in-place systems for better utilization of person power

JOSEPH F. GROSSON

IN-PLACE S Y S T M S FOR BETTER UTLLIZATION OF PEWON POWER

THE AUTHOR received his Bachelor of Marine Engineering degree from the State University of New York Maritime College in 1961 and his Master of Mechanical Engineer- i n g degree from The Catholic University of America in 1968. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the District of Columbia and the States of Louisiana and Virginia, a licensed 3rd Assistant Engineer of Steam and Motor Ships, a patent holder, and a recipient of numerous Navy Performance Awards. ‘He is also the author of several technical papers in the field of advanced vibrations. He is presently the Head Engineer of the Training Systems Branch of the Navy Strategic Systems Project Ofice where he is responsible for the development, production, and deployment of Fleet Ballistic Missile Weapons, Navigation and Sonar Training Systems.

Editor’s Note: Paper presented at the Joint Naval Engineering Associations Annual Technical Symposium, ‘‘Utilization of Manpower,” held at Washing- ton, D.C., on 28 September 1973.

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION

This paper discusses two in-place techniques for more effective and efficient utiiization of person power h Naval Material Command elements through the development of an organization keyed to traditional ILS (Inte- grated Logistics Support) Phases and the use of explicitly documented career developmental program based upon management reaction to individually prepared ‘‘professional aspirations” and “short range objectives.” One technique involves organization and the other involves management of the organizational resource.

T H R O U G H D E m m P M E N T OF rn O R G A m A m O N f i STRUCTURE keyed to ILS phases, and through the use of an explicitly documented career development program, one element of the Naval Material Com- mand has developed a system for effective utilization of person power. These techniques are not new and novel in them-

selves. However, they appear to be working ,well, and therefore, their application in some form could be considered for other organizational elements.

NJVJI Enginerrs Journal, hbruary 1974 45

PERSON POWER UTILIZATION SYSTEMS GROSSON

PRELUDE TO DISCUSSION ON ORGANIZATION What are some organizatianal generated problems

that we often see? Some which immediately m e to mind are:

1) Imbalance in attention to one or more of the ILS phases, i.e., concept, validation, full scale development, production, or deployment.

2) Failure to ‘‘close the loop” from the deployment (support) phase back to an earlier phase.

3) Inability to shift pelSOMel resources easily. This inhibits the ability to absorb peaks of high workload without degradation to quality and q u a - tity of effort and morale.

It is not the purpose of this paper to discuss in depth the various classifications of organizations one sees today, nor is it intended to analyze alternatives or lead to conclusions regarding the opt im~m organizational structurd. The choice of a structure depends on many factors such a~ function to be per- formed, magnitude of effort, resources and talent avdable, anticipated longevity of the program, ek. In industry we quite often see a form of matrix management which appears to work well; i.e., func- timl organization51 elements matrixed to a program management s taff . In the Naval Material Command (NAVMAT) , we often observe overly functionalized elemen+for all practical purposes, centers of technical excellence from which outputs are inefficaciously regulated or poarly utilized. Frequently, we also find the same person responsible as a project engineer not only for conceptual development, but also for production and logistics aspects of a number of Merent programs. %s dilution of applied expertise cannot be optimum. Sometimes it is not disastrous only because of the dedicated and industrious performance of a partic- ularly outstanding individual.

DISCUSSION OF ORGANIZATION KEYED TO ILS PHASES It is hypothesized that keying organizational

elements to ILS phases creates a structure which inherently precludes the problem areas h u s s e d above. First, for purposes of discussion, let us reduce the phases to three and correlate them to organizational elements:

Baslc Phnse ILS Phase Responslblllty Concept 0 Concept dwelopment

Productlon + D e s t ~ m a n u f a c t u r e .

Support + Deployment, upkeep and

and valldatlon

lnstallatlon and test

mcdlflcatlon

Organlzational Element Advance Planning croup Acquisltlon Englneering croup Operational Engineering Group

Next we will ‘establish three basic criteria:

1) There will be a system for evaluating effec- tiveness during the support phase which feeds back into the concept phase through the Advance Plan- ning Staff. The feedback system is operated by an

operational engineering unit although, in reality, it could be operated by a staff unit.

2) The combined number of personnel in the Ad- vance Planning and Acquisition Ergmering Groups will be ked. However, certain highly qualified high level individuals (e.g., GS-14, CDR) will be earmarked for roles either as planneTs or co- ordinatms/managers in the Acquisition Ehgineering Group.

3) The Acquisition Engineering Group will lend technical assistance to the Operational Engineering Group on specific, technically complicated design problems.

Now let us look at what has been accomplished:

1) Each I S phase receives dedicated attention. 2) There is a positive means of obtaining deploy-

ment feedback data into the loop for immediate attention and implementation of corrective/im- provement changes.

3) The capability of high level personnel alternat- ing between the Advance Planning and Acquisition Engineering Group provides the ability to a k b high workload in the two areas which are most likely to experience peaks and valleys.

