COMBAT READINESS IN AN ARMY BATTALION: THE INTANGIBLE HUMAN DIMENSION

Authors

  • S. Inderjit, Kwong Fook Wen, Ong Hai Liaw, Hasan Al-Banna Mohamed, Wong Wai Loong, Safar Yaacob, Ummul Fahri Abdul Rauf, Abdul Rahman Abdul Razak Shaik, M. Yugananthini

Abstract

Command climate of a unit has a direct impact on its performance. Importantly, knowing the
command climate allows a commander to identify shortfalls and manage his human resource effectively.
Thus, a study was done to establish the command climate of a battalion in the army. A quantitative method
was adopted and survey questionnaire was used for assessing the command climate of the battalion. This
paper highlights the results of the survey involving eight domains namely; leadership, motivation, espirit de
corps, spiritual, work, neighbourhood, community and family. The survey data was obtained from personnel
in base of the whole Battalion. Partial Least Square - Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) software
program was used for the statistical validation of the command climate model with the data (n = 315). The
results indicate that the Battalion’s command climate model could be predicted by the eight domains (R2 =
0.556). The Importance-Performance Matrix Analysis (IPMA) shows that all the domains have similar
performance on the command climate of the Battalion with the exception of Leadership, Family and
Neighbourhood having a below average values. However, the importance of the different domains towards
the command climate of the Battalion varies from low to that of medium effect. The personnel of the
Battalion viewed Community as of higher relative importance and Leadership as least important in the
overall measure of its command climate. The analysis also shows that the Battalion has to enhance the
domains of Family and Neighbourhood so as to enhance the performance of the command climate in the
Battalion. Similarly, efforts must be made by the Battalion to enlighten/educate its personnel the importance
of Leadership, Neighbourhood, and Family in contributing towards an improved command climate in the
unit. The overall command climate of the in the Battalion is positive. However, the commander of the
Battalion has to adopt effective measure to overcome the shortfalls identified during the study.

Published

2020-10-16

Issue

Section

Articles