Critical Leadership Problem and Solution in 4th ABCT Brigade

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The 4th ABCT brigade Critical leadership Problem and Solution
Student’s Name
Institution

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The success of 4th ABCT brigade three years back was admirable and the brigade excelled
in their assignments. Currently, the environment is different. The battalions compete to create
division among the units as well as the existence of superficial differences among the
commanders and command sergeant majors, therefore, creating critical leadership problem.
As a result of this, the essay examines the challenges and issues resulting to critical
leadership problem among the 4th ABCT brigade that led to division and differences, gives a
vision for the brigade, the solutions to the problem as well as the implementation and effective
measurement of the vision.
The 4th ABCT brigade experienced frequent changes of authority and order of command.
This change of command prior to the mission affected the readiness of the team because of the
introduction of different leading style. The change in style of command creates instability and
confusion among the battalions. In addition, wrong full delegations of duties affected the running
of the battalion. The delegation of authority during brigade’s deployment to the deputy brigade
commander to supervise, synchronize, control and act as the liaison officer created confusion to
the deputy brigade commander as well as the team. This act portrayed a weak 4th ABCT structure
of command and demoralizes the team.1
Moreover, the health of the soldiers is wanting. It is seen with the increase in cases of
trained brigades who are ready for deployment experiencing healthy problems forcing them to
remain at the base. This shows that there is an issue with physical fitness as well as their health.2
On the other hand, there are poor communication channels. While at the mission, there
was the breakdown in communications systems that led to ineffective command and control. The
digital system available was prone to failure due to network challenges hampering control and
1 Clark, Barry. "Organizational Leadership Analysis: 4th Armored Brigade Combat Team Scenario." (2016).
2 Clark, Barry. "Organizational Leadership Analysis: 4th Armored Brigade Combat Team Scenario." (2016).

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command of the brigade. This led to friction among the personnel. Consequently, there was lack
of enough personnel. The number of battalions deployed was not sufficient leading to the captain
being part of the mission in the field. It resulted in untrained personnel taking over the control and
command operations yielding to friction among the personnel.3
The diversification of duties during the mission became a challenge to the battalion. The
training given to the soldiers at home was meant for a particular operation and hence was not
commensurate to what they encountered during the mission and is augmented with lack of
organization and equipment authorization. It affected the units adversely creating difficulty in the
support of brigade and battalion operations. It reduces the expertise’s focus because the
encountered challenges were outside the brigade’s area of expertise which is in contrary to
infantry and armor skills within maneuver battalions. In addition, severe environment forces
soldiers to carry out tasks not within their specialty during the operation. It poses a huge challenge
to the entire battalion since supporting and resourcing tasks reduced staff’s effectiveness
completely.4
The combat organization was poor since there was the alignment of SFAT and ABCT
battalions without rethinking combat organization. It presented strain between the ABCT combat
role and STAF mission because the two factions have different roles and mixing together creates
mix-ups and deviating from focus. Besides, the culture of the organization deteriorated from the
norm of spirit building to one full of differences in relation to rank, elite and professionalism.5
3 Clark, Barry. "Organizational Leadership Analysis: 4th Armored Brigade Combat Team Scenario." (2016).
4 Clark, Barry. "Organizational Leadership Analysis: 4th Armored Brigade Combat Team Scenario." (2016).
5 Clark, Barry. "Organizational Leadership Analysis: 4th Armored Brigade Combat Team Scenario." (2016).