1.1 Introduction
Civil and military leadership processes and their conditions in situations of extreme environmental demands are in focus. As theoretical field describing complex leader and environment interactions stands out as rather disjointed, it appears essential to approach the subject matter on the basis of a coherent framework that provides a foundation for reflection and understanding. The Military is an institution, since its purpose, objectives, organization, actions, behavior and the roles of its members, the allocated resources (human, material, financial) are specifically determined and regulated by normative prescriptions (laws, regulations, instructions, orders), but at the same time the army can also be seen as an organization because it is an ensemble of people structured in entities with specific roles, functions and responsibilities and which relates both to official and informal rules in the course of its life and activity, as a whole. Through its mission and specific administration and leadership system, the military organization differs and individualizes itself from other organizations (Zaharia, 2014, p. 148).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
The leadership aspect is much more advanced in military and coveted by various companies, army have systems of educating, training and advancing of their members, they transform their members that does not do much more than guard work to be the leader of a military organization. Leadership in the army has been developed a lot, definitions and other explanations on this subject are very accurate and there are strong reasons for it; the formulation and explanation of leadership is based on an unscripted rule of the army saying that things in the army should be "brief and clear", and based on this rule each theory, the definition of the army is short in writing, clear to read and fully understood. While in the business and entrepreneur philosophy there are many and varied definitions of leadership. Military leadership doctrine is clearly defined as a process of influencing people by giving them the purpose, direction and motivation of subordinates while operating to meet a mission or by improving the organization.
Leader adaption to the environment involves two sub-processes, assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation processes make it possible for the leader to assimilate sensory impressions of the environment and to adapt these to already existing cognitive schema. Besides assimilation processes, there are accommodation processes in progress at the same time, through which cognitive schema are continuously adapted to make them more suited to new information and preparing the leader for further environmental impressions (Piaget, 1971). Both parallel processes are regarded as active because the leader is assumed to choose from information alternatives while reversely, such processes make the leader understand his or her environment by actively developing new knowledge. Every form of new leader behaviour, both external and inner thoughts, is characterized by adaption or re-adaption while physical and social behaviours aimed at self-adjustment are assumed to render such adaption possible (Granberg, 1998).
In turn, cognitive appraisal is assumed to involve primary and secondary appraisal, the former referring to the perception of whether there is a threat at all, while the latter addresses what available resources there are to manage a situation. Thus, the term ‘secondary appraisal’ describes efforts to exercise control based on the coping options of a given situation, for example, whether there are any means to prevent harm from occurring or whether the individual can ameliorate the situation (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). The contextual approach holds that the processes through which the leader apprehends and creates his or her understanding of the environment can be physical, social or cultural (Granberg, 2004; Ohlsson, 1985). Hence, the application of a contextual approach to leadership opens up for going beyond the notion of interaction processes as solely being cognitive in nature.
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Military Leadership and the Management of Civil Disobedience: An Appraisal of the Military Leadership in Africa.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Investigation revealed the problem and emotion-focused coping processes aimed at avoiding moral stress take place in a paradoxical situation, as the leader juggles sympathy for humane motives and compliance with praxis. Results demonstrate how leaders are often unwilling to accommodate “cognitive schemas that are logically integrated and mutually reinforcing systems of beliefs and values” (Nyström and Starbuck, 1984, p. 64) to situations that are in direct contravention of such deep value systems.
Thus leaders are shown to re-appraise the situation in order to find alternative ways to restore system balance, pointing to an inclination to oversee environmental demands, if in parallel coping with inner moral demands.
Turning to a military context, individual characteristics are, similarly to the humanitarian aid context, reported to facilitate coping as well as realistic and appropriate training prior to deployment in order to guarantee psychological readiness (Bliese, 2006; Limbert, 2004; Mikulincer & Florian, 1995; Bartone, 1999, 2006). Coping strategies that make the individual not to have to confront a problem, for example, denial or mental disengagement are reported to have worst effects on well-being as this puts individuals at a greater risk of experiencing mental health problems (Johnsen, Laberg, & Eid, 1998; Limbert, 2004).
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to appraise the Military Leadership and the Management of Civil Disobedience in Africa. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To increase the knowledge of civil and military leadership processes and their conditions in situations of extreme environmental demands.
- To find out the consequences of Civil Disobedience among Military Leader in Africa.
- To evaluate the organizational and external environmental factors that influence Military Leadership in Africa.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- Are there any significant factors influencing Military Leadership in Africa?
- How is the knowledge of civil and military leadership processes increased in Africa?
- What are the consequences of Civil Disobedience among Military Leader in Africa?