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Psychological Safety During Military Integrations

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NL ARMS Netherlands Annual Review of Military Studies 2016

Part of the book series: NL ARMS ((NLARMS))

Abstract

Increased military cooperation between member states of the European Union is a political given. The Netherlands and Germany form a spearhead in this process by integrating entire military units (i.e., brigades, battalions, companies) into higher-order units of the respective other nation (i.e., divisions, brigades, battalions). Researchers and decision makers emphasize that military integration is a long-term process for which the costs come before the benefits. In this chapter we will suggest that, in addition to the well-recognized financial, technical and procedural challenges resulting from military integrations, attention has to be paid to challenges revolving around soldiers’ identities and cultural differences. Integrations are likely to disrupt soldiers’ social environment and bear the risk of (intercultural) tensions at work—thereby impeding perceptions of psychological safety. By providing an understanding of the cultural and identity processes unfolding during a military integration this chapter aims to inform decision makers and encourage future research on how to overcome the initial psychological costs of military integrations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Hennis-Plasschaert 2013.

  2. 2.

    Bekkers et al. 2012.

  3. 3.

    Hennis-Plasschaert 2013.

  4. 4.

    De Man 2006.

  5. 5.

    Bekkers et al. 2012; Van Outeren 2014.

  6. 6.

    Li et al. 2002.

  7. 7.

    Li et al. 2002; De Man 2006.

  8. 8.

    Hogg and Terry 2000; Ullrich and Van Dick 2007; Stahl and Voigt 2008; Teerikangas and Very 2006.

  9. 9.

    For an overview, see Giessner et al. 2016.

  10. 10.

    Jetten and Hutchinson 2011.

  11. 11.

    Moelker et al. 2007.

  12. 12.

    Moelker et al. 2007, p. 497.

  13. 13.

    Essens and Bekkers 2014.

  14. 14.

    Haslam 2004.

  15. 15.

    Tajfel and Turner 1979; Turner et al. 1987.

  16. 16.

    Tajfel and Turner 1979.

  17. 17.

    Turner et al. 1987.

  18. 18.

    Van Dick et al. 2004.

  19. 19.

    Hogg and Terry 2000; Gleibs et al. 2013; Giessner 2011; Giessner et al. 2011; Li et al. 2002.

  20. 20.

    Kreiner and Ashforth 2004.

  21. 21.

    Kreiner and Ashforth 2004; Vadera et al. 2013.

  22. 22.

    Kreiner and Ashforth 2004.

  23. 23.

    Kreiner and Ahsforth 2004; Edmondson and Roloff 2009.

  24. 24.

    Li et al. 2002.

  25. 25.

    Li et al. 2002.

  26. 26.

    Giessner et al. 2011.

  27. 27.

    Giessner et al. 2011.

  28. 28.

    Giessner et al. 2006.

  29. 29.

    Abrams et al. 2003; Christensen et al. 2004.

  30. 30.

    Farell 2001; Johansen et al. 2013.

  31. 31.

    Stahl and Voigt 2008.

  32. 32.

    Burgoon 1993.

  33. 33.

    Abrams et al. 2002.

  34. 34.

    Hofstede and Hofstede 2005.

  35. 35.

    Bijlsma-Frankema et al. 2015.

  36. 36.

    Edmondson and Lei 2014.

  37. 37.

    Edmondson 1999, p. 354.

  38. 38.

    Edmondson and Roloff 2009.

  39. 39.

    Li et al. 2002.

  40. 40.

    Kahn 1990.

  41. 41.

    Rosseau et al. 1998, p. 395.

  42. 42.

    Schoorman et al. 2007.

  43. 43.

    Edmondson 1999; Baer and Frese 2003.

  44. 44.

    Kahn 1990.

  45. 45.

    Adams and Webb 2002.

  46. 46.

    Jans and Frazer-Jans 2004.

  47. 47.

    Nielsen and Miller 1997.

  48. 48.

    Bettencourt and Sheldon 2001.

  49. 49.

    Skowronski and Carlston 1987, 1989.

  50. 50.

    Bijlsma-Frankema et al. 2015, p. 4.

  51. 51.

    Giessner et al. 2006; Gleibs et al. 2013.

  52. 52.

    Lupina-Wegener et al. 2014; Van Leeuwen et al. 2003; Van Knippenberg and Van Leeuwen 2001.

  53. 53.

    Amiot et al. 2015.

  54. 54.

    Haslam et al. 2003, p. 95.

  55. 55.

    Roccas and Brewer 2002.

  56. 56.

    Johansen et al. 2013.

  57. 57.

    Turner-Zwinkels et al. 2015.

  58. 58.

    Hofstede and Hofstede 2005.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Frederik Wermser, Susanne Täuber & Eric Molleman

  2. Centre of Expertise Human Resource Management & Organizational Behaviour, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Peter Essens

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  1. Frederik Wermser
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  2. Susanne Täuber
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  3. Peter Essens
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  4. Eric Molleman
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Correspondence to Frederik Wermser .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Military Sciences, Netherlands Defence Academy Faculty of Military Sciences, Breda, The Netherlands

    Robert Beeres

  2. Faculty of Military Sciences, Netherlands Defence Academy Faculty of Military Sciences, Breda, The Netherlands

    Gwendolyn Bakx

  3. Faculty of Military Sciences, Netherlands Defence Academy Faculty of Military Sciences, Breda, The Netherlands

    Erik de Waard

  4. Faculty of Military Sciences, Netherlands Defence Academy Faculty of Military Sciences, Breda, The Netherlands

    Sebastiaan Rietjens

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Wermser, F., Täuber, S., Essens, P., Molleman, E. (2016). Psychological Safety During Military Integrations. In: Beeres, R., Bakx, G., de Waard, E., Rietjens, S. (eds) NL ARMS Netherlands Annual Review of Military Studies 2016. NL ARMS. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-135-7_8

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