Lieutenants Professional Development in an Institutional/Occupational (I/O) and Officer Professional Development (OPD) Context

Abstract

This paper examines the Air Force officer corps in terms of the needs of its junior officers for a grounding in officership. It validates the I/O concept of military professionalism and compares it with recent trends in the Air Force to combat careerism that have been codified under the term OPD. The paper evaluates the degree of institutionalism among junior Air Force officers and attempts to discover what mechanisms exist to draw them away from institutionalism and toward a more occupational outlook. The relationship of OPD to I/O is discussed and lieutenants development programs are compared among the four Services. The paper concludes that, while OPD made a major contribution toward moving the Air Force officer corps away from careerism, it missed the mark in terms of institutionalizing lieutenants. Subtle changes in emphasis in OPD are necessary to counter this and an initiative originally recommended by the OPD Working Group but not approved, should be reconsidered.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1990
Accession Number
ADA241094

Entities

People

  • Bruce L. Ullman

Organizations

  • Air War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Human Systems
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Doctrine
  • Education
  • Employment
  • Instructors
  • Management Personnel
  • Military Education
  • Military Personnel
  • Military Pilots
  • Organizational Structure
  • Personnel Management
  • Professional Development
  • Public Administration
  • Students
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Education

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Military Leadership and Professional Education.