Military Leadership - Essay Example

Military leadership is entirely different from civilian leadership norms and values. Both of these leadership styles are unique and thus possess their own qualities and advantages (Hannah, 2006). The term military leadership may come up with the tactics, which are usually used to command people. In armed forces or the military practices, a highly structured and well organized hierarchal levels are present and therefore there are strict rules of leadership. Two most common styles of leadership in the military forces are the democratic or the autocratic styles.

Actually, the main goal of military leaders is to give directions to the sub-ordinates and then take them to achieve the final objective of the unit, which is mutually shared by the whole unit.Many of the experts are of the opinion that there should be a use of blended approach of leadership so that different tactics can be used in different kind of situations. In this way, there will be a variety of tools and tactics of leadership that can be used accordingly. In armed forces, the leaders have the opportunity to change the way of commanding people as per the circumstances so we can say that the blended leadership style will be a good or better option for the military leaders.

The basic task of the leaders is to delegate the responsibility and the understanding of any activity to the most competent team members so that the whole team can work in an efficient way. Military leaders also delegate tasks to the sub ordinate experts and in most of the cases; the sub ordinates are more familiar with the task as compare to the leaders. Therefore, it will be good that military leaders may change their attitude as per the conditions. According to my opinion, the success of the platoon may also depend upon the type of military leadership over them.

The pressure and the stressed situations are very common for the armed forces. It is necessary for them to perform well in those situations. It can be easy for the forces to perform well if they have a leadership, which is also motivated, and those inspiring for them who work in any type of situation. There for the military leaders should be value sharing and the reward giving for their sub ordinates in these kinds of stressed situations. The studies suggest that the performance of platoons is also affected if the military leadership is not that much effective over them.

A military leader should be visionary and directive for his platoon of soldiers because it will help him to guide the sub ordinates. Usually there is no concept of praise or rewards in the military style of leadership and they are just directive to achieve their set of objectives and goals. However, it is a good thing that the modern leadership styles in the military forces are also aware of the ineffectiveness of their commanding styles and thus observing to changes it. Reference:Hannah, J. (2006), ‘Leadership In the Profession of Arms’, Training and Doctrine Command, Oxford Handbook of Leadership, page 27 – 54