Challenges of military leadership in changing armies

In this article we review current developments in the environments, tasks, and composition of the armed forces in industrial democracies, and speculate about the implications of these developments for military leadership. In particular, we emphasize the opening of military organizations to their environments, the more flexible and modular structure of military forces, and the increased cultural diversity within military organizations. We believe these changes increase the level of complexity in the military commander's task at all levels and multiply the challenges facing military leaders. We discuss some of these challenges and spell out their implications for theory development and research.