HRM

Question 02
Part - 01

HUMAN RESOURCES STRATEGIC PLAN FORAIR FORCE PERSONNEL

CONTENTS

1. Introduction
2. Nature of Warfare Changing
3. Changing Force Demographics
4. Methodology for Strategy Development
5. Mission, vision and values
6. Lines of Operation
a.. Line of Operation 1: Increase Willingness of Sri lankan Public to recommend military Service to Our Youth
b. Line of Operation 2: Recruit the Right Number and Quality
c. Line of Operation 3: Develop, Sustain and Retain the Force
d. Line of Operation 4: Transition Members from Active Service
e. Line of Operation 5: Sustain the Process and Maintain its Viability

7. Conclusion






















INTRODUCTION

1. We are the leaders of tomorrow’s Air Force. In the future, our Service will face changes as the result of many forces including new technologies, and strengthening. As professional military officers, we are expected to be experts in our career field, but we must also be skilled leaders. Many skills are essential for leading tomorrow’s Air Force. Refining, improving and implementing effective organizational changes will not be easy. This assignment attempts to discuss how to develop a HRD strategic plan for Air Force to meet the future challenges and requirement. In the future challenges are very dynamic and leaders must be prepared to face these challenges. It is the leaders’ capability to applying the HR concept and theories for managing the people in the future. Over the past several years, the Sri Lanka Air Force has seen many functional and concept changes within the Organization. These changes have come in many forms and from forces applied from both inside and outside the Service. Implementation of the new Wing concept, organizational structure changes, realigning and consolidating Air Force specialty codes, and even redesign of the service dress uniform are few examples of changes generated from within the Air Force. The Air Force has increased its military strength, new recruitment by over the past ten years due to the existing security commitment.
2. Due to the 25 years war against the terrorism over the last several years, there have been significant changes in our society and these changes have had a significant impact on the Sri Lanka Air Force. To overcome this impact the Air Force has recruited more officers and men and also the lot of military sources like air craft, radars, weapons, ammunitions etc. Being the resources are very limited in the Air force it is highly essential to formulate a HR strategic plan to get the maximum out of the available resources. Today the various recruitment is going on and lot of recruits are coming in daily but the available materials like billets, beddings, uniforms etc, are not sufficient. Therefore, it is highly essential to develop a strategic plan for Human resources development to allocate and to improve the standard of the men and materials of the air force.
Nature of Warfare Changing

3. With the end of the 25 years battle against the LTTE, The Sri Lanka Air force has
Experienced the fundamental changes in the nature of warfare. Thought, the battle is over, whole the terrorism has not eradicated from the country and the world. It may come in the future too. So that the organization has to consider these requirement also when making a HR strategy plan. New Air Force Bases are going to be established at Iranamadu and the Mulathive and also new areas has been demarcated to dominate by the Air force. Most of the Air craft has to fly for various purposes like commercial flight ,troops transporting ,admin matters, sea reconnaissance , Un mission etc diverting from the war scenarios. Therefore, In the future, many Officers and airmen will have to adjust to the situation and have to work time away from home. This increasing time away from home has the potential to impact retention negatively and will need to be managed carefully.

Changing Force Demographics

4. The demographics of the force are also changing. More than half of the enlisted recruits have at least three passes for Ordinary Level examination. However, their compensation is more consistent with their peers in the private sector who have not completed any education qualification. In the officer carder, 98% have Advance level passes qualification and almost quarter of them (25%) are having advanced degrees. The Air force has also experienced a dramatic increase in the number of members that are married and have families. More than half of the strength is married (54%), and 47% of the force has children. In addition, 70% of military spouses are employed which is increased over just the past five years. During the war time, the absent rates of the organization were very high and reason for that not only the war but also some personal problem too.






