OLQ – “Officer Like Qualities”

OLQ – OFFICER LIKE QUALITIES
Military Jargon or Nebulous Gobbledygook?
Musings of a Military Veteran
By
VIKRAM KARVE 

OLQ – Military Jargon or Nebulous Gobbledygook...?

If you join the Defence Services – the Army, the Navy or Air Force – as an Officer – you will hear a term of Military Jargon being bandied about freely – OLQ – which is the acronym for OFFICER LIKE QUALITIES

OLQ is a most nebulous term.

In my long naval service – I asked many officers to precisely define OLQ.

Most gave generic answers – but no one was able to precisely define OLQ – or clearly specify what exactly constituted OFFICER LIKE QUALITIES

Everyone had his own subjective concept of OLQ.

To me – OLQ seems a bit of gobbledygook.

OLQ means OFFICER LIKE QUALITIES.

So – by its very definition – OLQ pertains only to OFFICERS.

This means that Personnel Below Officers Rank (PBOR) like Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen are not supposed to have OLQ.

Maybe they are supposed to have SLQ (Soldier Like Qualities or Sailor Like Qualities) or ALQ (Airmen Like Qualities) et al

Does this mean that if you are an Officer – you automatically have OLQ.

Are some individuals born with OLQ.

Or is it vice versa – that you develop OLQ once you become an officer.

Some soldiers/sailors/airmen are promoted from the ranks to become officers.

Does this mean that till they were soldiers/sailors/airmen they did not have OLQ – and the moment they got promoted as officers – overnight they acquired OLQ?

It is all very confusing.

So – let us delve a bit deeper.

WHAT IS OLQ

What is OLQ...?

What are the “Officer Like Qualities” required in a Naval Officer...?

Do you want to know the answer to this question...?

It is simple.

Click the url link below and go to the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page of the Indian Navy Recruitment Website:

Now – have a look at Question No. 3

What kind of “Officer like Qualities” are required for commission in the Navy?

Now click on the Question and read the answer provided:

The candidates who successfully pass the competitive examination conducted by the UPSC, are interviewed by the Services Selection Boards. Officer Like Qualities of a candidate are assessed during these interviews, which last for about 3 to 4 days. In broad terms, the ability of an individual to withstand physical and mental stress, leadership qualities, determination, fighting spirit, clarity of thought, expression, resolve and overall suitability is assessed during the course of the interview.

I am paraphrasing below the relevant extract of the above answer which defines OLQ or Officer Like Qualities:

In broad terms…Officer Like Qualities or OLQ…is the ability of an individual to withstand physical and mental stress, leadership qualities, determination, fighting spirit, clarity of thought, expression, resolve…

(Please note that even here – OLQ is not defined precisely – but the concept of OLQ is explained only in “broad terms”) 

Does OLQ focus more on PERSONALITY rather than CHARACTER...?

From the definition of OLQ given above – it appears that the focus is on “personality” rather than “character”.

It is surprising that core value-based inner qualities like truthfulness, trustworthiness, honesty, forthrightness and integrity are not considered “Officer Like Qualities”.

Is OLQ all about Personality...?

What about Character Traits like Ethics, Moral Values, Honesty and Integrity...?

Are these positive character traits not considered OLQ?

Are these not being assessed by Services Selection Boards?

If OLQ means having a good personality but excludes character traits – then:

Is it okay for an officer to have a good “personality” – but be morally corrupt...?

Is this the reason why so many scams, scandals and acts of moral turpitude are taking place in the defence services in which many senior officers have been alleged to be involved...? 

Should OLQ include “ETHICAL FITNESS”...?

Do you not feel that sound immaculate character attributes and unblemished ethical qualities are an essential part of OLQ...?

Are these moral qualities of character not more important than the personality traits mentioned in the definition of OLQ given in the Navy Recruitment Website...?

What is your view?

Please tell us.

Do you feel that Ethics, Moral Values, Honesty and Integrity are not essential “Officer Like Qualities”...?

Do you think that an officer need not be truthful, trustworthy, honest and forthright under all circumstances?

Do you feel that concepts like “code of conduct” and “honour code” are outdated ideas of the past and have no relevance in the current environment?

Or are you of the view that – in today’s modern world – to succeed in the defence services – an officer needs to be “street smart” rather than straightforward?

Does OLQ mean “STREET SMARTNESS” ?

Does OLQ mean “street smartness” ?

