Being yourself in the role as a military leader : A qualitative study on non-commissioned officers’ experiences of the application ofauthenticity in military contexts

Since 2003 the Swedish Armed Forces uses Developmental Leadership as their formal leadership model. The model is characterised by the leader acting as a role model and providing inspiration, motivation and personal consideration. The model stresses the importance authenticity plays in achieving the motivational aspects of leadership. The current literature on authenticity shows almost solely positive effects of the application of authenticity. However, there are organizational factors that seem to impede the non-commissioned officers’ ability to freely express their authentic self. Therefore, this study has aimed to deeper investigate the possible discrepancy between the application of authenticity in theory in relation to practice. To achieve this, we strive to answer the question as to how non-commissioned officers experience the practical application of authenticity in military contexts. A qualitative semistructured interview guide was chosen as the research method. The participants consisted of six non-commissioned officers in troop leading positions within the Swedish Armed Forces. Through a thematic analysis the data resulted in three main themes with a total of eleven subcategories. The study concludes that the results support the Developmental Leadership model´s claim that environmental factors affect the way leaders can exert Developmental Leadership. In addition, the study also contribute to a clearer picture of how these factors specifically affect leaders ability to act authentically.Försvarsmaktens formella ledarskapsmodell Utvecklande Ledarskap förordar autenticitet hos ledare inom myndigheten. Teorier inom autenticitet visar på närmast enkom positiva effekter. Dock finns det organisatoriska faktorer som inverkar och begränsar specialistofficerares möjligheter till autentiskt handlande. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur specialistofficerare upplever tillämpningen av autenticitet i sin yrkesroll. Som undersökningsmetod valdes kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer och urvalet bestod av sex aktivt tjänstgörande specialistofficerare i truppförande positioner inom Försvarsmakten. Den data som framkom analyserades genom en tematisk analys och resulterade i tre teman med elva underliggande kategorier. Resultaten stödjer teorin om hur omgivningskarakteristika påverkar ledares möjlighet att utöva utvecklande ledarskap men tillför en tydligare bild av hur dessa faktorer specifikt påverkar ledares autenticitet