Joining
Forces
DPO and DPA in historic merger
By
Leesha Furse
THE
merging of DPO and DPA on September 1 will create a new directorate
offering more job opportunities, more consistent advice and support
and equitable personnel management for all Air Force personnel.
The Directorate of Personnel – Air Force (DP-AF) will bring together
two separate parts of the Air Force that have existed since the
1940s. It will be responsible for people’s postings, promotions
and assisting in filling vacant positions.
Project manager Wing Commander Barb Wells said DP-AF was not expecting
people in the field to see any immediate differences, rather
a gradual change over coming months.
“Airmen will still be managed by airmen and officers by officers,” WGCDR Wells said. “There are no staff losses, so there’s
still the same ratio of personnel managers looking after the workforce.
“Within DP-AF, staff should gain a greater appreciation for personnel
issues across all ranks, musterings and specialisations.” The
new organisation will remove the perception that people are treated
differently, according to project officer Warrant Officer Paul
Lunn. “It’s not us and them; it’s all of us now,” WOFF Lunn said.
“Now, we’re all working off the same level playing field because
it’s the same directorate.” With that cultural understanding will
come a noticeable difference in the way the directorate helps
personnel.
“Personnel managers will have better information on which to base
their decisions,” WGCDR Wells said. “The commanders will have
a broader range of choice in terms of options for their units.
And individuals will get greater opportunity because of those
two things happening.”
Historic
merger of DPA and DPO
“The
integration of DPO and DPA will help individuals who are being
managed, their commanders and the Personnel Branch in a three-way
partnership,” WGCDR Wells said.
“If there are shortfalls in junior officers, for example, across
any category, there are more likely to be opportunities to put
airmen into those positions.
“If you’ve got an engineer shortfall, the engineering cell will
be managing not only the engineering officers but the technical
trades that align under those engineering officers; so that cell
then will have a holistic view of the whole workforce in the engineering
tech trade area and can pull an airmen into that job if he or
she has the right skill sets.
That’s a huge advantage. “For managers in the field, it allows
them more of a one-stop shop approach because they can just come
to Personnel Branch and they have one personnel management section
to deal with.
“They can say, ‘I’ve got this problem: I need to have some bodies
for this job’ and we will then be able to offer them a range of
options across the airmen and officer forces rather than having
them go to two different areas trying to find a solution.” WOFF
Lunn said unit succession plans could integrate where needed.
“When a commander is going to sit down with a member and work
out their future priorities, they’re going to be far better versed
because when they come back to seek our guidance there will be
synergies between the airmen and officer force,” he said.
“From the perspective of the member, there’s a better chance of
them getting an accurate and informed decision on their future.”
DPO and DPA staff will carry over their differences in the way
they do some things, but in the long-term WGCDR Wells expects
changes to be made as each team finds smarter ways of completing
tasks.
WOFF Lunn said DP-AF would possibly look at the promotion models
after September 1 with a view to further streamline any similarities.
He said DP-AF would also better recognise some of the cross-issues,
such as collocation of serving members, because the personnel
managers would work alongside one another.
Being located in the one area meant the advice was more likely
to be consistent, WGCDR Wells said. Group Captain John Hewitson,
the current Director – Personnel Capability Management, will become
Director of Personnel. GPCAPT Hewitson said the major reason for
the merger was to provide a better service now and to position
the Air Force for its future workforce.
“There’s always a tendency within the military to look at things
and go, ‘Well, if it’s not broken, we just leave it as is’,” GPCAPT
Hewitson said.
“In reality, if you were to design a personnel directorate right
now – if the current organisations didn’t exist and you were starting
with a clean sheet of paper – there is no way you would recreate
what we have; you would actually build what we are moving to.
“What we’re trying to do is match people to jobs by looking more
at individual competencies and competency requirements, whereas
in the past militaries have traditionally used rank and mustering
as a method of determining people’s competencies.
We’re trying to take that to the next level and build profiles
of people under jobs and match them much better.
“I would suggest over the next 10 to 15 years that will be where
all of our focus will be – on what competencies are actually required
to man new capabilities and then on providing those kind of people.”
The
restructure
The
restructure is an initiative of the Air Force Personnel Strategy,
which looked at better ways to do business and to conduct human
resource management. It will occur in two phases:
Phase
1:
DPO and DPA will merge on September 1 to form the Directorate
of Personnel -Air Force (DP-AF). The new directorate takes on
all the responsibilities of the former DPO and DPA.
The Directorate of Personnel Executive Review and Development
(DPERD-AF) is also created on September 1. This directorate will
undertake personnel management of group captains and some administration
for air rank officers.
This directorate will also take responsibility for Air Force Cultural
Alignment and Personnel Executive Review.
Phase
2:
The Directorate of Personnel Reserves - Air Force will merge into
DP-AF during the second half of 2005.
What
the change means
