Company Commander Research Paper

This essay explores my current company commander to address whether he is a leader, manager, both, or neither. First, if I were asked this question before doing any of the required research, my immediate answer would have been, “a manager.” However, I believe my company commander feels he is more of a leader than a manager. After reading the background material from Avery, Hiriyappa, and Kumar, my answer is still the same but with one addition; “he is a manager who demonstrates some leadership abilities and qualities.” Commissioned officers are given command leadership position based off of merit and potential, but the job inherently comes with a management base. To illustrate this point, the first three bullets under management describe a commanders’ position. These are located in the table of differences between leadership and management in chapter 10 of Organizational Behavior (Hiriyappa, 2009, Chapter 10). More specifically, a commander’s position is based on authority, a formally designated position, and it is an assigned position. The following two bullets state; the position is improved by effective

The relationship the commander has with his soldiers is good but not great. He has accomplished this through his people/relationship-oriented behavior. The majority of the company understands the commanders’ weak areas as a leader and can fill the void with other subordinate leaders who are strong in those same areas. One of the benefits of being a people-oriented leader in an organization like ours is, other leaders will assume the task oriented jobs and duties provided they are being taken care of from the leadership above them. More importantly, this is a great technique to help his shortcoming with his lack of ability to lead, while showing great desire in doing