Officersprofessionen i ord och handling : Ideal kontra verklighet - från förvaltningsmyndighet till krigsmakt

Sammanfattning: In this study the authors are exploring the profession of the military officer. The authors, which are military officers themselves, are doing this with an inductive quality based research method within a social science context. The military officer’s profession has during recent decades been under extensive changes both in organization and exercise within the military authorities of Sweden. Together with the political changes in the country of Sweden and the global changes regarding the strategic and security environment this has led to another view of the profession and its military context. These changes have led us to the need of explaining and the clarification of definitions, practice and concepts of the military officer. The investigation of the profession is conducted with an inside perspective. This study starts with interviews conducted together with personnel that in some way have a connection to the military profession. The interviews contain the core of the investigation, empirical data that tell us something about the profession of military officers, their on-the-job experiences and assumptions and conclusions regarding their own profession. Then follow an examination of doctrine and other literature regarding profession in a Swedish military context. This empirical data has led to a result presented as a model describing the military officer’s profession. The model itself is the first contribute of the study. The model has been used as an analytical instrument when investigating further empirical data. The interviews are divided into two different stages in the survey, the first part of interviews led to the model and the second part contains group interviews and this is where the actual analyses were completed. The main question of the study is whether the profession of military officers is coherent and congruent. The second contribute of this study is empirical findings that tell us a shift of focus is underway and has been for a while, within the profession, a "target-means displacement". This shifting of focus is explained using the practice of different logics, management logic and the logic of war. Management logic is defined mainly as bureaucracy and administration without an explicit connection to military knowledge and skills. The logic of war is defined as the opposite, knowledge and skills closely connected to the ability of leading, conducting and the organizing of combat at different tactical levels. Key words: Profession, military profession, officer’s military profession, management logic, the logic of war, bureaucracy, administration, focus shift, "target-means displacement.