Technology for the United States Navy and Marine Corps, 2000-2035: Becoming a 21st-Century Force Volume 4: Human Resources (1997) / Chapter Skim
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4 Quality of Life
4 Quality of Life
Pages 72-86
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From page 72... ...
Military members live by a code of behavior more demanding than that required of the average citizen. These unique demands require military leaders to seek ways to deal with the special stresses inherent in a military lifestyle and career.2 iTice, R
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From page 73... ...
Navy QOL strategies for the 21st century require an expanded examination of the relationships between QOL investments and militarily relevant variables. This analysis must take into consideration assumptions about the future Navy and Marine Corps and their mission in the 21st century, possible effects of emerging technologies on QOL, ways in which various demographic and social changes may affect QOL perceptions, and evolving procedures and methods for delivering cost-effective human services.
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From page 74... ...
Such stability implies that Navy personnel and their families will continue to be concerned with the same facets of their lives regardless of future environmental and technological changes. For the Navy and Manne Corps, QOL is important because of its relationship to military recruitment and retention, as well as its contribution to personal readiness and performance.8 9 l0 ll l2 Positive perceptions of Navy and Manne Corps life are critical to the ability to attract and retain qualified personnel, while QOL in duty-related life domains has an important impact on individual morale, group (small unit)
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From page 75... ...
These initiatives facilitate the level of commitment necessary for mission accomplishment and help to moderate aspects of military life stress and to sustain member well-being. ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT THE NAVY IN THE 21ST CENTURY As we move into the 21st century, the Navy's primary QOL challenges involve expected changes in the nature of military duties and career expectations and the impact of specific duty and career demands on personal and family life.l4 Future sailors and marines will be based out of a smaller number of geographic locations, primarily in the United States rather than overseas.
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From page 76... ...
For example, as the Navy and Manne Corps decrease the stock of on-base housing in favor of private sector, off-base housing development and monetary entitlements, there are potential impacts on each member' s sense of psychological connection to and identification with the Navy and Manne Corps as institutions.l5 l6 In addition, such changes will affect the need for and use of other human service programs.l7 Where people live represents an important component of their formal and informal social interactions and subsequent group identification. Future policy and management decisions, like housing policy, need to include a broadly viewed QOL impact assessment.
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From page 77... ...
From a sailor's or manne's perspective, successful mission accomplishment leads to high moralel9 and subsequently to a satisfying military quality of life. Family separations because of training, operational deployments, and unaccompanied tours of duty are typically considered among the most difficult aspects of military life.20 2l 22 The availability of improved communication technologies can help at-sea members deal with one of the major stresses of Navy life.
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From page 78... ...
In general, higher educational level produces greater QOL expectations, which in turn increases the importance of addressing QOL issues in both duty and personal life domains. Voluntary education programs, already among the most-valued QOL programs, will become more popular as the need to be career competitive increases.
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From page 79... ...
QOL research provides the basis for an assessment of the fabric of the organization and the information required for important investment decisions that will affect the organization's future. QOL research must help guide decisions about overall allocation of resources that is, the tradeoffs between alternative QOL programs, 29Kerce, Elyse W
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From page 80... ...
272~. While measurement issues are obviously formidable, QOL research remains an important area of interest both because of the economic issues involved and because of the apparent linkages between QOL and venous m~litanly relevant variables such as recruitment, retention, readiness, and personnel performance.
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From page 81... ...
The Army is developing what might be considered a candidate 21st-century comprehensive, integrated, computer-based QOL information system.34 In July 1996, the Army Chief of Staff directed the development of a quarterly command update that assesses broadly defined objective and subjective components of QOL. This requirement has resulted in an effort to develop an Installation Status Report (ISR)
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From page 82... ...
Addressing these kinds of questions will require expanded program evaluation efforts and the establishment of longitudinal research studies that begin to examine a variety of military career issues.37 Relationships among naval forces' members, and among member families, are critical components of overall QOL, and they need to be represented in all QOL assessments. As noted above, military leaders typically refer to these connections as unit cohesion.38 The challenge for the Navy and Manne Corps involves more than just managing "collections" (compensation, benefits, and services)
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From page 83... ...
in institutionalizing reliable, valid, and readily available QOL data and management access to these data. For many military human service programs such as family services, this means developing measures of effectiveness that go beyond the current process measures (e.g., counts of program use)
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From page 84... ...
Recently, RAND, the U.S. Manne Corps, and the Army Family Research Program conducted studies to develop theoretically and statistically sound measures of individual readiness.46 The previously described Army QOL information system for the 21st century is attempting to incorporate components from many of these QOL readiness models.
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From page 85... ...
· Workplace characteristics. As new technologies reshape the workplace, there is a need to ensure that the cognitive and sensory demands of complex tasks do not exceed normal human capabilities or reasonable levels of stress.
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From page 86... ...
· Communication. Separations due to training, operational deployments, and unaccompanied tours of duty are typically considered among the most difficult aspects of military family life.47 48 49 The availability of improved communication technologies should be exploited to help deployed personnel deal with one of the major stresses of Navy life and to enhance QOL by providing opportunities to maintain closer contact with families and other loved ones.
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