This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 0095327X07301255v1 34/4/639    most recent References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Oh, P. S. Articles by Lewis, D. E. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Management and Leadership Performance in the Defense Department

Evidence from Surveys of Federal Employees

Princeton University, poh{at}princeton.edu

David E. Lewis

Princeton University, delewis{at}princeton.edu

The authors use data from the Federal Human Capital Survey to measure comparative leadership and management performance among executives in the military bureaucracy. The authors evaluate whether differences in executive backgrounds, training, and management environments influence employee evaluations of leadership, management, and work climate. Military service agencies get systematically higher evaluations in leadership and work climate, but not management. Among the services, the Air Force consistently received the highest evaluations. Air Force managers have the highest ranks, the longest military service, and a high level of graduate education when they assume executive positions; these characteristics are positively correlated with performance. Other managerial characteristics associated with high performance were long job tenures and private management experience. The authors conclude that greater attention to graduate training, exploring ways to increase tenure, and the selection of retired officers with private management experience for important executive posts may improve performance.

Key Words: leadership • management • defense • surveys • military

This version was published on July 1, 2008

Armed Forces & Society, Vol. 34, No. 4, 639-661 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0095327X07301255


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?