In the international arena, diplomacy is one of key national powers of a country, and it occupies a very important place in the foreign policy of a country. With the diplomacy, a country can develop cooperation with various countries, and it can fight for the country’s national interests in the international sphere. Diplomacy is a system of the interstate communication and issue resolution [1], and it can be said that diplomacy is the brain of national power [2]. Because of this very important position, every country in the world set up their diplomatic mission capabilities in various sectors of international life, as well as in various spheres of cooperation, both regionally and globally.

Failures of the various diplomatic missions are caused mainly by the lack of ability of their diplomats, and the failures will result in a decline in the performance of the foreign policy of the country concerned. Most of diplomats sent to overseas accomplish their tasks entrusted to the diplomatic mission of the country concerned. Diplomats act on behalf of their principals, and also serve as symbols of their rulers and countries as well as certain ideas [3]. Because of the important role of diplomats, most of the countries in the world prepare adequately the competencies of their diplomats.

Defence attaché is part of a state’s diplomatic mission stationed in the overseas representative office of the country concerned, and an integral part of the diplomatic mission of the country. Defence attachés conduct a wide range of activities in order to promote trust among states [4]. They continuously foster good communication with the defence institution where they are stationed. They also involve in communication and negotiation in the strategic level talks on matters concerning their national security, the procurement of military equipment, defence co-operation agreement between their country and the country in which they are positioned. Usually, in the category of defence attaches, terminology of defence attaches also includes army attache, navy attache, and air force attache. The quality of relations in the defence of a country with their relevance institutions is also influenced by the performance of their defence attaches.

As a diplomat, a defence attache must have a set of competencies, called a competency model. The model is built based on the analysis of the main task and past data on employment and activities that were really carried out by the defence attache. Because of the importance of this competency model, some countries and organizations have developed a competency model specific in enhancing the competency of their defence attaches. Germany considers their defence attache as a part of their defence diplomacy effort to other foreign countries in improving relations, supporting a wide range of development programs, providing a better understanding of German politics, as well as establishing business relations between these countries and Germany [5]. Indonesia, especially the Indonesian military, needs to formulate their model in developing capabilities of their defence attaches prior to overseas posting.

The competency model is very helpful in the process of recruitment and selection of defence attaches. Conceptually, competency includes five aspects, namely: motives, traits, self-concept, knowledge, and skills [6]. In this study, the competency model that will be studied covers these five aspects of competency. The focus of this study is how to formulate a competency model of defence attache that is suitable for Indonesia. In this study, there were three research questions that will then be answered, namely: (i) what will be the competency model devices for a defence attache? (ii) what are the competencies that differentiate between superior defence attaches and non-superior defense attaches? and (iii) what is the competency model that ideal for a defence attaché?

The results of this study are expected to contribute to the development of science in human resource management, in particular the study of competency formulation, ideal for a certain position. More specifically, the study can be utilized as a reference in the application of the generic competency models of Spencer and Spencer [6] or alternatively selection of differentiating competencies by using statistical calculations and superior-non-superior dichotomy as an initial benchmark. This study can also be used as a handy reference in the recruitment and selection process for the post of defence attachés.

Competency

Definition of competency is delivered differently by some experts in human resource management. Boyatzis [7] defines: “A competency is an underlying characteristic of an individual that is causally related too criterion-referenced effective and/or superior performance in a job or situation.” Another definition is the synthesis of the proposals of several hundred human resource experts attending a conference on competency in Johannesburg, in 1995, which stated that competency is:

“A cluster of related knowledge, skills, and attitudes that affects a major part of one’s job (a role or responsibility), that correlates with performance on the job, that can be measured against well-accepted standards, and that can be improved via training and development” [8].

From the opinion of the experts, we can see that there are several issues that always come up, namely: (i) competency has always been associated with effective and superior performance; (ii) the superior performance is produced by the ability of individuals consisting of knowledge, skill, attitude; and (iii) the knowledge, skills and personal attitudes can always be improved with effective training and development. Thus one may conclude that competency is the standards of a person, which consists of knowledge, skill, and a good attitude. These abilities may be improved, to produce effective and superior performance.

According to Boyatzis [7], there are five types of competency characteristics, namely: (i) motive; (ii) trait; (iii) self-concept; (iv) knowledge; and (v) skill. Some of these competencies are visible, while the rest are hidden (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Central and surface competencies [7].

