The essence of the readiness of a military specialist for functional activity in a conflictogenic professional environment

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In our opinion, the reform of the system of military-professional education should lead to a refusal to search for universal models of training and education of future officers by reorienting the educational process to the formation of an individual lifestyle and thinking of a military specialist, promoting socio-cultural and ideological self-determination of the individual. Therefore, his readiness for functional activity in a conflictogenic professional environment is considered by us not as the result of a functional and executive attitude to the implementation of the next (although very significant) social function, but as a means of forming a certain personal disposition in him. Modern society in the current socio-cultural situation needs such a specialist in the field of violence management, who is able to realize and accept the tasks of professional activity at all stages and in all types of its implementation; if necessary, independently determine the objectives of the activity and responsibly implement them in accordance with the adopted guidelines; be aware of his own importance for the people around him, especially subordinates; make decisions in extreme (borderline) situations; consciously regulate their behavior on the basis of reflection.

All of the above implies an active position of the individual, providing conscious goal-setting, dialectical operation and constructive adjustment of ways of activity; the desire and ability to proactively, critically and innovatively reflect, predict the results of activities and relationships; focus on the realization of self-determination through self-education, self-education, self-assessment, self-analysis, self-development, self-identification, self-determination; the ability to make independent adjustments to their activities, stabilizing, changing the circumstances surrounding it in accordance with the goal; internal independence from the conditions of the external environment not in the sense of ignoring them, but in the sense of the stability of personality dispositions (views, beliefs, meanings, motives); possession of the most important procedural characteristics (versatility of skills, creative potential, etc.).

It is these criteria, presented as the goals of education, that make it possible to create a strategic image of the future military specialist, determined by those values and life meanings that cement the core of the model of his personality.

The models of professional activity of military specialists analyzed by us, described in dissertation research, scientific literature and normative documents, made it possible to classify them into groups:

1. a) models of a descriptive nature – reflect mainly the Gnostic aspects of professional activity;
2. b) structural models – based on the analysis of the structure of professional activity and its functions;
3. c) management models – are associated with the isolation of special managerial properties of the personality of the future specialist;
4. d) task models – describe professional activity by analyzing the content and specifics of the tasks solved by the specialist.

In almost all models of activity, professional readiness (or readiness for professional activity) is considered as the most important component or consequence of the general training of the personality of a specialist. At the same time, it is determined through professional skill, competence, mastery of techniques and technologies of activity as an indicator of the social maturity of a specialist, a professionally important quality that involves the presence of professional and psychological knowledge, skills, abilities and a set of personal qualities that characterize its focus on effective interaction with colleagues, superiors and subordinates in the process of carrying out professional activities.

Despite the fact that the concept of “readiness for activity” at the moment has become widespread and has a certain meaning, its volume and content remain debatable, and therefore there is no single and generally accepted definition. In our opinion, this can be explained by the idea expressed by G. Hegel: “The richer the object being defined, the more diverse the definitions of its various aspects can be”.

The problem of human readiness for effective professional activity is the subject of the works of M.I. Dyachenko, V.S. Merlin, V.N. Myasishchev, K.K. Platonov and others [7; 18– 20]. In their research, two main approaches to the study of this phenomenon are clearly outlined: functional [7; 25; 26], in which the structure of readiness reveals procedural qualities that are directly significant for activity, and personal [11; 14; 19; 24], which involves the study of readiness as a complex of integrated, but rather heterogeneous personality properties, differentiated by their place in the structure of activity and functions that mediate the process of its regulation. In the personal approach, the role of the integrator is assigned to the system of dispositions of the individual, which determine its focus on the relevant activity.

From the point of view of the functional approach, readiness is a functional state, a psychological and social attitude to a certain attitude to activity, which characterizes the behavior of the individual.

Readiness for activity, notes V.A. Slastenin, is such a special mental state as the presence of the subject's image of the structure of a certain action and the constant orientation of consciousness to its implementation. It includes various kinds of attitudes to the models of probable behavior, the definition of socially acceptable ways of activity, the assessment of their capabilities in their relationship with the upcoming difficulties and the need to achieve a certain result [25; 26]. Despite all the advantages of the functional approach, it seems to us somewhat limited, since the problem of modeling a specialist is increasingly formulated as a problem of building his personality, where moral consciousness is a significant structural component, and the spiritual and moral development of the personality of students is the primary task of modern education [9].

