Modelling workforce employability pipelines for organisational resilience

Victoria Jnitova,Elizabeth Chang,Mahmoud Efatmaneshnik,Keith Joiner

doi:10.1177/18479790211004010

Abstract

Large organisations use both internal and external methods to educate their workforce. Workforce approaches in Defence were usually of a closed nature, characterised by entry at recruitment and sequential and hierarchical rank progression. More recently, emerging technology and the associated pace of societal change has required Defence to recruit more laterally and to outsource more education, both ab initio and development. The growing complexity of workforce problems, therefore, challenges military educational decision making to increase its focus on organisational resilience. Modelling and Simulation (M&S) can take messy, ill-defined problems and build models for decision support and problem-solving. M&S is being explored in Defence workforce employability planning to deliver education that is more resilient to perturbations and can more confidently predict graduate demand for educational support partnering. However, the effective use of M&S can be compromised if it is not cognitively useful for the problem owner. A new transformational approach between the modeller and the managers of Defence educational workforce is proposed and illustrated by two conceptual case studies. The method uses the module-based translation between Business Process Model Notation (BPMN) design patterns and systems dynamics building blocks to reduce the problem owner’s reliance on specialist modellers. This approach increases the cognitive effectiveness of proposed workforce education solutions and the sharing and reuse of workforce M&S applications. Any large organisation with sufficient human resource and systems engineering support could adopt this new approach to model and simulate their workforce education and examine their resilience to fluctuations.

Highlights

Military recruitment, education and training in Australia are challenged by growing complexity of workforce problems that feature requirements for unique skill sets, competing priorities and uncertainties associated with new technologies and capabilities.[1,2] This complexity increases even further with the division of military workforce into the Sailor/Soldier/Aircrewman and Officer cohorts that work harmoniously in the same workplaces, but often have very different entry points and education and training requirements.[3]
Research has identified that modelling and simulation in workforce employability pipelines offer significant benefits, especially to modern complexities in technology and societal changes
Modelling and Simulation (M&S) is impeded by the complexity of systems dynamics and a dependency on specialists to construct and use

Summary

Introduction

Education and training in Australia are challenged by growing complexity of workforce problems that feature requirements for unique skill sets, competing priorities and uncertainties associated with new technologies and capabilities.[1,2] This complexity increases even further with the division of military workforce into the Sailor/Soldier/Aircrewman and Officer cohorts that work harmoniously in the same workplaces, but often have very different entry points and education and training requirements.[3]. This paper reports a M&S building approach based on a modular translation between common conceptual models and systems dynamic constructs to improve modelability of the military education and training problems and cognitive effects of the M&S applications. The aim in the case studies is to provide military workforce education specialists with a modelling toolset that enables independent development of M&S that is more intuitive to use, generic, adaptable to new technologies, cost-effective and comparatively easy to share and reuse This transformational process can be extended to include other business and workforce management factors, as envisioned by some researchers in capability systems engineering[36] and soft systems methodology.[37]. The documented modelling approach would benefit from more automation to increase its efficiency and facilitate more independent conduct by problem owners

Discussion

Conclusion