Winning Military Battle - Article Example

 Winning Military Battle INTRODUCTION This paper is a research proposal for the topic “Winning military battle is related to effective leadership style”. The wars and battles are probably most important examples of teamwork, leadership qualities and ability to work in difficult circumstance. In such scenario whenever any battle is conquered, it is associated with various things from strategy to timings. However, persons at various levels take decisions from president to the officers at battlefield. In such scenario, their ability to motivate their followers and lead them towards common goal becomes crucial. Researcher has taken this research as an opportunity to study the results of battlefield with relation to the leadership style. Different aspects of this research proposal are as follows: Research Topic Winning military battle is related to effective leadership style. Research Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify factors of leadership resulting in the success at the military battle. Data This study will be primarily based on secondary sources. This research will help to find out factors responsible for the success of a leader. The research has been designed in such a way that it meets all the research objectives set by the researcher. First researcher tried to identify the area of research and set his objectives and aims from this research. The next step was to analyze various data collection tools and methods. In this particular research researcher felt that the objectives can be meet the best with secondary research methods. Background Study: Leadership is all about leading a group of people to a certain direction t accomplish common goals or achieve common objectives as chosen by the leader. A leader can influence his followers, motivate them to do certain tasks, bring people together and ensure contribution of all his followers for the well-being of overall community. Leaderships can vary based on the controlling factors of the leaders. Leader can be from political background, military, religious group, business, education and many others. Important factor is leaders’ ability to influence and motivate their followers. Leadership can be formal or informal. Leadership in an organization can be formal types where people are initially abide to listen to their bosses whom they find good enough to follow later on. In informal leadership, a leader may not have any formal relationship with his followers, but they are influenced their leader and follow him. Leaders have impact on the psychology of people. They have ability to provoke thoughts and ideas in the minds of people. A leader can be highly educated or with basic knowledge and practical approach. A leader can be result oriented or charismatic. He can develop role models for others to follow. Trait theory of leadership lists different qualities or traits of a leader. These are decision taking abilities, professional knowledge, humanity, equity, consideration, integrity, loyalty, courage, character and selflessness. However, different academicians believe that leadership is more than listing these traits. A successful approach to leadership will be these qualities are studied throughout the career of a successful leader. Character is another important aspect of a leader that influences followers. It is very difficult to provide definition of character. Military Leadership American History is full of examples of great leaders. These leaders have exhibited their leadership qualities successfully in one of the most difficult situations. In the case of military leadership, it is difficult to say which quality is most important. According to McAuliffe (As cited by Puryear Jr, 2000) there are certain qualities which a leader can develop over a period of time like decisiveness but a leader is born with basic qualities of leadership. I (McAuliffe) think their (General MacArthur and General Patton) broad knowledge of the military profession contributed greatly to their boldness in decision and their success as leaders."( Puryear Jr, 2000). These qualities can be improved to a certain extent. McAuliffe has listed certain traits like character, qualification, knowledge to a successful leader. According to him, knowledge brings confidence and effective decision-making abilities in a leader. Leader can take bold and decisive action if he has adequate knowledge about the related matter. Leadership in defense is different from leadership in political arena or public genre. Selflessness and desire to serve are probably most important traits. Leaders are expected to accept responsibilities and take decisions on the behalf of their followers. Hall further explains the failure to realign various levels of perspectives, which results in overall failure in the battlefield. According to Hall decisions in five distinct areas heroism, tactics, operations, theaters and national purpose and resources are responsible for the success and failure of any leader in military or battle within specified time or particular moment. Time is one of the most crucial factors for the success or failure of any decision. Leaders like Eisenhower had mentioned sixth sense or feel to be sense of effective decision making in leadership. He further mentions importance of selection, mentoring, rewarding, greater challenges, sacrifices for themselves