Leadership with a mandate

Leadership by order is a leadership style of military leadership. In everyday parlance, mandated leadership is often referred to as mandate tactic. However, this is not a tactic in itself, but a method of leadership .

General

Leadership with mandate describes a way of leading soldiers and is directly related to Inner Leadership . The military leader gives the soldiers the goal , usually the time required and the forces required . On the basis of these framework conditions, the manager (military leader) commissioned with the assignment pursues and achieves the goal independently . This means that the executor is largely free to decide on the type of implementation when carrying out the order . This ensures a high degree of flexibility in the execution of the order, especially with regard to the implementation details, and contributes significantly to the relief of higher management levels. It is essential that the commissioner informs the military leader in advance about his intentions, the implementation and progress, as well as in the event of changes in the situation , and thus gives the higher-level (military) leader the opportunity to take coordinating and corrective measures in accordance with his intention.

It is of particular importance for the success of executive management that the subordinate leaders know the intention of the higher-level leadership and are trained in such a way that they can derive their own action in the sense of the higher-level leadership from this within the framework of the evaluation of the order. Subordinate managers therefore need their own judgment and determination , and they must be prepared to act independently and responsibly . The main thing is to convey the intent behind the assignment and to highlight the essential performance.

In order not to thwart the positive effect of leadership with orders, it is important not to issue orders and orders across hierarchies , as this can quickly lead to displeasure or loss of motivation . In addition, there is a great risk of neglecting important details or specialist knowledge, which can lead to considerable problems, including risks to life and limb.

Disambiguation

In order to clarify what “leading with a mandate” means, it must first be clarified what an order is in the military sense: an order is an expression of will with the right to be followed. In the military sector, there are expressions of will in the form of “ command ”, “ order ”, “ order ” or “ instruction ”. The command is the strictest, the instruction the weakest instruction. The order represents a compromise solution between the variants in the choice of means, the influence and the type of implementation.

In abbreviated form, the distinction can be formulated as follows:

• The command only allows a previously defined execution.
• The command describes the way to the goal.
• The order states the goal and gives certain freedom in choosing the path.

The boundaries between command and order are fluid, because orders can contain restrictions regarding the "when" and the "where". The essential element of management with a mandate, however, is the goal, ie the “what”. If the “how” is also determined, it tends to be more of a concrete instruction and thus more of an order.

Command and control was initially used without a specific designation in the Prussian army, beginning at the highest level of command since the German Wars of Unification , to a greater extent in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, since 1888 after being stipulated in the service regulations at all levels, since 1906 under the Designation order tactics.

The term "mission tactics" is not synonymous with "tactics", which is clear from the definition of tactics :

Tactic is the use of the means in their entirety for the purpose of combat , e.g. B. how these funds influence, complement, or how they are limited.

With a single means (here: the order) one cannot, by definition, pursue tactics. Therefore, terms such as “mission tactics ”, “order tactics ” or “ammunition tactics ” are not consistent, because they inadmissibly shorten the definition of tactics.

Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke the Elder understood strategy as a system of temporary workers. Because of the many imponderables in the war , he only considered the beginning of a campaign to be plannable: "No operational plan will with any degree of certainty extend beyond the first encounter with the main enemy power." Therefore, he saw his task primarily in the comprehensive planning of the military conflict all technical possibilities. He granted the following management levels extensive freedom of action in carrying out the combat mission. With these principles, Moltke became a role model in leading modern mass armies in his time.

In this context see also Strategy - Operation - Tactics

Conduct when carrying out the order

The soldier is entrusted with an assignment whose goals and effects he must know. This soldier is not only entitled, but even bound to change in a significant change in position of the execution so that they, in his opinion, to the best knowledge and conscience to fulfill the essential aim of the original contract. So the actual assignment is by no means up to his free disposition, rather he has to ask himself the question: "How would I decide in place of my superior with the same intention under these changed circumstances?", The soldier therefore acts on the superior . So he obeys the command according to its meaning and not according to its letter .

This deviation from the original order assumes that

1. the situation has changed significantly,
2. the superior who placed the order is currently unavailable and
3. Immediate action is essential.

Connection with Inner Guidance

See also : Inner Leadership

Leadership by order was introduced and applied in the Bundeswehr through the considerations on Inner Leadership . It was not until the new version of Army Service Regulations 100/100 in 1998 that the link between internal leadership and leadership was formally completed. Today, mandated leadership is an integral part of leadership within the Bundeswehr. The method is always used as far as possible. It is defined as the highest management principle that the executor is given the greatest possible freedom of action, which of course depends on the type of task to be carried out, when carrying out the order.

