The Surface Warfare Officer School Command’s (SWOSCOM) current 360-degree feedback assessment was constructed using a civilian commercial off-the-shelf product and has not undergone a rigorous review since its creation in 2008. Some of the current assessment’s focus areas are not germane to the Surface Warfare Community and have been found to be limited in fully measuring a Naval Surface Warfare Officer’s (SWO) leadership through this and previous studies. This thesis examines potential modifications to significantly improve the assessment to better measure and support the SWO community. The research identified the relevance of existing questions to provide feedback on skills and behaviors that affect leadership performance. Using data collected from SWOSCOM consisting of 100 individual redacted feedback reports, an analysis of variance to determine distinctiveness in perspectives of self, bosses, peers, and subordinates regarding early-career SWOs was conducted. Machine learning techniques were applied to identify skills that might be more effective at providing valuable feedback to young officers. This research provides SWOSCOM with specific areas to target and revise in the current assessment by removing or modifying questions that contribute relatively little to the overall assessment and replacing them with questions that are more tailored to the skills and abilities necessary for a SWO and the community to develop a competitive advantage.Surface Warfare Officer SchoolLieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited
