For many years academic and business literature have cited military sources
as examples of leadership excellence. Central to the British Military’s
leadership Command philosophy is the concept of Mission Command. This
thesis examines the utility of Mission Command1 beyond the confines of the
British Military. The work draws on several well-established academic fields of
literature to deconstruct the underlying principles supporting the utility of
Mission Command and builds a theoretical model which contends that
individuals using it are better prepared to cope with change in an emerging
context.
The identification of an under-examined research community gives rich insight
into the transference and adaptation of key military methodologies. The work
critically examines underlying military concepts within a non-military
environment and proposes that Mission Command has wider utility. The
findings identify how individuals have applied and adapted the key concepts to
make the methodology relevant for their own context whilst retaining many of
the guiding principles