Other guidance

Leadership from the front

→ Main article : Leadership from the front

It is often argued that "commanding" requires the deployment of officers close to the front in order to be informed about what is happening on the front line without delay. However, this line of argument contradicts the idea of ​​a commission, as it implies that one does not trust one's subordinates to carry out the commissioned work. Undeniably, leading close to the front offers great advantages, for example the motivation and courage of the subordinate soldiers is promoted by the direct presence of the superior and the sometimes difficult assessment of the situation can be carried out on site, whereby a quick picture of the situation and, if necessary, an adjustment of the Orders is made possible. It is known that German generals and field marshals in World War II, such as Erwin Rommel, sometimes advanced in the forefront in order to get an idea of ​​the battle and, above all, of the enemy. This information can then be used in planning how to proceed. This results in more efficient and faster command of the soldiers, but also above-average losses of officers compared to armies that use command with command . Because of this, the German Wehrmacht suffered disproportionately high losses in World War II. More than 50% of the officers were wounded or killed. As a result, subordinates were often given leadership responsibilities that they could not formally fill in ( NCOs as platoon commanders or company commanders and captains as battalion commanders were not uncommon). Due to the "leadership training" of the Wehrmacht to train two levels higher than the rank corresponded to, these "leadership losses" could be compensated to a certain extent.

Role of the means of communication

The communicative equipment of soldiers and vehicles is also crucial. In the Second World War, for example, all tanks on the German side were equipped with radios , while the Allies only had one tank per platoon. The infantry was also equipped with a relatively large number of radio devices, which made faster and more targeted guidance possible. Thus enemy forces with superior firepower could not infrequently be bypassed and defeated by quick and skillful action. Towards the end of the war, the Western Allies and the Red Army also introduced radios on every tank. Information is now just as important as forces, space and time. An information superiority can create projections in relation to the other three criteria. Leadership is significantly influenced by new media and means of communication. Waiting for missing information or information overload must not block or hinder the tour. It is becoming more and more difficult to issue far-reaching and detailed commands in rapidly changing situations. Even Moltke d. Ä. stated that no plan survived the first contact with the enemy. It will therefore become more and more important to place orders that have to be carried out independently within the scope of the given skills. Leadership by order will remain a decisive leadership tool even with the change in communication and information technology with networked operations management. Modern communication media can only provide assistance; The decision maker and executor remains the person or soldier.

Leadership in other armies

The “order” as a possible expression of will is not limited exclusively to the German army. The French armed forces explicitly require in the service regulations that the subordinates are allowed freedom in the execution of an order. The US Army has known the mission type order since the First World War , which they got to know from the British . The statement by George S. Patton, “Never tell people how to do things , shows that generals in the US Army use these as promising . Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity. "(Originally:" Don't tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. "). However, the order principle was only used more intensively by the armed forces of the United States during the Iraq war .

In the Swiss Army , too , prospective cadres are taught the tactics of assignment. This places emphasis on the combat principle "freedom of action". It goes so far that all soldiers involved are informed by the boss about the battle idea and the order. This ensures that even in the event of a complete interruption in communication or the failure of the boss, the troops can continue fighting independently and appropriate decisions are made.

Lead by command

The opposite of command and control is called “command and control” and is often incorrectly referred to as command tactics . Command and control is particularly practiced by the Anglo-American or Russian armed forces. The boundaries between the two leadership styles are often fluid. The higher a management level is located and the more specialized a unit is, the more work is done with the management tool “Leadership by order”. The essential difference is that when guiding with an order, which results from the decision who does what, when, where, how and why , the instruction contains the instruction for execution including how as the type of execution, while when guiding with an order the Instruction only who does what and, if necessary, if it does not result from the situation, also includes when and where with you why .

Transition between management with order and management with command

In general, the process Mission oriented leadership at the association level (see task force ) applied for. B. Combat group ( navy ), division or brigade .

The typical transition between leading with orders and leading with orders usually takes place when real action is required, e.g. B. relocating a naval combat group, positioning a brigade, etc.

This change often takes place two to three levels above the ultimate executive element (combat group, battalion, company , vehicle or soldier).

War-historical approach to the beginning of mission tactics

The military-historical significance of the mission tactics began in the battle of Königgrätz . The importance of the Battle of Königgrätz can be seen both in the general political context and in the military-strategic development in Europe . With Königgrätz the age of the great maneuvers of mass armies begins , which were moved quickly and individually with the now expanded railway and, in contrast to the Napoleonic era, led pure fire fights (fire tactics). At the same time, however, the mission tactic was applied for the first time on a large scale, the further development, which goes back to Frederick II and Napoleon in equal measure , of the close connection between the middle level troop officers and the strict operational specifications of the army commanders, which was originally caused by the linear tactics , to become more independent, autonomous and flexibly adaptable to the respective terrain Troop leadership . In case of doubt, company commanders with the rank of captain or lieutenant were able to make decisions at their own discretion without fear of being punished by their superiors for disobedience .

Management of unmanned systems

When managing unmanned systems such as UAVs , the management principle of order tactics is at risk from the fact that the transmitted real-time recordings offer the opportunity to operate micromanagement and to intervene directly across many management levels. The phenomenon of increased geographical distance from the action with simultaneously increasing involvement is referred to in the military as the problem of tactical generals.

Current research approaches investigate how the concept of command and control can be transferred to the management of unmanned systems. The objective is to relieve the human system operator, to increase the number of simultaneously managed systems and to make the unmanned system behave sensibly even if the radio connection is broken . The most frequently examined methods are the retrieval of predefined, customizable and adaptive behaviors as well as the simulation of order-based leadership using computer models of human cognition .

Leadership in the civil sector

Commissioned leadership is also common in the civilian sector: instead of directly formulated instructions on what to do and how, a department or employee is only given the goal, time frame and budget (example: Management by Objectives ).

literature

• Wolf Graf Baudissin : Soldier for Peace. Piper publishing house, Munich 1969.
• Martin van Creveld : Command was in . Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. 1985, ISBN 0-674-14440-6 ; therein the chapter The Essence of Command , p. 268 ff.
• Gerhard Muhm: La tattica tedesca nella campagna d'Italia . In: Linea gotica avamposto dei Balcani, a cura di Amedeo Montemaggi. Edizioni Civitas, Rome 1993.
• Dirk Walther Oetting : Order Tactics - Past and Present of a Management Concept. Report publishing house, Frankfurt a. M. 1993.
• Stephan Leistenschneider: Order tactics in the Prussian-German army 1871 to 1914 . ES Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg 2002 ( review by Christian Th. Müller (PDF; 72 KB)).
• Uwe Hartmann: Inner guidance. Successes and deficits of the leadership philosophy for the Bundeswehr. Miles Verlag, Berlin 2007.
• Eitan Shamir: The Long and Winding Road: The US Army Managerial Approach to Command and the Adoption of Mission Command. In: Journal of Strategic Studies. No. 33: 5. London 2010, pp. 645-672.
• Marc habenicht: The leadership philosophy of the Bundeswehr (inner leadership) - an idea for leadership also for other organizations? ...! Publishing house Dr. Kovac, Hamburg 2012.
• Marco Sigg: The Unterführer as a general in pocket size. Theory and practice of mission tactics in the German army from 1869 to 1945 . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2014, ISBN 978-3-506-78086-7 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Order tactics  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Faris R. Kirkland: Self-Care, Psychological Integrity, and Mission Tactics .
• Gerhard Muhm: German Tactics in the Italian Campaign .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cf. Wolf Graf Baudissin : Soldier for Peace. Piper Verlag, Munich 1969, p. 59 f.
2. ↑ Cf. Marc habenicht: The leadership philosophy of the Bundeswehr (inner leadership) - an idea for leadership also for other organizations? ...! Publishing house Dr. Kovac, Hamburg 2012, p. 38.
3. ↑ See Army Service Regulation (HDv) 100/100 (1998), No. 301.
4. ↑ Uwe Hartmann: Inner guidance. Successes and deficits of the leadership philosophy for the Bundeswehr. Miles Verlag, Berlin 2007, p. 98.
5. ↑ Marc habenicht: The leadership philosophy of the Bundeswehr (inner leadership) - an idea for leadership also for other organizations? ...! Publishing house Dr. Kovac, Hamburg 2012, p. 41.
6. ↑ Cf. Marc habenicht: The leadership philosophy of the Bundeswehr (inner leadership) - an idea for leadership also for other organizations? ...! Publishing house Dr. Kovač , Hamburg 2012, p. 41 f.
7. ↑ Cf. Marcel Bohnert : Guardian from the air. Drones as patrons of German ground troops in Afghanistan In: Uwe Hartmann and Claus von Rosen (eds.): Yearbook Inner Guidance 2014. Drones, robots and cyborgs. The soldier in the face of new military technologies , Carola Hartmann Miles-Verlag , Berlin 2014, p. 28 f.
8. ↑ Christopher Miller, Harry Funk, Peggy Wu, Robert Goldman, John Meisner, Marc Chapman: The Playbook (TM) Approach to Adaptive Automation ( Memento of May 14, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 68 KB). Retrieved October 28, 2012.
9. ^ Johann Uhrmann, Axel Schulte: Task-based Guidance of Multiple UAV Using Cognitive Automation. In: Cognitive 2011. The Third International Conference on Advanced Cognitive Technologies and Applications. 2011, pp. 47–52 ( Available online (PDF; 720 KB)).
10. ↑ Stephen Bungay: Moltke - Master of Modern Management , europeanfinancialreview.com of April 25, 2011, accessed on June 5, 2019.
11. ↑ Enclosed independence. Order tactics in the army in FAZ from May 12, 2015, p. 6.