In addition, the features of the functional approach do not allow to effectively predict the actions of complex systems, which, of course, include the personality of a military specialist included in a situation of uncertainty (extreme or borderline), i.e. a situation of conflict. In this regard, the most relevant in relation to the study of conflictological readiness for activity seems to us to be its understanding within the framework of the personal approach.

The next group of authors is united by an understanding of readiness for activity both as a quality of the personality and as a certain mental state. Thus, M.I. Dyachenko and L.A. Kandybovich believe that readiness (stable, long-term) for activity as a professionally important quality is a complex psychological education and includes: a positive attitude to the profession, fairly stable motives for activity; adequate to the requirements of professional activity traits, abilities, manifestations of temperament; necessary knowledge, skills and abilities; stable professionally important features of perception, memory, attention, thinking, emotional-volitional processes, etc. [7].

Readiness (temporary) as a mental state, as a mood for a certain behavior when performing educational and professional tasks, an attitude to active and expedient actions, in their opinion, includes the following structural components: cognitive (understanding professional tasks, assessing their significance, knowledge of ways to solve, having an idea of the likely change in the situation); emotional (a sense of professional honor and responsibility, confidence in success, enthusiasm); motivational (the need to successfully perform the first professional tasks, interest in the process of solving them, the desire to succeed and show yourself from the best side); volitional (mobilization of forces, overcoming doubts, etc.).

M.I. Dyachenko and L.A. Kandybovich argue that both types of readiness of specialists for professional work are in unity and interaction in the course of their activities. The temporary state of readiness reflects the characteristics and requirements of the upcoming situation, creates psychological conditions for successful actions at a certain point in time and is a kind of continuation of stable, long-term readiness as a personality quality. At the same time, both of its types are decisively determined by the stability of motives and mental characteristics inherent in a particular personality [7].

Readiness does not arise beyond attitudes, if they are understood as adjustment, the adjustment of the subject to the upcoming activity. But readiness includes not only various kinds of awareness or unawareness of tasks, but also models of probable behavior, determining the optimal ways of activity, assessing their capabilities in correlating them with the upcoming difficulties and the need to achieve a certain result. Therefore, only in some cases the state of readiness and installation coincide, usually readiness is a more complex structural formation.

As can be seen from the above opinions, readiness is not only a characteristic of experience or skill, but also a set of certain internal capabilities of the individual - potentials and reserves that are essential for effective professional activity. Thus, professional readiness is a system of integrative properties, personality qualities and an attitude to future activities.

Given the selected object of research, work on the study of the state of readiness for activity in extreme situations, to which the conflict belongs, is of particular interest to us. The leading place in the concept of "readiness" is given in his research by N.F. Fedenko. He believes that readiness expresses the desire of the serviceman to engage in his direct activities and is formed by the entire system of training and military education, the organization of training. N.F. Fedenko also gives recommendations for further study of the content of conflictological readiness for activities, offers a number of conditions for its formation among future military specialists, for example, such as the formation of an attitude to work with people, ideas about social situations, etc. [27].

V.F. Dubyaga defines psychological readiness as a systemic state of the psychological resources of the personality (individual mental processes, properties, states, formations), which ensure the regulation of activity before the start of the performance of service and combat tasks, during and after their completion. The structure of the psychological readiness of servicemen of operational units, according to the author, is a unity of several levels of readiness: personal-semantic, situational-target and operational-executive [6].

L.N. Kuznetsov, based on the results of his dissertation research, comes to the conclusion that the state of mental readiness of a serviceman for combat activity is closely interrelated with his professional training [15]. That is, professional preparedness is, in his opinion, the basis, the basis on which mental readiness can grow. In turn, the state of mental readiness is a condition for the manifestation of the level of professional preparedness in a particular situation and therefore has relative independence. In his opinion, the core of the state of mental readiness of a serviceman to work in wartime conditions is the unity of his awareness of the importance of his active, effective combat operations, as well as a state of self-confidence and a state of determination.

Direct readiness for professional activity in conditions of interpersonal conflict with its subjects was studied by G.M. Boltunova, Z.Z. Drinka, A.I. Krotov and others [2; 5; 14].

Thus, Z.Z. Drinka interprets this type of readiness as the readiness of a specialist to solve professional conflictological problems [5]. G.M. Boltunova understands it as a practical readiness to resolve conflicts in the pedagogical process. Moreover, if the authors understand the essence of readiness in relation (as the ability of a specialist to perform professional tasks in a conflict situation), then there is a difference in the content of the practical component. Thus, G.M. Boltunova includes three conflictological skills in it: vision and understanding of the conflict; the ability to predict and assess the consequences of conflict; possession of means of diagnosis, prevention and resolution of conflict, use of conflict for educational purposes [2].

