Logotyp: till Försvarshögskolans hemsida

This study examines the contradictory reluctance of army officers and NCOs to accept failure during peacetime training, despite its acceptance within the Armed Forces. Focusing on two army units, it explores how this reluctance manifests itself within the units’ organizational culture. Although failure in military contexts is extensively studied, it often overlooks peacetime scenarios in favor of war time case studies or adopts a top-down organizational perspective. This research fills this gap by examining how culture shape officers' and NCOs acting, leading to a passive posture, and inhibiting creativity due to fear of failure. The study reveals that basic assumptions, such as social acceptance and leadership dynamics, contribute to individuals' aversion to failure, which deviates from the organization's espoused values. However, the unit's organizational culture alone cannot explain the view of failure, because other cultural and non-cultural factors have been identified that may contribute to an officer’s reluctance to fail.