Methodology for Strategy Development

5. Following steps were taken in to consideration when preparing the human resource
strategic plan.

a. Analyze the current human resource management system of the Air Force and a brief look at how it came into being.

b. Researching the history of our current system and began an effort to capture the guidance from the Ministry of Defense.

c. Using above information and many other sources of recent information on
military human resource management, developed a set of questions the strategy must address and also developed a mission statement to focus our future efforts.

d. Based on these background documents, i developed discrete Lines of Operation with supporting actions and measures of effectiveness.


Where are we now
How did we get here
Capture Leadership’s
Guidance Regarding
Human Resources

Develop List of questions/ issues to be addressed by HR strategic Plan

Develop
Mission
Statement

Re-Look

Develop Lines
of Operation/
supporting
Actions

Refine Actions
Associated with
Each
Line off
Operation

Develop Measures
Of Effectiveness

Complete
Plan














Methodology for Strategy Development
Where Are We Now?How Did We Get Here?
Develop Mission Statement

Vision

6. To establish a one of the best Air force in the World

Mission

7. To draft a human resourses strategic development plan for the Sri lanka Air force that ensure the right number of military personnel have the requisite skills, abilities, and motivation to effectively and efficiently execute assigned missions.

Values of the Organization
8. Following are the main values of the Sri lanka Air force.
a. Commitment to the service.
b. Teamwork
c. Professionalism
d. Task completion

Lines of Operation

9. The Sri lanka Air force will execute a series of mid-term and long term actions over the execution, budget, and Program Objective Memorandum years to leverage its resources and energy in order to best achieve the human resource actions. This plan is organized under five Lines of Operation.







Increase willingness of sri lankan public to recommend military service to our youth


Recruit the Right number and quality

Develop, sustain, and retain the Force

Transition members from Active Status

Sustain the Process and Maintain its Viability

right number of military personnel have the requisite skills, abilities, and motivation to effectively and efficiently execute assigned missions.

1
2
3
4
5














The status of actions within the plan will be assessed periodically by Director planning to ensure successful execution and to make appropriate course corrections. Actions within each of the lines of operation are focused on some aspect of the personnel life cycle and are ultimately aimed at ensuring the Sri Lanka Air Force has the kinds of people to achieve its mission.







Line of Operation 1:
Increase the willingness of Sri lankan public to recommend military service to our youth.

10. The Chief recruiting Officer will start a wide advertising campaign all over the country covering the whole the villages of the country through mass media to accomplish the undermentioned main objectives.

a. Increase the willingness of peers, parents, other adult influencers, and opinion makers outside the Armed Forces to recommend Air force to youth;
b. Increase the willingness of members of the government organization to recommend military service to youth.
c. Increase employer awareness of the importance of supporting Reserve members.
d. Increase the willingness to join the Air force by Motivating school leavers and commence the programme to educate the student on the value of the Air force.
e. Carry out personal relation programme to develop the public positive opinion towards the Organization.

Line of Operation 1
Increase willingness of sri lankan public to recommend military service to our youth

Implementation
Date

Critical Milestones

Current Status

Increase the willingness of peers, parents, other adult influencers, and opinion makers outside the Armed Forces to recommend Air force to youth;

1 Jan 2010

1. Obtain budget to implement.
2. Develop advertising concept for specific
Markets.
3. Gain higher approval.
4. Execute communications campaign.
5. Measure effectiveness of campaign.

1. Budget eliminated.
2. Budget threatened (appeal).
3. Measures of
Effectiveness revised.

Increase the willingness of members of the government organization to recommend the Air force to youth.

1 Jan 2010
1. Obtain budget to implement.
2. Develop advertising concept.
3. Gain leadership approval.
4. Execute communications campaign.
5. Measure effectiveness.


1budget eliminated.
2. budget threatened (appeal)
3. Developing/
conducting
workshops to
disseminate results

Increase employer awareness of the importance of supporting Reserve members.

















Increase the willingness to join the Air force by Motivating school leavers and commence the programme to educate the student on the value of the Air force.