In this approach, the formation of the conflictological readiness of the student - the future specialist as a subject of educational activity – is fully ensured. In the study of Z.Z. Drinka, the practical component of conflictological readiness is presented through a set of skills for solving specific professional conflictological problems (25 in total), which are classified into six groups (tasks for diagnosis, forecasting, stimulation, prevention, modeling, conflict resolution) in accordance with the logic of conflict management, with the structural elements of conflictological processes and the holistic pedagogical process.

The studies of the above authors are aimed at studying the formation of conflictological readiness of future teachers in the conditions of pedagogical activity. Specific features of military-professional activity: the closure of space for interpersonal interaction within the dislocation of a military unit; building relationships between military personnel of all ranks on the principle of unity of command; strict regulation of relations by regulatory documents; the presence of specific factors of the subject-material (impersonal) military-professional environment, as well as the fact that conflictological readiness as a personal quality should be formed throughout the entire period of training of a military specialist at the university, require a certain approach to the formation of conflictological readiness of the future officer.

Thus, it can be concluded that at present the readiness for activity is considered as a pre-activity state in which the highest reaches the highest degree of possibilities of the individual are concentrated; it manifests itself before, during the execution and completion of the action; has different levels and component structure and depends on the characteristics of the personality and the conditions of activity. The state of readiness for activity is characterized by a complex dynamic structure, including a set of emotional, volitional, motivational, cognitive, operational processes, states, properties and formations of the human psyche in their relationship with external situational conditions and upcoming tasks.

In our opinion, the analyzed functional and personal approaches create the prerequisites for the search within the framework of the already functional and personal approach of such an integrating education that would make it possible to achieve the functionalism of the activities of a military specialist in a conflictogenic professional environment based on the development of appropriate personal qualities. We believe that such an education is the self-determination of the future officer.

The essence and content of the concept of “self-determination” depend on the sphere in which it is studied.

From the point of view of the sociological approach, self-determination is a multi-stage process, which is the solution of a series of tasks that the individual sets for himself. It is associated with the entry of a certain generation into social structures and spheres of public life. For example, I.S. Kohn in self-determination (self-consciousness) sees “a clear orientation and determination of one's place in the world, the answer to the question: Who to be? What should I do?” [12].

In the theory of career guidance, self-determination is considered as an independent choice of profession, carried out as a result of analyzing one's internal resources, including abilities and correlating them with its requirements [13]. Autonomy and isolation at the level of group interaction are analyzed by A.V. Petrovsky. The scientist introduces the concept of “collectivist self-determination”, according to which “the individual selectively refers to the influences of this particular community, accepting one and rejecting the other, depending on the mediating factors - assessments, beliefs, ideals” [22, p. 31]. It is formed on the basis of the goals and objectives of the activity adopted in the group, stable value orientations.

Self-determination (moral) in the philosophical sense, according to N.D. Zotov, based on the existential approach, is “the definition of oneself as a being with consciousness and will, awareness of oneself as a subject of behavioral manifestations” [8]. The essence of moral self-determination in this case is the command of the subject to obey the requirements imposed from the outside. In the philosophical sense, the system-forming property of moral self-determination is moral responsibility. 

In psychology, most often self-determination is associated with external conditions of activity, when the person cannot act without internalizing objective requirements into subjective ones. As noted by A.N. Leontiev: “Internal in its form, activity comes from external practical activity, does not separate from it and does not become above it, but retains a fundamental and at the same time two-way communication” [16, p. 59]. According to S.L. Rubinstein, in professional behavior, as in human behavior in general, the dependence of an individual's actions on the situation implies “an internal moment of self-determination, loyalty to oneself” [23]. He considers self-determination in connection with the attitude of the individual to the environment, to other people, to the basic phenomena of life.

Of particular interest for our study are works in which self-determination is considered in correlation with the concepts of “life choice”, “life position”, “self-knowledge”, “self-consciousness” [1; 12; 17].

According to K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, a life position is a way of social life developed by person under given conditions, a place in the profession, a way of self-expression [1]. The choice of the principle of action, the adoption of a particular decision is a kind of self-determination of the subject, which determines the ratio of the previous and subsequent stages of his activity. As S.L. Rubinstein points out, conscious self-determination is expressed in the self-consciousness of the individual and is reflected in the awareness of oneself as the subject of one's activity [23].

