Title: Beyond distribution and assignment: managing navy careers

Authors: Norman Keith Womer

Addresses: College of Business Administration, University of Missouri – Saint Louis, One University Blvd, St Louis, Mo 63121, USA

Abstract: Numerous studies have attempted to provide technological solutions to the problem of sailor distribution and assignment. But they have failed to model the roles of several stakeholders. This paper aims to provide timely technical support and relevant information to the stakeholders. The approach is to model a sailor|s sequence of jobs as a supply chain. The contribution of this effort is to introduce supply chain management as a way of thinking about the problem. Each command receives a sailor|s services, but that command also invests in the sailor by providing training and experience. It is this investment activity that makes the sailor more valuable to commands later in the supply chain. An optimal system will encourage commands to invest in sailor attributes that are desired by other commands with jobs later in the supply chain. The model that is outlined in this paper measures the value of assigning a sailor to a particular job early enough to encourage this investment while recognising the inputs of all relevant stakeholders.

Keywords: career management; manpower planning; Navy careers; supply chain management; SCM; stakeholders; sailor distribution; sailor assignment; job sequences; sailor attributes; sailors; stakeholder input.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSSCI.2008.019610

International Journal of Services Sciences, 2008 Vol.1 No.2, pp.164 - 178

Published online: 17 Jul 2008 *

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