INTRODUCTION
1. In the SSB for the selection of a
candidate who after training can become an effective and potential officer
there are three techniques, which are applied simultaneously and independently. However in all the three techniques the
parameters, which have been laid down, are the same. These parameters are job specific and assist
the assessors to identify the ‘Qualities of Military Leadership’ in a
candidate. These parameters are the
Officer Like Qualities (OLQs). Hence the
system of assessment of candidates, aspiring to join the Armed Forces as an
officer, entails in-depth analysis of these basic qualities.
2. Starting with a comprehensive list of
29 qualities, the OLQs have been narrowed down to 15, over a period of time,
and have been grouped under four main heads they were found to be highly
correlated. These are concerned with the
following aspects of indl :-
(a) A good worker – Social factors.
(b) A good soldier – Dynamic factors.
(c) A speaker and organizer – Organizational factors.
(d) A
good leader – Leadership factors.
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3. The aim of this presentation
is to familiarize with the definitions of the OLQs and establish inter
correlation between them.
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4. The subject will be covered as under :-
(a) Part I –
Definition of OLQs.
(b) Part II –
Intra-factor correlations.
(c) Part III – Inter-factor
correlations.
PART I –
DEFINITION OF OLQs
Factor I – Planning and Organizing
5. Effective
Intelligence. Is the intelligence
utilized in coping with practical situations of varying complexity. It is different from basic intelligence which
is the capacity to perceive relations or to do abstract thinking. Basic intelligence is assessed by the use of
intelligence tests. Effective
intelligence includes practical intelligence and resourcefulness.
(a) Practical Intelligence. The capacity to evolve independent solutions
of practical problems and situations.
(b) Resourcefulness. The capacity to put to use the available
means for the desired end. It may be
said to contain two factors :-
(i) Improvisation of a solution and
(ii) Finding
a solution when in a tight corner.
6. reasoning
Ability. The ability to grasp the essentials well and
to arrive at conclusions by rational thinking. Reasoning ability includes
receptivity, inquiring attitude, logical reasoning and seeing essentials of a
problem.
(a) Receptivity. The ability to understand and absorb new
impressions. It involves interest,
attention and grasping power.
(b) Inquiring Attitude. Healthy curiosity, resulting in an urge to
increase one’s general knowledge and experience in life.
(c) Logical Reasoning. The ability to arrive at conclusion or
judgement based strictly on a process or
rational thinking and excluding emotional factors.
(d) Seeing Essentials of a Problem. The ability by which the individual is not
only clear in his knowledge of the situation at hand, but also is able to
analyze various factors, sift them in order of importance and make best of them
towards achieving a solution.
7. Organizing
Ability. The ability to arrange
the resources in a systematic way so as to produce effective results. It can also be defined as the ability to put to the best use the available means
for the attainment of a desired objective.
8. Power
of Expression. The ability to
put across one’s ideas adequately with ease and clarity.
Factor II – Social Adjustment
9. Social
Adaptability. The ability of an
individual to adapt himself to the social environment and adjust well with
persons and social groups, with special reference to superiors, equals and
subordinates. Social adaptability
includes social intelligence, attitude towards others, tact, and adaptability.
(a) Social Intelligence. The ability to deal with individuals singly
or in a group and to be able to get along with superiors, equals and
subordinates.
(b) Attitude Towards Others. The ability to put oneself into the other
man’s position so as to appreciate justifiable difficulties, to enable rendering
of help in a proper way.
(c) Tact. Skilful management of the feelings of the
persons dealt with.
(d) Adaptability. The ability to adjust to the environment with
special reference to the social situations in that environment. When considering service aspect it involves
not only a resilient nature shown by an accommodative tendency but also
keenness and interest in service life.
10. Cooperation. The attitude of an individual to participate
willingly in harmony with others in a group, in achieving the group goal. This implies a belief in the collective
effort being more productive that the individual effort. Cooperation includes the element of joint
effort and team spirit. Team spirit
indicates loyalty to the aims and objects of the group to the extent of
subordinating individual aim to the group aim.
11. Sense
of Responsibility. It enables a
person to be dependable and to willingly discharge his obligation. It includes sense of duty but is much more
comprehensive in meaning and scope.
Sense of Responsibility implies :-
(a) Sense of Duty. Faithfully and firmly doing what one is
ordered to do.
(b) Discipline. A trained sense of acting strictly in
accordance with rules, regulations and conventions. This factor promotes development of self control
and keeps one within bounds of social and normal standards.
(c) Sense of
Responsibility therefore means:
(i) A
thorough understanding of the values of duty, social standard and of what is
required of an individual and then to give it his energy and attention of his
own accord.
(ii) Taking
initiative and doing one’s best, carrying out even unspecified and probably
unforeseen duties and obligations, rather than faithfully carrying out only
what one is told to do. It demonstrate
moral willingness to bear the consequences.