“Street Smartness” is the shrewd ability of how to survive or succeed in any situation using any means.

“Street Smartness” requires you to “Morally Pliable” 

Or – to use an euphemism – to be “Street Smart” – you must have have “Tact”.

So – does OLQ boil down to outwardly having an “Officer-like personality” – and inwardly being “Street Smart”...?

Is this how we want our Army, Navy and Air Force officers to be...?

Do “Character Attributes” like Ethics, Moral Values, Honesty and Integrity have no place in OLQ...?

Do we want “tactful street-smart officers” who shine outside but are hollow inside...?

DO SERVICES SELECTION BOARDS (SSB) ASSESS “ETHICAL FITNESS” ?

If one goes by the answer given in the Navy Recruitment Website which lists the “Officer Like Qualities” which are assessed during the Services Selection Board (SSB) Interview – it seems that officer candidates are not being assessed for “ethical fitness”.

When you select an Officer for the Defence Services:

You assess intellectual fitness (UPSC Examination – NDA/CDSE/Naval Academy).

You assess physical fitness (SSB).

You assess “psychological” fitness (SSB).

You assess medical fitness (Military Hospital).

But do you assess Ethical Fitness...?

Why does OLQ not include “Character Attributes” like Ethics, Moral Values, Honesty and Integrity?

Why is “Ethical Fitness” not being assessed by SSBs...?

Is “Ethical Fitness” not a part of OLQ...?

Do we want Military Officers who are “Ethically Unfit”...?

It all depends on the moot question:

What is OLQ ?

I hope some military veteran will enlighten us on this moot point.

What is the meaning of OLQ...?

Do “Officer Like Qualities” only comprise personality attributes and not character traits...? 

VIKRAM KARVE
Copyright © Vikram Karve 
1. If you share this post, please give due credit to the author Vikram Karve
2. Please DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. Please DO NOT Cut/Copy/Paste this post
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Disclaimer:
All stories in this blog are a work of fiction. Events, Places, Settings and Incidents narrated in the story are a figment of my imagination. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Copyright Notice:
No part of this Blog may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Blog Author Vikram Karve who holds the copyright.
Copyright © Vikram Karve (all rights reserved)

The above post is an updated version of my post WHAT IS OLQ - THE DEFINITION OF OFFICER LIKE QUALITIES posted by me on this blog Academic and Creative Writing Journal on Saturday, July 6, 2013 at url: http://karvediat.blogspot.in/2013/07/what-is-olq-definition-of-officer-like.html and revised/reposted at url: https://www.quora.com/profile/Vikram-Karve/Writing-by-VIKRAM-KARVE/MILITARY-OFFICER-LIKE-QUALITIES-OLQ and https://www.quora.com/profile/Vikram-Karve/Writing-by-VIKRAM-KARVE/OLQ-Officer-Like-Qualities-a-most-Nebulous-Term-Military-Jargon-or-Gobbledygook

Military Officer Like Qualities (OLQ) = MORAL ASCENDANCY

Military Officer Like Qualities (OLQ) = MORAL ASCENDANCY

Ramblings of a Retired Navy Veteran

By

VIKRAM KARVE

As a young officer in the Navy, I used to ask myself:

“If I remove my badges of rank, then why should a sailor willingly obey me?”

The answer I gave to myself was that a sailor will obey me if he “respects” me.

And to respect me, the sailor should feel that I am “better” than the sailor.

Yes, an officer will be respected by his men only if his men believe that the officer is “better” than them.

Those days, I could not exactly define what the term “better” meant.

Now, I realize that the term “better” means “moral ascendancy”.

Your juniors will willingly obey you if they “respect” you.

And you must have “moral ascendancy” over your subordinates in order to gain their “respect”.

Thus, “moral ascendancy” in officers, especially senior officers, is an essential prerequisite for discipline in the Army, Navy and Air Force.

Moral Ascendancy is the most important Officer Like Quality (OLQ) for a Defence Officer.

You have to attain moral ascendancy before you demand respect.

Genuine respect does not come from authority.

Genuine respect comes from “moral ascendancy”.

A good officer never has to use the power of his rank to command his men – his men will willingly obey him because of his “moral ascendancy”.

That is why the most important aspect of selection and training of officers is to ensure that they have “moral ascendancy” over the men they are going to command.

VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 
1. If you share this post, please give due credit to the author Vikram Karve
2. Please DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. Please DO NOT Cut/Copy/Paste this post
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.