According to Boyatzis [7], a competency with regard to motive, trait, and self-concept predicts action that indicate behavior that can predict the outcome with better performance, as demonstrated by the relationship model in Figure 2. A competency always has an intent which is a force of the motives and traits led to the emergence of action towards the achievement of the desired outcome.

Figure 2: Competency casual flow model [7].

The criteria in the study of competency, according to Spencer & Spencer [6] consists of two types of performance, namely: (i) superior performance, which is defined statistically as one standard deviation above average performance; and (ii) effective performance, which is commonly regarded as the accepted minimum job performance level. Newsome, et al. [9] differentiate competencies into three types: (i) core competencies; (ii) functional or group competencies; and (iii) specific job or task competencies. Meanwhile Spencer and Spencer (18) divide competencies into two categories: (i) threshold competencies; and (ii) differentiating competencies.

According to Dubois and Boyatzis in Gallagher [7,10,11], a competency model is a written description of the competencies that must be owned and used by individuals to produce success or performance that is exemplary within the internal environment as well as externally. According to Hughes, Ginnett, and Curphy in Gallagher [11], a competency model is a set of skills, values or behaviors required by employees for the success of future of the organiz a tion. In a competency model, there are various competencies that can be called cluster [6].

According to Mansfield in Newsome [9], a competency model can be categorized into two, namely: (i) single job competency model; and (ii) one size fits all model. According to Lucia and Lepsinger [8], a common approach to develop a competency model is an approach that applies a competency framework that has been validated. Meanwhile, according to Spencer and Spencer [6], in building a competency model, there are six steps that must be passed, namely: (i) defining criteria of the performance effectiveness; (ii) identify the sample of criteria; (iii) collecting data, conducted with the behavioural event interview (BEI), the expert panel, expert systems, function/job analysis, and observation; (iv) analyzing the data and building a competency model; (v) validating the competency model that has been made; and (vi) preparing the application of the competency model.

For soft competencies, in this study, the competency model will be built by using the existing competency framework based on the vision, mission, and organizational strength. For hard competencies, the competency model will be developed by using the steps stated by Spencer and Spencer. As an analytical tool, Spencer and Spencer [6] propose a modeling and grouping of competencies according to the basic general uniqueness in certain situations, namely: (i) achievement orientation (ACH); (ii) concern for other, quality and accuracy (CO); (iii) initiative (INT); (iv) information seeking (INFO); (v) interpersonal understanding (IU); (vi) customer service orientation (CSO); (vii) impact and influence (IMP); (viii) organizational awareness (OA); (ix) relationship building (RB); (x) developing others (DEV); (xi) Directiveness: assertiveness and use of positional power (DIR); (xii) teamwork and cooperation (TW); (xiii) team leadership (TL); (xiv) analytical thinking (AT); (xv) conceptual thinking (CT); (xvi) technical/professional/managerial expertise (EXP); (xvii) self-control (SCT); (xviii) self-confidence (SCF); (xix) flexibility (FLX); and (xx) organizational commitment (OC).

Diplomacy

Diplomacy is an integral part of the foreign policy of a country. There are various views and opinions of the international relation experts. Diamond [12] argues that diplomacy is a political process of peace between nations that expects the structure to establish and regulate international relations system and to accommodate the interests of a country. According the business dictionary [13], diplomacy is an instrument by the which a state (or, by extension, an organization or individual) attempts to achieve its aims, in relation to those of others, through dialogue and negotiation. Adam Watson [14] considers that diplomacy is the process of dialogue and negotiation by which states in a system conduct their relations and pursue their purposes by means short of war. Meanwhile, Satow [15] defines diplomacy as the ability, skill, and intelligence in the implementation of foreign relations between the governments of sovereign states. More details of his view is:

“Diplomacy is the application of intelligence and tact to the conduct of official relations between the governments of independent states, extending sometimes also to their relations with vassal states; or more briefly still, the conduct of business between states by peaceful means”.

From these views, it can be concluded that diplomacy has two aspects, namely: (i) the activities carried out by government agencies in establishing and developing relationships with one country (bilateral) or some countries (multilateral), in order to pursue the national interest and to participate in maintaining and enhancing the security and prosperity of the world community; and (ii) the ability of individuals and groups of government officials appointed to conduct negotiations or talks with his interlocutors from other countries to obtain optimal results, in order to carry out the activities at point (i) above.

