4 Flexibility and access to competency
If the human resources in an organisation are to be exploited to the full, the organisation’s structure has to be adapted to ensure as far as possible that the right person and the right number of persons with the right competency are available in the right place and at the right time. This is increasingly important as the operating environment for the defence sector grows more dynamic. Specifically, it is a matter of legislation and agreements which regulate work and employment, and career paths which allow the organisation to develop the competency it needs.
The entire sector has to face this challenge, but mostly the Armed Forces with its number of unique schemes and the comprehensive change in competency requirement over the past decades. The systems and structures are in the main uniform, static and homogeneous and do not correlate with the variation and dynamic nature of the organisation’s competency requirement.
Flexibility is a question of scope for variation. For the defence sector, flexibility is about having the leeway to recruit and exploit competency where it is needed and in the most efficient way possible. For the individual, flexibility is about having the opportunity to make choices, gain new challenges and have a job which adapts to changes in lifestyle.
Textbox 4.1 Flexibility
“In general terms, flexibility is two-fold. Firstly, it relates to how a phenomenon can alternate and change itself in line with the new needs generated by development for new solutions and adaptations. In such a context, flexibility is defined as adaptability, as opposed to rigidity. Secondly, flexibility relates to how schemes can differ at different times, depending on the needs of the party involved and the requirements involved in the situation at hand. In such a context, flexibility reflects diversity, as opposed to standardisation. As such, flexibility can be said to be two-fold – the scope for change over time and the scope for current diversity.”
The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development: New millennium – new working life? Official Norwegian Report 1999: 34.
4.1 Flexible framework
The general conditions for managers and employees include types of employment, retirement schemes, working hours and payroll. Changes in society, structural changes, availability of manpower, changes in assignments and technological innovations can all imply a need to increase or reduce the organisation’s workforce.
Several forms of employment are available to personnel in the defence sector. Civilian employees are governed by the same regulations as other employees within the public sector. The same also applies to enlisted personnel, although within the limitations of the Norwegian Act relating to defence personnel. In practice, there is a split between officers with lifelong employment and those with time-limited employment. The defence structure is best served by having a good balance among age groups. Different age limits are specified for commanding officers and commissioned officers, and a large number of employees in the Armed Forces have time-limited contracts. The project group which studied a new revision to the officer corps in 2002 studied different corps in 18 European and North American countries. 16 of the countries studied had permanent retirement schemes to ensure the best possible age structure. The Norwegian scheme for commanding officers provides such a retirement mechanism. Moreover, there is the scope to professionally employ commanding officers based on the needs of the Armed Forces, although this has not been sufficiently communicated and utilised.
The current payroll and incentive structure is excessively based on the former assignments, activities, organisation, facilitation and goals of the defence sector, and does not sufficiently reflect the goals and requirements of the current defence sector, or the actual additional load placed on the shoulders of the employees by the different tasks and activities. The payroll system in the Armed Forces at times restricts the sector’s ability to fulfil assignments. One consequence of the current system is that it principally rewards high rotation and development of broad competency, while continuity and specialised competency are not sufficiently supported with incentives.
The Ministry of Defence intends to enter into dialogue with the labour organisation in the Armed Forces to implement a process which targets a review of the payroll and incentive structure for the Armed Forces and aims to adapt these more to the needs of a rapid reaction capability defence. One of the focus areas is the Armed Forces’ need to recruit specialised competency within a range of areas and to facilitate for careers for specialists. Furthermore, the relationship between fixed salary and supplements shall be assessed, within the boundaries of a sustained total payroll limit. Particular attention shall be paid to the implications on payroll of the transition to a rapid reaction capability defence.
This also requires a more principled discussion of flexibility and incentives. Incentives represent more than salary, and a review is required of the challenges faced by families due to the activities and areas in which the Armed Forces are located. One major challenge is high internal turnover and this implies that the Armed Forces must improve on the scope provided for horizontal career paths and dual-career families. Incentive mechanisms have to be reviewed from a broader perspective and it is essential to evaluate the scope for making targeted and differentiated use of such mechanisms. The incentive schemes must also correlate with and fully support the goals of the current organisation.