1 Jan 2010


















On progress now
1.Obtain increased funding.
2. Award personnel services contract to support Field Representative Management of Committees.
3. Synchronize Public Affairs mission with committee activities and goals.
4. Increase operation budget of committees upon receipt of funding.
6. Establish reporting requirements for committees to follow.
7. Measure committee effectiveness against
Established goals.
8. Adjust programs) as required.
1. obtaining the funds
2. Changing attitude of the children.
3. Propaganda campaign for school children.
1. Employer data
base increased in
size.
2. Developing
strategic plan to
increase employer
Contacts.
3.Enhancing
Ombudsman data
base.









1. Keeping contact with School principles.
2. Educating of school children.
Carry out personal relation programme to develop the public positive opinion towards the Organization.

Awaiting funding
1. Funds allocating
2. obtain the public feed back
3. Changing of opinion of public.
1. Carrying out public relation programme .















Line of Operation 2:

Recruit the right number and quality

11. Previous years the willingness to join Air force was very poor and after winning the war the large number of youths is coming for interviews. When considering the future requirement, the Air force simply cannot meet carder requirements without recruiting the right numbers. During the war period, the minimum qualification requirement was put down due to the less numbers coming for the interviews. Therefore, the quality of the air force somewhat degraded. But in the future, those problems also have to be addressed logically. Following key actions are taken to accomplish this objective.

a. Achieving qualitative and quantitative goals for active, Guard, and reserve components for both airmen and officer requirements.
b. Promoting effective and efficient selection and assignment testing procedures to maximize the potential of all enlisted Service members.
c. Aggressively pursuing a workforce with diverse race, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds;
d. Establishing transparent opportunities between the active and reserve components. One of the specific initiatives will be to develop and test a lateral entry program based on civilian acquired skills.

e. Developing Man power data Base to have a record of the Officers and Airmen to monitor them closely and for easy administration.


Line of Operation 3:
Develop, sustain and retain the force

12. To make recruiting quantitative and qualitative goals each year, the Air force must turn the volunteers into the airmen and must ensure that the requisite number of these young people choose to stay in and participate in the career force. The following actions are recommended to accomplish these objectives.

a. Determining if current incentives motivate performance and retain or transition members at the right time.
b. Maintaining an environment conducive to retention.
c. Reviewing language and cultural training curricula and making adjustments as appropriate;
d. Studying the interrelationship of variable officer career lengths, promotion timing, and in career compensation and benefits to ensure optimal career patterns and also determining the optimal active duty service obligation.
e. Completing a study already initiated on Service programs designed to f. prepare officers to serve as staff officers.
g. Validating retention metrics.
h. Conducting a study on an indefinite re enlistment option for enlisted members.
j. Given a commitment to systems that are more productive, and less manpower intensive, reviewing grade structure and qualitative requirements;
k. Reviewing opportunities to improve the alignment of manpower (spaces) and personnel (faces), and their supporting management systems;
l. Achieving cost-effective human resource programs.

Line of Operation 4:
Transition members from Active Status

13. As a Military organization it has been recognized that it is important to transition Officers and airmen in a way that fosters respect for their Service and encourages transitioning members to be positive spokespersons for the military way of life. Following points are recommended to accomplish this objective.
a. Studying the means of enhancing participation, portability, vesting and equity of military retirement alternatives and propose appropriate recommendations;
b. Enhancing programs that assist members in transitioning between components, other government service and or the private sector;
c. Reviewing programs designed to inform members of transition benefits.


Line of Operation 5:
Sustain the process and maintain its viability

14. While this objective does not pertain to the personnel life cycle, it does ensure that the military human resource strategy remains a viable and relevant tool to manage the Director of planning. The primary action under this objective is to establish a process and forum to review regularly the progress on actions in the plan and to re-evaluate the plan on a routine basis to ensure it still meets the current and future needs of the Organization












Part - 02

Introduction

1. It is a responsibility of the Leader of any organization to draft a Human resources plan to forecast the future carder requirement and how to use the available resources effectively and efficiently for the benefit of the organization. The following procedure and process were carried out when preparing the above human resourses development plan.

