On the management of day-to-day activities of SMF units and bodies of troops.

At this juncture, all spheres of management activity have become significantly expanded and complicated that imposes special requirements on the training of the heads of all management levels.

The analysis of the quality of the management activity of defense chiefs, which covers the wide scope of subordinate military force (troops) management tasks has highlighted today a number of highly significant issues.

The origin of these issues is associated with a good many transient changes in all activity spheres of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation caused by the current economic and political situation of the state, by its opportunities and priorities, and by the changes in the world community itself.

In the sphere of training the units and bodies of troops of the Strategic Missile Forces (SMF), and of maintaining their military operational readiness, the major shifts consist in: the changing character of modern wars and of their content, the advent of the new instruments of war and of new threats; the dwindling volume of allocated resources; the changing system of recruitment of units and bodies of troops, the deteriorating quality of military personnel, undermanning growth, the increased physical and psychological stress on the military; the aging of weapons and equipment, the extension of their useful life beyond warranty periods, the increasing probability of technogenic emergences; the growing danger and incidence of terrorist acts, also against military installations.

Important changes are also taking place directly in the sphere of management activity: the change of the social fabric in Russia and of its intrinsic social relations, which comprise management and its prevailing methods: the increasing rates of development--in the decades of the 20th century, the velocity of movement, computations, output and consumption increased more than in the course of entire human history; (1) highly transient changes and complex strategic settings (situations) lead to the growing time spread in critical decision-making, which becomes delayed and inadequate compared to the on-going changes of the situation, bringing about the need for prediction of the changes themselves; the high speed of the renewal of information in the majority of the activity spheres (50% and above every five years), and hence the resulting needs for the continuous education of the defense chiefs, for the adaptation and self-training of military organizations; the two- to four-fold increase of the PC fleet in bodies of troops and military units over the last 5-10 years.

The totality of the above-mentioned changes alone forms the tangle of the issues concerned with maintaining the military combat readiness of the bodies of troops and units.

The ranking place in the list of the current problems belongs to the demand for enhanced effectiveness of combat training the bodies of troops and units in general and of each of their elements and for the improved training quality of the command personnel to conform modern standards.

The solution of the problem of increased effectiveness of combat training of units and bodies of troops envisages maintaining required or at least acceptable level of their training given the significant reduction in resource spending for it. The model for addressing the given problem (Fig. 1) envisages the reduction in the number of the resource-intensive measures, which corresponds to the resource allocations for the academic year and for longer periods.

Two assumptions were made in the design of this model: the educational content and the allocated time for its completion are justified; the selected set-up and the training methods guarantee the achievement of the required or acceptable level of combat training.

Higher quality of the individual training of servicemen and the harmonizing of subdivisions (management bodies) facilitate the achievement of the level, which ensures the sound, complete and high-grade fulfillment of the assigned combat tasks.

The normalizing of training of each specialist category implies their unified evaluating standards and programs for all military services and arms, the creation of inter-service training centers and the allocation of quotas for specialist training for each service of the Armed Forces and the arm of the service, the assignment of functions and responsibilities for the training of specific categories of specialists to the unified military management bodies. Only under these conditions, are the division of labor and specialism practicable and, consequently, the lower training costs per one specialist.

The designing of modern training simulators is based on sophisticated electronic devices, which, needless to say, require high investments. But, the familiarization with the design of training simulators and with the application experience of the Armed Forces in other countries shows that, given the proper centralism (normalizing) of training and the training simulators capacity to maintain specialist skills by 80-90%, they pay off after three-four years of operation, having eight-ten years' useful life.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

We address the problem of the training of defense chiefs and commanding personnel, who conform modern standards, in the context of the needs, the available experience and the scientific investigation results of the training in the management of the Armed Forces day-to-day activity.

The solution of this problem is feasible by way of improving the traditional training forms and methods and by developing new ones both as part of the educational process in the academy, and in the course of the commander training in the Armed Forces, and also by using the adapted model of the paradigm of advanced management education (2) (Fig. 2).

The conducted pedagogic experiments permit to draft the following particular principles for the management training of the advanced command personnel: continuity of formal education and self-development processes, training in the academy and in the course of practical activities in the Armed Forces; focus on the development of management (systemic) way of thinking and viewpoint, creative strategy in problem solving and actions in abnormal situations; priority of intellectual skills, ability to identify problems and to find their solution, ability to put forward questions properly under indeterminacy conditions; the exercise and development of intellectual skills in training and real-life situations to maintain military combat readiness, which are topical and pressing in the current stage.

Management way of thinking and viewpoint, which are among the major objectives in training commanding personnel, (3) consist in the understanding of specific conditions and their importance for meeting the goal objectives; ability to identify and circumscribe the problem for the sake of its solution; ability to identify interconnexions between the elements of the analysis, ability to segregate cause-and-effect relations from their totality; propensity for assessing any situation (circumstances) or emerged problems on the basis of multidimensional viewpoint and understanding--as there are no one-dimensional, unidisciplinary problems; awareness of responsibility for the decisions taken and for the aftereffects of their implementation; orientation toward actions--the assessment of the situation must culminate in the identification of the actions, which may change the situation in the required direction.