4.2 Functional flexibility
We now face a much higher demand for specialised competency within a wider range of disciplines and professions. This is true for society in general and for all the agencies within the defence sector. For the Armed Forces, this demand is much stronger as the current command and deployment system does not sufficiently reflect the needs of a rapid reaction capability defence for specialisation, in-depth expertise and continuity. At the same time, this system must safeguard the uniqueness of the military profession in terms of obligation and availability based on the needs of the Armed Forces.
Textbox 4.2 The Norwegian National Security Authority – competition for specialised competency
The Norwegian government is reinforcing its work on preventive security and ICT security in a number of fields, cf. the long-term plan for the defence sector (Proposition to Storting 73 S (2011-2012)), report on social security (White Paper 29 (2011-2012) Social Security), and the National Strategy for Information Security. These are important initiatives for improving security in Norway.
The Norwegian National Security Authority shall be developed as the central directorate for protection of information and infrastructure which is of importance for socially essential functions and other social functions. The Authority thus has a major social responsibility both within the work on coordinating measures to handle attacks on data, surveillance, consultation and guidance within object security and other areas, and to reinforce knowledge of this field within society at large.
This implies a major requirement for competency and represents a number of challenges. There is a vast need for both technical competency and expertise within social sciences and this need is most likely to increase in the future. Competition for competency is tough, particularly within ICT security and surveillance. The professional groups possessing this competency are small, and specialised expertise is in demand and necessary. The National Security Authority has in the main to compete for the same candidates as the rest of the defence sector and society in general.
The small size of these professional groups may result in vulnerability. It is therefore important to define segments of competency that are exposed to competition, and to ensure further development and an attractive career path for employees. This challenge has to be faced in a way which is also beneficial to society.
For a large number of officers, job rotation is excessively high. On the one hand, rotation opens the door to innovation and development as employees gain new competencies and transfer and make use of competencies between different parts of the organisation. On the other hand, low turnover and rotation are important in order to allow for in-depth insight and continuity. Job rotation remains important for the rapid reaction capability defence, but is utilised in an excessive number of job categories. The level of differentiation between the content of different positions and the requirement for professional specialisation and continuity has not been sufficient. Enlisted officers, officers on time-limited contracts and commanding officers, where the rate of turnover is high, are employed in a number of the positions intended to represent professional specialisation and continuity. There is significant potential to reduce turnover and rotation in order to secure continuity and specialised knowledge.
In the future, the goal should be to provide officers who have been educated and trained for demanding military operative assignments in peacetime, war and crises with wider scope for specialisation and development of in-depth competency. At the same time, personnel should be recruited from the civil sector to fill positions where military competency is not required. Examples of such positions are within economy, administration, management and HR. Such personnel can either be employed from the civil sector in civil posts or provided with supplementary military education in order to qualify as officers. This is all a question of creating diversity within competency, flexible and effective solutions for recruitment and the utilisation of competency and an increased level of cooperation with other sections of society in order to cover the broad spectre of competencies required by the defence sector.
The systems for career development focus excessively on an operative and vertical career path. It is difficult to develop and retain personnel with specialised competency and in-depth insight. This type of competency is not sufficiently merited, neither within the career system or the organisational culture.
The uniform systems also restrict diversity. The Armed Forces recruit from a limited section of society, based on relatively standardised criteria for selection, such as management skills and physical and practical skills. Moreover, new recruits are provided with a relatively uniform training and career development, while the actual competency requirement should imply a wider spectre. This could result in a cultural and competency-related reproduction of the existing organisation and thereby a continuation of the existing gap in competency. Neither is the system perceived as sufficiently flexible to allow for the needs of the individual during the different stages of life. There is not sufficient leeway for this in the current vertical career path. The scope for two-stage command is insufficiently exploited. This could provide for a more predictable work situation for employees and their families. At the same time, the Armed Forces will benefit from increased predictability and the capacity for competency management, for example to be used for educational purposes.
Textbox 4.3 Analysis of competency within the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation
The Norwegian Defence Research Establishment has carried out a study related to manpower and management of competency within the Norwegian Defence Logistics Organisation. One key result from this study was that delays in projects could be connected to understaffing. On average, 26 percent of all positions were unoccupied. In total, there were 443 unoccupied positions and a total 735 different competency requirements. Unoccupied positions may result in vulnerable competency groups.
