Abstract
M.Phil.
A shortcoming which was identified in the developmental system of career officers in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is the basis on which this study was executed. The SANDF expects career officers to comply with all the. Demands and criteria of being an officer as described in Project KINGSROW ("Report on the training and development of permanent force officers", 1987). The demands of being an officer are described under five headings viz. "personal dimension, management skills, communication abilities/skills, military knowledge or background and environmental knowledge" in Section 3 of Project KINGSROW. Only the above four categories are addressed by the formal developmental system of officers. The development of the personal dimension of career officers is not addressed in the formal developmental programme(s). In spite of the omission of the development of the personal dimension in formal programmes, the attributes that constitute this dimension are used as some of the selection criteria when evaluating officers for promotion. This study is aimed at meeting the need in the development of "the personal dimension", with specific reference to the coping skills or personal skills or competencies which function as the building blocks thereof. This can be achieved through the design of development centre(s) as an enabling system within the SANDF. Before any design of evelopmental centres can be undertaken, the categories of the personal dimension, or competencies, which require development need to be identified. The identification of competencies and development thereof, cannot be isolated from effective role behaviour of career officers within the SANDF and include the following organization specific categories of competencies : managerial, intra-personal, interpersonal, contextual mobility, cognitive mobility, leadership, professionalism, process orientation, values orientation, organization climate orientation and an academic development. Within the framework of a qualitative research approach, a constructivist-interpretivist research strategy was designed for this study. The first phase of the strategy includes the description of personal skills/abilities by means of the concept effective maturity and within the framework of the "psychology of personal constructs" (Kelly, 1963). Against this background, a systemic analyses of the SANDF is undertaken by means of the application of "Living System Theory" (Miller, 1978). The "Repertory Grid' technique was utilized as the gathering technique during structured interviews with selected participants. The result of this technique is the deliverance of the effectivity paradigm of participants with reference to their personal competencies which are deemed to be important for effective role fulfillment. These competencies/skills now form the focus areas of development centres as an enabling system in the organisational context of the SANDF, thereby filling the shortcomings in the developmental system for officers in the SANDF.