The leadership of strategic military leaders in world war 2: motivation through appreciation

Abstract

World War II was the last large-scale conflict involving virtually every country in the world. Despite the time between the conflict and the present day, the leadership teachings presented by the military commanders are applicable today. The main motivational theories emerged after World War II, so no leader can make scientific use of these theories to motivate his men to fight. Military commanders made use of previous examples and their own experiences to maintain the morale of their men. Maintaining motivation in the moments following victory is a relatively simple task, the difficulty lies in maintaining high morale in times of adversity. The leader must have the ability to influence the behavior of his followers in order to keep them focused on mission accomplishment. Human behavior is driven by stimuli, which are often difficult to understand. After the study of the main leaders of World War II, among them the generals Eisenhower, Patton, Montgomery, Rommel and Mascarenhas de Moraes, it was possible to determine that all these great commanders used the valorization as a way to get the motivation.