A Study Of Issues On Cadets' Leadership Development In Military Academies

Cadets' capability of management has all long been emphasized in PLA academy education. Its purpose is to develop their leadership. The rapid advancement of the new Reform of Military Affairs has promoted the change of cadets' leadership in connotation and development mode. It renders important theoretical and practical significance to take hold of the historical opportunity of the Reform of Military Affairs with Chinese Characteristics and take an active part in exploring the theories and methodology in developing cadets' leadership capability. This thesis carries out an objective analysis on the current cadets' leadership development situation in PLA academies and the cadets' leadership development lessons in West Point. Based on the fundamental theory of leadership science, it analyses the principal concepts like leading, leader, leading and management, leaders' qualities and leading capability and concludes that leader's quality/capability is composed of proficient basic qualities, adequate professional skills and forceful developing potentialities. Discussions among experts are held to approach the composition of undergraduate cadets' leadership capability and to model the competence of characteristics of undergraduate cadets' leadership by means of behavioral event interviewing. It is found that seven factors make up of the competent characteristics of undergraduate cadets' leadership, which are: comprehensive decision capability, emergency adapting capability, scientifically appointing capability, organizing and coordinating capability, self-discipline capability, innovative capability and communicative capability. To finish, the thesis puts forward countermeasures for developing undergraduate cadets' leadership capability in PLA academies, i.e., to initiate a new concept of talent nurturing, to consummate the education system and to create a new environment for leadership development and to optimize the management modes.