Civilian Employment With the Us Army in Germany - Dissertation Example

? Civilian Employment with the US Army in Germany - Discrepancy between US Employees and LNs (Local Nationals) Contents Introduction: 3 Background Information: USAG 3 Civilian Recruitment: (AF, NAF and FNC) 3 The Methodological frame work 3 Results 5 Discussions and Recommendations for Action 8 Discussions 8 Recommendations 9 Summary 9 Appendix 10 References 11 Introduction: Background Information: USAG The US army Stationed in Germany (Grafenwoehr) is located in a serene locality approximately 60miles at northeast of Nuremberg. The station is located 50 miles west of the Czech border. The city of Grafenwoehr lacks industrialization and owes most of its employment to the US army. 2,358 of the local population of Grafenwoehr are employed with the USAG Grafenwoehr. The Station is situated in the border of Garrison city. The population of Garrison comprises 9162 military personnel, 5,098 training troops (hailing from NATO and US units). 1009, civilian employee stationed with US army, 953 Employees on contracts and 12603 family members. USAG Grafenwoehr predominantly provides installation support and services for expeditionary process of JMTC, V Corps. The station facilitates TSC and transient training units to build a strong army for the defence of the nation and enhance the quality of the army personnel. Civilian Recruitment: (AF, NAF and FNC) The US army employs civilian employees under specific three categories namely- Appropriate Fund Civilians, Non –appropriated fund civilians and Foreign National Civilians. Each category is subjected to different policies and regulations regarding payroll and benefits. Compare to any other organization US army exhibits a lot of diversity in their work force. The functioning of the US Army unit depends on the smooth interaction between the local nationals and US army recruits. The local nationals have to be trained in certain way to understand the work requirement of the US army. The Civilian education system (CES) conducted by the US army is aimed at training the civilian recruits specially the local nationals so as to facilitate them in adopting their job demands with ease. CES is a program mainly to groom the Army civilian recruits in leadership roles; this aids civilians in performing well in roles like supervisor that requires leadership quality. The Methodological frame work Before deciding on the methodological framework that can be applicable to the present scenario of discrepancies between the Local Nationals and US employees, an overview of the issues brewing in the unit must be considered. The US army in Germany (Grafenwoehr) has maintained the ratio of 70:30, agreed with the State of Bavaria and the US army administration. According to the agreement reached by the US army administration and the state Bavaria, USAG has to employ 70 % local national and only 30% vacancy can go to US employees. The USAG has been able to maintain the balance in the past but currently the balance is not exact, as more US employees are being taken than agreed. The main reason behind this sudden change in the ratio is the preference given to the qualified family members of already stationed US army personnel. The Local Nationals along with the US employees are expected to contribute towards the growth and benefit of the organization. However, many discrepancies can be spotted amongst them due to certain differences in work culture and attitude. Following are few of the issues causing discrepancies between the Local Nationals and US employees. Lack of Learning Attitude: The local nationals are given equal opportunity as their US counterparts. The training courses are although not mandatory for Local Nationals. The local Nationals do not use the training facilities provided to them. The Local Nationals have been observed to avoid any kind of improvisation. The Local Nationals have been observed to be very adamant regarding changing their work pattern for better. This resistance from Local Nationals is also one of the main reasons for the non-functionality between Local nationals and US employees. Discrepancy regarding remuneration. The Local Nationals are often very demanding regarding their pay raise. Unlike the US employees who are evaluated on the basis of their performance, the Local Nationals expect their pay scale to be increased regardless of their performance. The Local Nationals are not subjected to performance rating like their US counterparts; this policy increases the tension between the Local Nationals and US employees. Inability in visualizing the common goal. The US employees are kept under rotation but the Local nationals are stationed at the same unit for the rest of their service period. The unit rotation motivates the US employees to perform better. The US employees are rotated in different units after every 3-4 years. This encourages them to enhance their performance, the US employees place ample importance on self improvement to perform better in their jobs. The Local Nationals on the other hand are not interested in envisaging the main goal of the organization. The Local Nationals often limit their self development due to lack of interest in contributing for the common goal. Cultural Difference The cultural difference between the Local Nationals and US employees also stems up a mild fiction in the functioning of the unit. The above posed issues exhibit the necessity for both the Local Nationals and US employees to work together as a unit. The Acculturation Model (IAM) can be implied to bring an understanding between the two work forces in USAG. IAM model seeks to integrate the following elements – 1. Acculturation orientations adapted by the immigrant groups in the host community. 