Factor III – Social Effectiveness
12. Initiative. The ability to originate an action and
sustain it. It has four aspects ability
to take the first step; and to act first
usually in a new or subsequently emerging situation in the right direction and
maintain it.
13. Self-confidence. It is the faith in one’s ability to meet
stressful situations particularly those that are unfamiliar.
14. Speed
of Decision. The ability to
arrive at workable decisions expeditiously.
It comprises :-
(a) The appropriateness of the decision arrived at.
(b) The
quickness in arriving at the decision.
15. Ability
to influence the group. The
ability which enables an individual to bring about willing effort from the
group for achieving the objective desired by him. This influence is the prime cause of
cooperative and willing effort of a group towards the achievement of a set
objective.
16. Liveliness. The capacity of an individual to keep himself
buoyant when meeting problems and bring about a cheerful atmosphere.
Factor IV – Dynamic
17. Determination. A sustained effort to achieve objective
inspite of obstacles and set-backs. It
implies fixedness of purpose; mental
concentration and strength of will. It
includes :
(a) Application to work. The capacity of physical and mental
application to work.
(b) Drive. The inner motive power at the disposal of an
individual. It is the capacity to force
oneself along when under pressure and urgency, towards the achievement of the
objective. It may inspire energetic
action in others towards the achievement of a common goal.
18. Courage. The ability to appreciate and take purposive
risks willingly. It includes :
(a) Ability to meet appreciate danger.
(b) Spirit
of adventure, an enterprising spirit and a willingness or desire to dare or
risk a hazard.
(c) Capacity
to keep oneself composed in adverse situations enabling one to be steady in
facing and handling such situation.
19. Stamina. The capacity to withstand protracted physical
and mental strain. It emphasizes
endurance.
FACTOR II – INTRA-FACTOR CORELATION OF QUALITIES
factor I – Planning and Organizing
20. This factor consists of four
different qualities :-
(a) Effective Intelligence (EI).
(b) Reasoning Ability (RA).
(c) Organizing Ability (OA).
(d) Power
of Expression (POE).
21. Relationship
between RA and EI. EI is the
intelligence utilized in coping with practical situations of varying
complexity. To cope up with various
situations of familiar and unfamiliar nature in the outdoor (PGT, HGT, CT &
FGT) as well as the indoor (GD, GPE & Lecturette) tasks a candidate should
be able to grasp the essentials of the problems and analyse it and make best
use of various factors to arrive at a solution – which in other terms is the
RA. Hence a candidate low in RA will
seldom be found to be adequate in EI.
22. Relationship
between OA and EI. OA is defined
as the ability to arrange the resources in a systematic way so as to produce
effective results. This definitely needs
the capacity to identify the resources available such as the structures inside
the obstacle and the helping material in PGT, HGT, CT and FGT and the Obvious
and hidden resources in the GPE then improvise them in order to arrive at a
solution. Hence a candidate low in EI
will seldom be found be adequate in OA.
23. Relationship
between EI, RA & POE. If an
indl has not been able to grasp and analyse the problem, and doesn’t have the
intelligence to find the solution to the problems presented to him during the
tasks. His expression for the expressing
his solution and the ideas is bound to be low.
Factor II – Social Adjustment
24. This factor consists of three qualities
:-
(a) Social Adaptability (SA).
(b) Cooperation (Coop).
(c) Sense
of Responsibility (SOR).
25. Relationship
between SA and Coop. The ability
of an individual to adapt himself to the social environment and adjust well
with persons and social groups is based on his ability to mingle with social
groups at various levels and composition.
To achieve this he needs to participate willingly, in harmony with
others in the group and should be able to sacrifice his personal objectives in
order to achieve a group goal. Therefore
it can be said that a cooperative person can adjust to a social group more
easily. In term of GTO task an indl has
to be coop, to be able to adjust will with the other persons in the group.
26. Relationship
between SOR and Coop. SOR
includes sense of duty. It is this sense
of duty which drives a person to sacrifice his personal goals and work in
harmony in a group in order to achieve a group goal. Hence person low in SOR will seldom be found
to be high in coop.
Factor III – Social Effectiveness
27. This factor consists of three different
qualities :-
(a) Initiative (Init).
(b) Self Confidence (SC).
(c) Speed of Decision (SOD).
(d) Ability to Influence the Group (AIG).
(e) Liveliness
(Liv).
28. Relationship
between Init and SC. A person in
order to deal with a situation has to take the right step in the right
direction. It is this step which decides
his future course of actions. This
definitely requires faith in one’s ability to meet unfamiliar situations. On
the other hand a person may be confident in his abilities but still may not be
able to complete the task without the initiative in the right direction. Thus a person with low self confidence will
generally not be confident in initiating an action.
29. Relationship
between SOD and SC. In the
process of dealing with a situation, an individual needs to make speedy
decisions. In order to take speedy decisions one has to be confident of himself
and his actions. Thus a person cannot be
low on self confidence and high on speed of decision. It may be equal but seldom greater.
