Motivational climate in United States Army Reserve Officer Training Corps physical training: Implications for leadership development, retention, and intervention

Physical training (PT) is a significant element of Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs, used for fitness enhancement and leadership development. Despite this latter emphasis, there is little known about how leadership development is promoted. Additionally, little research addresses the motivational climate in ROTC programs. Grounded in achievement goal theory, this study investigated structures and perceptions of the motivational climate, an important factor in leadership development, in one United States (U.S.) ROTC PT setting from multiple perspectives (i.e. cadre and cadets). Data collection included field observations of PT sessions over a five-month period (n=30) and semi-structured interviews with cadets (n=20) and cadre (n=5). Data was used to obtain views of how to increase cadet motivation during PT. Interview transcripts and field notes were analyzed using inductive analysis and constant comparison methods. Analysis revealed a motivational climate that fostered leadership development emphasizing camaraderie and personal-growth through tough physical challenges (e.g., ruck marches) and normative performance-based critiques (e.g., ability group runs) that emphasized self-improvement. Cadre and cadet leadership were expected to "lead by example" (i.e. show high effort during PT and provide social support for cadets under their command). Based on these findings, it appears that the motivational climate of the ROTC PT environment may contain a combination of task-and ego-involved structures, both of which are perceived as facilitating high levels of motivation and improvement in both PT and leadership. Changing the evaluative structures to better facilitate individual improvement could be used by cadre to facilitate more robust teaching techniques, emphasizing cadet leadership development throughout the battalion's hierarchical chain of command. For example, utilizing both task-and ego-involved structures in tandem to manipulate PT tasks and instruction could elicit a stronger motivation in cadets and thus potentially bolstering program retention rates. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.