Commanders' Priorities and Psychological Readiness.

Abstract

This brief research report summarizes the results of a study by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) on commanders' priorities and psychological readiness. The study confirms some conventional wisdom regarding leadership: that leaders' beliefs and values can influence subordinates' psychological readiness for combat. The study examined 51 Army company-sized units. Results show that leader emphasis on soldier morale or "human dimensions" issues is positively related to soldier readiness indicators. Company commanders who place a high emphasis on soldier morale issues have soldiers in their units who score significantly higher on a range of psychological readiness indicators. The research concludes that leaders' values are related to the mental health and readiness of their subordinates. Leader beliefs appear to influence the perceptions and behaviors of subordinates, which in turn affect overall unit readiness.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 30, 1994
Accession Number
ADA288855

Entities

People

  • Paul Bartone

Organizations

  • Walter Reed Army Institute of Research

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Biomedical Research
  • Classification
  • Cohesion
  • Health
  • Indicators
  • Information Operations
  • Land Navigation
  • Leadership
  • Mental Health
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Navigation
  • Security
  • Surveys

Fields of Study

  • Psychology

Readers

  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Organizational Psychology.
  • Technical Research and Report Writing.