Søren Sjøgren

The operational commander in a challenging environment

What is the role of the commander in contemporary operations characterised by increased levels of complexity? How are operational decisions made above the tactical level, and what are the future challenges?

Multi-domain command and control

Multi-domain operations (MDO) is NATO's latest warfighting capstone concept. It requires NATO headquarters to orchestrate military activities across all domains, synchronising them with non-military activities. MDO's new method of consolidating fighting power might challenge traditional military command and control relationships, demanding more collaborative approaches and interactions.

Senior commanders and higher headquarters within NATO already have considerable experience commanding operations with increased complexity. These operations often involve intense political scrutiny, engagement with multiple actors, a complex joint and potentially multinational organisation, and the challenge of not necessarily controlling all the enablers required for mission success. 

General Jim Mattis coined the term' strategic leadership' in his memoirs, referring to the level at which senior commanders interact with political and civilian leaders, emphasising the need for prudence in decision-making.

Aim

We are interested in understanding contemporary command at levels above tactical engagement. We intend to explore:

• The characteristics of command above the tactical level.
• The division of labour between the commander, deputy commander and chief of staff.
• The use of professional judgment in decision-making.
• Cooperation or synchronisation with non-military agencies.

Methods

We are interviewing current and former military commanders within NATO who have experience as commanders, deputy commanders, chief of staff, or other relevant functions above the tactical level.

Exploring the intricacies of contemporary command from the command group's perspective allows us to analyse existing challenges while anticipating future ones. This work will support future commanders and students at higher command and staff colleges across the NATO alliance. It will also contribute to scholarly work.

Who we are

Anne Roelsgaard Obling and Søren Sjøgren from the Royal Danish Defence College run the research project. Anne is an associate professor with extensive research experience from fieldwork in NATO HQs. Søren is an active-duty infantry officer (major, OF-3) with operational tours of Iraq and Afghanistan's Helmand province and a PhD in doctrine. Both have published on military decision-making, professionalism, and doctrine.

For examples of previous research, see:

• Roelsgaard Obling, A. (2022) Professional identity reconstruction: Attempts to match people with new role expectations and environmental demands. Management Learning. https://doi.org/10.1177/13505076211070906
• Sjøgren, Søren. 'What Military Commanders Do and How They Do It: Executive Decision-Making in the Context of Standardised Planning Processes and Doctrine'. Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies 5, no. 1 (15 November 2022): 379–97. https://doi.org/10.31374/sjms.146.
• Sjøgren, Søren, Jakob Clod Asmund, Maya Mynster Christensen, Karina Mayland, and Thomas Randrup Pedersen. ‘Military Security and Research Ethics: Using Principles of Research Ethics to Navigate Military Security Dilemmas’. Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies 7, no. 1 (5 March 2024): 34–47. https://doi.org/10.31374/sjms.185.

We are a group of researchers that aims to draw together contemporary research, researchers, military practitioners, and others interested in military leadership. Not necessarily to become contrarians but to ask hard questions in return for interesting answers.

Given the importance of the subject to the military profession, surprisingly, little research is done into the actual practices of military commanders and their staff. Whatever research there is seems fragmented, spread out, and uncoordinated. 

This is what we are trying to change.

• We will curate existing research better to benefit the military profession across NATO and its partner nations in digestible formats and plain English.
• We will link researchers with other researchers to share experiences and encourage cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional cooperation.
• We could help researchers get or negotiate access to the, at times, closed military realm. When considering military security in the entire process, much research is possible.

This project seeks to understand military doctrine through an empirical investigation of its role in the military staff organization. On the outside military doctrine might seem neatly ordered in written manuals with clear definitions, prescriptions, and guidance. On the inside doctrine is a fuzzy concept. Ideas on what doctrine is range from objective fundamental principles to subjective beliefs, from authorized documents to tacit knowledge. Military practitioners navigate this ambiguity when working with doctrine; but they also engage in continuous discussions on what counts as doctrine, how it should be understood and applied in specific situations and ultimately how it is turned into a military operation. Such discussions are central to this study. Focus is on what doctrine does from a practical point of view rather than what doctrine is from a theoretical point of view. Building on contemporary research on organisational standards, the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) offers a conceptual framework to understand ambiguous concepts like doctrine by focusing on practices around the use of it.Concretely, this project will follow NATO doctrine at work within NATO Multi National Division North staff to map and analyse the workaround involved in the practical use of doctrine. The main research questions are how doctrine operates in the military domain and, especially, how the military staff works with doctrine during the planning and conduct of military operations and on how doctrine shapes thinking and action.

Formålet med projektet er at give Krigsførelsens Kredsløb, en model anvendt til undervisning og udviklingsarbejde i Forsvaret i årtier, en bedre videnskabelig forankring og anvise forskellige måder at anvende modellen på i praksis. Modellen er ofte blevet anvendt som en teori, hvilket den ikke er. Dette projekt vil klargøre hvad modellen kan og IKKE kan og danne grundlag for en bedre anvendelse af modellen i undervisning og i studie/udviklingssammenhæng.Output: dansk særnummer af Scandinavian Journal of Military Studies Tidskrift BFI niveau 1Formidling: forskningsresultaterne vil løbende blive formidlet i til medier og den brede offentlighed i forskellige former som medieinterviews, aviskronikker, policy briefs, artikler i Ræson og lignende udgivelser Undervisning: artikler vil blive anvendt i undervisningen på officersskolerne og på Master i Militære Studier.Studie og Udvikling: artiklerne vil også kunne lægges til grund for studie og udviklingsarbejdet i Forsvaret