Disclaimer:

All stories in this blog are a work of fiction. Events, Places, Settings and Incidents narrated in the story are a figment of my imagination. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Copyright Notice:

No part of this Blog may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Blog Author Vikram Karve who holds the copyright.

Copyright © Vikram Karve (all rights reserved)

Extracted from my article CORRUPTION IN DISCIPLINE OUT Ealier Posted by me Vikram Karve in my blog academic and creative writing journal at 10/05/2014 02:17:00 PM at url: http://karvediat.blogspot.in/2014/10/why-corruption-in-military-is-most.html

CAREER GUIDANCE - HOW TO SELECT THE RIGHT JOB

SELECTING A CAREER  -  GUIDANCE COUNSELLING

CAREER GUIDANCE

More than 20 years ago, in the 1990s, I had written a number of articles on career guidance  in magazines/journals and given lectures to students on values based career selection, and subsequently posted these on my blog. This blog post is a revised, amalgamated and updated version of my article first posted by me Vikram Karve in my blog at 3/31/2008 03:22:00 PM at url: http://karvediat.blogspot.in/2008/03/sense-of-values-your-values-and-your.html  and my Career Guidance Lecture ppt on HOW TO SELECT A CAREER - A VALUES BASED APPROACH by me Vikram Karve and first postedby me Vikram Karve at 2/23/2009 08:14:00 PM in my blog at url: http://karvediat.blogspot.in/2009/02/how-to-select-your-career-value-based.html

HOW TO SELECT THE RIGHT JOB

(A VALUES BASED APPROACH)

Career Guidance Tips

By

VIKRAM KARVE

One of the greatest misfortunes in life is to be good at something you do not like. 

You may be proficient in mathematics but you may hate mathematics.

You may be competent HR or PR Manager possessing excellent communication skills and busy interacting with people every minute of the day, but in your heart you may actually love a life of solitude and contemplation. 

In order to be able to select the right career, you will have to reflect, analyse, and discover your inner self.

This will enable you to be able to clearly distinguish between:

1.  what you are good at doing (proficiency, competence) 

and 

2. what you enjoy doing (interests, values). 

What you love to do is your true metier and is what you actually want to do in your life. 

When I was in school, in the 1960’s, there was no concept of career counselling or vocational guidance.

All the boys were herded into the Science Stream (unless one was very poor at mathematics).

And all the girls were considered suitable for Humanities (unless she put her foot down and insisted on studying science).

Then, as a boy, if you were in science and did well, the options were Engineering or Medicine, and most of us continued being good at something we did not like. 

The girls mostly studied arts while they waited to get married.

And much later in life we discovered what we truly liked and then, if we had time, we pursued what we really wanted to do (our true métier) as hobbies.  

Fortunately, nowadays things are different. 

Young persons have plenty of choice and opportunity to choose what they want to do.

If you are on the verge of choosing your career, the first thing to do is to develop a concept of the person you would like to be – introspect and try to discover your life orientation. 

LIFE ORIENTATION

If your want to enjoy your work take care to ensure that your choice of career is in alignment with your LIFE ORIENTATION.

Your life orientation comprises three factors:

1. SKILLS

2. INTERESTS 

3. VALUES

If you choose a career that enables you achieve success facilitating optimal utilization of your best skills, doing the kinds of work that relate to your favourite interests and in consonance with your core values, you will derive total work-life balance and job satisfaction.  

In order to find out your orientation in life you have to know yourself.

Go to some quiet place, sit down comfortably, close your eyes, and reflect on the aspects below to discover your skills, interests and values. 

SKILLS

As a first step to determining your Orientation in Life focus on the various skills you might have.

Introspect and list your SOFT SKILLS and HARD SKILLS. 

Soft Skills: pertain to the intuitive, creative and emotional right side of the brain.

Hard Skills: emanate from the analytic and logical left side of the brain.

Are you a Soft Skills person or a Hard Skills person or a hybrid blend of both?

Which types of skills predominate?

Think of your best skills.

Prioritize your skills, hard and soft, and make a list of all your skills in order of precedence.  

INTERESTS

Now list all your interests and put them in order of your preference, just as you did with skills.

How do you discover your interests?

Assume you have enough leisure and plenty of time and lots of resources – what would you do?

How you like to spend your leisure gives a clue to your interests.

Will the career you choose enable you to satisfy your interests at the workplace or will you have enough leisure and resources to pursue them on your own in your spare time.

