Leadership Stability in Army Reserve Component Units

Abstract : This monograph reports results of a research project on personnel stability and turbulence among unit leaders in the Reserve Components (RCs) of the U.S. Army. Stability of personnel is highly valued in all military forces, especially in units that are preparing for deployment. Nevertheless, previous RAND research (Lippiatt and Polich, 2010) documented a considerable amount of personnel turbulence soldiers leaving the unit and being replaced by others during preparation for deployment. A particular concern is turbulence among the unit leadership. Even if the service must live with turbulence among the bulk of unit members, the Army would prefer to have unit officers and noncommissioned officers (NCOs) in place to plan and oversee training of the troops with whom they will deploy. Therefore, senior U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) officials asked the RAND Corporation to conduct a study to determine the level of turbulence among unit leadership and to address several related questions: What causes leader turbulence? What effects might it have on training and preparation for future missions that may require RC units? What steps, if any, could be taken to mitigate it? This document is the final report of the research project titled Options to Enhance Leadership Stability in RC Units, sponsored by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs. The research was conducted within the Forces and Resources Policy Center of the RAND National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the defense agencies, and the defense Intelligence Community.