Stabilization and Reconstruction Staffing - RAND Corporation

xviStabilization and Reconstruction Staffing: Developing U.S. Civilian PersonnelStrategic AlignmentFindingsTo ensure strategic alignment, which, according to OPM, is a system“that promotes alignment of human capital management strategieswith agency mission, goals, and objectives through analysis, planning,investment, measurement and management of human capital programs,”it is imperative to determine how the operation will be managedat all levels. Many different agencies are part of the federal government,and each has its own human-resources (HR) functions andmanagement systems, although all are loosely related under the OPMumbrella. That separateness leads to one key problem: achieving unityof effort. In particular, a SSTR operation will require a unified staffworking to achieve the goals of the U.S. government, but it will almostcertainly be populated by individuals from several departments andagencies, as well as by contractor personnel. In view of the issues thatsurfaced during our interviews, as well as our direct experience withthe CPA, we chose three basic criteria for evaluating options on how toachieve a unity of effort:1.2.3.Responsiveness to the Ambassador: The SSTR operation islikely to have small staffs that provide assistance to deployedpersonnel. Having a single organizational point of contact forpersonnel issues across government will be critical to success.The distinguishing characteristic of this criterion is an operationalfocus.Capacity and capability: No single agency will have thebreadth of contacts and expertise to recruit the best personnelin every required field. The goal of this criterion is to maximizethe use of recruiting capabilities across the U.S. government.Accountability: Spreading the responsibility for personnelfunctions across all involved departments and agencies withno formal mechanism that ensures accountability will leadto shortcomings in finding and fielding high-quality personneland to accounting for those personnel while in theater.Although clearly related, accountability differs from responsive-