2. Acculturation adapted by the host community towards the particular group of immigrants. 3. Interpersonal relations and inter group relations which result from the acculturation orientations of both the groups (Oerlemans, 1977, p18). Extensive review has been done on motivational literature regarding the factors that motivate people to do their jobs better. The study shows four categories namely, Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction. ARCS Model was introduced by Keller in 1984. This model gives insight on the importance of motivation. According to this model, to motivate the employees their attention must be captured. Then the set of people who are being motivated or trained must be encouraged in perceiving self improvement as a way to achieve personal needs. The employees should be encouraged to see the relevance of learning in improving the quality of life. Confidence should be instilled in the members to help them achieve more. Members should be rewarded to reinforce the sense of self improvement. This model can be applied to motivate the Local nationals to take their jobs as a challenge and improve their attitude towards work (Keller, 2009, p.45). Results United States since fifty years has been maintaining a large pool of workforce belonging to both the military and air force units. The Army Garrison of United States located in the region of Northern Bavaria in the German Republic is managed by a body which installs commanders in European Countries. The garrison operates in the German Republic with a view to fulfill some stated objectives. Firstly the body operates to render quality support to the United States personnel working in the designated areas and thus focuses on all round development of such communities. Secondly the garrison also operates to help the army personnel fulfill the needs and objectives of the United States army working in international borders. The composition of the United States Garrison working in Germany is made of military people, other civilian personnel and the family members of the people working for the garrison. The United States army operating in Germany recruits a huge pool of German people who are adequately trained along with the United States army (Army Nomination-Secretary of the Defense Environmental Awards Program, 2010). Mission of U.S. Army Grafenwoehr The mission of the United States Garrison operating in Grafenwoehr located in Germany can be studied on the following grounds. Firstly the body operates to make the staffs and local communities ready to counter any type of emergencies. Several training exercises are conducted to help the people manage situations like outbreak of fire and combating the enemy through air force operations from airplanes and helicopters. Secondly the body also operates to take care of the natural environment of the region. The United States Garrison focuses hugely to train the American and German army workforce and other civilians to carry on their activities in protecting the natural environment of the region (U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr, 2006, p.1). Workforce Diversity in U.S. Army Grafenwoehr The United States Army located in Grafenwoehr is constituted by a workforce based on a diversified workforce of different cultural patterns. The upper management body of the army organization has organized a task force in the army organization which would manage the diversified nature of workforce in the concern. Diversity in the United States Army is measured along the following points. Soldiers in the army garrison pertain to different levels of experiences and cultural traits which accounts for the huge amount of diversity in the organization. The management body of the army organization focuses on designing a strategic roadmap which would optimally use the workforce diversity to help in fulfilling the organizational objectives. The road map envisages that the organizational leaders must be fully committed to include and encourage the incorporation of diversified workgroups in the concern. Further the diversity road map also focuses on rendering quality training to enhance the skills and productivity of the diversified workforce and also endeavors to retail the potential employees in the concern. The U.S. Army Grafenwoehr through the designing of the roadmap desires to streamline the organizational resources among the different cultural and experience groups to help in the effective fulfillment of organizational goals. The human resource management functions of the concern like recruitment, training and development of the staffs are carried out to develop the internal competencies of the diversified nature of organizational workforce (Crusan, 2008, p.4). Diversified nature of the American workforce can also be studied from the composition of the workgroups. The total army personnel measured along 9000 is composed of people pertaining to both of the American and local regions. Further the workforce is also constituted by large number of