In foreign psychology, the problem of self-determination is considered in terms of identifying the features of personal identification from the standpoint of role theories. According to N. Parsons and G. Platt [28], the formation of the image of “I” occurs most intensively during the period of professional education. D. Getzels and T. Newcomb [29] the process of forming the image of “I” is investigated through the study of the value orientations of students. In the concept of personal identification of E. Erikson, the discrepancy between identity, i.e. the sense of “I” and role uncertainty, is considered as the driving force of youthful self-determination [30].

Thus, the analysis of approaches to determining the essence of readiness for activity and the phenomenon of self-determination associated with it allows us to conclude that the readiness of a military specialist for functional activity in a conflictogenic professional environment is his ability to self-determine the optimal way of interacting with the elements (factors) of the surrounding professional environment (personal and impersonal) in a conflict situation on the basis of the formed system. Value orientations, awareness of one's own role in the process of its constructive resolution and subjective assessment of one's capabilities in correlation with the difficulties encountered in achieving the goal of professional activity [9].

This understanding of readiness allows us to characterize the functions that it implements in relation to various types of military-professional activities of a military specialist as a whole. Among them, the main ones are the following:

1. a) the function of goal-setting – allows the military specialist to develop an optimal program for achieving the necessary final result of activity in the process of conflict interaction with the surrounding personal (social) and impersonal (subject-material) professional environments;
2. b) the function of self-assessment is an emotional cognitive-value attitude of a military specialist to himself as a subject of interaction with elements of the professional environment based on the correlation of potential opportunities with difficulties arising in connection with the situation of conflict and preventing the achievement of the goals of activity. This function determines the degree of depth and versatility of the reflection of a military specialist on a conflict situation;
3. c) the function of self-awareness – objectifies self-awareness in relation to the current situation through activity and the achievement of its result;
4. d) the function of self-regulation is an integral function of all mental processes, states and properties of the personality that make up the potential of a military specialist to regulate his behavior and actions aimed at achieving his goal in a conflict situation.

These functions should contribute to the self-realization and self-improvement of the personality of a military specialist in the process of professionalization. However, the question arises as to what is expressed and how the factors we have indicated in the definition of readiness affect the ability to self-determination; is it possible to influence the development of this ability?

Self-determination, in our opinion, is the process of forming an individual lifestyle of an individual associated with the formation of a military specialist as a subject of life in a military-professional environment.

M.R. Ginzburg considers personal self-determination as a meaningful construction by a person of his life field, which includes a set of individual life meanings and the space of real action (actual and potential) [4]. R.G. Kamensky, S.I. Krasnov and V.D. Povzun point out that self-determination is possible only in the field of values and meanings, since this area of interaction between the individual and society allows a person to actively determine himself and his place in society, accepting or rejecting certain social values, and thereby building his own system of values, determining his own position [10; 13; 21]. Therefore, the definition by a military specialist of himself in the military-professional environment as a person is the definition of his position regarding its values on the basis of value-semantic self-determination.

In our opinion, the basis for the self-determination of the future officer in the immanently conflictogenic professional environment are the constructive values of the conflictological paradigm of the development of society (understanding of conflict as a source of development of relations and activities), realized through the experience of his professional training and activities, which have acquired personal semantic significance.

Of particular importance to us is the fact that the self-determination of a military specialist in relation to the conflict can be formed at the expense of internal reserves resulting from the process of socialization, spontaneously, under the influence of a number of spontaneously arising conditions at various stages of ontogenesis. In this case, self-determination will have the character of a natural process, and its intensity and direction will depend solely on the person himself. However, in the system of military socialization and professionalization, such a phenomenon is not entirely acceptable, since it creates obstacles to the formation of the competence of the future officer given by the requirements of the state in the field of defense, his self-realization and self-improvement, an adequate attitude to the performance of functional duties. This is confirmed by the results of observation of cadets (future military specialists) during the military training, as well as a survey of active officers on their assessment of the degree of readiness of graduates to implement functional activities in a conflict situation, which made it possible to establish that future officers can be differentiated into two groups depending on the prevailing method of natural self-determination:

– the first group self-determines due to its own internal reserves (self-awareness and self-regulation) in the process of joint analysis of professional activity with mentors or by self-evaluation of activities for the identification of subjective disadvantages and advantages;

– the second group self-determines due to the awareness of what miscalculations in their activities are noted by others, i.e. at the time of constructive (and sometimes non-constructive) criticism, as a result of external control by the immediate commander or head of the military training.

