that each of them is a copy of the others. On the contrary, each leader has a unique style and skill set in addition to those competencies enshrined in the U.S. code. Thus, the same soldier under different leaders may be raised quite differently, although the general foundation of Army service will be similar. In this connection, it is appropriate to assert that there are views according to which an Army leader must be tough enough not to personify soldiers. Proponents of this view believe that strict, impersonal control of subordinates is more effective than the use of empathy and empathy skills. In contrast, it has been shown that such a radical approach is not optimal for the modern army (Hawkins et al. 50). Consequently, the Army leader must demonstrate humanity, but it is also his task to find the necessary balance between humanism and strategic management.
To summarize, leadership is a critical aspect of managing any organization. The military is no exception, but on the contrary, effective leadership is crucial to national security. Not only the well-being of subordinate soldiers but also the peaceful condition of the state as a whole depends on how effectively the army leader acts. The paper showed that the fundamentals of an army leader primarily consist of the skillful mastery of personal skills enshrined in army ethics. In addition, it was said that leadership is divided into three levels of hierarchy, but it is crucial for each manager to follow the principles of effective leadership. For each of the levels, it is essential that the leader clearly follows a system of discipline and forms an environment in which the soldier voluntarily follows the rules. In the end, this allows you to gain the trust of your subordinates and inspire them, and thus manage the team more deftly and intelligently. All this management aims to guarantee the high military effectiveness of units in critical situations and promote a culture of peace within the state.
References
Ferrell, Robert S. ” What Makes a Good Leader?” US Army, 2016. Web.
Hawkins, Stacy Ann, et al. “Measuring Job Performance in the Army: Insights from Evidence on Civilian Stress and Health.” Occupational Stress and Well-Being in Military Contexts, vol. 16, 2018, pp. 49-68.