The Effect of Personnel Stability on Organizational Performance
Do Battalions with Stable Command Groups Achieve Higher Training Proficiency at the National Training Center?
In 2003, the Army began transitioning from an individual replacement system to a personnel management system called lifecycle manning, which is based on an assumed causal linkage in which personnel stability leads to higher unit cohesion, which leads, in turn, to increased unit effectiveness. This dissertation empirically tests that assumption by analyzing the direct relationship between personnel stability and unit effectiveness without incorporating cohesion. The analysis applies production function theory with the factor input of interest being increased personnel stability and a production output of unit effectiveness. Using new measures of personnel stability and training proficiency scores from previous RAND research, this research assesses whether battalions with stable leadership achieve higher levels of training proficiency. The analysis results do not show a prevalent or strong relationship between battalion leadership stability and battalion training proficiency. This unexpected result potentially calls into question whether the transition to lifecycle manning should continue in its current form, because there may be more flexibility in officer management than lifecycle manning policies permit.
Table of Contents
Policy Objective and Research Approach
Background and Literature Review
Measuring Personnel Stability and Unit Effectiveness
Model Specification for the Stability-Effectiveness Relationship
Analysis Results and Discussion
Policy Implications and Recommendations for Future Research
Scatter Plots for Command Group Stability vs. Training Proficiency Scores
Battalion Training Task Definitions
Additional Stability Analysis