Procedure and process

2. The above HRM Plan is built upon an understanding of the air force vision, mission, values, and strategic programmes and challenges which may face in the future.


Processing HRM Plan - A Step-by-Step Approach

3. The processing of HRM Plan is carried out through 5 steps. Following are the steps which considered when building up the HRM plan.

5 Steps in processing a HRM Plan

Step - 01.

4. Conduct a organizational strategic analysis: The results of this step are an understanding of the Air force vision, mission, values; a strategic review of the department; and understanding of the challenges facing the airforce.

Step – 02
5. Identify the present strategic HR issues arising from the strategic analysis: Building on the results of step one, the outcome of this step is an analysis of the strategic HR issues facing the organization.



Step – 03
6. Identify ongoing HR issues: In addition to the strategic HR issues identified in step two, the ongoing HR issues impacting the Air force effectiveness also be identified.

Step – 04
7. Prioritize the strategic and ongoing HR issues and determine actions: Once all the HR issues have been identified through steps two and three, they should be prioritized and key actions required in respect of each issue identified with input from the Air force top management.

Step – 5

8. Draw up the HRM Plan: Once the organization’s top management has given their input into the HR priority issues and key actions to be taken in step four, the HRM Plan and its associated programmes are ready to be formulated.

Step 1 - Conduct organizational Strategic Analysis

9. The first step in processing the Plan was to obtain a clear understanding of the Sri lanka air force objectives, programmes and key challenges. This understanding obtained by conducting a strategic analysis. Strategic of the force objectives which are usually articulated through the vision, mission, values, and strategic programmes

a. Identify strategic challenges consist of both internal challenges such as internal organizational issues and external challenges such as responding to changing public expectations.

b. Review the key documents of the Air force. These include the organization vision, mission, and values, programmes, and other strategic documents.

c. Interview senior staff officers and men to obtain their views on the organization direction, critical success factors and challenges.

d. Interview the organizational airmen and airwomen to get the participation of the subordinate views.
e. Interview the Civil staff of the air force to get their opinion.
f. Get the opinion of the Public regarding the Air force HR issues..

Step 2 - Identify the Strategic HR Issues

10. Once obtain a clear understanding of the organization's objectives, direction and key challenges is established, the next step in formulating the HRM Plan that is to identify the strategic HR issues pertaining to the Air force. These are the key HR issues that will affect the organization's ability to achieve its strategic objectives.

a. Increase in manpower requirements of the Air force
b. Heavy demand for training for new recruits at present
c. Officers required to spend more time on recruitment and new recruits
d. Training to develop new skills.
e. Increasing public expectations for service quality.
f. Need to communicate new service standards and assessment methods
g. Training on improving service quality

Review the following checklist to determine if there are any additional HR issues tied to the organization’s strategic objectives, direction and challenges.

11. Identifying the HR issues arising from the strategic analysis

a. Do people have the competencies to meet the strategic objectives? What new Competencies are required?
b. How are superior performers differentiated from average performers? What systems are in place to track their performance?
c. How can below standard performers be guided/developed to upgrade their
Performance?
d. Are people being developed to meet the challenges of the future? What improvements need to be made?
e. Are people motivated to meet the current and future challenges? What is impacting their motivation?
f. Are the right people being attracted and retained to meet the future challenges? If not, what can be done to attract people of the right caliber?
h. Is the current culture aligned with the vision, mission, and values of the department?
j. Where is the misalignment?
k. Is the manpower level sufficient to meet the future organization requirements?

