A question of time? Deployments, dwell time, and work-life balance for military personnel in Scandinavia.

In recent years, interest in the different ways in which military employment affects individuals' work-life balance (WLB) has grown. At the same time, research on military organizations and personnel has increasingly included time-related factors such as deploy-to-dwell (D2D) ratios to help explain adverse health effects of overseas deployments. The aim of this article is to explore connections between organizational systems for regulating deployment frequency and dwell (or respite) time with a particular focus on potential consequences for work-life balance. We focus on personal and organizational factors that shape the nature and outcome of work-life balance, including stress, mental health problems, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. To explore these links, we first provide an overview of research on the impact of deploy-to-dwell ratios on mental health and social relations. We then turn to the regulation and organization of deployment and dwell time in Scandinavia. Here, the ambition is to identify potential sources of work-life conflict and associated effects for deployed personnel. The results provide a basis for further research into time-related effects of military deployments.

Views on an officer career - the relationship between personality, leadership expectations and perceived qualities.

BACKGROUND: The Swedish Armed Forces (SAF) have had difficulties in recruiting a sufficient amount of cadets to the officer program during the period with an all-volunteer force. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: Data were collected from different officer programs. 318 respondents fostered in the all-volunteer force (AVF) system completed the questionnaire and a cross-sectional design was used where cadets received a questionnaire at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of their training. RESULTS: The results show that the informants perceived a clear distinction between leadership challenges in the short and long term. The cadets rate their practical knowledge/experience and gaining trust as most challenging in the short term, and personnel supply and reorganization in the long term. Younger cadets rate leadership challenges higher than older cadets do, which is in line with maturing as a human being and gaining more experience. Results based on personality were consistent with previous studies. Two of the future challenges for cadets, short-term leadership and knowledge challenges, showed associations with extraversion and neuroticism. CONCLUSIONS: The results illustrate important topics to be stressed during the three year long officer program, in order to prepare cadets both with knowledge and skills but also with confidence and trust. This is of particular importance as the need to increase the number of cadets graduating from the academic officer program is growing. It implies that more and more cadets will be recruited directly from the basic military training, i.e., being young with relatively low military and leadership experience.

Psychological characteristics of Swedish mandatory enlisted soldiers volunteering and not volunteering for international missions: an exploratory study.

The purpose of this study was to assess personality traits, psychological fitness, and hardiness among conscript soldiers volunteering for international missions (n = 146), by comparing them with conscripts from the same year class and unit who did not apply for international missions (n = 275). The sample consisted of all mandatory enlisted soldiers assigned to a supply and maintenance regiment. There were no demographic differences between the groups. The volunteers reported greater stress tolerance, concern for others, extraversion, and self-confidence than the non-volunteers. There were no differences between the groups in orderliness, temper instability, or independence. Volunteers repeatedly reported greater psychological fitness for military missions and greater hardiness over the period of military service compared to the non-volunteers.

Work-life balance among newly employed officers - a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: A military career puts great demands on the individual as regards combining working life and private life. The military and the family both demand time, energy, engagement, and commitment from the individual. Finding an appropriate balance between work and non-work might be particularly complex during military training and deployments that require extended periods away from home. The aim of this study was to investigate newly employed officers' perceptions of work-life balance and its implications for future careers. PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE: This article is based on 34 semi-structured interviews with newly employed officers and non-commissioned officers in the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF). The interviews were analyzed according to the six-phase approach of coding and theme development by thematic analysis. RESULTS: The analysis resulted in the emergence of three main themes: coping with different loyalties, individual and organizational strategies, and concerns about the future. All officers expressed loyalty to their work and organization, but these perceptions were influenced by significant others in private life. High ambitions in combination with stressful working conditions made organizational supportive strategies important, but these differed between units. Concerns about a constantly high workload and lack of recovery were highlighted, as well as concerns about future career and family building. CONCLUSIONS: In order to retain qualified personnel, the SAF should provide support and create conditions that help employees to balance work and non-work. A career in the Armed Forces will inevitably entail a reduced work-life balance, and our results show that the newly employed officers are highly aware of this. To ease the pressure, the SAF could be clearer about the expectations on their new employees.

The Impact of Constructive and Destructive Leadership on Soldier's Job Satisfaction.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether constructive or destructive leadership behaviors are the best predictors of soldiers' experienced meaningfulness of work and general job satisfaction. Data were collected among 300 employed soldiers using a questionnaire. The questionnaire contained questions about the immediate leader's constructive and destructive leadership, meaningfulness of work and general job satisfaction. The results show that the constructive leadership factor inspiration and motivation was the best predictor of both experienced meaningfulness of work and general job satisfaction. None of the destructive leadership factors gave a significant contribution to the models although both the passive and active forms of destructive leadership showed a weak to moderate significant, negative correlation with experienced meaningfulness of work and general job satisfaction.