Date

5-20-2026

Department

Graduate School of Business

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Organization and Management (PhD)

Chair

Connie Allison

Keywords

Ex-military, leadership, transition, organization

Disciplines

Business

Abstract

The problem is that the leadership skills of ex-military leaders are not always effectively leveraged when they transition into civilian organizations, resulting in a missed opportunity to harness valuable competencies. The purpose of this flexible design qualitative single case study was to explore how civilian organizations could effectively leverage the valuable leadership skills of ex-military leaders. Three research questions guided the study: What leadership skills do ex-military leaders bring to civilian employment in the production industry based on the experiences of ex-military leaders, their organizational subordinates, and their organizational superiors? How can ex-military leaders most effectively apply their skills to civilian employment in the production industry based on the experiences of ex-military leaders, their organizational subordinates, and their organizational superiors? What are the barriers to effectively transferring military leadership skills to civilian applications based on the experiences of ex-military leaders, their organizational subordinates, and their organizational superiors? Data collection for the study included semi-structured interviews with 30 ex-military leaders and surveys completed by 27 organizational superiors and 75 organizational subordinates. Thematic analysis and triangulation of the data resulted in nine high-level themes, namely: orientation towards mission and morals, orientation towards adaptiveness and resilience, structured and disciplined leadership, creating organizational systems, building trust and relational credibility in civilian teams, communication and collaborative influence practices, misalignment between military and civilian workplaces, insufficient transition support, and skill and career transfer limitations. The findings indicated that ex-military leaders represented an underutilized resource of non-technical, soft leadership skills resulting in their undervaluation. However, implementing these leadership skills could be challenging due to cultural clashes between military and civilian environments and civilian organizations’ inability to recognize military-developed skills and experiences. Building on these findings, future research should compare ex-military leaders across diverse industries to identify which ex-military leadership skills are truly universal to civilian organizations.

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