Job descriptions in the Armed Forces specify two types of competency requirements. These are MUST requirements and SHOULD requirements. This division of competency requirements is often utilised to indicate the minimum requirements and a preferred level of competency. The Norwegian Defence Research Establishment studied in detail fulfilment of the SHOULD requirements in order to uncover a competency deviation in the organisation. This study only indicates deviation in formal competency however. In many cases, experience and other relevant service can compensate for a lack of formal education and competency.
The majority of those taking part in the study agreed that personnel rotation results in delays in project execution. Nonetheless, many also stated that job rotation was necessary to achieve a satisfactory salary and level of development. Several of the participants claimed that they would prefer to stay in one position for longer, but that there was little or no scope for a horizontal career path. They claimed that the only way to gain a higher salary was to change jobs. This is both costly and time-consuming for the organisation, requiring the vacancy to be published, recruitment and training of new employees.
Flexible systems demand flexibility in all parts of the personnel cycle. If it no longer proves possible to make expedient use of an employee’s competencies, schemes or other programmes should be utilised to help the employee change careers. Competency has to be managed so that the individual employee can find a different workplace where his/her competency is better utilised. This factor should also be viewed from the perspective of a possible increase in the special age limit for officers. Moreover, by increasing cooperation on competency across the sector, it will be possible to identify measures for moving competency internally between the different organisations in the sector. Schemes to allow for a change of career may also help improve opportunities for employees on the civilian labour market.
With the decisions on the base structure for the Royal Norwegian Air Force by the Storting in the spring of 2012, the main decisions for the restructuring of the Armed Forces’ base structure are now made, thereby minimising uncertainty for many employees when it comes to future locations. This, in combination with a greater scope for horizontal career cycles, will provide employees with more predictability so that they can settle with families and homes. At the same time, the reduction in number of locations and ruralisation of locations may present new challenges for employees with a view to career opportunities for family members moving with them. This presents a requirement for a more flexible support system and continued investment in family and personnel policies.
The different personnel categories and management of personnel within these categories also obstruct the flow of competency between different functions. The defence sector’s own educational system has very little orientation towards civilian employees in the Armed Forces and, with few exceptions, towards other organisations within the sector or from outside the sector. This may serve to widen the gap between military and civilian competency production and its application.
One obstacle to the flow of competency in the defence sector could be that positions are pre-defined as either civilian or military, as described in chapter 2. A further challenge is that foreign labour is in the main excluded. By predefining entitled candidates as exclusively military, civilian or Norwegian citizens, the organisation may be missing out on good candidates who could help complement a team. Competency requirements must be the determining factor. The employment process should be more open to allowing both civilian and military employees to fill positions, and thus be driven by competency.
Individual managers should have a much higher level of influence over how he or she wishes to recruit, based on competency requirements. Policy writing and follow-up lies naturally at a strategic level, while the executive responsibility and authority for recruitment should be more local.
4.3 Flexibility and organisational distinctions
There are obvious synergy benefits to be gained from closer cooperation within a number of areas between the different organisations in the sector. This is not least attributed to the fact that a number of tasks are more knowledge driven than before. Parallels to professional groups in other organisations in the sector can at times be clearer than with other units within the same agency, for example engineers, ICT, project management, commerce and economy. There is vast potential within personnel and competency to increase cooperation and experiential learning between the agencies and also between the different departments within these agencies. Certain areas actually obstruct cooperation. One example of such barriers is the different technological platforms which support the different agencies’ personnel systems. These can make it difficult to maintain an overview of total competency for the entire sector and thereby the scope for a proper flow of competency between the agencies.
An increased exchange of competency and experience across agencies is a fundamental premise for the network-based Armed Forces. In many cases, the greatest obstacles are not structures but culture, as this implies the transition from a “need to know” principle to a “need to share” principle.
In terms of personnel in general, significant gains could be made from setting up arenas for knowledge sharing and experiential learning in the agencies and across the defence sector. An improved flow of competency across the sector will pave the way for improved development of competency. This type of cooperation is also essential for strategic competency management at sector level, and must be seen in conjunction with the scope for building a strong pillar of competency within the personnel area for the entire sector.
Figure 4.1 From the Armed Forces management premises in Oslo
Photo: Media centre for the Norwegian Armed Forces/Torgeir Haugaard