Tacit Knowledge for Military Leaders: Lessons Learned Across Organizational Levels.
Abstract
This product is an extension of a project that defined and measured tacit knowledge for leadership among U.S. Army officers. The project researched tacit knowledge for leadership at three different levels of command and developed tacit knowledge assessment inventories for each level. The project is described in detail in ARI Technical Report 1080 (Hedlund et al, 1998) which is referenced in this document. During conduct of the research both common themes and distinct categories of tacit knowledge emerged across the three levels of command (platoon, company and battalion). This report discusses how the categories compare to the general dimensions of leadership identified by other researchers and what these categories reveal about the primary leadership challenges at the three command levels. Good and bad responses to inventory items as rated by experts are compared with the responses of practitioners rated as effective or ineffective leaders by their subordinates, peers or superiors. These data allow the identification of specific response patterns associated with effectiveness ratings from various sources and provide insights into why effective leadership is viewed differently from different perspectives. The findings have implications for the complexity and training of Army leadership.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA364550
Entities
People
- George B. Forsythe
- Jennifer Hedlund
- Joseph A. Horvath
- Robert Sternberg
- Scott Snook
Organizations
- Yale University