An Exploration of the Roles, Skills, and Leadership Practices of the Chief Security Officer in Australasia: A Professional Perspective

Abstract

Abstract
The Chief Security Officer plays an essential role in an organisation’s ability to operate safely and securely. Especially in an environment where globalisation has increased security threats from a multitude of actors and amplifies the complex nature of security and managing risk. This research seeks to contribute to the academic knowledge of the Chief Security Officer through an exploration of their roles, skills, and leadership practices in Australasian organisations. Through a qualitative research methodology, data was collected via semi structured interviews from a population of Chief Security Officers (N=38) in Australasia using face-to-face meetings and video conferencing. The key findings on the role of the Chief Security Officer was that while some were not part of the operating core they reported into the executive. However, the majority of Chief Security Officers sat in the technostructure of an organisation with layers of management and reporting lines between themselves and the executive. The impact of this was that the levels of leadership that could be attained by the Chief Security Officers were significantly below peers in core operating roles. The role responsibilities were wide ranging, however only (N=2) had responsibility for a converged model of security. Recruitment to their roles was dominated by social networks that although viewed as positive, cronyism was raised as a concern. The key findings on skills was that there were no discernible career or academic pathway to becoming a Chief Security Officer, although the majority of the participants began their working careers in the military or the police. The corporate security knowledge possessed was tacit in nature and was gained through work experience. Higher tertiary knowledge was primarily non-security related and complemented by vocational training, career professional development and memberships of industry associations. The perception that corporate security was a profession raised mixed responses, however, the majority of participants perceived themselves to be security professionals. There was a unanimous perception that society does not view the security industry as a profession or of value. The key findings on leadership practices were that these practices had evolved throughout their careers to becoming Chief Security Officer to where it was contingent on organisational structure and culture. The ability to communicate knowledge across organisational boundaries was also seen as a significant leadership practice. To conclude, there is a proposed guide to demonstrate a Chief Security Officer professional standing through three streams of knowledge. These streams consist of work experience (tacit knowledge), tertiary education (explicit knowledge) and membership of industry associations.

Date of Award	10 Oct 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Portsmouth
Supervisor	Damien Jean-Jacques Cassan (Supervisor), Moufida Sadok (Supervisor) & Aram Ghaemmaghami (Supervisor)