Gerry Larsson, Carina Brandow, Maria Fors Brandebo, Alicia Ohlsson and Gunnar Åselius
Globalisation of working life means that many organisations are manned by people from different countries. A potentially critical factor is how members from various nations are…
Abstract
Purpose
Globalisation of working life means that many organisations are manned by people from different countries. A potentially critical factor is how members from various nations are looked upon by their partner countries. Such perception may be more or less accurate and affect organisational outcomes. The military is no exception as modern warfare is characterised by multinational composition of task forces. The aim of this paper was to gain a deeper understanding of how military officers from other nations perceive Swedish military officers and their leadership qualities in particular.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews were conducted with 20 military officers representing ten nations. Interview questions were deduced from the Developmental leadership model. Responses were first coded inductively according to the constant comparative method. Generated categories were then deductively related to this leadership model.
Findings
The analysis resulted in positive and negative patterns. The positive picture included Swedish officers being perceived as calm, competent and generally good at exhibiting exemplary leadership behaviour, showing individualised consideration and creating an inspiring atmosphere. The negative side included opinions such as Swedish officers being too emotionally restrained, exhibiting poor self-confidence, discussing too much before making decisions and having difficulties giving negative feedback. The results are discussed in relation to the Developmental leadership model and the stereotype concept.
Research limitations/implications
Small sample size and a focus on military organisations imply a low degree of generalisability.
Practical implications
Three suggestions regarding Swedish officer education are presented: officer students should be given an increased awareness of how they are perceived by others, decision-making without group support and giving negative feedback in a constructive, straight forward, but still considerate way, should be practiced and more attention should be paid to emotion management.
Originality/value
The paper addresses an increasing tendency in work organisations – a multinational composition of the work force. The foundation of study in leadership theory and the stereotype concept is new.
Details
Keywords
David Scott, Carina Brandow, Jennifer Hobbins, Sofia Nilsson and Ann Enander
Supporting and communicating with citizens is a vital part of societal crisis management. Training exercises may offer an opportunity to develop capabilities among managers in…
Abstract
Purpose
Supporting and communicating with citizens is a vital part of societal crisis management. Training exercises may offer an opportunity to develop capabilities among managers in this regard. The purpose of this paper is to examine this potential in an analysis of how citizens were portrayed and perceived by participants in a major crisis management exercise.
Design/methodology/approach
Observation, document analysis and short interviews during the exercise were used as data collection methods. Data were subjected to thematic analysis to capture core themes in relation to the research aim.
Findings
Patterns in how citizens’ reactions were portrayed in the exercise were identified to form a citizen behaviour typology. Observations during the exercise also demonstrated some of the challenges in incorporating the citizen perspective. However, findings regarding the perception of the citizen perspective also demonstrate the ability of exercise participants to meet and respond to public behaviours with respect and seriousness.
Originality/value
Variation is an important condition for learning in exercises, and the identified typology is suggested as a starting point for achieving this in incorporation of the citizen perspective in training scenarios. The results of the study are discussed in terms of a learning framework with the aim of explicitly developing crisis managers’ ability to interact and communicate with citizens in crisis situations.