The Role Of Communication In Military Leadership
Volume 2 Issue 1 2015JOURNAL OF CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITYAND LEADERSHIPMILITARY LEADERSHIPThe Role of Communicationin Military Leadershipdoi: http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/JCRL.2015.003MONIKA LEWIŃSKAManagement and Command Faculty, National Defence University, Warsaw, Polande mail: lewinska.monika@gmail.comAbstract: The aim of the paper is to discuss the role of communicationin military leadership. First of all, basic terms related to communication,command and military leadership are explained. In the following parts ofthe paper it is intended to answer the question contained in the title: whatis the role of communication in the military leadership? To precise theissue: is the role of communication in military organisations similar tocivilian leadership and management or does it significantly differ?Keywords: communication; command; military leadership; social com petences; communication skills.1. IntroductionCommunication is often considered an interesting subject for socialscience researchers. Nevertheless, research is relatively seldom carriedout in military organisations, which are hierarchical and formalized. Inmilitary organisations the information related processes are consider ably more often the subject of analysis. For example, the commandingprocess of military operations or an intelligence cycle which are veryspecific and not comparable with any other processes.The aim of the paper is to discuss the role of communication inmilitary leadership. First of all, basic terms related to communication,
38Monika Lewińskacommand and military leadership are explained. In the following partsof the paper it is intended to answer the question contained in the title:what is the role of communication in the military leadership? To precisethe issue: is the role of communication in military organisations similarto civilian leadership and management or does it significantly differ?2. Command and military leadershipCommand (commanding) is the term characteristic of hierarchical organ isations, in most cases the military. The review of the subject related lit erature and the analysis of the Polish Armed Forces doctrinal documentspoint out the differences in describing the idea and gist of command andcommanding (Kręcikij, 2007, pp. 13 – 15). For example, the Polish LandForces operational directive defines commanding as a “process throughwhich a commander imposes his/her will and intentions to his/her sub ordinates. With support of the staff, a commander plans, organises, coor dinates and directs the activities of subordinated forces using standardprocedures and all available means of disseminating the information”(Regulamin działań Wojsk Lądowych, 2008, p. 407). On the other hand,the definition proposed by Aponowicz reads that “commanding is anactivity of a military unit commander based on overall preparation ofsubordinated personnel for fight. What is more, a commander fulfils thecontrol over them” (Aponowicz, 1961, p. 72). Subsequent definitionsare implemented into the Polish military by NATO directives in whichcommand is usually connected to control. NATO Glossary of Terms andDefinitions defines command as “the authority vested in an individualof the armed forces for the direction, coordination, and control of mil itary forces” (AAP 6, 2014, p. 2 C 8) whereas control is described as“the authority exercised by a commander over part of the activities ofsubordinate organisations, or other organisations not normally under hiscommand, that encompasses the responsibility for implementing ordersor directives” (AAP 6, 2014, p. 2 C 13).To sum up, the definitions of command can be narrowed down totwo basic aspects (Kręcikij, 2007, p. 16):1) authority, that is a legitimate right to issue orders but also to bearresponsibility for the latter (such authority can vary dependingon situation);2) process of facilitating command in which a commander