Meanwhile, defence is an effort to create security in order to deal or face threats or attacks. According to the Longman dictionary [16], defence is all systems, people, materials, and other things that a country uses to protect itself from attack. Development of defence capabilities need to be done by the state because of the condition of the international system is anarchy, and also because of the possibility of an attack launched by one country to another country to achieve its interests cannot be avoided. Traditionally the role of the military or the defence forces is intended for defending the country either through the functions of deterrence, defence, military intervention, based on the real political considerations and the interests of the national defence.

From the two previous explanation, there is conformity notion of defence diplomacy with the understanding formulated by DCAF/The Geneva centre for the democratic control of armed forces [17], that the defence diplomacy is “a combination of the use of the diplomatic and military devices”, in order to achieve specific objectives of defence that support the larger interests of the country. Today, the defence diplomacy covers several issues. First, it is an effort to assist in building the relationships with the former enemy countries and in developing what is called CBM (confidence building measures). Second, the defence diplomacy is also intended to assist in developing political venues and the establishment of good governance in the defence field. Third, the defence diplomacy is also used to contribute to the world peace efforts such as the world peacekeeping missions. The defence diplomacy could also create the common perception on an issue and the military mind-set of other friendly countries in pressing domestic political opponents or reposition of commercial interests.

This concept changed since the cold war where defence diplomacy is the utilization of the ministry of defence and the armed forces as a way to establish cooperative relations with other countries, and to support other countries in the improvement of the military. Defence diplomacy activities are not only limited to the cooperation arrangements between member countries of the defence alliance, but cooperation by building partnerships with other countries. Broadening in the meaning of defence diplomacy has happened, in which defence cooperation is conducted to meet the objectives of foreign policy and security. Among others, the first, cooperation and military aid are used to assist in building a more cooperative relationship with former enemies or potential enemies, the so-called strategic engagement. Second, cooperation and military aid is used to promote democratic civil control in an effort to support liberal democracy and good governance. Third, cooperation and military aid to support partners in developing their capacity to contribute to peacekeeping operations and peace-enforcement [17].

Defence attache

A defence attaché is a member of the armed forces who serves in the embassy as a representative of his country in the field of defence who has the same status as other members of the diplomatic mission. In fact, on a number of occasions, a defence attaché will carry out various difficult and complicated tasks. A defense attaché will play a role in assisting the ambassador’s diplomatic tasks, and also as the representative of the armed forces in establishing a good relationship with the armed forces of the receiving country. A defense attaché must be able to represent all the interests of the whole armed forces of his country. However, based on the existing interests, the appointed defense attaché will represent only one service (army, navy, or air force).

The Vienna convention on diplomatic relations dated 18 April 1961 is the basis for immunity status owned by the defence attache. It can be seen in chapter 7, which is: “subject to the provisions of articles 5, 8, 9 and 11, the sending state may freely appoint the members of the staff of the mission. In the case of military, naval or air attachés, the receiving state may require their names to be submitted beforehand, for its approval” [17].

The role of the defence attaché according to DCAF [17] are as follows: (i) bridging the needs of the military and security interests of the country; (ii) representing the country’s military in peace missions/ military operations; (iii) developing the security policy and supporting military operations in difficult times, especially when a crisis occurs in the relationships with receiving state; (iv) acting as a military and security adviser for the ambassador and the embassy staff; (v) observing the state conditions where he/she is assigned and report the state security and defence conditions to his/her country; (vi) conducting defence diplomacy and security cooperation; (vii) promoting the defence industry; and (viii) acting as a initiator on emergency responses and mitigation efforts in a crisis situation.

DCAF considers that a defence attaché requires specific training in order to carry out his/her duties properly. DCAF [17] recommends that the necessary training is focused on: (i) the specialized language training, the duration ranges from a few months to a year, the level of proficiency on the local language depends on the state he/she assigned, because in conducting an effective relationship with the military of the recipient country needs at least at the survival-level language capability, combined with the ability to speak English at advanced level; (ii) training which is relevant to the functions of the job, such as defence and security policy, intelligence, protocol, the structure of the armed forces, weapons control, control of arms exports, and specialized computer training; and (iii) cultural training for the process of acclimatization to the destination country.

