Engineering - Royal Australian Navy

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Naval Engineering Bulletin • June 2001 training. The consequence of this is that ships have a topheavy technical manpower structure at sea. Put simply, there are not enough junior sailor positions at sea to provide the follow on requirements to the more senior positions. RAN Technical Manpower Demographics. Last year the RAN recruited about thirty percent of an MT and ET requirement that was already too small to make up for existing shortcomings. So far this year recruiting have done better, but last month (April 2001) the ETs received 6 out of 18 and MTs received 27 out of 30. It is still too early to call the long-term trend on the likelihood of recruiting the numbers we want. Watch how recruiting goes. Fortunately, the RAN has a couple of hundred SMN and AB MTs not in billets but the spare ETs have now been used to fill positions. Most of the MTs appear to have been placed at sea. However, there are not enough bunks at sea to train people for promotion to the higher ranks. Trainees are presumably in the passageways and tiller-flats. However, these people were recruited to grow the category and so we are likely to have problems in the future. What Will Happen? In the short term look forward to minimum time for promotion for most sailors in the middle ranks and anticipate more people of the next lowest rank to the billet designated rank being posted in to billets. Probably, personnel will see the provisions for acting rank being increasingly used. If recruiting is successful these effects will slowly dissipate. If shortfalls persist workforce personnel will need to take other actions. Understand that improvements will take several years. In the longer term, anticipate more women in the work force because they are becoming the largest under utilised recruitment pool. managed. Due to this shortcoming, it is particularly important that the junior sailors use their time at sea effectively. This probably means that fairly intensive management of engineering personnel is required as self management is not likely to provide sufficient quality throughput to maintain the workforce. If you are ashore, help AB and SMN to progress competencies and gain experience as much as possible. This will assist those at sea in that phase of training. For those in more senior positions keep abreast of how manpower management is progressing, contact staff at Directorate of Naval Personnel Requirements (Engineering & Logistic) and encourage your juniors to do the same. For all supervisors, keep in mind what is happening in the wider population. Increased industry demand for technicians will lead to increased pressures to leave the RAN whilst making recruiting more difficult. Retention thus becomes ever more important. Lack of respect for authority, higher expectations and education mean that abuses of power and position will be even less tolerable than now. While stopping abuses might not help retention, continuing them will make it worse. Check out your supervisory style. It might be that you are over supervising and directing. Can you increase the level of trust in your workplace? Are you willing to ask your subordinates what you could do to improve their working conditions and environment by changing your behaviour? Doing this might increase your subordinates’ control of their circumstances. This has a major effect on morale and stress and could help retention. While you are at it, are you brave enough to ask your peers how they see you could improve? Are you brave enough to return the favour? What the Policy Areas Have Done. Already, some specialisations eg. Mk 92 and FFG MT (E) are critical. The reasons for this are mostly outside the above issues but are indicative of what the engineering community will have to manage in the future. NAVSYSCOM personnel have discussed restructuring crews so that they are more easily sustained. This needs more development. In addition alternative methods of management that will allow greater flexibility are being developed. However, many of these activities will take some time to produce an outcome. What You Can Do? If you are at sea, look at your engineering crew makeup. Roughly speaking if each rank is not half the number of the one below it or less, then it may be too difficult to sustain. That is, for each CPO, you need two PO, four LS and eight AB/SMN. Some variation is allowed but most ships are a long way from this structure. Can you redistribute crew responsibilities to follow this ratio? The lack of available bunk at sea is well known so supervisors will need to look at how that is going to be These personnel issues provide opportunities as well as problems. The trick will be to find these chances while managing the problems. About the Author LCDR Wheatland RANR used to be full time Navy. He has worked on TTP92 but he promises that only half its problems were his fault. He has a BE Mechanical and an MBA from which he has nearly recovered. He left the RAN and sailed around the Pacific on a yacht for eighteen months. He has done some consulting with other organisations and is reasonably sure the answer is not out there. Now he is working in the category sponsors area because it is the biggest puzzle of its type in Australia 69
Naval Engineering Bulletin • June 2001 Dedicated to the Engine Room Depts., H.M.A. Corvettes (Sung to the tune of “Jingle Bells”) The bells on our corvette are ringing, ringing with delight; We’re going into harbour, to stay there over night. Full ahead and half and slow, then stop and full astern we go, But when the panic really starts, the captain lets us know. With his- CHORUS- Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the day, Captain’s having lots of fun, round and round the bay. Ships steer clear, sailors cheer, “battlers” stand aside; It takes a day’s manoeuvring. Who said the seas are wide? Jimmy throws lines for’d, Guns looks after aft, Sailors run around the decks with fenders, looking daft. Buffer leaves his mah-jongg, to see what he can do; But when they find the lines too short, the captain comes in view. With his- (Repeat first chorus) The third or fourth attempt, when reached, is always best to see; By then their nerves have settled down, they’re sailors to a “T”. The ship gets into place at last, bent plates and dented strakes, And before they go to tsea gain they argue out mistakes. With their- LAST CHORUS- Jingle bells, jingle bells, they’re finished for today; Captain’s had his day of fun, round and round the bay. Jimmy’s learnt a little more, Guns had lessons too; In 1955, I’m sure, they’ll show us what to do. “THE MACAROON” Reproduced with permission from “H.M.A.S. Mk. IV”, published for the Royal Australian Navy by the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, A.C.T. 1945 70
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Engineering - Royal Australian Navy

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