and for their families, concerns for their people, ability to delegate successfully, dealing with problems and finding solutions and meeting requirements of commands results is a great leader in military. The Iliad makes two points about war clear. The first is that war combines different levels of perspective, including heroics, operations, and perseverance at the theater level. Without perseverance, the heroics are in vain and even with it, a ruse may be required (Hall, 1994) According to Hall (1994:142), Military leaders have to take care of various factors before decision-making or any actions. These factors can be time, logistics or individual interests. They need to focus on the national purpose of that particular decision in order to preserve the ideological values and economic influences. They need to prevail against the opponents in military terms, attain advantage as tactical success and obtain more than specific military objectives in the battle and need to take immediate course of action through direct influence. Political Leadership with reference to Wars and Battles: Political leadership gets followers as a voluntary followers and informal relationship. These leaders are highly influential. They can influence people with their speech, their persona, their character, their vision or approach. Political leaders are responsible for various kinds of decisions. People at President are responsible for crucial decisions of wars and military operations as well. One of the major decisions in the history of America and world is probably decision taken by President Truman to the use of atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. There have been different levels of involvement of presidents during different period of history in the military operations. Roles and involvements of American Presidents on the military operations in the history of America have been very important. As Oyos (2000) states “Larger, and sometimes impersonal, influences were not solely responsible for shaping civil-military relations during the Progressive Era. Theodore Roosevelt played a central role as he worked to improve American military preparedness, yet the ranks did not always appreciate his efforts. His intimate involvement in military affairs alienated some, and his failure to follow through on certain issues disappointed others.”( Oyos, 2000) The level of involvement and time given by president to the military services varied with each president. President Roosevelt on one hand had knowledge of military matters but was not able to involve on the same due to other presidential obligations. According to Oyos (2000), Roosevelt had knowledge of martial matters. This had been impressive but he was not been able to give full attention to various issues relate to military. This resulted in a condition when military professional find it difficult to deal with the interference of president. Moreover, the overseas expansionism that Roosevelt pushed so hard exacerbated rivalries within the services as they attempted to respond to the new challenges confronting them. Line and bureau officers bickered, and uniformed partisans looked to Congress or the White House for support. Roosevelt could not satisfy all sides and sometimes pleased none, especially when political caution led him to compromise.(Oyos, 2000) Table 1 provides list of presidents and wars during their tenure. The role of president had been important, as they were the decision-makers on various strategic issues with military senior officials. Some of the decisions had been very crucial in the history of America. There have been various studies conducted to understand the leadership ability of presidents during their work tenure. Presidential involvement in military operations as a leader is an important area to study. Table 1: Wars and Battles from 1941 and American Leaders War/Battle Year Type Enemy Leaders World War II 1941-1945 (American involvement only) Inter-State War Germany, Japan & Italy Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Churchill 1. The Cold War 1945-1991 Global Inter-State Cold War The Soviet Union & Communist China Ronald Reagan 2. The Korean War 1950-1953 Inter-State War North Korea & China Harry S. Truman 3. The Second Indochina War "Vietnam War" 1956-1975 Civil War, Inter-State War North Vietnam & South Vietnamese "Viet Cong" Rebels Harry S. Truman 4. U.S. Intervention in Lebanon 1958 Civil War & Foreign Intervention No real foe for U.S. Troops landed to support Lebanon Gov. Dwight Eisenhower 5. Dominican Intervention 1965 Civil War & Foreign Intervention Rebels in the Dominican Republic Lyndon Johnson 6. The Mayaguez Rescue Operation News Story 1975 (May 15) Hostage Rescue & Inter-State Conflict Khmer Rouge Guerrillas (the new government of Cambodia) Gerald Ford 7. Iranian Hostage Rescue "Desert One" or "Operation Eagle Claw" 1980 (April 25) Hostage Rescue & Inter-State Conflict Iran Rutherford B. Hayes 8. U.S. Libya Conflict 1981, 1986 Inter-State War Libya James Garfields, Chester Arthur 9. U.S. Intervention in Lebanon 1982-1984 Civil War, Foreign Intervention & Inter-State War Syria & Various Muslim and Leftist Lebanese Militias Chester Arthur 10. U.S. Invasion of Grenada 1983 Inter-State War Marxist Grenadian Faction & Cuba Chester Arthur 11. The Tanker War "Operation Earnest Will" 1987-1988 Inter-State War Iran Grover Cleveland 