For Indonesia, the defence attaché post is held by a military officer approved to the ministry of foreign affairs and placed in the Embassy of the country concerned, and given the position as a diplomat. Duties and functions of the Indonesian defence attaché are stated in the decree of the minister of foreign affairs number SK.06/A/OT/VI/2004/01 of 2004 on the organization and work procedure of the Indonesian diplomatic mission abroad, article 22, which is: “defence attaché has a main duty to assist the chief of representative in enhancing relations and military cooperation, defence and security, between Indonesia and the receiving countries.”

Still under the same decree, but in article 23, there is a more detail explanation regarding the functions or tasks of an Indonesian defence attaché, which are: (i) providing technical support in the field of defence and security for the implementation of the basic tasks and functions of representatives; (ii) managing the security for state visits and official visits; (iii) developing and improving networks of cooperation with various parties; (iv) selecting and assessing the procurement of military equipment required by the Indonesian government; (v) implementing the technical execution of the internal security of the representatives office; (vi) observing, analyzing, and reporting issues associated with defence matters of the receiving state; and (vii) executing the specific activities assigned by the ministry of defence and the Indonesian armed forces.

The previous relevant studies

This study has the goal to contribute to the state of the art of studies in human resource management (HRM). By mapping this study to the previous studies, therefore, it can be seen the contribution of this study in the developing state of the art of studies in HRM. The study of Choi Sang Long of the school of business and management, southern college of Malaysia, and Khairuzzaman Wan Ismail from the international business school, University Technology Malaysia [18] aims to test the competency and the role of HRM professionals in the industrial enterprises in Malaysia. James Lindner of Texas A&M University [19] tests the competency of HRM and the activities of the regional chairman of the Ohio State University in HRM. The study of Erasmus, et al. all from the University of South Africa, and is entitled: “ competencies for human resource development practitioners “ [20], determines what competencies required by practitioners of HRD in South African organizations and to determine the level of importance of each competency and level of satisfaction with the existing knowledge and skills.

The studies mentioned previously focussed their attention to the test of competencies for particular positions or jobs and to determine the competencies required for a particular position (Crouse, Doyle, and Young), but there was no study that explored the competencies in the field of defence diplomacy. This study is different from the previous studies because it focuses mainly to the fields of diplomacy and defence.

HRM for the practitioners of defence diplomacy, especially for the post of a defence attaché, requires a certain recruitment and selection mechanism based on a special competency model. This study explores a competency model that is ideal for a defence attaché to answer the research questions, by applying a qualitative approach (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Theoretical framework.

This study is aimed to find a defence diplomacy competency model that is ideal for a defence attaché. Furthermore, the competencies that needed to be possessed by a defense attaché were transformed into a competency model that is ideal for the job. This study was conducted at several locations, at the offices where the Indonesian former defence attaches are located. The locations included several directorates in the Indonesian ministry of defence of the republic of Indonesia in Jakarta, as well as at the Indonesian University of defence in Bogor. In these places, research data, both primary and secondary, were collected, mainly from the informants, which were the former defence attaches. Primary data collection was conducted by a mechanism called behavioural event interview (BEI) in the work places of the informants. In those places, it was also obtained secondary unclassified data relevant to the defence diplomacy activities. I conducted the study from January to September 2014.

This study was motivated by a desire to find matters concerning how the defence human resources involved in the defence diplomacy conduct their works, therefore, this study used the standpoint of competencies of human resource and the defence diplomacy. This study has several characteristics. Firstly, competency is about something that is possessed by humans where it is related to the main characteristics of humans that indicate ways of behaving or thinking, making conclusion of every situation, and surviving in a long period of time. Therefore, a competency describes the combination of behavior between knowledge, and skills, with the characteristics required to demonstrate its role in the organization in an effective and appropriate performance in the organization. Study on competency should be able to find the patterns of thinking and acting of someone in conducting his/her job successfully. Study on competency problems should regard matters that are not only visible as knowledge and skills, but include also invisible matters that are located inside of human beings, namely: self-concept, trait, and motives. Study on competency must also be able to uncover any factors that visible and invisible, so that someone shows a better performance on the job compared to the others. The measurement of competencies is usually conducted by providing an open question to respondents, because it is expected that they provide complete information about what really happened to them.

