ABSTRACT

In recent years, with state militaries increasingly used for policing, counterinsurgency, and peacekeeping missions, Western societies have displayed growing intolerance of military force. This shift, spurred by humanitarian concerns as well as monitoring by the media and interest groups, creates a paradox: a contradiction between the nature of militaries and the way they achieve their goals, and how soldiers are actually expected to behave. This study explores this paradox from the sensegiving/sensemaking perspective. We interviewed 60 members of various military units and ranks, and used the grounded-theory approach to explore how leaders’ sensegiving influenced the sensemaking of their followers. The resulting grounded theory identified six sensegiving strategies (elaborating, reiterating, applying sanctions, role modeling, justifying, and acknowledging emotions) used by leaders in response to followers’ sensemaking needs. Two sensegiving triggers were identified: performance needs (a gap in soldiers’ understanding of what to do), and tension reduction needs (unresolved frustration caused by failure to understand the logic of the policy). The sensemaking product comprised a list of heuristics that enabled followers to reconcile the paradox and act with restraint. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

摘要

近年来，随着国家军队越来越多地用于维持治安、平叛和维和任务，西方社会对军事力量越来越不宽容。在人道主义问题以及媒体和利益集团的监督的推动下，这种转变产生了一个悖论：军队的性质与其实现目标的方式之间存在矛盾，以及实际期望士兵的行为方式之间的矛盾。本研究从意义赋予/意义建构的角度探讨了这一悖论。我们采访了不同军事单位和军衔的 60 名成员，并使用扎根理论的方法来探索领导者的感知如何影响他们的追随者的意义构建。由此产生的扎根理论确定了六种感知策略（阐述、重申、应用制裁、角色建模、证明、和承认情绪）由领导者用来响应追随者的意义构建需求。确定了两个感知触发因素：绩效需求（士兵对做什么的理解存在差距）和缓解压力的需求（由于未能理解政策逻辑而导致的未解决的挫败感）。意义建构产品包括一系列启发式方法，使追随者能够调和悖论并克制地采取行动。讨论了研究结果的理论和实践意义。意义建构产品包括一系列启发式方法，使追随者能够调和悖论并克制地采取行动。讨论了研究结果的理论和实践意义。意义建构产品包括一系列启发式方法，使追随者能够调和悖论并克制地采取行动。讨论了研究结果的理论和实践意义。