Unifying loyalty: a grounded theory about tactical officers’ challenges when leading licensed medical personnel in combat zones
, Sofia Kjellström
Orcid profile and Anna Sandgren
Orcid profile 
Article Category: Original Article
Published Online: Jul 04, 2022
Page range: 1 - 7
Received: Oct 09, 2018
Accepted: Jan 10, 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jms-2022-0001
Keywords
© 2022 Kristina Lundberg et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Objectives
The aim was to explore the tactical officers’ (TOs) main concerns when leading licensed medical personnel (LMP) in combat zones and how they resolved them.
Methods
A classic grounded theory was chosen in order to develop a theory, which explained and conceptualized the TOs behaviors. Ten individual interviews and five informal conversations were conducted with TOs with various ranks, experienced in leading LMPs on military operations in Afghanistan, Mali and/or Aden (outside the coast of Somalia).
Results
The theory unifying loyalty explains how TOs handle the challenges when leading LMP. To create loyalty TOs use four strategies: executing orders, clearing out roles, marking limits and clarifying rules and laws. These strategies can be used by two leadership styles, hierarchical and democratic.
Conclusions
In order to fulfill the military duties it is essential to unify LMP in the unit, which is a challenge since LMP experience dual loyalty. The main goal for TOs is to ensure and maintain stability and do the military duties when being in combat zones and that requires using both leadership styles, depending on what the conditions in combat zones requires.