Secondly, competency is related to human behavior in which the situation they face is varied. There are several situations that determine a person’s challenges to be faced. To succeed, there must be a match between the situations with the necessary behavior. Time and the different environmental conditions will create different situations. In terms of competency study in defence diplomacy, it should also be able to find what kind of the situation faced by the respondents, therefore they perform certain actions. It also needs to uncover the area situation where they are posted, types and kinds of inherent culture of the people in the area, as well as political, economic, and social conditions of the area. This needs to be done so that we do not instantly make general conclusions from the different situations.

Lastly, in the defence diplomacy activities, it is necessary to have human resources who possess ideal requirements in fulfilling their duties successfully. The actors of defence diplomacy should have prudence, humility, and good memory, as well as have the ability to evaluate strengths and weaknesses in terms of a negotiation and determination to uphold the honor of their country and protect the interests of their country. The actors of defence diplomacy also must have the capability to analyze matters related to politics based on a right perspective, the capability to understand the substance of an issue quickly and accurately, and have a way of thinking comprehensively in order to summarize all of the details of the general situation into a holistic information that beneficial to their country. Given the complexity of competencies required by the actors of defence diplomacy, this study should reveal holistically all these issues in order to find the formulation of a competency model that covers all of the expectation.

This study was conducted with a qualitative approach, because in order to build a competency model, it needs a depth understanding on the meaning of the competency of the defence diplomacy. The procedure of this study consisted of five stages. The first phase was the making of the study design, where a pre-study is conducted in order to establish an initial understanding of the object to be studied. The output of this stage was the study design. The second phase was the data collection, by using library study, to establish the competency dictionary. The data collection was also carried out by using BEI technique to the selected informants. The output of this stage was the transcription of the interviews which then was coded and arranged. Prior to the interviews, the questionnaires were distributed to the informants to determine the dichotomy of superiority and non-superiority of informants.

The third phase was the data validation, in which the validity test was conducted by using a method and technique of data triangulation. The validation was carried out by comparing the results of interviews with the literature study, and the thick description. The output of this stage was the validity of data, so it could be analyzed further. Fourth phase was the data analysis, where the results of interviews were analyzed using content analysis method. In this process, any statement of the informants relating to matters related to its competency was weighted according to the competency dictionary that had previously been formulated. The fifth or last phase was finalizing the competency model, which was conducted by analyzing and evaluating in more detail each differentiating competency that had previously been defined. The end result of this phase was a comprehensive competency model both for generic and differentiating competencies.

The data collected in this study was divided into two groups. First group was the primary data, derived from the results of the data collection questionnaire forms for defence attaché assessment, the results of interviews that had been made to the informants, and the observation reports about the actors the defence diplomacy. Informants selected and interviewed were those who were still performing the functions of defense diplomacy, or previous defence attachés. Another criterion for the selected informant of this study was about their level of experience and knowledge regarding the theory and practice of defence diplomacy. Furthermore, these informants became the study samples for the post of a defence attaché. Second group was secondary data, the data that supported the primary data. This data included general information of the organization, and supported in defining the competency directory that was the object of the data. This data was obtained through library study.

There were three data collection techniques or procedures that were used in this study. First was the library study, which was used to collect the theories and concepts of competency in general, secondary data regarding the general picture of the defence diplomacy practices, as well as data about the normative duties and functions of the defence attachés, so it could be utilized in the work analysis in determining a competency model, both generic and specific, which were then modified for the purpose of competency analysis for defence attaché. Second was the observation reports of actors of defence diplomacy, which was conducted towards the defence attachés during their posting, which was then utilized as supporting data for the formulation of specific competencies for the post of defense attaché. Third was the distribution of questionnaires and the conduct of the BEI, which was necessary to obtain classification between superior defense attachés and non-superior ones. From the list of names on the questionnaire forms, informants were asked to give a tick sign for the names considered by them as superior. Names that appear more frequently in the checklist, were categorized as superiors, while the rest were categorized as nonsuperiors. Informants or samples were selected using the snowball sampling technique, choosing a sample based on a consideration by the researcher as a proper sample in terms of the competencies he/she had, and then the first sample recommended the next sample to obtain a sample which was considered adequate. Competency-based study tried to find the characteristics of people who could be observed from their past behavior. In this behavior-based interview, the questions considered as opinions or future plans were eliminated. The interview was recorded and then was transferred into the interview transcript that became the raw material for the data processing using content analysis technique.

