Establishing A Framework of Transformational Grassroots Military Leadership: Lessons from High-Intensity, High-Risk Operational Environments

Abstract

Today's institutions and organizations, especially, the military in the recent security scenario, are faced with complex, dynamic, and turbulent environments. This empirical study, based on operational military environments, draws upon contextual learning through grounded research, which could hold prescriptive guidelines for leaders required to operate in extreme contexts. The research specifically studies junior and middle level military leadership in “high-intensity, high-risk operational combat environments” over extended time duration, as they go about establishing transformational paradigms to face up to their professional demands. From this empirical research-in-progress, a nine-factor leader framework emerges, which defines successful grassroots transformational leadership appropriate for this emerging environment, characterized by increasing complexity of work-environment, changing nature of team-/collaborative- work, and the followers� needs for affiliation, achievement, and empowerment. The emergent leader framework enumerates the following characteristics for a successful leader: Strive for professional excellence and competence in team-building �Grounded� visionary Lead by personal example Empower the subordinates Sincerity of purpose Impeccable moral integrity Genuine care and concern for the command Compassionate approach towards all in general Self-sacrificing and self-effacing personal qualities. The findings incorporate a large variety of converging and overlapping behaviours at multiple levels, seeking to engage the followers continuously towards professional excellence, greater empowerment, and self-leadership. The paper concludes that both leadership and followership are in the process of being fundamentally redefined, egged on by the curious mix of technological progress and social change, emerging environmental turbulence, and increasing individual selfawareness. It also proposes a measurement instrument for further operationalization of the leader framework. One promising direction for future investigation is the study of emerging leader frameworks in the context of wider social and cultural change.