In our view, the reason for this differentiation lies in the capacity for self-determination, which, in the view of O.S. Gazman, is the complex ability to act freely and independently; to protect socially significant goals, focusing on the social patterns of behavior adopted by society, and includes such components as a developed “I-concept”, the ability to adjust one's behavior, take responsibility for solving life issues for oneself, an attitude to initiative and independence of will [3].

The ability to self-determination reflects the potential of the individual, is the core of his readiness for activity. However, the ability is not yet readiness, since the abilities of different people to the same activity can be adequate and inadequate, and also have a different structure, thanks to the individual originality of mental processes, states, properties and formations.

Based on the foregoing, it can be concluded that the conditions conducive to the self-determination of a military specialist in relation to a conflict can be created specifically and be stimulating. In this case, the process of self-determination will become artificially organized and then its intensity and direction will be subject to regulation.

Despite the way in which the self-determination of the personality of a military specialist is realized - naturally or artificially, its core is the transformation of the subject of himself. Therefore, one's own choice, independent decisions made by the future officer, in comparison with the importance of external influence, will prevail, therefore, the formation of the lifestyle and thinking of a military specialist will be individual in nature and contribute to the socio-cultural and ideological self-determination of the individual as a whole.

Stimulation of self-determination of future officers is based on the formation of their need for a reflexive, creative process of professional activity, self-improvement of various types of professional competence, the objective need to create programs for self-control and self-change. All this can be implemented within the framework of the educational process during the period when a military specialist receives military-professional education.

Based on the foregoing, the factors identified by us that determine the functionality of the activities of a military specialist in a conflictogenic professional environment can be represented as components of the mechanism of his self-determination. This mechanism of cognition of the external through the internal seems to us to be especially important for the implementation of conflictological training of the future officer, which, taking into account self-determination, should be based on the following provisions:

1. The leading role in the process of constructive resolution of conflicts arising in the military collective (vertically and horizontally), in the intrapersonal sphere of the individual, as well as between military personnel and the conditions of the military-professional environment (both social and impersonal), is played by the principle of counter activity, which assumes in the system:

– “military specialist - subordinate” and “military specialist – chief (commander)” not passive contemplation of the process of directive resolution of the conflict situation, and counter-activity, mutual responsibility for the result of a constructive outcome from the conflict. This generates subject-subject relations in the military collective, allows you to build behavior with others on mutual trust and mutual understanding;

– “military specialist - own I” is not a closure in oneself, leading to stress of a negative orientation and, as a result, an increase in neuroticism, autoaggression, but a search for a way out of the current conflict situation on the basis of introspection, manifestation of volitional qualities;

– “military specialist - impersonal conditions of the military-professional environment” change of conflictogenic factors of the environment in accordance with the purpose of activity, and in case of irrationality of such a change, the manifestation of conformity in relation to them.

2. Conflictological training of a military specialist should be based on the assimilation of techniques and methods of mental activity (analysis, synthesis, comparison, abstraction, etc.), allowing to make effective the process of acquiring the necessary conflictological knowledge, skills and abilities, and be carried out in specially constructed and spontaneously arising forms of educational, official and everyday activities (disputes, discussions, trainings, outfits, household work, internships, command post exercises, field trips, joint pastime, educational activities, sports games and competitions, etc.) with the obligatory consideration of objective and deliberately created conflictogenic conditions of the environment in which they are implemented.
3. Rejection in the process of conflictological training from the subject-object approach in favor of the humanistic approach (subject-subject), which involves the attitude to the student as a person with a specific set of individual psychological characteristics, in order to orient the future military specialist to self-realization through self-knowledge, self-control and, in general, self-determination in the upcoming professional activity. Taking into account the individuality of the individual in the process of conflictological training will allow a military specialist to develop freely, and, consequently, creatively.

About the authors

Alexander A. Karavanov

Zhukovsky – Gagarin Air Force Academy

Author for correspondence.
Email: karal15@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8103-0807

Ph.D.

Russian Federation, Voronezh

Igor Yu. Ustinov

Zhukovsky – Gagarin Air Force Academy

Email: letyga36@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-4091-3894

Ph.D.

Russian Federation, Voronezh

Angela A. Len

Zhukovsky – Gagarin Air Force Academy

Email: angelaplatonova@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0003-3606-8130

Ph.D.

Russian Federation, Voronezh

References

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