It is wise to realize the general principles of education and the above-mentioned particular principles of management training in the form of integrated management tasks and integrated (management) war games.

The integrated management task is the package of practical training lessons united by common design (by the training plan of the military unit for the specific period), which enable to exercise the main functions of the cycle of military force day-to-day activity management.

The (management) war game is the form of training aimed at the development of intellectual, practical skills and abilities to work in the group in the solving of problems and management tasks.

The potentialities of the integrated management task (4) and of the management war games, which are conducted within the frame of integrated management tasks, are notably wide. Apart from the principal training goal--the transfer of intellectual skills in problem solving and teamwork skills for operating as part of the management organs--these tasks enable to develop skills and techniques for implementation of management functions, in getting acquainted, occasionally, with necessary guideline papers, in improving the standards of speech and office communication skills.

It is pertinent to focus attention on the salient features in the implementation of the integrated management task with the commanders of the major subdivisions and units in the course of commander training.

The tactical (integrated) management task would enable us to make the commander training content approximate, to a greater degree, to the requirements of the plan tasks for maintaining the combat readiness of the unit or of the body of troops.

For this purpose, each training stage (for instance, for the missile regiment) must be preceded by the commander training lessons module, which includes: the reinforcement and refreshment of knowledge in the specific domain of learning and in the training stage-wise topics, i.e., of the makeup of the tasks and relevant missions, of the aims for their implementation and organization, of the contents and education support (lectures, classroom-group activities, self-preparation); the development and exercise of intellectual skills and creative capacities of the trainees, which are needed for the training control and the conduct of the step-wise activities (seminars, management war games with the identification and discussion of the problem solving tactics inherent in the subdivisions and units training stage); the development and exercise of practical and methodical skills in organizing and conducting preparatory and step-wise activities, the fulfillment of the tasks in peacetime and in wartime (group exercises, drills, training in the methods of learning, and demonstration lessons).

Seminars and management war games can be conducted as part of the training and wrap-up meetings. They enable the commanders, together with their subordinates, to identify and to prognosticate the problems of maintaining combat readiness and to seek problem solutions, and thus to organize peer tuition.

In summary, the problems of managing the day-to-day activities can be solved in the following basic ways: by increasing of effectiveness of combat training, by reducing its costs by the development and the application of the procedures for optimizing of training plans, by higher quality and efficiency of servicemen individual training and the harmonization of primary subdivisions, the normalization of the requirements and of the types of training in the specialist field, by the development and introduction of sophisticated training simulators for skill maintaining; the education of advanced defense chiefs and commanding personnel by supporting the continuity of the educational process of the commanding personnel, by exerting efforts to inculcate the management way of thinking and intellectual skills, by commander training focused on solving tasks and problems concerning the maintenance of combat readiness, the introduction of the training forms and methods, which conform these basic ways.

Of course, the definition of the basic ways to solve the problems under discussion cannot by itself be their solution. Laborious scientific work is needed, as well as practical measures and specific mechanisms for their implementation.

NOTES:

1. R. Ackoff, Ackoff o menedzhmente, Transl. from the English, ed. by P.A. Volkova, Piter Publishers, St. Petersburg, 2002, p. 10.

2. Praktika obucheniya deistviyem, ed. by M. Pedler, Transl. from the English, ed. by O.S. Vikhanskii, Gardariki Publishers, Moscow, 2000, p. 160.

3. L.B. Barnes, K.R. Christensen, Ed.G. Hansen, Prepodavaniye i metod konkretnykh situatsii, Transl. from the English, ed. by A.I. Naumov, Gardariki Publishers, Moscow, 2000, p. 98.

4. R.V. Markitan, V.N. Guivenko, V.P. Tyukalov, "Upravlencheskaya podgotovka-vazhnyi prioritet v novykh uchebnykh planakh i programmakh voyennykh akademii," Voennaia mysl', No. 5, 1996, pp. 66-70.

Lt. Gen. R.V. MARKITAN (Ret.)

Peter the Great Strategic Missile Forces Military Academy

Doctor of Military Sciences, professor

Col. V.I. BELOGUROV

Chair Head, Peter the Great Strategic Missile Forces Military Academy

Candidate of Military Sciences

Col. A.A. KOTOV

Chair Lecturer, Peter the Great Strategic Missile Forces Military Academy

Candidate of Military Sciences

Devolving of knowledge to trainees

From                                       To

teaching                    [right arrow]  teaching and learning
devolving of knowledge      [right arrow]  quest for knowledge
disciplinary concentration  [right arrow]  concentration on trainees
subject matter              [right arrow]  knowledge acquisition process
words and speculations      [right arrow]  listening and rendering of
                                             assistance
teacher as the expert       [right arrow]  teamwork personal
                                             achievements
rule over trainees          [right arrow]  personal prestige

Fig. 2. Model of Paradigm of Management Education