Organizational challenges and leaders’ coping strategies: a qualitative study of Swedish military staff organization

Researchers on dysfunctional organizational aspects have explored the issue using different interdisciplinary approaches. The following part frames and links organizational, psychological, business administration/financial and sociological views on the dark sides of the organizational behavior. A brief introduction and summary of previous research on the concepts of organizational narcissism (ON), organizational anorexia (OA) and organizational greed (OG) are given in the following, which are used as a framework in the following analysis of our own empirical data.

ON. Narcissism, at the individual level, is characterized by an exaggerated sense of self, lack of self-knowledge, a great need to be the center of attention and a lack of empathy (Freud 1914). However, narcissism is not only a phenomenon found at the individual level. Recent researches have begun to discuss the concept of narcissism in the workplace in organizational and leadership contexts (Amernic and Craig 2010; Brown 1997; Chatterjee and Hambrick 2007).

According to Grant and McGhee (2013), ON occurs in a number of industrial businesses and other private sectors where it has even been blamed for the collapse of organizations. Analyses using ON are usually focused on individuals’ behavior, mostly managers and leaders, which contributes to unhealthy, egocentric organizational culture (Grant and McGhee 2013). When such a phenomenon is revealed by the media or by a whistleblower, there are often major consequences for human well-being, creativity, skills loss and ultimately the organization’s survival (Rosenblatt and Sheaffer 2001).

Difficulties dealing with narcissism in organizations are often due to employees at all levels who become “blind” to unethical behavior and begin to “mimic” the normed behavior of others, thus perpetuating the unhealthy culture (Gini 1997; Jackall 1988). Some researchers have identified particular aspects of ON (Brown 1997; Tobacyk and Mitchell 1987). The first of these criteria includes denial. This describes a process when organizations deny facts about themselves using spokespersons, propaganda campaigns, annual reports and myths. The second is rationalization, which happens when organizations develop justifications for their actions, inactions, decisions and responsibilities. The third is self-aggrandizement, which occurs when organizations make claims to their uniqueness, commissioning corporate histories and deploying their office layouts and architecture as signs of status, prestige and vanity. The fourth is attributional egotism, which describes organizations that attribute failed decisions to external factors while attributing positive results to the organization itself. The fifth is a sense of entitlement, an organizational characteristic whereby the organization adopts a culture of entitlement by continuous processes that exploit resources, people and other organizations in order to achieve continued success and prosperity. Lastly, anxiety is often found in narcissistic organizations, which leads to social instability and alienation. It is worth pointing out that ON is most visible in the context of leadership, in that it begins with leaders and is established and propagated by them.

OA. This is a relatively new concept in popular science, which was recently used to describe dieting organizations in an attempt to highlight what happens when resources are scarce (Brännmark 2012; Theorell 2002). One consequence of cutting resources and materials is an imbalance between resources and tasks, resulting in psychological distress among coworkers. Such a consequence at the individual level can result in stress and sick leave, which, in turn, may lead to deficient competency and a further lack of resources. The effects of OA can also lead to long work days, increased workloads, shorter breaks and a growing culture and norm of individuals feeling that they have, quite simply, too much to do (Theorell 2002). One can say that in the long term, a major consequence of resource cuts is physical and psychological damage in organizational members (Theorell 2002).

Anorexic organizations are fraught with restrictions. They are operationalized in several definitions that make up theoretically derived indicators for further empirical analysis. These include reorganization, redeployment, health and safety risks due to cutting of resources and stress-related consequences.

OG. This describes institutions that place internal organizational demands, a sense of belonging and loyalty and demands on availability and commitment. Other requirements are task-related demands, demands on psychological as well as physical endurance and stress management, which are needed for the best of the organization (Coser 1974). Military is one of the greediest organizations since they expect psychological and physiological endurance, stress management and their employees to go as far as sacrificing their lives and their health for the sake of the organization and the nation for “the greater good”. According to Vuga and Juvan (2013), the armed forces demand mental and physical perseverance, performance excellence and a strong identification with the organization (Alvinius, Johansson and Larsson 2017; Alvinius 2013; Coser 1974). Theoretically derived indicators are based on the above statement and thus comprise high demands posed by the organization regarding perseverance, engagement, loyalty and the balance between competing greedy organizations.

The Swedish Armed Forces is one of the largest authorities in Sweden and is headed by a Supreme Commander. This authority is subject to the Swedish parliament and the Swedish government. The central command of the Swedish Armed Forces is located in the headquarters (HQ), which also houses the supervising missions of the Operative Unit in Sweden and abroad. The HQ is the highest level of command in the Swedish Armed Forces. Its predominant task is to command operations, and it is also involved in matters such as military strategy, the development of the Swedish Armed Forces and in acting as a channel of communication with the government. Army, naval and airborne units, as well as schools and centers, train the various units, which are then deployed nationally or internationally.

Inspired by the guidelines for generating theory on an empirical basis (Grounded Theory) as developed by Glaser and Strauss (1967), the selection of informants was carried out with the aim of gathering the greatest possible variety of experiences. Two military contacts at the Swedish Defence University were asked to suggest interviewees, including both men and women with a variety of experience in the Swedish Armed Forces. Such a selection may be described as a convenience sample because it is not random and instead utilizes chosen contacts to make the selection of informants (Essaiasson et al. 2007; Morse 2007).