12. U.S. Invasion of Panama 1989 Inter-State War Panama Benjamin Harrison 13. Second Persian Gulf War "Operation Desert Storm" 1991 Inter-State War Iraq George H.W. Bush 14. "No-Fly Zone" War 1991-2000 Inter-State War Iraq George H.W. Bush, Willia J Clinton 15. U.S. Intervention in Somalia 1992-1994 Civil War & Foreign Intervention Various Somali Militias George H.W. Bush, William J Clinton 16. NATO Intervention in Bosnia (Operation Deliberate Force) Summary 1994-1995 Civil War,Foreign Intervention & Inter-State War Bosnian Serb Rebels William J Clinton 17. U.S. Occupation of Haiti 1994 Foreign Intervention Haitian Government William J Clinton 18. U.S. Embassy bombings and strikes on Afghanistan and Sudan (The bin Laden War) August, 1998 Terrorist Conflict Terrorist Conflict William J Clinton 19. "Desert Fox" Campaign (part of U.S./Iraq Conflict) December, 1998 Inter-State War Iraq William J Clinton 20. Kosovo War 1999 Civil War, Foreign Intervention & Inter-State War Yugoslavia/Serbia William J Clinton 21. Attack on the USS Cole October 12, 2000 Terrorist Conflict Terrorists associated with Osama bin Laden William J Clinton 22. Afghanistan War (Operation Enduring Freedom October 7, 2001-Present War against Terrorism The Taliban and Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaida organization George W. Bush 23. Third Persian Gulf War "Operation Iraqi Freedom" March 19, 2003-Present Inter-State War Iraq George W. Bush Role of military leaders in various battles and wars are important to study. History of America is full of examples of great military leaders. The circumstances under which they had taken certain decisions are equally important to understand. There has been various works to understand the leadership process and abilities of these leaders. However, there has been a gap to study the win or lose situations and effective leadership style of military leader. This gap can be fulfilled by understanding career of these military leaders including the war/battle that gave them title of good military leader. Table 2: Military Leaders List of Some Major Military Officials 1. Union generals Ulysses Simpson Grant (1822–85) 2. William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–91); 3. Confederate generals Robert Edward Lee (1807–70) 4. Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (1824–63). 5. George Catlett Marshall (1880–1959) 6. Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) 7. D. Eisenhower (1890–1969 8. George S. Patton, Jr., commander of the U.S. Arm 9. Barry McCaffrey, (Iraq War 2001) 10. Wayne A. Downing, (Iraq War 2001) 11. John Keane; (Iraq War 2001) 12. Eliot Cohen(Iraq War 2001) 13. Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli(Iraq War 2001) 14. Gen. George William Casey Jr(Iraq War 2001) 15. John Bell Hood (Confederate general in the American Civil War ) 16. Joseph Hooker ( Union general in the American Civil War ) 17. Esek Hopkins (American Revolutionary naval hero ) 18. Johann Kalb (American general in the Revolution ) 19. Philip Kearny ( Union general in the American Civil War ) 20. Stephen Watts Kearny (American general in the Mexican War ) 21. George Brinton McClellan (Union general in the American Civil War ) Researcher has limited his study to the wars and battles from 1940 onwards. It starts with World War II. This will help researcher to focus his study to the most recent wars, battles and leaders. In the case of military leaders researcher had range of options and it has been very challenging for the researcher to select the leaders. In such case researcher has selected military leaders based on availability of information and with the approach of covering military leaders from different periods. Researcher has listed leaders from present and past. Significance of the Study This study will help to develop better understanding of leadership factors and its correlation with winning at battle (if any). This research will help in developing a model for effective leadership. It will be able to bring out factors influencing decision-makings in difficult situation like battles. Winning in battle is usually perceived to be related with the leadership. This study will help to find out whether this perception is right or not. Research Questions Which are the common traits of leaders of military battles? What are the differences of factors influencing decision making in political and military leaderships? How winning is related to effective leadership? Which were the crucial decisions taken on the major world wars and what were the reasons behind that? How leadership in military has changed from the past to present? Nature of the Study Researcher is conducting study based on qualitative and qualitative data available in the form of secondary resources like books, journals, research works conducted by academicians and researcher on the similar and relevant topics. The research scope will be limited to studying leadership in battles. The leadership quality studied by the researcher will include political and military leaders listed in Table 1 and Table 2. Table 1 consists of major war and battles of American history from and after World War II. The study will also cover some of the major military leaders listed in table 2. This list includes selected leaders from the past and present war condition to get proper picture of difference of strategies adopted in past