Establishing the officers’ managerial competencies

Abstract

The phenomenon of management was a research subject of many authors, from different perspectives. This paper discusses characteristics of managerial duties and managerial roles. It also presents the results of some research studies of managerial competencies. To consider the managerial competencies, as the main topic of this paper, it defines the concept of competencies in general, and the concept of managerial skills. Managerial competencies are defined as a complex of knowledge, skills and views necessary to perform complex duties and roles of managers, and they may be general or specific. Apart from managerial competencies in general, this paper deals also with the development of managerial competencies in the military education system. It is important to note that, as regards the development of managerial competencies, educational work in the armed forces has some specific features, resulting from the characteristics of military organization. Changes in the sphere of work, caused by scientific and technological progress, have brought changes in the sphere of military activity as well. Accordingly, in order to be able to anticipate new changes, the defense system need to carry out continuous and permanent education, which will be aimed at developing the managerial competencies of professional members of armed forces. This requirement has been actualized through the accreditation of the Military Academy’s study program “Management in the Defense” at all three levels of studies (undergraduate, master and doctoral academic studies) in 2009, which was then reaccredited in 2014 and 2016.

Keywords

• managerial competencies
• military education
• officer corps
• management in defense