VALUES 

Now, focus on discovering your values.

Values are core beliefs which guide and motivate attitudes and behaviour.

When you value something you want it (or want it to happen).  

Values are relatively permanent desires.

Values are our subjective reactions to the world around us.

Values are answers to the “why” question. 

You keep on asking yourself the “why” question until you reach a point where you no longer want something for the sake of something else. 

At this point you have arrived at a value.

Let’s take an example.

I was once teaching a Post Graduate Professional Programme at a premier university, a centre of excellence.

I asked a student, “Why are you doing this academic course?”  

“To gain qualifications,” he answered.  

“Why do you want to gain qualifications?”  

“To succeed in my career.”  

“Why do you want to succeed in your career?”  

“To reach the top.”  

“Why do you want to reach the top?”  

“To get power.”  

“Why do want do you want power?”  

“To control people,” he answered.  

“Why do you want to control people?”  

“I want to control people.”  

“Why?”  

“I like to control people.”  

“Why?”  

“Just for the sake of it – I like controlling people,” he said and repeated why questions elicited similar responses related to control.

Control for the sake of control – that’s when you discover your value.

I realized that control was one of his cardinal values and maybe he was a future megalomaniac in the making! 

The same line of questioning of persons undergoing higher education may reveal values like knowledge, money, status, standard of living, quality of life, ambition,achievement, growth, reputation, excellence, fame.

Your personal list of values may include values like honesty, integrity, loyalty, prestige, happiness, friendship, family life, achievement, independence, education, power, money, independence, freedom and so on.

Now prioritize your values in order of importance to discover your CORE VALUES - your most important cardinal values.

Remember, there cannot be any “partial” values. 

For example: you cannot be 50% honest (half-honest) – either you are honest or you are not honest!

Your values are possibly the most important thing to consider when you are choosing a career, an occupation or workplace. 

That is because you can compromise your values but you cannot change your values.  

If you do not take your values into account when planning your career, there is a good chance you will dislike your work and therefore you will not enjoy your work.

SELECTING A CAREER

Introspect over your skills, interests and values.

If you have conscientiously created and prioritized your lists, you have learned something about yourself and ascertained your orientation in life.  

Whilst considering and selecting a career you must thoroughly evaluate as to what degree the career-attributes are compatible with your orientation in life.  

Let us see some examples:

CASE 1

Suppose your priority SKILLS include hard skills like mathematical and analytical ability, and soft skills like leadership and communication skills. 

Your INTERESTS include travel, adventure, photography and good food. 

And suppose your most important VALUES are family life, prestige and achievement.

Now let us consider various career options.

Consider a career as a deck officer in the merchant navy.

Your skills and interests seem to be ideally suited but there is mismatch, a conflict, between the demands of the career in the merchant navy and your most cherished core value – “Family Life”.

Perhaps, if your most important values were money, independence and prestige, the overall harmony and compatibility of your values, skills and interests with the career-attributes would have made merchant navy an ideal career option for you.

CASE 2

Now, let us say that you discover that your three most predominant values are money, independence and prestige.

 

Will a military career as an army officer suit you?

Well, you will certainly enjoy much prestige as an army officer.

But, as far as money is concerned, the pay package in the army is quite modest.

Regimentation is the basic attribute of military life.

Since an army officer has to live a disciplined and regimented life, you may not be able to enjoy the amount of freedom you will get in the civilian world.

VALUES versus CAREER

In practical life you may not be always able to avoid value versus career conflict in all cases.

But being aware of this fact will help you come to terms with realities and mitigate the conflict and also contemplate a career-shift in consonance with your value orientation whenever feasible.  

Your values are the most important and critical aspect of your career orientation.

If you want to enhance certain skills, you can work on it and acquire those skills.

Similarly, you can change your interests or develop new interests, devoting time and resources to those interests you would like to create, acquire or strengthen. 

Skills can be learned, interests can be developed, but values are intrinsic.

It is very difficult to change your core values.

Remember: You may compromise your values, but you cannot change your values.

CAREER GUIDANCE

Before you choose your career, introspect and ascertain the compatibility, congruence and harmony between the career and your orientation in life (comprising your skills, interests and values).  

Do not make a hasty decision or you may find yourself on the wrong road and then it may be too late to turn back.