Step 3 - Identify Ongoing HR Issues

12. After having a close supervision on the above steps, the key ongoing HR issues to be identified and address, otherwise these issues may eventually escalate, impacting the morale and effectiveness of the organization. Identify the issues facing the organization and these may relate to manpower planning, recruiting, performance management, training & development, and staff relations.

a. Conduct interviews: Interviews with the different managerial level of the organization covering the area of current HR issues like manpower planning, recruiting, performance management, training & development, and staff relations.

b. Conduct employee focus groups. Focus different groups and discuss the HR issues. All participants will feel comfortable contributing during the focus group, the focus groups will be led by trained facilitators and the composition of the focus groups will be carefully planned ahead of time.

c. Conduct staff opinion surveys: Staff opinion surveys demonstrate the department's commitment to soliciting everyone's input on the HRM Plan, provide an objective way to evaluate staff attitude towards the organization, and the results can serve as a measurable benchmark for improvement.

Step 4 - Priorities the HR Issues and Determine Actions

13. Up to this point, the strategic and ongoing HR issues facing the department have been compiled. Not all the issues will be of equal importance or urgency. They need to be prioritized with the input of the top management team. Prioritizing the issues helps ensure that the HRM Plan focuses on the department's most critical issues.Involve the top management of the organization in confirming and prioritizing the issues compiled to date. The top management team should also give input on the actions that should be taken to address the key issues. Top management involvement in prioritizing HR issues and identifying actions is critical because it reinforces the line management role in human resource management and the HRM recommendations are actionable within the constraints of the department develops top management commitment to and ownership for the HRM Plan implementation.

a. Collate the research findings up to this point. Analyze them critically with a view to articulating the strategic objectives and direction, critical success factors and strategic challenges.

 b. Compile a preliminary list of the HR issues and identified and group according to logical categories, e.g. training, recruitment. etc.

c. Conduct a top management strategic HRM workshop. The objectives of the workshop are to:
(1) Present findings on the strategic challenges and HR issues.
(2) Priorities the HR issues.
(3) Develop action to address the current and future HR issues.
(4) Prepare the ground work for structuring the HRM Plan.
(5) Discuss, confirm and prioritize the HR issues (identified from the findings of the strategic analysis and those ongoing HR issues).

HRM Workshop Agenda

i. Introduction /Workshop Objectives
ii. Overview of Strategic Direction & Challenges
iii. Presentation of Strategic / Ongoing HR Issues
iv Group Discussion, Prioritization of HR Issues, Develop Strategic responses to Address HR Issues
v. Develop Action Plans


Strategic HRM workshop a key turning point in achieving line
Step 5 - Draw up the HRM Plan

14. Once the HR issues have been prioritized and the top management team has given their input into the direction of the HRM Plan, the Plan is ready to be drawn up. The Plan is unique and specific to the organization. It represents the top management team's collective view on how the identified HR issues are to be addressed.

a. After obtaining management's input on how to address the HR issues, make additional recommendations, if any, to address the identified and prioritized HR issues.
b. Group the recommendations into approximately 5-10 programme headings, e.g. training, staff relations, etc.
c. Draw up various HRM programmes which taken together will form the HRM plan.Each programme contain an explanation of its strategic importance, objectives, and recommendations.
d. Prepare a summary list of HRM programmes covering the programme headings and their key objectives for easy reference.
e. Circulate the HRM Plan to concerned parties for comments.
f. Incorporate comments and finalize the HRM Plan.
g. Upon finalization of the Plan, organization consider identifying a "driver programme" in implementing proposals in the Plan. The programme may also serve as the platform for implementing and reinforcing the other related HRM programmes, e.g. performance management can "drive" the development of competencies, identification of training and development gaps, career development and succession plans.


CONCLUSION

15. It should be noted that ‘‘a common view today is that the formulation of strategy is easy, but the real issues and problems are those of implementation, and that the conventionally prescriptive approach to strategy ignores the degree to which strategy in real business emergent rather than directed’’. This reflects that strategy, in order to be responsive to constantly changing internal and external environment factors. Strategic planning process need to be flexible in order to take best advantage of changing condition like cultural, social fluctuation or operational demand.