trainees spread along several departments (Military Installations, 2011). The organizational diversity of the American army located in Grafenwoehr can also be studied based on the composition portfolio compared along two years 2008 and 2009. The study of such data shows that the local national population of a country occupies a significant position in the total army workforce. Assessing the nature of the diversity measured along male and female population shows that the male groups in the society occupy a major portion of the workgroups in the army (U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr, 2009). The same can be represented through a tabular presentation in Figure 1 in the Appendix. Recruitment and Training Programs conducted in U.S. Army Grafenwoehr The recruitment process practiced by U.S. Army Grafenwoehr is conducted focusing on encouraging the local nationals to gain a larger share in the organizational framework. It is observed that the United States army organization located in Germany holds a huge portion of local people along with their families. This large constitution of people makes the army organization one of the largest organizations in the world. It is even found that the number of local national groups operating in the concern surpasses the number of army men belonging to United States. An estimate made along the above parameters shows that where the number of United States army personnel stood at 4800 the number of German nationals in the army amounted to 7200. Total number of people working in the United States Garrison located in Bavaria amounts to around 35,000 making it one of the significant organizations (U.S. Consulate Munich, 2009, p.7). The mandatory training programs taken by the United States Army Garrison focus more on the United States army and not on the local national population recruited from Germany. The different training programs carried out focus on developing and protecting the existing quality of human resources. Training programs carried out focus on enhancing the ethical climate within the organization. Further special training schemes are brought about to help the organizational staffs fight the issues of terrorism and sexual harassment practices in the organization. The organization acts as an equal opportunity employer that helps the staffs to rise up the organizational ladder based on their performances. Again the organizational people are also better trained to render effective customer servicing to the and also to minimize the effect of risks arising from the external sphere. Training programs are further enhanced by the organization through the implementation of programs focusing on individual development. These programs help the organizational employees to develop their productivity based on processes like on-the-job training. Individual Development Program operates based on both long and short term goals to help the organizational people develop their skills and knowledge base. This helps in better motivating the staffs to operate in a much productive manner. The internal developmental programs also encourage the organizational staffs to participate in several workshops and other conferences that would help the individual to gain more amount of productivity (Civilian Personnel Online, 2011). Again another training program which is maintained known as the civilian education system helps in the enhancement of leadership traits among the organizational individuals. The leadership programs helps in the creation of organizational profiles like team leader and development of managerial workforce within the organization. Different courses are designed by the human resources team which helps the organizational staffs to proceed on their careers and is conducted on based of different course modules starting from foundation to advanced levels. The staffs of the organization are required to conduct online registration in the programs organized by the human resources team of the concern. Training programs of this magnitude conducted help in enhancing the loyalty base of the organizational staffs (Army Management Staff College, 2010). Apprenticeship and Development Programs of U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr The Apprenticeship Program of United States Army located in Grafenwoehr was launched around the 1998 period. This program was mainly launched for helping the development of the local national population in the region. A number of training programs were envisaged in the apprenticeship program for both the technical and non-technical persons. Thus organizational workforce like technicians and clerks largely benefitted from the training program imparted in the apprenticeship period. However the financial resources needed for funding such programs were initially rendered by the German government. Later on special funding schemes by United States were generated to help in financing such programs. It is observed that a major portion of the employees in the army organization belonged to the people from the German Reich which accounted for around 70 percent of the total army population. Moreover the organizational managers relied largely on the new workforce and thus continuously worked on to enhance their productivity patterns. The United States Army Garrison thus helps not only in financing the stated apprenticeship program but also in designating the