3.1.7 Walter Reed Army Institute of Research Leadership Assessment Tool

Purpose 

The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research Leadership Assessment (WRAIR) assesses and monitors how changes in work environments affect soldiers and leaders. It provides a method to (1) quantify and record changes in the work environment due to external factors and (2) estimate their organizational impact. The measure includes scales that assess task significance, support for task significance, support for the unit’s mission, information dissemination, unit leadership/vertical cohesion, peer relations/horizontal cohesion, job satisfaction, and collective efficacy.

Military organizations may use this instrument with the goal of improving organizational effectiveness, cohesion, and job satisfaction among soldiers and leaders.

Description 

The WRAIR was developed by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Several researchers have tested the reliability of the scales in the WRAIR (Bliese & Halverson, 1996, 1998; Marlowe 1986; Cammann et al., 1983). All researchers found moderately high Cronbach Alpha coefficients (.81 to .92). However, the role clarity and work overload scales showed moderately low reliability.

Access 

The WRAIR may be accessible via academic journals and research databases, including in the relevant articles listed in the references section. It may require U.S. Army permission for use. For more information, contact the U.S. Army Research Institute (https://ari.altess.army.mil/).

References

Lopez, A. A., Adler, A., Thomas, J. L., & Cabrera, O. A. (2018) Validation of the WRAIR Leadership Scale. Military Behavioral Health, 7(2), 1–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21635781.2018.1490227