The Context of Military Environments: An Agenda for Basic Research on Social and Organizational Factors Relevant to Small Units by Committee on the Context of Military Environments: Social & Organization Factors

Author:Committee on the Context of Military Environments: Social & Organization Factors
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ebook, book
Publisher: The National Academies Press
Published: 2014-09-12T00:00:00+00:00

5

Distinct Sources of Power and Status in Diversified Army Units

Military organizations are distinctive in the visibility and rigidity of their formal power hierarchies and chain of command. Military ranks define an explicit, consistent, complete ordering of formal authority and power. Furthermore, the paths of promotion to higher levels of power in the Army are well defined; there are few detours to promotion outside the standard routes and no “external hires.” But, as in every organization, there are also important informal and less explicit sources of respect, esteem, and social influence that determine an individual’s placement on the status hierarchy, a hierarchy distinct but interrelated to the power hierarchy. In this chapter, the committee proposes research to understand soldiers’ access to positions of social influence and authority not only in the formal, rank-based power hierarchy but also through informal, respect-based sources of status in the Army. The proposed research addresses questions such as the following:

To the extent that soldiers derive status from their similarity to ideal or typical soldiers, where do valued identities originate and how do these socially shared beliefs change?

How do changes in the skills that are required in military operations impact how soldiers achieve status?

How does the attainment of status influence career development, particularly for individuals who do not match the stereotype of the prototypical soldier (for example, individuals who are minorities in terms of gender, race, or sexual orientation or who represent a smaller and different job skill than the majority within the unit they serve)?

What are the implications for leadership and authority for soldiers from traditionally disadvantaged groups, whose informal status may not align with their formal power?

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