HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN THE BRITISH ARMED FORCES
Human Resource Management (HRM) has become a major issue for the UK Ministry of Defence and the British Armed Forces. Much emphasis is now placed on people issues' and these will grow in importance as the full effects of the 1998 Human Rights Act and the implications of the Macpherson Report begin to hit home. This is particularly the case for the Services, who until recently had been exempt from the main bulk of European legislation dealing with human resource and employment matters.
To date, there has been little academic investigation into HRM and the British Armed Forces. This book is the result of a conference organised by the Department of Defence Management and Security Analysis, Cranfield University, Royal Military College of Science.
The conference addressed the growing importance of HRM in the Armed Services, recognising that the time was ripe to address some of the challenging human resource issues impacting on the forces today. As well as concentrating on how the Services have dealt with recruitment and retention difficulties, it addressed such issues as diversity, equality, homosexuality and career development.
This book offers some insights into how these issues have been dealt with by the MOD and the Services. The studies are practitioner based, set within analytical academic frameworks. In the belief that our approach will open the debate in this area and encourage further research and analysis, we have set out to make each chapter educational, informative, and, we hope, challenging.
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN THE BRITISH ARMED FORCES
Investing in the Future
Edited by
Alex Alexandrou, Richard Bartle
and
Richard Holmes
First published in 2001 by
FRANK CASS PUBLISHERS
Published 2013 by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2001 editorial selection Alex Alexandrou, Richard Bartle and Richard Holmes; chapters, individual contributors
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The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility of liability for any errors or omissions that may be made.
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ISBN 13: 978-0-714-65128-6 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-714-68156-6 (pbk)
Contents
Alex Alexandrou, Richard Bartle and Richard Holmes
Gordon Bruce
Graham Complin
Richard Bartle
Richard Holmes
Richard Douglas
Asifa Hussain
Alex Alexandrou
Allan Ross
Alex Alexandrou has worked extensively in the field of industrial relations and human resource management, particularly in the public sector. He is now a Cranfield University lecturer in the Department of Defence Management and Security Analysis at the Royal Military College of Science, specialising in HRM from a public sector perspective.
Richard Bartle was an Army Officer for 23 years whose duties included being an Inspector of Army Training. He retired in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and is now a Cranfield University lecturer in the Department of Defence Management and Security Analysis at the Royal Military College of Science. He specialises in Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource Management in the military sphere.
Gordon Bruce joined the Royal Air Force in 1987. He is currently a Squadron Leader desk officer in the Service Personnel Policy (SPPol) area of the Ministry of Defence having previously served in various RAF appointments as an HR practitioner. As part of the SPPol Strategy team he has been involved with the production of the Armed Forces Overarching Personnel Strategy.
Graham Complin joined the Royal Signals in 1979 as an apprentice and was commissioned in 1986. Following the completion of studies at the Canadian Staff College and the Royal Military College of Science he is currently posted as a Major to Headquarters Land Command with responsibility to provide operational Communication and Information Systems advice to the Land Operations Group. His main area of interest is the development of military HRM.
Richard Douglas was commissioned into the Royal Army Educational Corps in 1981 after two years as a secondary school teacher. Since then he has been involved in the delivery, design and management of training in the Army in the UK, Germany and Hong Kong. He currently holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and in 1999 was appointed Commandant of the Tri-Service Equal Opportunities Training Centre at Shrivenham.
Richard Holmes is Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield University, Royal Military College of Science. He taught military history at RMA Sandhurst for many years and has written a number of books including Firing Line. He regularly writes and presents television documentaries: his BBC 2 series The Western Front was screened in the summer of 1999. A Territorial infantry officer for over thirty years, until late 2000 he was Director of Reserve Forces and Cadets in the MoD.
Asifa Hussain is a MoD Research Fellow at the Scottish Centre for War Studies, University of Glasgow. She is an academic advisor to the Ministry of Defence on human resource management and equal opportunities in the Armed Forces. She is employed jointly by the MoD and the University of Glasgow. Her current research has centred on ethnic minority recruitment and equal opportunities in the uniformed services, and more significantly an analysis of ethno-religious perceptions of the Armed Forces among Britains minority communities.
Allan Ross was commissioned in the Royal Air Force in 1982. He retired in the rank of Squadron Leader before taking up a post with the Royal Saudi Arabian Air Force. He is now a lecturer in law at Cranfield University in the Department of Defence Management and Security Analysis where he specialises in the impact of national and EC law on the military.
Human Resource Management in the Armed Forces continues to grow in importance. This has been highlighted by the emphasis placed on people issues by the Strategic Defence Review (1998), the launch of the Tri-Service Equal Opportunities Training Centre in 1998, the MoDs Mission Statement (1998), the 1999 Defence White Paper, the Social Code of Conduct (2000) and the Armed Forces Overarching Personnel Strategy (2000).
In addition, the implications of the Human Rights Act (1998), the Macpherson Report (1999) and the recruitment and retention difficulties currently being experienced by the forces suggests that now is the time to address some of the challenging human resource issues impacting on the Armed Forces today.
