The Gap Between Leadership Policy and Practice

In spite of the rapid socio-cultural evolution that has taken place in the United States since its birth as a nation, there has been consistency in US Army policy with respect to leadership. Modern research in the military and social sciences has confirmed the psychological and military validity of the leadership philosophy prescribed by current Army regulations as well as those dating back to the late 18th century. But military leaders have demonstrated a continuing propensity to behave in ways at variance both with policy and with the interests of the service. My purposes in this article are to review the fundamental themes stated in US Army leadership policy since 1778, and to illustrate how practice has regularly, and destructively, departed from them. I will then discuss how military socialization processes have guided new NCOs and officers into behavioral patterns that do not conform to policy, and suggest some ways in which these processes might be changed to bring leadership practice more nearly into consonance with policy

Perspective (graphical) · Political science · Military History and Strategy · Public Administration