Research speaks: Sustaining and changing military culture(s)

In recent decades, the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence have pursued numerous culture change objectives with significant implications for the members of the military and, overall, the Defence Team. This perspective explores how social science research contributes to these initiatives and suggests that research is instrumental in sustaining both the strengths and limitations of culture as it engages with culture change agendas and negotiates with espoused institutional aspirations for change. Research that critically examines cultural assumptions, including those that are gender based, to challenge and re-frame research process and design can make valuable contributions to culture change. In doing so, research can avoid the risk of creating knowledge that is shaped by dominant perspectives but not inclusive of those marginalized experiences that challenge sex, gender, race, ability, power, and authority-neutral perspectives. As further suggested in the discussion, this is particularly relevant in the midst of heightened visibility of marginalized experience, increasing priority on data to support organizational transparency and culture change, and emphasis on knowledge mobilization processes.