Methods of Leadership Selection in Military Colleges

Developing leadership in military colleges has been a major focus of such institutions. Leadership extends beyond military service and into government, business, civics, and many other arenas. Understanding how leadership is developed in military colleges can help other universities learn how to select and develop those for advanced leadership development. The researchers Shepherd & Horner (2010) assessed the metrics used in undergraduate military schools to determine their effectiveness in evaluation.

Leadership in the business world and military service has been around for a long time. Fredrick Taylor introduced leadership in the scientific management field (1916). It wasn’t long after that the Hawthorne studies of the 1920’s and 1930’s discussed the linkages between environment and employee output (Roethlisberger, 1941). Leadership is then a conception of self within a wider environment.

Military colleges seek to develop leadership for later military usage by offering increasing levels of responsibility, chain-of-command socialization, and theoretical work on leadership. Each helps to put into practice experience, learning, and structure to develop a stronger personal conception of leadership among graduates. It is hoped they will put this to strong use in securing the country’s interests.

Leadership is seen as a continuum of development that includes a number of stages within broader aspects of understanding. Leadership is first seen in a dependent state (stages 1–3) where people follow others but recognize leadership appointments. It then moves onto continued development (stages 3–4) where they recognize the interdependence of leadership with others. In the final development, concepts of leadership responsibility (stages 5-6) emerge where leaders develop their followers while developing themselves.

The study found that not all measures are beneficial for finding leaders within a particular environment. They believe that multiple measurements such as peer ranking, cumulative grade point average, and leadership knowledge appear to be valid approaches. This provides an assessment of intelligence, awareness, and peer perception. Heavy reliance on a single measure may not only ignore the other aspects of leadership but may also cut out minority leaders that do not have the same cultural backgrounds.

Shepherd, R. & Horner, D. (2010). Indicators of leadership development in undergraduate military education.  Journal of Leadership Studies, 4 (2).

Book Review: The Assessment of Doctoral Education

The book The Assessment of Doctoral Education by Peggy Maki and Nancy Borkowski offers insight into the modern Doctoral education and common methods of assessment and evaluation. The work moves into significant detail on a number of topics that include New Models of Assessment of Doctoral Programs and Emerging Assessment of Student Learning. Through this book, readers should come to understand the overall assessment process and growing trends in the modern educational process. 

The book lists the following trends administrators should expect:

-Increase in accountability through accreditation process, assessment and state money, and assessment responsibilities.

-Increase in diversification of education through assessment of individual students, core-competencies, and degree integrity.

-Student-centered learning that focuses on value-added, technology incorporation, and campus cultural assessments. 

The book indicates that there will be a number of difficulties associated with assessment and change. Some of the difficulties will be to change college culture. Many state universities have traditions, union rules, and other issues that may make it difficult to change people’s minds about assessment.  Changing culture can be difficult and requires a concerted effort from all of the parties involved. 

One of the largest criteria that universities will need to focus on is student readiness to take positions in their chosen fields. All of the assessments seem to focus in at least a tertiary way on this overall concept. How colleges do this is more of an open question. A broad education has its advantages in terms of opening students to new experiences and understandings while focused career education is more efficient but can leave students limited in their general knowledge for periods when a career change is needed. 

The book is well researched and comes with a host of citations and references. The work will provide a strong understanding of assessment processes and possible future trends. The work is a little occupationally focused and technical so it is not likely to be fun reading. Yet the typical person to buy this book is more interested in understanding the behind the scenes process of evaluting doctoral education. 

Maki, P & Borkowski, N. (2006). The Assessment of Doctoral Education. VA: Stylus Publishing ISBN: 978-1579221799

Pages: Approximately 260

Price: $24