The empirical material is based on 23 interviews, two of which were performed with women. The main reason for only two female informants is because of the imbalance in the number of women in senior positions in the Swedish Armed Forces. The organization is still traditionally male dominated (Alvinius et al. 2016a). The informants had a wide experience of a number of leadership positions, as well as participation in international operations. They had ranks as colonels or brigadier generals, and they represented army and naval units, the HQ and the Swedish Defence University. The informants’ ages varied from 47 to 61 years. In all, 10 individuals came from the army and 13 informants had a naval background. Airborne units were not represented in this study.

The data collection approach was inductive and explorative. The interviews conducted for this study adhered to an interview guide consisting of open-ended questions, followed-up with individually tailored questions such as “tell me more”, “in what way” and “can you give me an example”. The themes chosen were as follows: (1) background questions focused on personal information, education and national and international staff experience; (2) present staff work in terms of (a) experience of various aspects of stress at work and challenging situations, (b) experience of ways to handle the stress and demanding situations, (c) experience of leadership, communication and ways to influence the decision-making process; (3) work life/private life balance and (4) the image of the HQ as perceived by the units.

The individual interviews were held by the authors in the spring and summer of 2014 and in the spring of 2015 at the informants’ place of employment. Three interviews were conducted over the telephone, and three interviews took place at the Swedish Defence University. The reason for three of the interviews being conducted over the telephone was because of the hectic work situation of one informant and the long geographical distance in two cases. The interviews lasted for ~45 to 90 minutes, and all were recorded with the interviewees’ consent. All interviews were conducted and later analyzed by the authors.

All interviews were recorded and transcribed in full. The first phase of the data analysis was inductive. It consisted of four steps, the first of which was known as open coding, which involved identifying units of meaning or codes in each individual interview (Glaser and Strauss 1967; Glaser 2011). These could, for example, include special lines of thought, feelings or actions related to the interview’s sphere of enquiry. An example of a code is given as follows:

This quote was coded as “advisors that influence the chief of staff”. The second step in the analysis consisted of evaluating and categorizing the codes according to similarity in the content. From the abovementioned example, the code was then sorted into the category “influencing factors”, which in the third step was sorted into the overarching category “using informal strategies”. The fourth and final step involved a comparison between overarching categories, categories and codes, generating a core variable “leader’s coping strategies” consisting of five identified strategies: (1) repair work, (2) catching up, (3) reproducing, (4) using informal strategies and (5) managing loyalties.

The second phase of the analysis was theory driven. The five inductively generated coping strategies mentioned earlier were related to the framework provided by the concepts on ON, OA and OG in order to identify their expressions in the military context.

According to the data analysis, the informants are experiencing organizational challenges due to the societal and political superstructure with a perceived imbalance between assigned tasks and resources. These challenges lead to negative intraorganizational characteristics such as ON, OA and OG. These, in turn, create a need for leaders at the strategic level to cope with these demands. The inductive analysis resulted in an identification of five such coping strategies, which, together, form the core variable leader’s coping strategies (Fig. 1). The Results section focuses on these leadership issues. The antecedent parts of the model, that is the societal and political framing at large and the intra-organizational frames in themselves, are commented on in the Discussion section.

Fig. 1

The core variable Leader’s coping strategies is built up of five categories presented in the following. They are (1) repair work, (2) catching up, (3) reproducing, (4) using informal strategies and (5) managing loyalties. Within each of these coping strategies, the analysis has yielded outcomes that we have interpreted as being relevant to handle each of the three organizational challenges ON, OA and OG.

Repair work. Repair work refers to mending and repairing strategies that military commanders at higher organizational levels use in order to manage and deal with the damages created by the negative side of the organization. Illustrations understood within the frameworks of ON, anorexia and greed are presented in the following.

ON is characterized by aspects where individuals in leadership positions put their own needs first. However, awareness of these needs makes informants reflect on them. Narcissism in the organizational setting can be handled through the leader doing his/her best to have similar levels of requirements on him/herself as they do on their followers:

I personally think that a person can’t have higher demands on those that they lead than they do on him/herself. I think that the way one leads should be transparent.

OA is characterized by deficiencies of various types of resources, both material and personnel related. The consequences of OA, austerity and pressure are dealt with by methods developed for solving tasks in the shortest possible time frame, in an attempt to reduce the workload to a more manageable level.

It is important to use the correct methodology, PUT (Planning Under Time Pressure – our remark) allows you to plan according to the amount of time you are given, 3 hours or 10 days. It is even more important that the shorter time you have, the more necessary it is to use it, I mean you can even use the methodology for a half hour time frame actually.

OG is characterized by excessive internal organizational demands on the individual by the organization, sense of belonging and loyalty and demands on availability and commitment. These demands were often perceived by the informants as steadily increasing over time. An example is demands on constant availability, which is gained at the price of an individual’s freedom. OG is managed through a leader’s increased awareness that all staff are not able to deliver or be constantly available all the time for the sake of the organization.

You can be very ambitious and still have a very good understanding for each other at the same time. You have to have a good understanding that not everyone can perform at the same ability, but some people have difficulty accepting that not everyone can do as much, this I have seen and I have probably thought similarly before also. You aren’t really a good boss with that mindset […]. You must have an understanding that not everyone can deliver in the same manner.