The Role of Communication in Military Leadershipsupported by his/her staff performs the functions connectedwith planning, organising, directing and coordinating the oper ations of subordinated forces.Posobiec (2007, p. 17) ultimately claims that command is a specificform of management and it is justified to consider command in a similarmanner.Military leadership is another term to be explained. Sociologists,psychologists but also experienced managers stress that a subtle butvery significant difference exists between a manager and a leader.A manager is simply responsible for coordination of his/her subordi nates. He/she manages accuracy, apportionment and effectiveness ofassigned tasks. A leader possesses a certain feature or knowledge whichby some is characterized as “charisma”. Such charisma is a force mak ing subordinates enthusiastically following a leader in order to achievecommon goals (Kuc, 2004, p. 165). The phenomenon of leadership hasbeen for many years and it still remains an attractive and unexploredarea for researches. Many of researchers claim that leadership cannot bedeveloped and trained, as it is an inhabited feature of one’s individualcharacter. Contrary, the others try to identify the elements of charis ma considered as a combination of: certain amount of self confidence(overstated self esteem), increased tendency of domination and highdesire to influence others (changing their postures and values) as wellas strong belief in own moral righteousness of values and conductedactivities (Weber, 1984, p. 206). Maxwell claims that a leader can beeasily distinguished from an “ordinary manager” with five followingcriteria (Maxwell, 1995, p. 19): a leader thinks in a long term perspective going beyond theproblems and the horizon outlined in a quarterly report; a leader does not limit his/her scope of interest only to the issuesof an organisation that he/she controls. He/she wants to beaware how the particular branches of an enterprise or institutionaffect each other and he/she continuously attempts to expandthe field of their influence; a leader pays attention to the vision, values and motivation; a leader possesses special abilities of balancing differentexpectations and needs of the particular branches of anorganisation; a leader does not accept current situation (he/she is an advocateof changes).39
40Monika LewińskaThe differences between leaders and managers are highlighted byKuc (2004, p. 170) who observes that “( ) control of others’ workis a domain of a manager whereas inspiring to make work better isa domain of a leader”. As Piotrowski claims, these are the followerswho decide whether someone can be considered as a leader. People(subordinates and partners) have a desire of leadership as it reducestheir uncertainty in a situation of increasing tempo and makes changesmore predictable (Piotrowski, 2004, p. 197).Embedding the aforementioned observations into the context ofa military organisation, the majority of commanders controlling the cor rectness and effectiveness of tasks accomplished by their subordinatedsoldiers can be considered as managers. Consequently, the questionmay be asked which additional knowledge, skills or values should havea commander to be considered as a leader?An interesting reference can be derived from historical sources.The ancient thinker Sun Zi in his seminal work entitled Art of Warwrote: “The leaders have three fundamental characteristics. First is thetrust, second – loyalty and the third – boldness. What loyalty? Loyaltyto a persisting authority. What trust? In the prize. Which boldness? Ineliminating of the evil” (Sun Zi, 2008, p. 176). As it can be seen, theChinese master assumed that the command over an army could notbe given to an individual who: was not loyal to his sovereign, did notbelieve in victory and did have neither virtue nor authority in his sub ordinates’ eyes. It is not difficult to deduce, that those qualities reflectthe contemporary existing attributes of a leader.Discussing historical examples Posobiec (2007) describes the fea tures of military leaders in the following way:( ) usually, the chieftain was chosen from the leaders of families, clansor tribe, who possessed the values that distinguished him from amongstthe rest of warriors. In most cases the individual was daring, physicallyfit, strong and decided to prove his value as a soldier. He also steppedforward thanks to his determination, ability to assess the situation andperseverance as well as ruthlessness. These were the qualities whichpredestined one to fulfil the commander’s role. The authority and com mand was concentrated in his hands over those who were committed tohim as subordinates for the time of war. Mastery in using arms, braveryand other personal qualities were necessary because, from commandpoint of view, commanding was the ability of leading (soldiers) in
