Harris 1
Kayla Harris
Professor Harrison
FYW 102
28 July 2013
TRANSITION AND TRANSLATION
Abstract
I am researching the similarities and differences between civilian and military leadership and how this may affect the former military millennial generation of today. There is no research on how this transaction is affecting this younger generation. I plan on gathering a small number of open-ended narratives from former military members on one experience with leadership in the military and one experience in the civilian business world. After the collection I will analyze and draw connections between individual’s stories and the stories that the participants write. Due to the large number of younger members leaving the military, this study will reassure them that the experience they gained from their service will be affective in the civilian world. This will also be useful for civilian managers who are going to be leading these former military millennials. I expect to find that there are many similarities between military and civilian leadership, and their experiences will have been worth it.
Introduction
I am a twenty three year old, female, former Marine, student. I left for boot camp literally the day after I graduated from high school. I had worked some seasonal and under the table jobs before joining the military, but this experience was going to be my first taste of independence away from home. I spent four years as an active duty Marine and ended up reaching the rank of sergeant, which in the Marine Corps is equivalent to E5. Through the military I had a multitude of leadership experiences literally thrust on me, often with little notice. I needed to know how to lead those below me at any given time, in any given situation. I left the military confident in my skills and abilities to lead Marines. My question was would young adults who have served in the United States Military be able to use the leadership tools acquired during their service in the civilian business management sector?
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines leading as “ 1. Coming or ranking first,
2. Exercising leadership, 3. Providing direction or guidance, 4. Given most prominent display” (“Leading”). The Marine Corps provides 14 leadership traits that are instilled into every Marine, they are: justice, judgment, dependability, integrity, decisiveness, tact, initiative, endurance, bearing, unselfishness, courage, knowledge, and enthusiasm (“Marine Leadership Traits”). Another quote from the Marine Corps on their 14 leadership traits is “Warrior traits. Citizen values. Marines are imbued with 14 leadership traits that prepare them for battle. These same traits positively translate into the lives Marines lead as citizens” (“Marine Leadership Traits”). JP Morgan Chase defines their view of leadership as, “We need to continually hire and train great managers and leaders. Great managers drive for superior performance, building teamwork within and across business lines. They act quickly on tough issues, relentlessly strive to improve performance, demonstrate a passion to win and develop their people” (Our Business Principles 9). If young military members are leaving the military, as I did, they need to be assured that their experiences will translate to the civilian business sector. In the same way, civilian managers, who have had no military experience, will need to know how these former military members think and act. How does their past experience help or hurt them in this business? There has been no research on the millennial generation and their transition of leadership experience from military to civilian business. My hypothesis is that there are striking similarities between military and civilian business leadership methods. Even if there are small differences in the delivery of orders or rank structure, the end goal of both leadership facets is to produce solid employees.
Lit Review
Civilian Leadership
There are many different leadership styles currently being used in the United States business management sector.Choi conducted a study on three different management styles he labeled dominant conflict management,collaborative conflict management, and avoidant conflict methods (Choi 688).Krauss et al, studied methods of informalleadershipand on-the-job training for employees being used in the business world today. Under these methods of training, almost any technical style of leadership could be used. The authors add that the idea of making sure that an employee has a challenging task to accomplish,relevant to the training, is important in the civilian business sector (Krauss, Othman, Wahiza Abdul Wahat300). Along with on-the-job training, another style of leadership labeled servant style leadership by Martinez, Rodrigo, and Ruiz in their study can provide a solid foundation for a method of leadership within the business community. If a company can encourage their top leaders to maintain this style of leadership based on proper ethics and putting people first, social capitol will follow. In further explanation the authors write “To be precise, we propose that intra-organizational social capital is a direct consequence of an organizational ethical and community context to which leadership in the servant dimension plays a transcendental role.” (Martinez, Rodrigo, and Ruiz 43-44).
Military Leadership
As a former Marine, I understand how leadership, most specifically in the Marine Corps, functions. Even before a citizen goes to boot camp,military leadership facilitated through their local recruiters is affecting them. Lewis notes that in today’s society many veterans are having a difficult time making the transition from military life to the civilian business world. Whether the reasons are a “lack of commiserating peers” or their skill sets from the military do not fit into the civilian work force (Lewis 172). The military is based on rank and protocol. At the core of leadership there is a traditional level of discipline that runs every day life in the military (Day, Halpin, and Lindsay 540). Huffman writes that being a true leader consists of “developing realistic goals and an appropriate strategic vision, effectively communicating, taking care of people, mentoring people toward individual and organizational goals, underwriting at least one serious error made by young subordinates to encourage and develop initiative and potential, consistently serving as a role model for high values and integrity, and staying positive and optimistic, especially when times are tough…”(325). His experience as a leader is well founded as he was an officer in the Army during the Vietnam War and is now Dean at Texas Tech University of Law. In a study looking at different types of leadership styles in deployed units, Dimdiņs and Rozčenkova found that when “transformational leadership” was used, there was a higher “trickle down” effect to the junior ranks of their unit (Dimdins, Rozcenkova 6). In other words, if the officers or higher-ranking officials were self-identified leaders, then it was more likely that the junior members would also identify themselves as leaders. Dimdins and Rozcenkova also found that when “transformational leadership” was used there was a higher sense of pride in the unit from all ranks (14). Del Gaudio wrote an article on the foundations of quality leadership in the military, whichstates that the sign of a good leader will always be evident in the actions of his subordinates (134). He focuses on the idea that a leader should be shaping and honing intellect, decision-making, judgment, and the ability to handle criticism in his juniors(Del-Gaudio 133-136).
Similar or Different?