required resources for rightly satisfying the organizational objectives. Several type development programs are conducted by the U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr to help the local nationals and the civilian and army personnel to render improved productivity in the concern. The organization helps the families of the army personnel including the children by rendering developmental services to improve their life. Educational institutions are built for children of the army men and also special facilities are rendered for helping the small children whose parents are employed in the army. Moreover the youth people of the community are widely encouraged by the organization to gain employment in apprenticeship services provided by the concern and also in other fitness programs for helping them become more productive (U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr, 2011).Special programs are conducted like ‘Hired’ to help the youth people recruited to gain a better insight to develop their careers and to gain motivation to perform effectively for the concern. The army organization also renders prizes in cash or in kind to help enhance the productive aspects of the organizational people. The army organization also renders social services to the people of the region by providing a host of services pertaining to health and other community sectors (Warren, 2009). Recreational facilities are opened in various areas to help the different local communities feel better motivated and encouraged and thereby to serve freely for the concern. Moreover the range of community services rendered by the army organization is further enhanced through the use of online mechanisms in which the parents can make online registrations for helping their children get a proper environment even while away from them. The United States military department in their endeavor fulfills the social aspirations for both the youths and the children of the external society. Further the army organization also fosters an environment of continual training where individual skills of the people get enhanced through the creation of online libraries which operates to form study modules and also in helping the working people to give tests. These organizations render financial assistance to the army staffs to help them get better trained to rise up the organizational ladder. The military organization also helps the community people to avail better services which would help strengthen their social lives. Continual consulting is given to the aggrieved parties to help them gain a psychological solidarity in the external society to help fight social evils in a steady manner (U.S Army Europe, 2011; Bavarian American, 2011). Discussions and Recommendations for Action Discussions The German and the American workforce reflect some high amount of cultural differences for which they differ on availing the level of opportunities rendered by the organizational environment. It is found that the people belonging to Germany or Local Nationals depend on deductive thinking in which different types of planning are made to form a holistic organizational goal. On the contrary the American people are found to take resort to inductive thinking process in which the total goal is first set after which it is broken down into several fragments helping the creating more focus. In this regard the German Local Nationals are concerned to be more thinking oriented while the American people are found to be more performance oriented. This performance is measured against the organizational goals envisaged at a previous point of time. Cultural differences in the work sphere thereby show that the local national population in spite of getting the availability of organizational resources desires to play more on the safe side in deciding on the courses of action to be taken in achieving the organizational objectives. On the contrary the American people tend to act proactively and do not depend more on thinking. They are more committed in fulfilling the aims envisaged previously. Similarly the local national population is also found to be soft listeners who do not disturb the communication process. However the American people are such who generate active responses to the people communicating with them. This cultural conflict of the Germans with the Americans happens to govern the behavioral process of resource utilization among the different individuals (Dammrich, n.d., and p.1-2). Moreover the local nationals also complain of being deprived of their basic rights of getting more effective payments unlike the Americans. Recommendations The USAG should take the issues of the local nationals seriously. The USAG should assess the situation of the Local Nationals in their work force. The USAG should try understanding the reasons behind the local nationals being less bent towards self improvement. The USAG should assess the key facts that cause the sense of security in the Local national. The Local nationals should also be brought under the scheme of incentives to encourage them to perform better. The locals should also be given mandatory training to improve their performance. Since rotation of the local nationals is not possible the Local nationals can be rotated in different job profiles. This will prevent the sense of stagnancy in Local Nationals. The Local Nationals should also be entrusted leadership