Smudge,
At the risk of repeating myself endlessly, I have cut and pasted some comments I made recently in another thread...
"...the RAF is now run on the basis of management rather than leadership (how many officers have MBAs these days, even down to junior level?).
This has created a tick chasing, box filling culture, where the performance of a base, and no doubt promotion recommendations for senior officers, is now measured in terms of certain KPIs (key performance indicators).
In the same way that league tables for schools ended up distorting activity (for example I have heard of schools not letting pupils sit exams because they would probably only get a D, which would effect the schools pass rate and therefore league table position), the same is happening within the RAF. Station senior hierarchy make meeting KPIs their main focus of activity, creating a culture where the box has to be ticked, whether or not it actually has any relevance to the individual involved, and despite the amount of effort/goodwill/overtime it might require to do so..."
The admin burden of individuals has increased masssively in recent years, partly as a result of IT changes. Between switching to the DII system, then learning about MOSS, then having to do yet another IT security course on line, many of which are annual requirements, then checking e-mails that have nothing to do with me (as a result of people using the classic easy opt out of "reply to all" once someone starts a scattergun type e-mail) a large of amount of my time is simply spent checking information which often isn't relevant. Then of course there's JPA.
20+ years ago the spread of IT was minimal, and people only burst into print when necessary, partly because of the amount of effort involved. In the same way you filled in individual forms for leave, travel claims, hand wrote a signal, etc. They also "talked" more to each other, in the worse case by phone. Nowadays, with easy access to IT, the amount of information being pushed out by individuals (many of whom see their output productivity as having a direct result on their promotion prospects) is vast. The classic can't see the wood for the trees approach.
What are Oberon's 10 Flt Lts, 2 Sqn Ldrs and a Wg Cdr doing that he used to do as a Chf Tech? No doubt partly generating and responding to the massive amount of information being circulated out there, along with quality (and quality improvement) meetings, H&S meetings, risk management, execs meetings, etc.... But is the actual workforce doing a markedly better job, or even a noticeably better one?
Whether anyone will agree with this or not will probably depend on their age (I have been for 30 odd years). The younger generation will have grown up in the world of IT, will take it for granted, and have no previous military experience of hand writing memos, signals, leave passes, etc. Some of the older guys may agree with me....
Last edited by Biggus; 18th Aug 2013 at 08:58.