and present. LITERATURE REVIEW Researcher will develop this section with the help of available resources on the topic. This will cover leadership in general, theories of leadership, political leadership and military leadership. Researcher will also try to identify factors that are common or different in the case of military leadership and other types of leadership. This section will help researcher to identify important factors to develop a conceptual framework for the leadership. PROPOSED METHODOLOGY The study is based on secondary research case study method. In this kind of research, researchers rely on the secondary sources like previous studies and research, journals, reports, company information bulletin, internet resources and many more for their purpose of research. This data is relevant to the research. This method is ideal in the case where collection of primary data is a complex process or the objectives of the research can be achieved through secondary research only. DATA ANALYSIS Researcher will analyze qualitative data a secondary data with the help of various leadership models. Limitations to Research Due to the complex nature of the research, data used in this survey are from secondary resources. Research tried his level best to get data from the best available sources. In any case, primary data is better than secondary data. Data reliability, quality of the secondary sources, availability of time and other resources to collect all the data used for related researches are some of the limitations of this research. Ethical Considerations The information used from various sources has been properly recognized and referenced. Researcher has tried his level best to provide all the sources of information and ideas used in this study SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS In this chapter researcher will provide summary of the entire paper. This chapter will include the recommendations based on research findings and analysis. STRUCTURE OF THE RESEARCH PAPER TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION 1 Introduction to the Problem Statement of the Problem Background of the Study Purpose of the Study Nature of the Study Significance of the Study Research Questions Literature Review Definition of Terms Scope, Assumptions, Limitations II. LITERATURE REVIEW Introduction Separate sections by headings using appropriate APA methods III. METHODOLOGY Introduction Description of Methodology Sample and Population Internal and External Validity and Reliability Researcher Bias Design of the Study and Instrumentation Pilot Testing Data Collection Data Analysis IV. DATA ANALYSIS Introduction Summary V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, & RECOMMENDATIONS Introduction Summary Results and Conclusions Recommendations Final Summary REFERENCES APPENDIXES REFERENCES Avolio, B.J., & Yammarino, F.J. (2002). Tranformational and charismatic leadership: The road ahead. New York: Elsevier. Blake, R. & Mouton, J. (1964) The Managerial Grid: The Key to Leadership Excellence. Houston: Gulf Publishing Co. Bass, B. M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations, New York: Free Press. Bass B.M. (1998) Transformational Leadership: Industrial, Military, and Educational Impact, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Mahwah, NJ.165-170 Business leadership: A Jossey-Bass reader (2003) San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Clawson, J. G. (2006). Level three leadership: Getting below the surface ed.) Upper Saddle River: Pearson. Gilkey, R. W. (1999). The 21st century health care leader. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Hughes R.L., Ginnett, R.C. & Curphy, C.J. (2006) Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience (5th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Leed, M (2002) Keeping the Warfighting Edge: An Empirical Analysis of Army Officers' Tactical Expertise.: Rand: Santa Monica, CA. Mills, Quinn , (2005) Asian and American Leadership Styles: How Are They Unique?retreived on 6th February 2007 from http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/4869.html Nahavandi, A. (2006). The art and science of leadership (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson. Oyos M.M. (2000) Theodore Roosevelt, Congress, and the Military: U.S. Civil-Military Relations in the Early Twentieth Century, Presidential Studies Quarterly. (30)2. 312. Center for the Study of the Presidency Puryear Jr, E F (2000) American Generalship: Character Is Everything The Art of Command. Presidio: Novato, CA. 340-345 Rejai, M. & Phillips K (1996) World Military Leaders: A Collective and Comparative Analysis, Praeger Publishers: Westport, CT. Spiliotes, C J. (2002) Political Leadership for the New Century: Personality and Behavior among American Leaders, Presidential Studies Quarterly. (32)4. 818 . The Jossey-Bass reader on educational leadership. (2000). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Tichy, N.M., & Devanna, M.A. (1990). The tranformational leader. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Wren, D. A. (2004). The history of management thought (5th ed.). New York: John Wiley and Sons. Yukl, G. (2006). Leadership in organizations (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Young, Kenneth Ray. 1994. The general's general: The life and times of Arthur MacArthur. Boulder, CO: Westview. Read More