Devoid of intrinsic motivation to pursue a career which is not in harmony with your orientation in life, but caught up in the need to gain parental affection, materialistic rewards, extrinsic recognition, peer pressure and societal acceptance, young people often enter careers that may not offer them true inner happiness and fulfillment that evolves from harmonious work-life balance. 

Thus, though they may appear outwardly successful, inwardly they lament over the reality of inner dissonance owing to work-life imbalance.

Let your inner conscience be your guide and resist temptation and undue pressures from elders and peers.

Choosing a career which you love, and doing a job you enjoy which is not in conflict with your values and lets you realize your full individuality and creative potential will enable you to achieve a sense of fulfillment. 

Of course, you can interact with career counselors, you can talk to your parents, elders, peers and take their advice, but it is you yourself who must discover your own life orientation (skills, interests and values), and while doing so, remember to distinguish between the “hard” and the “soft” facets of career attributes.

Read some good books on career guidance.

My favorite is a book called What Color Is Your Parachute by Richard N. Bolles. It is updated and published every year. It is a fascinating read and will help you discover your true métier. 

And why not take a few career tests?

You can either visit a career guidance counsellor or psychologist who will administer relevant tests to you. Or try the online tests. My favorite one is The Princeton Review Career Quiz which is available online. 

It is a simple, fast, interesting and effective forced choice test which presents you with interesting career options.

I gave the test sometime ago, and the results say that my interest color is Blue, which means I am a creative, humanistic, thoughtful, quiet type, and my usual style is Yellow, which means I tend to be orderly, cautious, loyal, systematic, methodical, solitary, and organized and will thrive in a research-oriented, predictable, established, orderly environment.

As per the test results, my career choices include Writer, Librarian, Philosopher, Teacher, Professor, Researcher, College or School Administrator, Human Resources Manager, Guidance Counsellor, and, yes, I am supposed to be an ideal Career Counsellor.

Am I one of these? 

Well, I am not going to tell you.

I wish you all the best.

WHAT YOU ARE GOOD AT DOING versus WHAT YOU ENJOY DOING

After you have narrowed down the list of suitable careers in consonance with your life orientation, in the ultimate analysis, you have to distinguish between what you are good at doing and what you enjoy doing.

Have fun, introspect and learn more and more about your own self.

Take your time, think, discuss, read, experiment, reflect, and discover your true métier in harmony with your interests and values and inner self.

Choose your career wisely. 

Remember, one of the greatest misfortunes in life is to be good at something you do not like. 

So while selecting your career you must reflect, analyse, and you must be able to clearly distinguish between:

what you are good at doing (proficiency, competence)

as opposed to

what you enjoy doing (interests, values) - what you love to do and what you want to do in life. 

If both match and you are good at doing what you enjoy doing, you are indeed very lucky.

But if you are not so lucky, then, while selecting your career, always try and give more weightage to what you enjoy doing over what you are good at doing. 

A career can be very satisfying if you have made the right choice.

Like the famous adage that goes: 

If you choose a job you love then you will not have to “work” even a single day in your life.

On the other hand, a wrong decision can leave you regretting and wishing that you had trodden a different path.

All the Best in discovering your true métier

I wish you a fulfilling career that suits you and may you always have a job which you love.

VIKRAM KARVE

Copyright © Vikram Karve 
1. If you share this post, please give due credit to the author Vikram Karve
2. Please DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. Please DO NOT Cut/Copy/Paste this post
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.

Disclaimer:

1. These career guidance tips are based on my personal experience. These tips do not constitute professional career guidance and are not a substitute for professional career counselling. Please do your own due diligence while selecting your career.

2. All stories in this blog are a work of fiction. Events, Places, Settings and Incidents narrated in the stories are a figment of my imagination. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Copyright Notice:

No part of this Blog may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Blog Author Vikram Karve who holds the copyright.

Copyright © Vikram Karve (all rights reserved)

More than 20 years ago, in the 1990s, I had written a number of articles on career guidance and given lectures to students on values based career selection, and subsequently posted these on my blog. This blog post is a revised and updated version of my article first posted by me Vikram Karve in my blog at 3/31/2008 03:22:00 PM at url: http://karvediat.blogspot.in/2008/03/sense-of-values-your-values-and-your.html and my Career Guidance Lecture ppt on HOW TO SELECT A CAREER - A VALUES BASED APPROACH by me Vikram Karve and first postedby me Vikram Karve at 2/23/2009 08:14:00 PM in my blog at url: http://karvediat.blogspot.in/2009/02/how-to-select-your-career-value-based.html