Measuring military commanders’ decision making skills in a simulated battle leading environment
Date
2020-10-02
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Abstract
Sündmused Gruusias 2008. aastal ning Ukrainas 2014. aastal on viinud olukorrani, kus NATO riigid on keskendumas iseseisva kaitsevõime tugevdamisele ning järjest enam ka reservüksuste juhtide väljaõppele. Reservarmee põhimõtetest lähtub ka Eesti Kaitsevägi (EKV), mis on aga väike ja saab konflikti puhkemise korral loota vaid sellele, et reservüksuste ülemad suudavad lahingolukordades tegutseda paremini kui vastane.
EKV jaoks on seega oluline reservülemate väljaõpe, mis 11-kuulise kestuse jooksul peab valmistama nad ette tegutsemaks olukorras, kus juhitakse oma üksust lahingus. Paraku pole rahuajal võimalik lahingujuhtimist praktiseerida muul moel, kui õppeolukordades, mis ei pruugi aga tagada piisavat autentsust. Sama kehtib ka õppe tulemuslikkuse hindamise kohta, mida pole EKV võimalik praegu piisava usaldusväärsusega teha. See omakorda ei võimalda langetada adekvaatseid otsuseid väljaõppe tõhustamiseks ja isikkoosseisu valimiseks ning samuti pärsib see teadus- ja arendustegevust EKV-s. Seega on EKV-l vajadus usaldusväärse mõõtevahendi järgi, mis võimaldaks kulutõhusalt mõõta reservülemate otsustusvõimet lahinguolukordades.
See doktoritöö keskendubki reservülemate otsustusvõime mõõtmiseks sobiliku mõõtevahendi koostamisele ning selle usaldusväärsuse testimisele. Selleks viidi esmalt läbi süstemaatiline kirjandusanalüüs eesmärgiga tuvastada, milliseid mõõtevahendeid on varasemalt kasutatud väikeüksuste ülemate otsustamise mõõtmiseks lahingutegevuse juhtimisel. Lisaks huvituti, kuidas neid mõõtevahendeid on kasutatud ning millised neist sobiks kasutamiseks EKV-s koheselt või modifitseerituna. Selgus, et laialdaselt kasutatav ning ka EKV vajadustele vastav mõõdik on olukorrapõhine otsustamistest (OPT) vaatamata sellele, et ükski tuvastatud mõõdikutest ei keskendunud otseselt lahinguolukorras otsustamisele. Seega koostati otsustamise mõõtmiseks sobivad testid ning rakendati neid Kaitseväe Akadeemia kadettidest (134) ning reservrühmaülema baaskursuse ajateenijatest (80) koosneva valimiga. Selgus, et koostatud testid annavad usaldusväärseid tulemusi, eristades lahendajaid hästi nii erineva väljaõppe taseme kui varasema kogemuse alusel. Seega sobivad OPT-d hästi mõõtma väikeüksuse ülemate otsustamisoskust lahingujuhtimisel.
Töö praktilise tulemusena saab EKV edaspidi kasutada valminud mõõtevahendit erinevatel eesmärkidel, sealhulgas väljaõppe hindamiseks ja tõhustamiseks ning samuti teadus- ja arendustegevuses. Edasised uuringud võiks keskenduda sellele, et välja selgitada, kui hästi ennustab OPT-de tulemuslik lahendamine tegelikku sooritust üksuse juhtimisel.
The events in Georgia in 2008 and in Ukraine in 2014 have led to a situation, where many European countries are focusing on strengthening their homeland defense capabilities by reintroducing conscription and looking for ways to improve the performance of their reserve soldiers and reserve commanders. The Estonian Defense Forces (EDF), modest in size, are also built on the principle of reserve army. It means, that EDF can only rely on excellent tactics during combat situations, thus soldiers and commanders with the best decision making skills are crucial. It follows, that the training of reserve officers is important for EDF, however, there is only 11 months training time available for this purpose. During that time, young men, who have no earlier military exposure, have to get the preparation to lead the military unit during the time of war. The situation is even more complicated, because unlike in the case of other professions, in military profession, commanders cannot practice their job during peacetime other than in military exercises. This however may not provide sufficient authenticity. The same applies to the assessment of learning outcomes – it cannot be done with sufficient credibility. This in turn does not allow to take adequate decisions for enhancing training, selecting right personnel for different jobs and it also discourages research and development in the EDF. Thus there is a need for a suitable instrument for measuring platoon leaders’ decision making skills in critical battle leading situations. The goal of this PhD project is to develop and validate an instrument for measuring low level military commanders decision-making skills in battle leading situations. To accomplish this goal, firstly a systematic literature review was undertaken to determine, what instruments and how had previously been used for the purpose of our interest. It came out, that the most suitable and also widely used instrument is Situational Judgement Test, however, none of found instruments was focusing on decision-making in battle leading situations. Thus, suitable instrument for measuring decision-making was designed and applied using a sample of cadets (134) from land forces basic course and conscripts (80) from the reserve commander basic course of the Military Academy of EDF. It came out, that the test developed was found to produce reliable results, that enabled to distinguish well between the test takers on the basis of the level of training and previous experience. It was thus concluded, that developed test were well suited to measure the decision-making skills of small unit commanders in battle leading situations. As a result of current PhD project, EDF will be able to use the instrument for a variety of purposes, including for example the evaluation and improvement of training as well as for research and development. Future research could focus on finding out how well the test results predict commanders’ actual battle leading performance.
The events in Georgia in 2008 and in Ukraine in 2014 have led to a situation, where many European countries are focusing on strengthening their homeland defense capabilities by reintroducing conscription and looking for ways to improve the performance of their reserve soldiers and reserve commanders. The Estonian Defense Forces (EDF), modest in size, are also built on the principle of reserve army. It means, that EDF can only rely on excellent tactics during combat situations, thus soldiers and commanders with the best decision making skills are crucial. It follows, that the training of reserve officers is important for EDF, however, there is only 11 months training time available for this purpose. During that time, young men, who have no earlier military exposure, have to get the preparation to lead the military unit during the time of war. The situation is even more complicated, because unlike in the case of other professions, in military profession, commanders cannot practice their job during peacetime other than in military exercises. This however may not provide sufficient authenticity. The same applies to the assessment of learning outcomes – it cannot be done with sufficient credibility. This in turn does not allow to take adequate decisions for enhancing training, selecting right personnel for different jobs and it also discourages research and development in the EDF. Thus there is a need for a suitable instrument for measuring platoon leaders’ decision making skills in critical battle leading situations. The goal of this PhD project is to develop and validate an instrument for measuring low level military commanders decision-making skills in battle leading situations. To accomplish this goal, firstly a systematic literature review was undertaken to determine, what instruments and how had previously been used for the purpose of our interest. It came out, that the most suitable and also widely used instrument is Situational Judgement Test, however, none of found instruments was focusing on decision-making in battle leading situations. Thus, suitable instrument for measuring decision-making was designed and applied using a sample of cadets (134) from land forces basic course and conscripts (80) from the reserve commander basic course of the Military Academy of EDF. It came out, that the test developed was found to produce reliable results, that enabled to distinguish well between the test takers on the basis of the level of training and previous experience. It was thus concluded, that developed test were well suited to measure the decision-making skills of small unit commanders in battle leading situations. As a result of current PhD project, EDF will be able to use the instrument for a variety of purposes, including for example the evaluation and improvement of training as well as for research and development. Future research could focus on finding out how well the test results predict commanders’ actual battle leading performance.
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Keywords
commanders, military personnel, management decisions, simulation