The Role of Communication in Military Leadershipcombat. Often he provoked a fight giving a command to attack in whichhe actively fought with enemy in the first echelon but had no majorinfluence on directing the course of battle (Posobiec, 2007, p. 17).Therefore, besides the virtue of perseverance, the ability to makedecisions and intellectual skills some other features necessary in battlesuch as physical proficiency and even ruthlessness are included into thecatalogue of capabilities which military leaders should have.According to the aforementioned statement made by Piotrowski(2004), it seems that emotions play a significant role in the process ofselecting a military leader. What is more, it is more prominent than inthe case of a leader in a company/corporation. In business environment,unsuccessful mergers, investments or projects may occur which a noteffective manager can be blamed for. Similarly, successful and rightdecisions and business projects can be also noted. Nevertheless, asa general principle, completely different arguments are being used asjustification of failure or success in the company. It may be so, becausethe leadership in organisations does not enjoy sufficient respect andmaybe because it is yet difficult to assess the emotional commitment ofworkers into a given project.In the military a situation in significantly different. The variety ofhistorical sources, describing bloody battles in which hundreds of sol diers lost their health and lives as a consequence of following their lead ers, are an irrefutable, unquestionable proof. Simplifying, one has to beon the highest possible level of motivation and emotional commitmentto a certain military operation to sacrifice own life and well being. Notevery military operation, however, takes place in the combat environ ment and not every operation requires extreme sacrifices. Nevertheless,in most of the cases, military operations are being conducted in lesscomfortable conditions than any business venture. It occurs in a lesssafe, more stressing and unpredictable environment.Concluding, it is claimed that command and management can beconsidered as very similar constructs, which is not so obvious whencomparing leadership in military and business organisations.3. CommunicationThe word communication is of Latin origin, it comes from the verbcommunicatio meaning making something common, cooperate, be in41
42Monika Lewińskarelationship with somebody. Throughout centuries the noun rooted fromthis word particularly determined a sort of community or commune.As a matter of fact, the development of roads and postal service in the16th century added new connotations such as: movements of people anditems within space with use of means of transport as well as transmittingthe information over a distance with the use of appropriate technicalmeans (at the time it was a telegraph, today telephone or new mediasuch as the Internet) (Filipiak, 2004, p. 13).Despite the fact that the scientific literature acknowledges originsand overall meaning of the word communication, there is still a difficul ty in discovering common, coherent and precise definition of the term.The researchers, depending on a scientific discipline, speak about thelinguistic perspective of communication which is focused on semioticsand the meaning of a communicate (message). Additionally, they speakabout the quantitative perspective of communication evaluating it bythe relations and method of steering (human machine, machine hu man). The sociological aspect of communication will be applied hereinas most often occurring in the management theory and providing thefoundations for considerations associated with a military organisationand widely perceived security issues.In this context, communication is “a process of generating, trans forming and transferring information between entities, groups andsocial organisations. The aim of communication is continuous anddynamic forging, modification or change of knowledge, stances orbehaviours into the direction corresponding with the values or inter ests of the mutually affecting subjects” (Antoszewski and Herbut,1995, p. 34). As regards social disciplines, the Lasswell linear model(Figure 1) of a persuasive act seems to be the most popular modelof communication. The construction of the model considers the exis tence of a communicator (as a source of information) and a receiver ofa communicate or code as well as the means of transmission. Accord ing to Lasswell, when analysing the process of communication fivefundamental questions are to be answered (Dobek Ostrowska, 1998,pp. 33 – 34): Who is speaking? What does one say? Which channel is used to speak? To whom one speaks? What is the effect?
