In the 21st century, the success of every organization greatly depends on the organization’s ability and capacity to anticipate core leadership competencies which are relevant and timely. These include leading self, providing strategic focus, connecting with others for collaborative actions, leading others, and delivering results (Hiller, Novelli, & Ponnapalli, 2016). As the frontline public safety officers who shall take primary responsibility in actively responding to the society’s needs, these competencies which employ an approach that promotes processes to address social inequities need to be learned and applied in the call of duty.
The mandatory courses developed by the Philippine Public Safety College offer multitude of leadership subjects and competencies from Public Safety Officers Basic Course (PSOBC) to Public Safety Officers Senior Executive Course (PSOSEC) and now Master in Public Safety Administration (MPSA). Being at the forefront of public safety and security and being given the power to set out the competencies by virtue of the National Security Policy, public safety leaders must be equipped with the right leadership knowledge and skills to carry out their functions in the realm of public safety.
This study utilized a quantitative method design of research. This will provide numerical responses as baseline information needed for the analysis of the study. A survey questionnaire was developed to gather data directly from the respondents to further provide common grounds for understanding the context of curriculum development vis-à-vis leadership competency for Public Safety Officers Basic Course. Data gathered was treated using Exploratory Factorial Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factorial Analysis (CFA) to complete analyze the outcome of the study.
Result of the study revealed that ownership and co-ownership, building relationship and stewardship, and empowerment and co-creation were the significant factors to consider in developing the proposed leadership competency model for Public Safety Officers Basic Course. Confirmatory Factorial Analysis (CFA) showed the proposed model of the study sorting essential indicators with its corresponding factors. Baseline comparison models harbored an indices of NFI (.939), RFI (.914), IFI (.938), TLI (.976) and CFI (.983), RMSEA value of .058 which indicates a good fit model for the study.
With the results and findings of the study, the dimensions and the competencies for servant and bridging leadership must be introduced and assimilated to be vital in achieving organizational success through the staff functions they play in policing as frontline leaders.
Specifically, it can be attained once the competencies are enshrined in the Standard Learning Package (SLP) of the Public Safety Officers Basic Course (PSOBC). These competencies will serve as the core foundation of the subject matter to which specific objectives of the lessons are drawn. Once the servant and bridging leadership competencies are embodied in the Standard Learning Package of the course, the corps of professor will be aware of those competencies they need to develop among the students. They will be acquainted with those competencies thus, will find and vary teaching methodologies that suit the interest of the students according to the dimensions of competencies. It is also in this way that the instructors will become innovative and systematic in delivering the lessons to highlight the competencies for the servant and bridging leadership subject. Hence, a policy must be passed to provide strong anchorage for the inclusion of the proposed model.