Integrative Modeling Approach for Managing the Total Defense Labor Force.

摘要

This report introduces an integrative approach to evaluating the cost-effectiveness of Department of Defense manpower decisions. The approach's objective is to capture cost and effectiveness implications that result from interactions among DoD's labor management systems-interaction, for example, among systems that determine: 1) Potential wartime operational goals and peacetime operating objectives; 2) The mix of active, reserve, and civilian manning; 3) The size and structure of peacetime personnel inventories; and 4) Coordination between combat-related (or direct) manpower and indirect manpower support activities. An integrative approach can revise cost-effectiveness findings from those obtained in a narrower context. Indeed, manning decisions that appear cost-effective according to fairly standard evaluation methodologies can be shown to cause higher costs or reduced effectiveness when subjected to a more comprehensive analysis. This report demonstrates that fact using simple numerical illustrations of two prominent types of decisions: A) Decisions about the active/reserve balance, i.e., about whether to shift certain missions from active to reserve components (or vice versa); and B) Decisions about civilization, i.e., whether to replace military manning in certain support functions with civilians (or vice versa). (KR)