30. Relationship
between AIG and Liv. In order to
convince others for his actions a person has to influence others and bring
about willing co-operation from a group.
To achieve this he needs to be optimistic and motivate the other persons
in a group by keeping himself buoyant and bring about cheerful atmosphere. Hence liveliness has a direct bearing on a
person’s ability to influence a group.
31. Thus it is seen that to be socially
effective a person has to display all the five qualities which are
inter-related at various stages.
 SC > SOD > AIG
SC Init
|
Factor IV- Dynamic
32. This factor consists of three different
qualities :-
(a) Determination
(Det).
(b) Courage
(Cou).
(c) Stamina
(Stam).
33. Relationship
between Det and Cou / Stam. The
ability to appreciate and take purposive risks willingly. It includes ability to meet appreciated
danger Spirit of adventure and capacity to keep oneself composed in adverse
situation. In order to achieve this he
needs to overcome hurdles and obstacles on the way. This drive to achieve the goal despite
obstacles and setbacks has a direct relation to courage and mental and physical
stamina in an individual.
(COU > STAM)
DET
|
6
INTER –
FACTOR CORRELATION
Factor I – Planning and Organising Vs Factor II
– Social Adjustment
34. Factor I is also called the factor of the
head. This means that it is the measure of an individual’s mental
abilities. Factor II is the factor of
the heart. These two factors though do
not have a direct correlation, they are abstractly related. The quality social adaptability consists of
sub qualities such as social intelligence, attitude towards others, tact and
adaptability. A person in order to
understand the feelings of others needs to put himself in the other person’s
position in order to appreciate their difficulties. A person with adequate intelligence will be
able to appreciate this situation better and adjust himself to the environment
easily.
Factor I – Planning and Organizing Vs Factor
III – Social Effectiveness
35. The ability of a person to take decisive
step in the right direction whilst in an unfamiliar situation and sustain it
definitely requires confidence in his abilities. In order to display these abilities the
individual ought to have sufficient intelligence and more so, has to have the
capacity to think rationally and analyze the situation to arrive at an
appropriate course of action. A person
in over-confidence may initiate an action without analyzing or understanding
the situation and may therefore face a failure.
36. For an individual to act quickly and
arrive at an appropriate decision, he has to understand the situation, foresee
the consequence of his actions and identify the resources available with him to
tide over the situation. A hasty
decision taken without understanding or analyzing the situation may lack
appropriateness.
37. A person with effective power of
expression may be able to influence a group in a more effective manner than a
person with restricted power of expression.
38. From the above it can be very well seen
that for a person to have adequate Factor III, he has to be adequate in Factor
I also. Factor III always flows out of
Factor I and therefore Factor III can never be more than Factor I. It may be possible that certain qualities in
Factor III may sometimes be a shade more than certain qualities in Factor I,
but in no case the overall Factor III rating can be more than Factor I.
Factor I – Planning and Organizing Vs Factor Iv
– Dynamic
39. The ability of a person to put in
sustained effort to reach the goal despite obstacles and failures certainly
needs the ability to appreciate the situation, analyze the causes of failure
and overcome them by careful planning and improve. Thus intelligence of a person will have a
direct consequence on his determination.
40. To take a purposeful risk, a person
should be able to realize the pros and cons of his actions and its ultimate
consequence. This again has a relation
to his ability to reason. A person may
take risk without weighing all the pros and cons of his actions. That will be foolhardiness and though
sometimes it can lead to success, but more often than not it will end up in
failure.
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Factor II – Social Adjustment Vs Factor III – Social Effectiveness
41. A person who is self confident and lively
is more easily accepted in a social group as compared to a person who is casual
and gloomy. Also a person’s ability to
interact with his superiors, equals and subordinates reflect on his self
confidence and liveliness.
42. A person who can adapt himself
effectively to different social environment and participates willingly to
achieve a group goal stands a higher chance to motivate other in working
towards a goal desired by him as compared to a person who himself is
individualistic or selfish.
Factor III – Social Effectiveness Vs Factor IV
– Dynamic
43. Initiative is the ability to originate an
action and sustain it and, a sustained effort to achieve objective in spite of
obstacles and set-backs is determination.
This clearly implies that a person low in determination cannot be of
very high initiative. A person may be
able to initiate an action but cannot sustain it without determination.
44. A person with low self confidence can
hardly think of tackling an obstacle to achieve an objective. Hence a person with low self confidence can
hardly be determined.
45. A person to withstand mental stress needs
to keep himself buoyant and maintain his composure. It is unlikely that a
gloomy or pessimistic person can bear prolonged mental strain. Also a person with low self confidence will
come under stress easily.
DET >
IN SC >
DET LIV
> STA
|
46. Thus it is evident that all the qualities
that are required to assess an individual’s personality have a certain degree
of correlation this emphasizing the overlap in varying degrees in different
combinations. Therefore it can be
rightly said that personality is the product of the integration of various
qualities and not a mathematical summation of the same.
