Developing Initiative in Junior Officers
Abstract
Us Army doctrine demands leader initiative, defined as taking action to best accomplish a mission without waiting for new orders or supervision. This thesis explores how d junior officer initiative. A review of historical, doctrinal, cross-cultural, empirical, and military literature suggests that initiative is relatively stifled in US Army junior officers. While authors and researchers have suggested several factors that inhibit initiative, the most commonly cited factor has been an unforgiving command climate. This study develops a decision-making model of initiative, in which a leader will not display initiative if any of the five inhibiting factors occurs: failure to recognize a need to take action; failure to accept responsibility; inability to develop an alternative plan; lack of confidence in the alternative plan; or unacceptable personal risk. A survey conducted of a Combined Arms and Services Staff School Class revealed that, contrary to the predominant theme of the literature, junior officers believe that they often display initiative. Additionally, the findings suggest that factors related to personal responsibility, competence, and commitment, and not command climate, were most strongly associated with the failure to display initiative. Recommendations are provided for future research and for developing initiative in junior officers. Initiative, Command climate, Responsibility, Leader development, Risk, Confidence, Auftragstaktik.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 10, 1993
- Accession Number
- ADA272857
Entities
People
- Kevin S. Donohue
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College