Abstract:

Change has always been present: in people, in organizations, in technologies and in people's mentalities, proving to be more and more pronounced these days. Currently, organizations demand constant attention, proactivity, and adaptability. Thus, promoting, developing, and investing in the initial, complementary, and continuous training of their employees, encouraging the acquisition of new learning capabilities and experiences, and instigating the development of new skills and a permanent and intense updating of knowledge and skills.
This current situation, characterized by uncertainty, inevitability and change, the commitment and development of competitive advantages by organizations has been imperative. These have emphasized the role and importance of people in the success of organizations. Since people are so essential, so significant and so indispensable for organizations, the need to make them more aware of the power and importance of the individuals that constitute them becomes crucial.
The concern with career management has increasingly assumed a crucial role in people management, not only regarding the organizational aspect, but also regarding the individual aspect. Portuguese Navy didn't escape this reality. Military personnel have, throughout their career, different functions, inherent to their positions, which must be related to the respective class and of increasing complexity and demand.
Career management should, as such, and in a military context, be based on an integrated point of view of Human Resources, resorting to internal recruitment, by identifying the positions to be filled and the proper positioning of individuals, through the search for best talents and skills, and the specification of the respective functions.
Specialization is an inevitable reality that should be sought to promote and optimize the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of the functions performed by the military, not devaluing high quality general training. Through the already existing specializations or other specific ones in management and administration, organizational commitment and motivation could be enhanced and, concomitantly, fostering efficiency in the performance of specific functions of the class.
Portuguese Navy, in general, and the military people, in particular, could have a lot to gain from promoting more specialized officers in the area of management and administration, not only from a personal point of view, in terms of functions and skills, but also from a generalist perspective, in terms of supporting decision-making in new areas of risk management, compliance, auditing, business development, communication and information strategy, among others.
Present study gathered results from three different sources: secondary data provided by Portuguese Navy, regarding data from 2011 to 2022, and primary data retrieved from questionnaires (n=66) and interviews (n=10). Data was analyzed using Microsoft Excel and MaxQDA. Questionnaires and interviews were primarily regarding administration officers’ motivations and expectations and opinion about career model.
Our findings show that most officers agree with a different career model, with better foundation training and a specialization model based on job family model. Findings also show that across the years, navigation time has been decreasing for most officers. As such, the decrease in navigation time amplifies the need to optimize these officers’ skills in land positions and functions.

Keywords:

Career, Efficiency, Military, Motivation, Portuguese Navy, Skills, Specialization, Talent.