Download files
Abstract
The overarching aim of this dissertation was to delineate the character strengths of Australian Army personnel. Using a short-form survey incorporating Peterson and Seligman's (2004) taxonomy of 24 character strengths, four empirical studies were conducted containing samples of Australian Army officers, Special Forces (SF) personnel, and enlisted soldiers. Across all studies, respondents self-ranked the strengths of team worker, integrity, and to a lesser extent, good judgment as characteristic of themselves and/or good leaders. In two prospective studies, enlisted soldiers who applied for the SF (Ns = 115, 95) ranked themselves on 24 character strengths at the start of the selection process. In Study One, successful applicants gave a top-four rank to the strengths of team worker, integrity, and persistence significantly more often than unsuccessful applicants. Unsuccessful applicants who did not include any of these three strengths in their top four ranks all failed to complete the selection process. In Study Two, successful applicants assigned team worker a top-four rank significantly more often than unsuccessful applicants. In Study Three, experienced SF operators (N = 214) assigned team worker a top-four rank significantly more often than support troops in the same unit (N = 123). In contrast, the SF operators gave a top-four rank to integrity significantly less often than the support troops. In Study Four, Australian Army officers (N = 171) were asked to self-rank their character strengths, nominate strengths of effective leaders, and nominate strengths desirable in team members. Officers significantly self-ranked the strengths of integrity, leadership, good judgment, trustworthiness, and team worker. Additional strengths, especially wisdom, were associated with effective leaders, while officers desired the strengths of humour, initiative, and enthusiasm in team members. Findings are discussed in regards to individual, team, and organisational performance in and beyond the military.