In this study, the data analysis was conducted by using three kinds of data analysis processes or coding, namely open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. In the open coding, several actions, namely: detailing, testing, comparing, conceptualizing, and categorizing of data, were conducted. In this process, a literature review, and an observation reports review, were carried out, so the generic and specific competencies dictionary for the post of defense attaché could be defined. In the axial coding, the data was re-collected in a new way after open coding, by creating links among categories. In this process, the transcripts of the interview were read, studied, analyzed, and then the data reduction process was conducted. The data reduction was an activity that reinforcing, shortening, focusing and throwing things that were not important, and managing the data in a way that the study conclusions could be made. Furthermore, the data that had been focused was interpreted and weighted in accordance with the competency dictionary that had been formulated previously through the content analysis process. The results of the analysis which were the competency weights, were then processed through the discriminant analysis in order to obtain the characteristics of differentiating competencies. In the selective coding, the selection of core categories was conducted, by systematically linking them to other categories, validating these relationships, and putting them into categories that needed further improvement and development. In this process, the differentiating competencies that had relevance were grouped by their function and connectedness. Furthermore, each differentiating competency was analyzed deeper in order to support the argument of the formulation process of the competency model for defence attaches.

This study used qualitative research method, therefore the data validity checking used the technique of qualitative data validity checking, by applying the four criteria, namely credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. Credibility test was conducted with triangulation technique, by comparing the results of interviews with the data from the literature study and observation reports, and also comparing the source of informants who were equal with other informants that had different tasks or job areas. Transferability test was conducted by doing thick description, where it was expected that the description could be formulated as accurately and thoroughly as possible that described the context in which the study was conducted. The dependability test was conducted with the dependency audit technique by checking the course of whole study, which was carried out gradually, starting from how the study began in examining and determining the study focus, how the interaction of the study with the location, the mastery of the theories related to the problems, going to the field, depth and sharpness of the study in determining the source of the data needed, and how the study conducted the data analysis and interprets the data that was used as material for the study report. The conformability test was conducted in order to establish the objectivity in terms of agreement among subjects, and the focus of the test was on the characteristics of the data.

This section presents the results of the data processing of the data obtained. In conducting the literature study, the researcher investigates, examines, and merges or combines the important references related to the competencies required by the post of defense attaché, in order to obtain a suitable device for the process of further analysis in formulating ideal competencies. Based on the literature study, it is known that Spencer and Spencer has formulated a generic competency model that establishes nineteen generic competencies. But keep in mind that what has been formulated by Spencer and Spencer is a universal generic competency. The job of defence attaché is a special job and work, therefore, the generic competency model of Spencer and Spencer needs to be further equipped, in order to accommodate the specificities of the job. Other literature which also as a major source in identifying the training, the role, the main tasks and functions of a defense attaché, are the work of DCAF about defense attaché (3), and the provisions from the Indonesian foreign ministry. When connected to the generic competencies of Spencer and Spencer, it can be formulated the linkages as set forth in Table 1.

Table 1: Linkages between role, main duties and functions of the normative defence attaché with generic competency of spencer and spencer.

Table 1 shows the roles, the main tasks and the normative functions of the defence attaché that can be filled with the generic competencies resulted from the formulation of Spencer and Spencer, but this is not comprehensive and does not reflect the adequate competencies to handle the workload of a defense attaché. To cope with insufficiency, it required a set of competencies that are more specific that cover the activities of diplomacy and negotiation, namely: the language capability, reporting and administration, military-specific knowledge, skills in intelligence, knowledge of the host country culture, as well as the ability of public relations.

BEI was conducted as a method of data collection which was in direct contact interactively to the sample or informants. The samples or informants were asked to recount their experiences during serving as defense attaches. In this process of data collection, the study strived to find the characteristics of the samples based on the experiences in the implementation of the tasks they perform seen from their behaviour at events in the past. In this behaviour-based interviews, the questions that were opinions or plans in the future were eliminated. The questions were focussed more on the question like, “what do you do in this situation?”. Questions like these would avoid answers that seemed to have a strategy in the future or just a mere opinion. In the next process, transcriptions of the interviews of informants were utilized as raw materials for the data processing using content analysis.

From the data of this analysis, it can be recapitulated the overall weighting of each competency for defense attaché as presented by Table 2. The weighting recapitulation of competency is important because it can be produce the differentiating competencies for defense attaché through discriminant analysis. In addition, it can also produce means of competency levels, which would then be used in establishing the competency model for defence attache.

Table 2: Weighting recapitulation of competencies.