After much research and study, I have found that there is nosignificant difference between leadership styles in the military and in the civilian business management sector. Both professions require diligent leadership and training of their employees.While researching I found a reoccurring theme of mentoring throughout multiple sources (Ferri-Reed 1; Huffman 320; and Martinez, Rodrigo, and Ruiz 44). There is, however, a gap of research where our younger “millennial generation” is concerned. In an article by Ferri-Reed she covers techniques that civilian business managers could use for theirmillennial employees. She writes that many managers today are having difficulty harnessing the potential of these younger workers. She gives some general pointers on how managers may work to bridge the generation gap and how they can help millennials succeed. One of her main solutions that come up often is the idea of having a good mentor for younger employees, which is something I have found in other articles as I stated above (Ferri-Reed 1). Millenials are confident in their abilities and, at times, have a hard time recognizing authority (Ferri-Reed 2). Ferri-Reed also writes about how tech savvy this generation is and how to harness that ability as a manager (Ferri-Reed 2-3). This is where I will focus my study. How are younger, former military personnel making the transition from military to civilian business? Is their experience, or transition, as a younger more technological generation different from former generations? Are the methods of leadership they experienced in the military still applicable and useful in the civilian business sector?
Methods
The millennial generation has not had an easy time leaving college and attempting to enter the business world. With economic recession staring them in the face, college debts lingering, and high paying careers being scarce, these young adults will face many challenges. Similarly, due to economic downturn, the military is also downsizing,“the fiscal 2013 defense budget request calls for the military to reduce its end strength by 5.5 percent in the next five years” (Daniel). This is causing a high number of junior military members, those who have mainly served 4-6 years, to leave in search of better opportunity in the civilian business world. According to Clemens and Milsom “Enlisted service members in transition to civilian life are a relatively unique population because they have significant military work experience but may lack self-knowledge and occupational knowledge specific to the civilian sector” (253). As these enlisted members are my gap in research, I would like to select four or five case studies fromthe millennial generation and former military members in order to gain insight on their experiences with leadership in the military and leadership experiences in the civilian business world. This insight would be valuable for both millennial former military members, as they need to be reassured that their training and experiences have not been wasted, and for the civilian business managers who may have a one of these young former military members working for them. The knowledge of how each side operates will only aid in transition and translation.
These participants would write open-ended narratives for one experience with leadership in the military and one experience with leadership in the civilian business sector. This style of data collection will allow me to use constant comparison and grounded theory methods to analyze my data. I will be closely analyzing each of the narratives and will draw out reoccurring themes or situations that match up with certain methods of leadership I have encountered within my lit review. This method of analysis will also allow me to draw similarities and differences between the participant’s narratives on either the military or business leadership experience. I will then match up similarities and differences between the participant’s narratives as separate individual experiences.
The specific requirements for participants would be a former United States military member, who has been out of the military for no more than three years, who was in the military for no more than six years, under the rank of E5, and who is currently either working full time or part time in the civilian business sector. I would protect the privacy of my participants by including a release form with a brief synopsis of the goals and methods of the research. I would not include any names in the actual research paper, only rank, military branch, time in, and experience in the civilian work force.
Works Cited
Choi, Younyoung. “The Influence of Conflict Management Culture on Job Satisfaction.” Social Behavior and Personality: an International Journal 41.4 (2013): 687-692(6). Web. 13 July 2013.
Clemens, Elysia V., and Amy S. Milsom. "Enlisted Service Members' Transition Into The Civilian World Of Work: A Cognitive Information Processing Approach." Career Development Quarterly 56.3 (2008): 246-256. Web. 13 Aug. 2013.
Daniel, Lisa. “Active-duty Downsizing Should Benefit Reserve Forces, Board Says.” Department of Defense. American Forces Press Service, 8 March 2012. Web. 2 Aug 2013.
Day, David V, Stanley M. Halpin, and Douglas R. Lindsay. “Shared Leadership in the Military: Reality, Possibility, or Pipedream?” Military Psychology23 (2011): 528-549. Print.
Del Gaudio, Andrew M. “History, the Myth, and the Staff Ride: A New Look at the Development of Subordinate Leaders.” Baltic Security & Defence Review 11 (2009): 133-142. Print.
Dimdiņs, Ģirts and Andžela Rozčenkova. “Empirical Studies The Relationship between Self-Reported Transformational Leadership and Social Identification in the Military.” Baltic Journal of Psychology11.1,2 (2010): 5-17. Print.
Ferri-Reed, Jan. “Leading a Multi-generational Workforce: Learning to Leverage the Uniqueness of Every Age Group.” The Journal for Quality and Participation (2012). Web. 28 July 2013.
Huffman, Walter B. “A Short Comparison of Military Leadership With Law School Leadership—More Similarities Than Differences?” University of Toledo Law Review 41.2 (2010): 315-325. Print.
Krauss, Steven Eric, Jamilah Othman, and Nor Wahiza Abdul Wahat. “Leadership Development through Workplace Learning in Malaysian Organizations.” Asian Social Science9.5 (2013) Print. 20 July 2013.
“Leading.” Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary. Web. 13 Aug 2013.
Lewis, Charlie. “ A New Sparta:America’s Threatening Civil-Military Gap.” Harvard Kennedy School Review 11 (2010-2011): 170-175. Web. 2 Aug 2013.
“Marine Leadership Traits.” Marines.com. US Marine Corps, 2013. Web. 13 Aug 2013.
Martinez, Ricardo, Job Rodrigo, and Pablo Ruiz. “Intra-Organizational Social Capital in Business Organizations: A Theoretical Model with a Focus on Servant Leadership as Antecedent.” Ramon Llull Journal of Applied Ethics1.1 (2010): 43-59. Print.
Our Business Principles. JPMorgan Chase & Co, 2006. Print.