فصلنامه مدیریت نظامی
پیاپی 55 (پاییز 1393)

In a chaotic economic atmosphere, managers are always encountered with uncertainties. To take the advantages of investment opportunities and obtain highest performance, they must make investments in risky finances. However, in state-run organizations, due to contradictions between management and property interests and management risk, major parts of the investment opportunities are lost following the conservative approaches taken by the managers. Military organizations are not exception to this rule. Conducted in a military setting, this study aimed to investigate financial risk-taking by the officers of Imam Ali Military University. For this purpose, 70 randomly-selected officers answered a reliable questionnaire. The findings revealed that the sample enjoys moderate level in terms of financial risk-taking. Meanwhile, it was not a function of educational degree and service background.

As a damage and casualty-alleviating measure, military site selection is among the key issues for military men. Similarly, determining role of air support in the battlefield as well as that of the Iranian Army Aviation is of paramount importance. Given the proximity of aviation units to any battlefield, landing site selection and secure routes in light of smart, cheap and accurate and prompt technology is undeniable. To address such a concern, this study, utilizing GIS facilities, was designed to identify appropriate sites for helicopter landing prior to any physical intervention in Nasrabad region in Isfahan Province. To do so, the region was checked in terms of slope, drainage, observation, concealment, soil, land utilities, power transmission lines close to the maneuvering units, structure, protected areas and distance from the enemy. Having collected the data and merging them based on Fuzzy AHP, the overlapping Fuzzy operations were run in a GIS environment. Thereupon eight alternatives were identified as suitable sites, which were then prioritized as 5,6,7,4, and 2, respectively. The findings showed mountain feet areas, corridors hidden from the enemy observation and the militarily, geomorphologically significance regions are of great value, and they confirmed that role of GIS and its integration into multi-criteria decision-making procedures in running military analysis.

Knowledge management (KM) mechanisms or tools are identified as techniques and methods for operationalization of KM processes in need of appropriate facilitative grounds. In order to identify and prioritize such mechanisms, main mechanisms were, first, identified and validated by the experts. They, then, were statistically rank ordered based on Friedman test. Their extent of use was also measured. The findings revealed following priority of use: Individual approaches in knowledge acquisition process; IT based ones in knowledge sharing processes; and Knowledge application in knowledge use processes. Group work stood at the top rank in each processes. In terms of the extent of use, all mechanisms proved less than moderate level.

Research needs analysis and priorities are taken as the first step in research management and planning. To do so, this mixed methods applied study was conducted through engaging randomly selected sample population of 54 commanders, managers and heads of education departments of Imam Ali Military University. Two researcher-made needs analysis questionnaires addressing both educational and idea-political areas and two others dealing with the research priorities were constructed and validated in terms of content and inter-rater reliability index (r= %68 and %72) for the formers and Gilford’s grading reliability index (r=%73 and %76) for the latter. Then, they were distributed among the sample. The results revealed 131 educational themes and the following research priorities, respectively: Curriculum Development, Mental health, Comparative study, Motivation, Educational psychology, Academicians, and Educational technology. Moreover, 128 idea-political themes along with three main research areas including education-training, culture of propaganda and political issues were identified.

As an applied and descriptive field study, this research aims at analyzing the connectivity, effectiveness and enhancement of the websites of the military forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). The data analysis indicated that there is a significant relationship between the obtained and available connectivity extends on one hand, and between the indexed pages and the obtained connectivity level on the other. Accordingly, Baseej Organization, Ministry of Defense, and the Revolutionary Corp enjoy the highest connectivity quantitatively and in terms of nucleus types. Meanwhile, those of the Ministry of defense, Medical Science University and the Disciplinary Force possess the highest in number. In terms of ranks, the Army enjoys 28.41 rates of effectiveness putting it at the top rank followed by Education Deputy of Baseej (3.78) and Baseej Research Organization (3.38). Moreover, in terms of index, that of the Army Medical University stands at the top followed by those of the Ministry of Defense and Army Judicial Organization.

Global research during the last two decades stresses on the crucial and strategic role of knowledge in the future working atmosphere. However, such studies are abstract and theoretical in nature such that strategic and operational considerations on the nature of the future knowledge-based working atmosphere have been left intact. To explore the reality of new processes, this study was designed specifically to identify and prioritize new parameters. For this purpose, a range of relevant dimensions was introduced in the form of a model concluding organizational skills, challenges a head of attracting elites, strategies of staff maintenance, and technological investment, as measured based on a 37-item test answered by a sample of 35 academicians in the field of management. This applied and field study, run statistically based on one- sample t–test and paired –samples t-test, revealed four variables to be highly effective in the future. According to the Friedman rank ordered test, the organization skills was identified as the topmost variable, while the technological investments as the least important one.