Term of Award

Spring 2008

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Education Administration (Ed.D.)

Document Type and Release Option

Dissertation (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Leadership, Technology, and Human Development

Committee Chair

Lucindia Chance

Committee Member 1

Cordelia Zinskie

Committee Member 2

Patricia Coberly

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify which leadership competencies future Army Continuing Education System Education Services Officers will need to better structure leadership development within that organization. A Delphi survey was sent to 13 Southeast Region Army Education Services Officers (ESOs) and consisted of three rounds: the first two rounds were used to reach a consensus as to what competencies were considered important by the panel of experts, and the last round allowed the panel to rank each selected competency by its level of importance to future Education Services Officers. Using Army Field Manual 6-22, Army Leadership, the Army's eight core competencies and associated components were used to formulate the initial round of 56 Yes or No responses. The first round included two open-ended questions and requested demographic data. Round Two was made up of 24 Yes or No response statements and two open-ended questions. The last round included the final 67 components that were ranked in order of importance on a five-point rating scale (Least Important, Important, Somewhat Important, Very Important, Critical). Using quantitative methods of frequencies and percentages, the results indicated that present Education Services Officers believe that almost all of the competencies listed in Field Manual 6-22 are important for future Education Services Officers. The additional knowledge, skills, abilities, and dispositions that make up the added competency components included: Understands the role of the Army within the Department of Defense; Leads with flexibility; Utilizes strategic planning and decision making methods; Understands budget development and fiscal planning; Identifies personnel and contracting requirements and understands both systems; Open to [learning about] technical, virtual, and Internet-based systems; and Encourages innovation. The information obtained from this study can provide a framework to assist Army leaders, Garrison Commanders, and hiring officials when reviewing applications for future Education Services Officers. Current Army Continuing Education System professionals can also use the data from this study to ensure they have sought out and received the necessary training and development in each competency area and are fully qualified to meet the demands of working as future Education Services Officers.

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

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