The armed forces of a nation are vital component of its national security. The defence sector of a nation comprises the military, the civilian bureaucracy, the infrastructure and the industry. The indian defence sector is a complex fighting machine comprising nearly 2.8 million combatants and civilians, with an annual budget of about 2.5 percent of the GDP. In a situation of constantly changing national and international politico-socio-economic and technology environment, the development and maintenance of the desired force capability demands a very high quality of management and leadership at all levels.
2. The very scale and heterogeneity of resources, criticality of achievement of objectives in combat/non-combat situations and the peculiar environment in which the armed forces operate, make the concept of defence management maekedly different from any other field such as business or industry.
3. The main areas of activities for business/industry can be production, marketing, finance, personnel, and industrial relation etc. most of which are tangible/measurable. However, in defence services, the main areas of activities can be devided into combat operations, operational logistics, training, intelligence gathering, equipment management etc. It is obvious that a large number of these activities are intangible and therefore difficult to quantify. Yet another unique feature of defence management is the environment in which the armed forces function. The operational areas extend from the high altitude region of Himalayas to the arid desert of Rajasthan. The ongoing Low Intensity Conflict Operations (LICO) poses many a Challenges to the commodores and the logisticians and is fraught with extreme danger and uncertainties. Scare resources in almost every area pose dilemma of sorts to the commanders. At the same time, the public continues to expect the very best from the armed forces despite the large scale shortage and inordinate delays in modernisation due to shrinking budgetary allocations.
The aim of this paper is to discuss the nuances of management and leadership in defence, and to the challenges to defence management in the Indian armed forces.
Following issues are being addressed in the paper:-
(a) Management Vs Leadership.
(b) Military Leadership Vs Corporate Leadership.
(c) Challenges to Defence Management
(i) Optimization of Scarce Resources.
(ii) Restructuring ang Change Management.
(iii) Technology Management and indigenisation.
(iv) Equipment management.
(v) Organization and Process Reforms.
(vi) jointmanship
(vii) Human Resources management and Leadership Challenges.