Air Force Deployment Reintegration Research: Implications for Leadership
Abstract
Expanding on previous research on the reintegration experiences of Army Augmentees (Thompson & Gignac, 2001), this study investigated the post-deployment reintegration issues and experiences of a sample of 95 Canadian Air Force personnel posted at seven different Air Force bases across Canada. A total of 14 semi-structured focus groups were held. The purpose of the present report is to detail some of the leadership issues that Air Force personnel identified as important in the context of multidisciplinary teams and teams formed with augmentees. These included leadership issues in team formation (i.e., choice vs. coercion, identifying the leader, and bureaucracy), leadership issues among augmentees (i.e., lack of belonging, lack of organizational support, lack of support from the home unit, lack of group cohesion, and issues related to promotion and recognition), leadership issues in multidisciplinary teams (i.e., proper training, team integration, culture, colour-centrism), leadership issues within units during deployments, leadership issues in reintegration, and effective leadership. Recommendations include the following: determining who actually are Air Force support personnel, as this would have implications for training; improving leadership from home units, as this would have implications for organization support for Air Force augmentee, reintegration issues, and recognition of Air Force members, and leadership training for leaders of multidisciplinary teams and training for Air Force members, especially Air Force augmentees, who will be working in multidisciplinary teams. Further recommendations from this research include improving overall leadership skills through training of all Air Force members, especially those in positions of leadership, for as the participants interviewed have suggested, holding a position of leadership is not necessarily an indicator of an effective leader.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 27, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA436297
Entities
People
- Angela R. Febbraro
- Ann-renee Blais
- Wendy Sullivan-kwantes
Organizations
- Defence Research and Development Canada