Transition

Since 2011 there has been a substantial increase in the amount of literature available pertaining specifically to the transition of military from service, primarily in the US and UK (Beech et al., 2017; Brunger et al., 2013; Higate, 2001; Lancaster, Kintzle & Castro, 2018; Mankowski et al., 2015; Robertson & Brott, 2013; Schmaltz, 2011). The literature explores the various approaches adopted and draws out the implications of previous studies to the current research. In particular, it is important to ascertain exactly how a successful transition is defined. There continues to be a lack of research in the area of transition for Australian military or for police and emergency services generally. There is organisation-based research into retention and recruitment for the ADF which contributes some perspective on the personnel challenges for the organisation but does not delve deeply into the individual experiences post service (Thomas & Bell, 2007). Research in the areas of why individuals join the NSW Police Force and why individual police officers separated from the NSW Police Force contributes to the research in this area but does not specifically address the issues of transition for former police (Howes & Goodman-Delahunty, 2014). Further, research conducted by Ruiz and Morrow in 2005, based in the United States, provides excellent insight into social identity issues (together with many more considerations) for police leaving the organisation either at retirement or pre-retirement, and attempting to establish new careers. However, their research is based on current serving police, and not former serving officers. Ruiz and Morrow (2005) explain that many police stay in the organisation because when faced with the option of leaving, they exclaim ‘what would I do?’ (p. 1152). As such, the question needs to be answered of not only what police actually ‘do’ in employment post-service and whether it is meeting their expectations, but also military, and emergency services to ensure an effective comparative study (Rothausen et al., 2017).  

Higate (2001) is influential in this area and frames his work on the transition of members from the US military inside three key areas that are relevant here: masculinity, identity work and continuity. As seen above, Higate (2001) suggests that the strong induction techniques used for military basic training are effective for the goal because they are inside a hegemonic masculine structure. Further, he explains that a successful transition of military members involves identity work to redefine the individual post-service and that continuity from one masculine workplace organisation to another delays the actual transition process (Higate, 2001). In light of this, transition work needs to address a number of areas to be successful. Schmaltz (2011) suggests that future studies in transition could expand to other segments of the workforce that include dangerous jobs such as firefighting and law enforcement. She aligns these organisations through the nature of their work rather than their original training and masculine environments. However, her research is related to injured veterans in the US military, including physical and mental health injuries. Schmaltz (2011) indicates that change management from leadership roles is potentially a crucial factor in military transition and suggests that service members in general would benefit from being adept at change. Rizzo and Mendez (1988) found that there is little to no gender differentiation in leadership styles in organisations, but it is likely this would need to be further tested in a masculine environment as explained by Higate (2001) in the military. From an individual perspective, Schmaltz (2011) addressed the issue of self-efficacy and the manner in which this contributes to successful transition for injured military veterans. It is not an element that can be ignored but also delves into psychological repair techniques for individuals with mental health injuries and possibly exceeds the reach of this research. However, it is significant to note that Schmaltz (2011) raised the possibility that self-efficacy plays a ‘role in the degree of success’ in the transition process (p. 70).  

Transition, as utilised by the ADF, has some consistency with Schlossberg’s (1981) transition theory. According to Schlossberg (1981), transition occurs when an event or non-event changes an individual’s behaviour as a result of them changing assumptions about themselves. Further, new self-perceptions arise from changes in life and these perceptions help form coping mechanisms for individuals to manage various life events (Schlossberg, 2011). However, Schlossberg (2011) has parameters around the events that occur and notes that these should be perceived as transition points. The experiences of the police, military and emergency services are not always consistent with this theory. They seem to defy the processes and their self-perception is not in accordance with their experiences or with their transition. This begs the question, what is different for these individuals and why does transition theory in its usual form not fit them neatly? 

In their study coaching five UK military veterans through transition, Beech et al. (2017) confirmed that the veterans did not have great difficulty securing employment post-service, but that they felt that their new jobs did not equate to their jobs with the military. Mankowski et al. (2015) echo this sentiment from their study of enlistment decisions in the US military where they discovered that many who left the military found themselves unemployed, but some also found themselves underemployed. The literature is not extensive in this area, but it is often touched upon in work on military transition. It is inextricably linked to the identity formation of military individuals and Beech et al. (2017) present a unique perspective that suggests some of the discontent with the civilian transition is the veterans’ belief in their distinctiveness and the creation of an attitude of their ‘hero like self’ (p. 443). This is at odds with the group collective that creates and reinforces the identity in the first place (Godfrey et al., 2012). They are not distinct as individuals but as part of the greater military body (Godfrey et al., 2012), so it is suggested that their distinctiveness in the civilian world is highlighted by the lack of belonging to a new group collective in the civilian environment. That is, they are distinctive because they do not belong, not because they are better. Walker (2013) explained that within a constructive typology, these individuals describe themselves as a ‘cut above civilians’ (Beech et al., 2017, p. 445), but in normal social resource theory terms (Otto et al., 2011), they are actually not committed to their new group collective (Godfrey et al., 2012). It is expected that this is due to the different induction processes, lack of repetitive and physical training and whether there is continuity of their environment, in particular the masculine environment (Beech et al., 2017; Higate, 2001). Robertson and Brott (2013), in their study of US military veterans transitioning into the education sector as teachers, quoted a veteran who stated that they spent seven years searching for a job that would give the same level of satisfaction as the military. They did not expand on how the differentiation in this ‘level’ was measured.  

There is a similar disconnect when the experience of former members of the police, military and emergency services is measured against Adler’s (1975) theory of culture shock. Adler (1975) describes culture shock as a five-stage developmental process including the honeymoon stage, the disintegration of old social cues, the reintegration of new cues, reintegration toward autonomy, and then reciprocal interdependence. Essentially, these steps describe how an individual adapts to a new culture and it is most witnessed when a move from one country to another is made. However, since his work in the mid-1970s (Adler, 1975), culture shock as a term has been adopted in other contexts, such as the workplace. The services are renowned for having their own culture (Colquitt, LePine, Zapata, & Wild, 2011; Cooper et al., 2018; Prenzler, 2009; Sever, 2008). The ability to straddle cultures is supported by culture shock theory, as individuals should be able to develop reciprocal interdependence, which means they can be fluidly bicultural between two (or more) environments (Pedersen, 1994). This does not appear to happen for former members of the police, military and emergency services once they are immersed in the culture of their service organisation and this research will endeavour to address the question why.