Officers\u27 Use of Leadership Skills Learned in the Navy\u27s Intermediate Officer Leadership Training Course: A Replication Study

All Naval enlisted personnel and officers are required to attend Leadership Continuum courses at designated career intervals. One of the required courses for officers is the Intermediate Officer Leadership Training Course (IOLTC). This study replicated William F. Conroy III\u27s 2001 dissertation study of graduates of the IOLTC offered in San Diego with graduates of a similar course offered by the Center for Naval Leadership (CNL) at Naval Amphibious Base (NAB), Little Creek, VA. Like the Conroy study, this study attempted to identify barriers and incentives that IOLTC graduates encounter on-the-job that either encourage or discourage their use of leadership skills taught in the IOLTC. Both studies, in fact, were organized around the following questions: (a) Do graduates believe that they were able to use their skills on the job? (b) If so, approximately how much time had elapsed after completion of IOLTC before the graduates exercised the leadership skills acquired during the course? (c) What are the IOLTC graduates\u27 perceptions of their bosses\u27 attitudes toward their using the leadership skills learned during the leadership-training course? (d) What factors (barriers or incentives) seem to be associated with skill use across the four IOLTC sub-units (leadership, communication, delegation, and command climate)? (e) Do the answers to the previous questions vary depending upon demographics (gender, race, line/staff officers, etc.)? This study asked one additional question: To what extent are the findings from this study consistent with the Conroy study? As in the Conroy study, a survey design was employed. The major procedural difference was that this study surveyed graduates through the Internet rather than through regular mail. Results of this replication study were similar to Conroy\u27s results. For instance, women continued to perceive that they had less opportunity to implement the leadership skills they were taught. There were two interesting differences, however: (a) respondents in this study reported that it took less time to be able to use the skills they were taught; (b) in this study, unlike the Conroy study, resistance from subordinates was cited more frequently as a barrier to implementing the acquired leadership skills that were taught