Effective military leadership depends on multiple performance capabilities of a person. One of the major characteristics that a military officer in the United States has is the ability to influence various people in various contexts (Ang & Chan, 2008). In the U.S. military, leaders in various categories influence others to accomplish the mission by giving people directions, purpose and motivation (Jenkins, 2010).
Military leaders are professionals in their fields to the extent that they can offer defense to their nation, as well as act o behalf of a military organization by being responsible for the life of other soldiers (Berkes & Jermier, 2012). The army of the United States has a professional military ethics, which states that a military leader should be loyal to his or her nation and unit. A leader is a selfless service meaning that a military leader gives first priority to the needs and goals of the nation, unit, and other soldiers before handling his personal needs and interests (Kouzes & Posner, 2010).
As a military leader, one is ready to hold responsibility for his or her actions. This means that a military leader takes initiatives without being given orders, as well as willing to accept the responsibility for his or her actions (Koppelaar & Verhage, 2010). A good military leader possesses a thorough knowledge of command essentials whereby he or she understands the command policies, responsibilities, military discipline and conduct as well as the chains of command and other channels (Colbert & Ilies, 2011).
A military leader is an example of individual value. This implies that a military leader has physical courage to overcome the fears of bodily harm when performing his or her duties, as well as possesses the moral courage which enables him or her to hold the duties that need to be accomplished (Sternberg, 2009). A leader is committed to carrying out all the unit duties and serves the interests of the unit, military and the nation (Latham & Locke, 2010). A military leader is competent in that he or she has the necessary knowledge, skills and judgment relevant to his duties. He or she is also honest, frank and sincere with other soldiers, peers and seniors (Adebayo, 2009).
A military leader does not violate the dignity of individuals, ridicules the troops or blame his subordinates when there is a failure in the squad like when one is not able to complete the assigned mission (Collins & Nail, 2008). A military leader has the ability to work under no supervision because the field of the military requires people who have the passion of putting other people’s interests and those of the nation first as compared to their personal interests (Halverson & LePine, 2008).
A leader of the military group in the United States has a character of psychological openness by being willing to share his or her ideas openly to improve his knowledge. The idea of being open promotes the social system, as well as enhances communication and honesty (Emery, 2011). They also have the trait of being stable emotionally in order to accommodate stress and frustrations. Psychological maturity is therefore very essential in handling situations when required (Abbe & Halpin, 2010).
For one to qualify as a U.S. military leader, he or she has to be tactful when leading others, because the manner in which a leader issues an order or passes the information matters a lot (Mintzberg, 2009). Military leaders are able to make decisions intuitively by learning to trust themselves since the field of the military requires one to make quick decisions in emergency situations (Larsson, 2012).
References
Abbe, A. & Halpin, S. (2010). The cultural imperative for military professional education and leadership development. Parameters, 12, 20-31.
Adebayo, D. (2009). Perceived workplace fairness, transformational leadership and motivations in the USA: implications for change. International Journal of Police Science and Management, 7, 110-122.
Ang, S. & Chan, K. (2008). Personality and leader effectiveness: a moderated mediation model of leadership self-efficacy, job demands, and job autonomy. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 733-743.
Berkes, L. & Jermier, J. (2012). Leader behavior in a police command bureaucracy: a closer look at the quasi-military style. Administrative Service Quarterly, 79, 1-23.
Colbert, A. & Ilies, R. (2011). Intelligence and leadership: a quantitative review and test of theoretical propositions. American Sociological Review, 7, 214-225.
Collins, B. & Nail, P. (2008). A new model of interpersonal influence characteristics. Journal of Social Behavior & Personality, 13,715-733.
Emery, G. (2011). Some characteristics of military leadership. Australian Journal of Psychology, 9, 130-134.
Halverson, C. & LePine, M. (2008). Stirring the hearts of followers: charismatic leadership as the transferable of effect. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93, 602–615.
Jenkins, W. (2010). Review of leadership studies with particular reference to military problems. Psychological Bulletin, 44, 54-79.
Koppelaar, L. & Verhage, J. (2010). Power, situation, and leaders’ effectiveness: an organizational field study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 566-570.
Kouzes, J. & Posner, B. (2010). The Leadership Challenge: How to Keep Getting Extraordinary Things Done in Organizations. Jossey-Bass Publishers: San Francisco, CA.
Larsson, G. (2012).Situation awareness and transformational leadership in senior military leaders: An exploratory study. Military Psychology, 16, 203-209.
Latham, G. & Locke, E. (2010). A theory of goal setting & task performance. Prentice Hall: USA.
Mintzberg, H. (2009). Power in and around organizations. Prentice-Hall: USA.
Sternberg, R. (2009). Identifying and assessing tacit knowledge: understanding the practical intelligence of military leaders. Leadership Quarterly, 14, 117-14.