Several observations of the activities were also carried out in this study for some Indonesian defence attache, from 2010 to 2012, in some places abroad, namely in Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, Turkey, China, and Australia. The results of observation statements were used in this study by focusing attention on the relevance of the competencies that support the work of a defense attache. From observation it was found that a defence attache needs to have a variety of abilities, among others: to understand the local culture, to establish communication with parties outside the organization, to build a good image and change the public perspective or parties outside the organization, to communicate and build relationships with others, to speak foreign or official language used in the recipient country, to analyse information related to defence, to participate in diplomacy and negotiation, to perform intensive lobbying, to gather information about the structure and functions of the ministry of defence and the armed forces of the recipient countries, to analyse the progress of the defense industry of the country concerned, to master the typical diplomatic ways with local military officials, to conduct intelligence gathering from sources both official and unofficial.

The study also collected data from questionnaires of job categorization. To develop a competency model for defence attache, it was necessary to conduct observations and measurements of competencies to the samples, that is, people who have or are holding these positions. In this study, the number of informants was eight persons. Furthermore, based on the peer review conducted to the samples, each sample was asked to judge by putting a tick sign to the names that were considered by the sample as superior ones. The result of the review was then recapitulated and sorted as can be seen in Table 3.

Table 3: Job Categorization of the defence attaches.

Spencer and Spencer [6] states that in the study of competency involving small sample size (less than 20 samples), we should follow the rule of two superiors for at least one and a half of non-superior. The rule to take sample on the study of competency is based on the understanding that “You always learn most from superstars.” Therefore, the proportionally random sampling cannot be carried out in a competency-based research. Based on Table 3, it was found that samples 2, 4, 5, and 7 were rated as superior defense attache samples. While the samples 1, 3, 6, and 8 were rated as non-superior defence attache samples.

The first step in doing this data analysis procedure was to conduct an open coding, where the existing samples were grouped and categorized into non-superior group and superior group through the results of data processing of the questionnaires. After that, a set of competency model and competency dictionary were formulated and then use them as a reference and research tools in the next steps. The data, which was in the form of extraction of the observation report and the review of the study literature, could define competencies that were more specific and specialized. Furthermore, the specific competencies were combined with the twenty generic competencies of Spencer and Spencer, therefore formulate a complete competency model. From the competency model that has been formulated, it can be defined a competency dictionary that included operational definition and assessment range for each competency. It is useful as a device for defining the competency weighting process. Based on the literature study that outlined the normative rules and the observation report of the defence attaché works, some specific and unique competencies could be defined, which can be seen in Table 4.

Table 4: Specific and unique competencies for a defence attaché.

The next step was axial coding, where the competency model and competency dictionary that had previously been formulated, were used as an analytical tool in determining the differentiating competencies successively through the content analysis and the discriminant analysis. At this stage, the transcripts of interviews were used as the main data source. The transcripts of the interview were then analyzed using the competency dictionary, resulting in a weighted competency. The weighted competencies were then recapitulated, and then they were analyzed by using the job categorization. The main result of this analysis was a set of differentiating competencies that identified specific competencies owned by the superior defence attaches, but not owned by the non-superior defence attaches.

The results of this process also found an average level of competencies for superior category and non-superior category, obtained through a search of average values of descriptive statistics of recapitulation of weighted competencies. The average level of competencies will be used as a reference in determining the supporting competencies of the differentiating competencies to formulate the ideal competency model. Discriminant analysis was conducted to obtain the characteristics or differentiating competencies for superior and nonsuperior defence attaches. Stepwise method was used in determining the discriminant function. This method was carried out with the help of statistical product and service solutions (SPSS) version 20. Data recapitulation of competency level was then converted into normal standard in order to be further processed with discriminant analysis technique, where the result can be seen in Table 5, which shows the variables that entered as a differentiating variable. Here we can see independent variables (competencies) that meet the requirements of the discriminant equation. There are four variables entered into the discriminant equation, because in this analysis, stepwise method was used, by entering the variables one by one, not at once. Therefore, only variables that have a high F value was entered, which were the variable RB with F value of 61.929, INFO variable with F value of 255.474, variable OA with F value of 1467.120, and AT variable with F value of 49398.00.

Table 5: Variable entered as differencing competencies.