roles at least on a temporary basis. This will motivate the Local nationals to perform better. The pay scale of the Local Nationals should be performance oriented than a standard pay for every employee in the similar post. This will give a sense of understanding to the employees that their salary and promotions are based on their performance and not because of a standard procedure for all. Implementing motivation and training courses for the US employees as well as for the Local Nationals, where they are encouraged to welcome each other’s diversity will increase the sense of camaraderie amongst the employees. The US employees should be encouraged to interact with the local nationals to improve the functioning of the unit as a whole. To work as a unit it is important that the Local nationals should feel as a part of the organization, this will motivate them to work towards improving their performance. To decrease the skill set gap the employees must be also given personal targets, so that they will give ample emphasis on self improvement. Summary The USAG has sufficient diversity in their work force. The local nationals at Grafenwoehr are given job opportunity by the USAG. The locals are given similar opportunity as the US employees. The USAG has set an upper management for monitoring the issues regarding managing the diversified work force in USAG. The USAG envisages a road map that includes all the employees to contribute in the growth of the organization. The set road map encourages the leaders to encourage each and every member of the unit to perform better. The USAG also has training courses that which emphasis in improving the skills of the employees to facilitate them in performing better in their job profiles. The US army recruits civilian employees under three categories- Appropriate fund Civilians; they are paid by the fund allocated by the US congress. The eligible Local Nationals and US Nationals both are applicable to same policies and pay-scale under this category. Non –appropriated Fund (NAF) civilians, the employees recruited under this category are paid by the sales, fees, and charges acquired from authorized patron. The CES is aimed at training the civilian recruits to perform better in their work. The Local Nationals unfortunately do not take the advantage of the training provided to them. The training is not mandatory to them. The attitude of the Local Nationals regarding their job is very stagnant and limited. The local Nationals employed with the USAG expect their remuneration to increase regardless of the performance. The resistance from Local Nationals regarding self improvement to contribute productively to the Unit causes a lot of discrepancy between the Local Nationals and the US employee. The Local Nationals and the US employee have to be encouraged to adapt Acculturation, to accommodate each other in work place. The Local Nationals also need to be motivated to change their attitude towards the work for the Unit. The Local Nationals and the US employee have to work together and pursue the common goal of USAG. Appendix References Army Nomination-Secretary of the Defense Environmental Awards Program. (2010). Sustaining the Environment for a Secure Future. Retrieved on May 28, 2011 from: http://aec.army.mil/usaec/newsroom/awards08/bestprac06.pdf. Army Management Staff College. (2010). Transforming Leaders Through Education. Retrieved on June 1, 2011 from: http://www.amsc.belvoir.army.mil/main/index.jsp. Civilian Personnel Online. (2011). Top Army Civilian Initiatives. Retrieved on June 1, 2011 from : http://www.cpol.army.mil/. Crusan, K. (2008). Diversity Roadmap gives Army Direction. Retrieved on May 28, 2011 from: http://www.drucom.de/milcom/bn/2011/bn_08_2011.pdf Keller. J. M. (2009) .Motivational Design for Learning and Performance: The ARCS Model Approach. Springer. Military Installations. (2011). Hohenfels, United States Army Garrison, Germany. Retrieved on May 28, 2011 from: http://apps.mhf.dod.mil/pls/psgprod/f?p=MI:CONTENT:619125715291798::NO::P4_INST_ID:1645 Oerlemans. W. (1977). ETHNIC DIVERSITY AT WORK. Retrieved on June 1, 2011 from: http://www.schaufeli.com/finsihed_phd/PhD%20Wido%20Oerlemans%202009. U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr. (2006). Environmental Quality-Overseas Installation. Retrieved on May 28, 2011 from: http://www.denix.osd.mil/awards/upload/Army_Graf_EQ-Narrative.pdf. U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr. (2011). Grafenwoehr Military Community. Retrieved on May 28, 2011 from: http://www.grafenwoehr.army.mil/sites/support/eeo.asp U.S. Consulate Munich. Bavaria and the United States. Retrieved on May 28, 2011 from: http://germany.usembassy.gov/root/pdfs/policy/ga_bavaria.pdf. U.S Army Europe. (2011).USAG,GRAFENWOHR/VILSECK. Retrieved on May 28, 2011 from: http://www.gettingaround.net/pages/usareur-grafenwoehr.php U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr. (2011). Family and Morale , Welfare and Recreation. Retrieved on May 28, 2011 from : http://www.grafenwoehrmwr.com/cyss/cyss_parent.html . Bavarian American. (2011). Comprehensive Soldier fitness. [Pdf]. Retrieved on May 28,2011 from : http://www.grafenwoehrmwr.com/magazine/currentBA Warren . D. ( 2009). Agency makes civilian development a priority. [Online]. Retrieved on May 28, 2011 from: http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123155113 Read More