The Engagement of Military Voice

Distinctive operational competencies from the civilian and military sectors provide usable knowledge to both. When military voice in the form of counsel, advice, guidance, and suggestions is given appropriate credence, unique capabilities flow easily back to the civilian leaders of the armed forces. When voice and counsel are muted or constrained, the information flow will entropy and valuable knowledge will be lost. Using military experience as case studies, this article discusses the principal form of error occurring due to the principals ineffective engagement of the military voice. This is referred to as The Error of the Third Kind-Esub III. This article examines two sources of Esub III principal-agent dynamics and administrative structures. We then apply the construct of organizational justice to the process associated with engagement of military voice. Providing examples of cases that examine the consideration of the military voice will inform leader-follower, advice-and-consent dynamics in the private and nonprofit sectors of enterprise.