Through discriminant analysis, it was found that variables with codes of AT, RB, INFO, and OA emerged as differentiating variables. From the result of this analysis, it can be concluded that the average level of competency of differentiating variables for the post of defence attaché, namely RB, INFO, OA, and AT for superior group was larger than non-superior group. These competencies can be concluded as differentiating competencies, which are also as the main competencies. Table 6 presents the result of the competency model from the discriminant analysis using stepwise method.

Table 6: Competency model resulting from discriminant job analysis.

The last step of analysis was to summarize all the results of previous analysis. Table 7 shows the summary, and it can be seen that the ideal competency model for the job or position of a defence attaché includes ten competencies of information seeking (INFO), analytical thinking (AT), relationship building (RB), organizational awareness (OA), intelligence skills (IS), language skills (LS), diplomacy and negotiation skills (DNS), host country culture and knowledge (HCK), and administration skills (ADM).

Table 7: The ideal competency model and its levels for the post of a defence attache.

Challenges in the implementation of defence diplomacy in the future will be higher, because every country will try to take benefit as much as possible in the new international and security relations that are more globalized and collaborative. Also in the more comprehensive security approach adopted by many countries in the world, then the defence diplomacy is becoming an important pillar in the international security sphere [5]. For that, every country needs to prepare more properly their defence attaches before they are stationed in their respective post overseas. The preparation will include the formulation of a mechanism of recruitment and training for their military officers who will be assigned as defence attaches abroad. The results of this study can be used as a handy reference in the recruitment and selection process for the post of defence attaché.

The recruitment programs of the defence attaches are conducted for senior level military officers, while the ideal competencies that have been formulated in this study, some of them can be improved in a relatively short time, but most of them have to be previously owned by the candidates of the defence attaches. So that each country should have prepared their defence attaché candidates much earlier. To meet this requirement, the long-term education and training plan is required to develop the capability of their military officers who have potential as the future defence attaches. Education and training programs need to be included in military courses or training for officers from junior until senior levels. For that, guidelines or directions about the development programs of the officers are needed so that their potential can be improved in the right direction. In the pursuing of the objective, the results of this study can be used as part of creating the roadmap about training, and education, for the military officers who have potential or will be directed to fill the post of defence attachés in the future.

Recruitment and training programs for the Indonesian defence attaches should refer to the achievement of some competencies that are essential in the accomplishment of the mission for a defence attaché abroad. The competencies are included in the ideal competency model that is the result of an analysis of the defence attaches who considered as superior in their work performances. The ideal competency model contains several competencies, namely: information seeking (INFO), analytical thinking (AT), relationship building (RB), organizational awareness (OA), intelligence skills (IS), host country culture and knowledge (HCK), language skills (LS), military knowledge (MK), diplomacy and negotiation skills (DNS), and administration skills (ADM).

The result of this study is deemed as having contributed to the development of science in human resource management, in particular to the study of formulating the ideal competency for a certain position. More specifically, the study can be used as a reference in the application of the generic competency model of Spencer and Spencer or the selection of differentiating competencies using statistical calculations and superior-nonsuperior dichotomy as an initial benchmark in determining ideal competencies.

Several analysis tools and measuring devices have been used in this study. However, it was found that the design of the measuring instrument to measure various competencies analyzed needs to be developed better, in order to obtain more valid measurement tools. One proposed solution for future research is to combine the behavioural event interview (BEI) method with other methods, such as the survey method and the experts panel method.

The study also had some limitations, which included the making of more universal conclusion about the ideal competencies that need to be owned by a defense attaché for the accomplishment of their mission. Samples or informants came only from the Indonesian military organization. This is mainly caused by the difficulty to obtain the relevant information of the task of defence attachés of other countries. For future research, if there are some researchers who conduct research like this in their own country environment, it will certainly enrich the information obtained, therefore the more general conclusions can be made. Because of the primary data for analysing the necessary competencies come from the military officers who have experiences as defence attaches, then the data obtained will largely depend on the level and type of problems faced by the defence attaches in each country, which may be varied. Thus, once again, the research regarding the competencies of defence attaches from several countries will be very useful in making more universal conclusions.

To strengthen the conclusions obtained, particularly about the competencies which provide bigger contribution to the achievement of the performance of the defence attaché, then the future researches are expected to touch also various other issues such as the relation or influence among the competencies that have been formulated with the work performances of the defence attaches. The results of these researches will also strengthen further the conclusions about the competencies that provide positive and significant impact on the accomplishment of the duties of a defence attache.