2003 IMTA Proceedings - International Military Testing Association

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INTRODUCTION
FUTURE-ORIENTED JOB ANALYSIS FOR FIRST-TOUR
SOLDIERS 41
Christopher E. Sager, Ph.D. and Teresa L. Russell, Ph.D.
Human Resources Research Organization
Alexandria, VA, USA
csager@humrro.org
The Select21 project was undertaken to help the U.S. Army ensure that it acquires
Soldiers with the knowledges, skills, and attributes (KSAs) needed for performing the types of
tasks envisioned in a transformed Army. Army leadership recognizes the importance of its Soldiers
to the effectiveness of transformation. In this context, the ultimate objectives of the project are to
(a) develop and validate measures of critical KSAs needed for successful execution of the Future
Army’s missions and (b) propose use of these measures as a foundation for an entry-level selection
and classification system adapted to the demands of the 21 st century. The purpose of this first stage
of the project was to conduct a future-oriented job analysis to support the development and
validation effort.
APPROACH
In this section we briefly describe concepts underlying our approach, challenges, and the
strategies we used to complete the future-oriented job analysis.
Underlying Concepts
The Select21 project focuses on the period of transformation to the Future Army—a
transition that is envisioned to take on the order of 30 years to complete (Institute for Land
Warfare, October 17, 2000). This conceptualization of the transformation implies that the next
several years will include elements of the Army (a) in its current state, (b) transitional systems,
and (c) combat systems characteristic of the fully transformed Future Army. Our goal is to
develop measures of KSAs that will be useful in the not too distant future and remain so for
many years. Therefore, we decided to focus on the time period during which all of these
elements will be present simultaneously. This transformation will affect first-tour Soldier
requirements in at least two ways: (a) the types of missions for which Soldiers need to prepare
will grow in number and complexity, and (b) the tools and equipment Soldiers will be using to
perform these missions are undergoing significant changes (U.S. Army, 2001; December, 2002).
41 This paper is part of a symposium titled Selecting Soldiers for the Future Force: The Army’s Select21 Project
presented at the 2003 International Military Testing Association Conference in Pensacola, FL (D. J. Knapp, Chair).
The views, opinions, and/or findings contained in this paper are those of the authors and should not be construed as
an official U.S. Department of the Army position, policy, or decision.
45 th Annual Conference of the International Military Testing Association
Pensacola, Florida, 3-6 November 2003