4) While the Operational Engineering Group is less sensitive to peaks and valleys of workload, should peaks occur because of technically complicated design problems, they can be assigned to the Acquisition Engineering Group for resolution.

Figures 1 and 2 depict this hypothetical organization.

One NAVMAT element utilizing this organizational philosophy is the Training Systems Branch of the Strategic Systems Project Office. This branch is responsible for developing, p d u c i n g and maintain- ing Training Systems supporting Fleet Banistic Mis- sile (FBM) Submarines, and it also has certain responsibilities in the manning and Naval personnel training areas. The training systems include POLARIS/POSEIDON/TRIDENT FBM Weapons and Navigation Trainers, FBM unique Sonar Trainers and POLARIS/POSEIDON Ships Control Center (Div- ing) Trainers. These are located at a number of major Naval Bases throughout the fifty states.

The organizational structure shown in Figure 3 appears to be highly successful in that program balance with reaction to feedback is achieved very effectively. Administratively, high workload peaks are absorbed without program impact, and syner- gism in work output is very evident.

PRELUDE TO DISCUSSION OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT Let’s assume we have a company that produces

something. Next, let’s identify our most critical asset which we use in achieving our company’s go&. Then, let’s spend a l l of our time worrying about our goals and concurrently forget about the

46 Naval Eag1nr.n Journal, February I974

GROSSON PERSON POWER UTEIZA~ON SYSTEMS

-,Advance Planners-+Acquis i t ion E n g ' r Group-Operat iona l Eng'r Group

T e c h n i c a l Adv ice When Required

4

t S e l e c t e d P e r s o n n e l I t -FEEDBACK FROM USER A C T I V I T I E S

Figure 1.

Funct ional Sub- Functional Sub-

Figure 2.

Naval Enginoars Journal, hbruary I974 47


asset. If that asset were a machine, it would soon cease to function. We wouldn’t be able to achieve our goals, and then we wouldn’t have a company.

The most important asset we have in NAVMAT ( h d e s money) is the professional workfo- PEOPLE. We continually forget about being concerned about people. We see organizational elements fail to be effective time and time again, and the solution is reorganization. That’s as bad as saying: “Since machines 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 do not work, let’s relabel them as numbers 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10.” How about being more concerned with the operation of the machines?

The point is that we had better think about eflec- tiue career development and personnel management.

DISCUSSION OF A N EFFECTIVE CAREER DEVEL~PMENT PROGRAM

It is the observation of the writer that career development programs fostered at the command level, or in the “Personnel Shops,” are barely effective in most cases because:

1) They are oriented to help only a very small portion of the total technical workforce; e.g.. the intern, the high level employee selected for an advanced course in management, etc.

2) What they have to offer depends to a great deal on extreme motivation of the employee.

3) No real feedback from the general workforce to the career development staff exists.

4) They seem to be oriented around the idea that. if a mechanism exists for after hours training, t W 3 , career development program is in place.

The hypothesis of this paper is that: Present career development programs (here- inafter referred to as CDPs) are tmt effechve. and t h e r e f o r e CDPs really should start at “home”, in the Branch or Section or Unit in which the employee operates. CDPs must be personal in nature in that “face to face” reviews must be made p e r i d c d y with the employee.jby at least two levels of supervision. Goals and aspirati*s of the employee must be documented specifically. The CDP must be short range oriented in order to provide for measurement of progress. with updates at least annually. The employee must know the objectives and aspirations of both his superiors and subordinates in order to help in formulating his own program orientation. Nonprofessional employees should be included in the CDP in order to foster the goals of the equal opportunity program.

N d v d Enqineers Journal. February 1974

CDP IMPLEMENTATION The Training Systems Branch of the Strategic

Systems Project Office has placed a CDP in operation based upon the above precepts. A Branch Bill signed by the Branch Head established the program and assigned the Head Engineer the responsibility for its implementation among the civilians. Two types of forms were developed:

SHORT RANGE OBJECTIVES (SROs): These are individual professional objectives for the next 12 months. They are oriented to the basic mission of the organization and might include such things as developing new methods of program implementation, or a goal of achieving more efficient ways of performing one’s responsibilities. PERSONAL ASPIRATIONS (PAS) : These describe personal aspirations related to development of the individual, e.g., writing a technical paper, teachmg or talung a course, taking on extra work in an effort ta change fields for career enhancement (i.e., clerical into budget work).