The Role of Communication in Military Who is speaking?What does onesay?Which channel isused to speak?To whom onespeaks?What is the effectof speaking?Figure 1. The Lasswell model of the persuasive actSource: Dobek Ostrowska, 1998, pp. 33 – 34.Communication in organisations is directly associated with basicmanagement functions (planning, organising, motivating and con trolling). Therefore, it is important to underline the effect of commu nication known as the feedback, last but equally important link of theprocess of communication within an organisation. It comprises threecore elements: interpretation of a message by the subordinated person nel, supervisors’ assurance that the message was well comprehendedand taking actions aimed at realisation of the message. Therefore,feedback is considered as the prerequisite for effective communication(Sobkowiak, 1998, p. 11).Communication in all organisations fulfils the two principal func tions (Filipiak, 2004, pp. 144 – 145): informational organisational, based on disseminating messagesto organisation members irrespectively if they are top to bottommessages (directives, orders, etc.) or bottom to top messages(workers’ suggestions, assessments, reservations, etc.); motivating inspirational, concentrated on mobilising organisa tion members to achieve common goals.According to Filipiak (2004, p. 18), majority of researchers share anagreement that communicating is a:1) symbolic process (symbolic nature of characters conveysa message);2) social process (ruled by exchange of symbols between socialentities);3) mutual relationship (such “mutuality” can be either symmetricor asymmetric);4) process taking place at a certain level: intrapersonal (so called internal thinking), interpersonal (with participation of other person or a smallgroup), group level, institutional level,43
44Monika Lewińska intercultural level, mass level;5) continuous and sustained process engaging multiple habitualcommunication manners which are both verbal and non verbal,conscious and subconscious, intentional and non intentional(meaning that communication must not be stopped as evensilence can be considered as a form of message);6) transactional process of negotiating the meanings of messagesby the participants of communication.4. The role of communication in the military leadershipAs mentioned before, from the management perspective, the commu nication in every organisation facilitates two principal functions: infor mational organisational and motivating inspirational. In the majorityof civilian organisations the first function is fulfilled by the formalinformational process comprising the communication of directives,programmes, orders and decisions by the supervisors. Additionally,the bottom to top communication initiated by workers takes place bytransmitting recommendations, reports and summaries, assessments,remarks and complains. Simplifying the issue it can be claimed thatthe informational and organisational function of communication canbe portrayed as a complex system of documentation flow and formaldissemination of necessary messages (Filipiak, 2004, pp. 144 – 145).As a matter of fact, the other function of communication is usuallyfacilitated with less structured activities which are within the compe tences of human resources branches, public affairs offices as well aspress offices. Contemporary human resources (HR) branches apply thevariety of tools to motivate employees. For instance, they manage ben efit systems, trainings and professional development opportunities forevery single member of a company. Similarly, besides creating a pos itive image of the firm in its external environment and in the media,public affairs offices are are often responsible for intra organisationalcommunication. They perform the functions of internal communica tion by: issuing brochures (bulletins), managing organisational intranetwebsites, integrating teams and fostering the feelings of employeeidentification with an organisation and employee satisfaction from theprojects they participate in (Filipiak, 2004, pp. 144 – 145).
The Role of Communication in Military LeadershipThe review of literature indicates that in the case of military organi sations the informational and organisational function of communicationis decisively dominant if not the only that matters. In military organisa tions, distinction should be made between staff (support) functions andcommand functions. Staff structures are to a greater extend comparableto civilian organisations. The command structures are more specific.The studies concerning the process of command describe in detail com plex informational processes observed during military activities andthe structures of the so called informational bonds, quality of whichis of paramount importance for timely and effective decision makingprocesses:( ) the informational and decisive structures decide which is a mannerand quality of the information flow within military organisations. Suchstructures are to be understood as the qualitative and organisationallydetermined, constant order of space timely relations connected withthe exchange of variety of information, especially orders, directivesand decisions as well as reports, memorandums, information aboutadversary side and its combat capabilities as well technical and tacticalparameters of enemy’s means of combat. ( ) The informational system( ) functions at many levels and it is based on available communi cation and information systems. ( ) It is strictly associated with thecommand system, organisational structure, structure of decision makingcentres, apportionment of workload and hierarchical and functionalrelations (Wołejszo, 2007, p. 214).On the contrary, there is a lack of evidence that the motivating in spirational function is performed. Certainly, it is possible that moti vating the soldiers to execute their tasks is skipped by the commanderwith his/her full awareness and, till certain extent, it is replaced by theefficient system of documents and orders flow, uninterrupted systemof the informational relations as well efficient mechanisms of internalcommunication, e.g. activities of HR or Public Relations offices. Infact, it is difficult to imagine that the aforementioned teams are ableto inspire dozens of soldiers to participate in particular projects ordevelopments with equal commitment and engagement. First of all,because neither the Public Affairs Offices nor Public Rel
a general principle, completely different arguments are being used as justification of failure or success in the company. It may be so, because the leadership in organisations does not enjoy sufficient respect and maybe because
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