What is personnel management of the centralized type, centralized servicemen career management or personnel support? These notions and concepts that have been in use lately in the Ukrainian Armed Forces mean nothing more than personnel management.
Over the past few years, a new centralized servicemen career management system has been introduced in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. This system is aimed at providing each serviceman with an opportunity to fulfil himself (or herself) and see prospects of his further (or her) career development.
In order to study the new personnel support system functioning principles and the possibility of its use in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, an experiment was run during 2007-2008. The experiment implied establishment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Personnel Centre as well as personnel centres for each of the three Services. These newly established institutions were to become core elements of the new personnel support system.
The work is currently underway to introduce new personnel management technology, in particular, job descriptions and career management algorithms for servicemen. Measures are also taken to increase effectiveness of qualifying evaluation of servicemen.
In the end of last year and the beginning of this year, the Defence and Security Policy Centre carried out a sociological survey among servicemen in some military units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The respondents were inquired about their take on the new forms and methods of the officer corps management. In particular, they were questioned about their attitude to the annual evaluation, the new forms of personnel management, the transparency on personnel-related decision-making, incentives to pursue the military career as well as its prospects.
The respondents that took part in the poll represented different categories of servicemen in terms of rank, position, home base, age, education and training.
The analysis of the poll results elicited a mixed attitude to the new forms and methods of officer corps management.
For instance, as far as the need for the annual evaluation of servicemen is concerned, the majority (69%) of respondents regard this measure as necessary. At the same time, use of job descriptions and career management algorithms are considered to be superfluous (by 43%) and applicable only in individual, clearly identified, cases (by 37%).
Summing up the above states, I deem it appropriate to elaborate on some aspects of the personnel support system which is at present undergoing reformation in the systemic political, economic, and social crisis environment.
So let’s start with documents being currently finalized in the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
A serviceman’s job description is a document that contains concise description of the position as well as a list of requirements to be met by candidates for this particular job. This document must be used for selection of candidates for contract-based military service by military registration and enlistment offices and unit commanders. The document is also required for personnel agencies to plan transfer of servicemen.
The typical serviceman career management algorithm is a document that reflects the milestones of the serviceman’s career (recommended tenure for certain positions (recommended minimal tenure; the key stages of a promising and unpromising career); age qualifications recommended for certain jobs; mandatory training, re-training or advanced military training; positions that can be used for rotation as well as age limits set for military service and training; length of service in grade prescribed by statutes currently in force)
The career management algorithm is used by personnel managers for middle-term and short-term (up to 5 years) planning of each serviceman’s career.
Qualifying evaluation of servicemen is done in order to ensure adequate selection, placing and professional development of military personnel by impartial assessment of their professional qualifications, work ethics and morals. Qualifying evaluation also seeks to ascertain to what extend servicemen in question meet job requirement, identify their prospective employment in the ranks as well as generate pool of candidates for assignment to higher positions.
Qualifying evaluation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen designed to assess their effectiveness is one of the key elements of personnel management. Results of evaluation are used to underpin decision-making in the human resources domain.
Qualifying evaluation includes two procedures:
Annual evaluation of servicemen’s work – this implies observation, monitoring and assessment of work against identified criteria of activity and manifestation of qualities. This evaluation is done at the end of each academic year and its results are used to fill in the serviceman’s evaluation card. Results of the annual evaluation must reflect systematic appraisal of each serviceman’s performance as he fulfils his job functions throughout the elapsed year as well as results of tests, concluding inspections and check-ups.
Periodical evaluation – done in order to identify prospective employment in the ranks. Such evaluation is carried out prior to expiration of contract or tenure, graduation from military training facilities and research institutions. Results of periodical evaluation are used to draw up certification documents. Periodical evaluation must needs take into account results elicited from the serviceman’s evaluation cards drawn up in the inter-evaluation period.
Results of both the yearly and periodical evaluation are used to substantiate appropriate personnel-related decisions.
In 2010, the Ukrainian Armed Forces adopted a new mechanism for generation of Pool of Candidates for appointment to higher positions through work of specialized commissions. These commissions have been manned with the best UAF specialists from various areas of expertise. These experts have been entrusted with the task to rate candidates for standard posts.
Managers in personnel agencies formed Servicemen Transfer Plans which include servicemen registered for the Pool of Candidates.
The Transfer Plan also includes the following categories:
servicemen whose tenure has reached the limits established for officer positions in the Ukrainian Armed Forces;
positions of servicemen who have been approved as candidates for training and excluded from the names list in their unit’s table of organization;
positions of servicemen whose tenure in special natural, geographical, geological, weather and environmental conditions has expired;
servicemen put at the disposal of officials authorized to assign personnel to positions;
servicemen that were discharged from their posts and are returning from missions abroad in the current academic year.
By the way, servicemen often wonder, “What purpose do the Pool of Candidates and the Transfer Plan serve?” The answer is elementary: they provide each serviceman with an opportunity to fulfil himself (or herself) in the regularized fashion and in keeping with the pre-established plans.
What can possibly be wrong with a serviceman having to know in advance where and in which position he will serve in a year, two years or five years; when and where he will have to take his training at a higher military educational establishment, a re-training course or an advanced course; when he will be promoted, etc? It is to this effect that the new personnel management system is being introduced.
Regrettably, certain objective factors (shortage of housing resources, lack of funds for rent, inadequately low pay level, underfunding of combat training) hamper efficient full-scale introduction of the new system. Besides, due to shortage of personnel managers’ positions in personnel agencies and imperfect system of personnel managers re-training, personalization of this work has not assumed a full-scale character. This is also impeded by inadequate resource support to personnel agencies.
At the same time, the first steps that have already been taken towards introduction of the new system make one hopeful that the personnel situation in the Ukrainian Armed Forces has every chance to improve in the future. Introduction of the new personnel management system will enable optimal manning of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. It will also enable each individual to fulfil himself or herself, see his or her prospective career development, boost his morale, improve his combat effectiveness, and motivate him to improve his performance and stay in the Armed Forces.
M. Dumenko, Colonel , Chief of the UAF Personnel Centre
