Military Leaders' Adaptability in Unexpected Situations

This paper investigates adaptability among lower-level military leaders in unexpected threatening situations. Two studies were performed. In the first, a grounded theory approach was used, and 16 Swedish officers and soldiers with experience from international peacekeeping operations were interviewed. A model was developed based on the results. In Study 2, the model concepts from Study 1 were operationalized into a questionnaire and data was obtained from 102 respondents from the Swedish Armed Forces who had recently served in Afghanistan. Based on Study 1, the model suggests that the key aspects of adaptive leadership in such circumstances are 2 balancing acts. One is how subordinates handle structure/following rules versus their own initiatives/freedom of action. The other concerns the balance between individual decision making versus group input. Both are affected by availability of time, resulting in a favorable/unfavorable outcome. The hypotheses from Study 1 were partly confirmed in Study 2.