The Head civilian developed his SRO/PA and provided it to the next subordinate level of supervision, and so on. In each case, when an SRO’PA was prepared it was also passed up a level. Before the forms were formally submitted, they were &s- cussed at both levels in order to assure that all SRO PAS were mutually complementary, sensible, and achievable. (It makes no sense to choose an ill-defined and unachievable objective.) The final forms were collected and each placed in a jacket which included a brief resume and the current posi- tion description of the individual. Next, an order of priority was established for interviews between each individual (from secretary to Head Engineer) and the Branch Head. Throughout the year, in ad- dition to the effort of each level of supervision, the Branch Head personally inspects the jacket and discusses the SRO/PAs with each individual at least once. He provides guidance, measures progress, and establishes a personal rapport with each person. At the end of the 12 month period, the cycle repeats itself with new SRO PAs being prepared.

summary, this approach achieves the following:

It forces each individual at all levels to thnk about hs job and career related objectives, and it forces them to write these down. It forces all supervisory levels to understand better their subordinates’ career motivations, to provide guidance, and to implement necessary courses of action. It inherently identifies potential personnel problems at an early time: e.g., if a person cannot describe an SRO he does not understand h s organization’s mission; if he cannot generate a meaningful PA, he may not be

Advanced Engineering Careers on the most advanced undersea vessels Nuclear submarines present engineering challenges that are progressively heightened by the very nature of their objectives Requirements that are continually maximized call for new techniques and solutions that truly extend the state-of- the-art in many disciplines From the design and construction of the nation's first nuclear submarine-the Nautilus-the professional team at General Dynamics' Electric Boat Division has taken the lead in meeting these challenges Our expanding jnvolvement today-on such advanced nuclear vessels as the Trident and the SSN-688 class submarines-is indicative of our level of performance and of commit- ments that carry us well into the future Our Advanced Engineering D.p.ttmnt has Imnndiate c.mr openings in tho Idlowing wear: ANALYTICAL STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS To perform structural analysis and design of ship structures and components for static. dynamic and thermal loadings Should have a BS or MS engineering degree with 1 to 5 years applicable experience Familiarity with finite elements and/or finite difference computer programs and with ASME codes desirable

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMMERS Scientifically-oriented programmers with at least 2 years experience. preferably with CMS-2 language on the AN/UYK-7 computer Should have BS degree in math. computer science. electrical or general

panel arrangements. hardware selection. ship construction and vendor liaison. and making recornmendations for display techniques for ship control panels. (3) Digital to digital interfacing, including digital computer interfacing with analog and digital control systems. simulation using digital computers with analog stimuli and digital interfacing with analog sensors. Will perform analysis, design hardware, write specifications and monitor production. Should possess at least a BS in Electrical Engineering with 1 to 5 years related experience. ACOUSTICAL & VIBRATION ENGINEERS To direct submarine noise control. Typical projects involve machinery noise control, sonar noise control, and the application of acoustical materials, as well as acoustic sub trials data analysis reduction. Will be involved in all phases of contracts from proposal to final results. Minimum requirements are a BS in engineering. 1 to 5 years experience in ME, EE or Physics. and the ability to write and present proposals and final results. An MS degree is desirable as are vibration and acoustic courses. THERMAL ENGINEERS Will conduct steady state and transient analysis. design, and research related to submarine systems and components which involve the thermodynamic, heat transfer,

and fluid flow disciplines. An M.S.M.E. degree is required, either a recent graduate or with experience. Versatility to perform in all the above disciplines is desired, and a knowledge of computer programming will be helpful. A BSME will be considered, bul must possess an exceptional academic record. CONTROL SYSTEMS ENGINEER Required to design, analyze and simulate real-time digital ship control systems. Work , will involve simulations of submarine analog and digital controllers, ship dynamics and random disturbances. Analysis will include analytical efforts necessary to design optimized digital/analog controllers. Should have ar least a BS degree with educational or practical background in sampled data control theory, random , processes and analog/digital simulation. Familiarity with vehicle equations of motion is highly desirablg.

Joining us will bring you attractive and fully commensurate compensation, meaningful benefits, fine opportunity for continuing professional growth, and the satisfying living opportunities of our Connecticut location less than a mile up the Thames River from Long Island Sound. Apply in confidence by forwarding your resume, including salary history and present requirements. and a list of undergraduate/ graduate courses completed (or transcript) to: Mr. Fred Ward. Professional Placement.


properly motivated. Both aspects are inchca- tive of a potential problem with that individual.

4) It creates an environment for dialogue b e tween the top man (Branch Head), who is not usually accessible to lower levels in the organization, and all of his workers. This has many advantages. First, it enables him to measure how well his Section and Unit Heads are performing, as managers. It helps him to get a better feel of the pulse of his organization by providmg an input from levels other than the few supervisors with whom he has most contact. It provides the opportunity for individuals at any level to obtain professional career guidance from the Branch Head who is the most capable, qualified and knowledgeable person in the organization.

5 ) Finally, and most important, it helps each person to understand better where he fits into his organization and where he is going in his career, and it directs him on the path toward personal and professional enhancement.

CONCLUSION An organization formally keyed to ILS phases is

a good way to assure program balance. In a gross sense, most system c e m d s are set up this way, but perhaps more thinlung along this line is re- q u d by elements within a system command or by project managers.

The career development of all organizational as- sets is necessary, and this needs more effective implementation at the lower unit levels. HOWEVER, IT WILL ONLY BE AS GOOD AS THE SUPERVISOR’S CON- CEFtN FOR HIS PEOPLE.

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50 Naval Enqlnaan Journal. February 1974

in-place systems for better utilization of person power

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