In the past six years, planned downsizing has reduced the civilian work force of the U.S. Department of Defense from over 1 million to just under 850,000. By 2001, approximately 119,000 more civilian jobs will be eliminated. The reemployment picture for civilians is not strong, and the economic impact of base closings will also be felt by the surrounding communities. This book presents creative ideas for civilian outplacement based on or suggested by private-sector experiences. It discusses a number of issues that the Department of Defense must consider in its outplacement efforts, including organizational planning for effective outplacement services, whether or not to customize services for particular types of employees, monitoring outplacement practices to learn what works, and working with local communities in providing both job search and social services.
This volume presents a new perspective for discussing the European social contract and its main challenges, bringing together single-nation and comparative studies from across Europe. Presenting both theoretical discussions and empirical case studies, it explores various aspects of social cohesion, including social protection, the labour market, social movements, healthcare, social inequalities and poverty. With particular attention to the effects of the international economic and financial crisis on social cohesion, particularly in the light of the implementation of so-called ’austerity measures’, authors engage with questions surrounding the possible fragmentation of the European model of social cohesion and the transformation of forms of social protection, asking whether social cohesion continues to represent - if it ever did - a common feature of European countries. Breaking new ground in understanding the future of Social Europe and its main dynamics of change, The European Social Model Adrift will appeal to scholars of sociology, social policy and politics, with interests in social cohesion, the effects of financial crisis and the European social model.
In the past six years, planned downsizing has reduced the civilian work force of the U.S. Department of Defense from over 1 million to just under 850,000. By 2001, approximately 119,000 more civilian jobs will be eliminated. The reemployment picture for civilians is not strong, and the economic impact of base closings will also be felt by the surrounding communities. This book presents creative ideas for civilian outplacement based on or suggested by private-sector experiences. It discusses a number of issues that the Department of Defense must consider in its outplacement efforts, including organizational planning for effective outplacement services, whether or not to customize services for particular types of employees, monitoring outplacement practices to learn what works, and working with local communities in providing both job search and social services.
Total quality management (TQM), reengineering, the workplace of the twenty-first centuryâ€"the 1990s have brought a sense of urgency to organizations to change or face stagnation and decline, according to Enhancing Organizational Performance. Organizations are adopting popular management techniques, some scientific, some faddish, often without introducing them properly or adequately measuring the outcome. Enhancing Organizational Performance reviews the most popular current approaches to organizational changeâ€"total quality management, reengineering, and downsizingâ€"in terms of how they affect organizations and people, how performance improvements can be measured, and what questions remain to be answered by researchers. The committee explores how theory, doctrine, accepted wisdom, and personal experience have all served as sources for organization design. Alternative organization structures such as teams, specialist networks, associations, and virtual organizations are examined. Enhancing Organizational Performance looks at the influence of the organization's norms, values, and beliefsâ€"its cultureâ€"on people and their performance, identifying cultural "levers" available to organization leaders. And what is leadership? The committee sorts through a wealth of research to identify behaviors and skills related to leadership effectiveness. The volume examines techniques for developing these skills and suggests new competencies that will become required with globalization and other trends. Mergers, networks, alliances, coalitionsâ€"organizations are increasingly turning to new intra- and inter-organizational structures. Enhancing Organizational Performance discusses how organizations cooperate to maximize outcomes. The committee explores the changing missions of the U.S. Army as a case study that has relevance to any organization. Noting that a musical greeting card contains more computing power than existed in the entire world before 1950, the committee addresses the impact of new technologies on performance. With examples, insights, and practical criteria, Enhancing Organizational Performance clarifies the nature of organizations and the prospects for performance improvement. This book will be important to corporate leaders, executives, and managers; faculty and students in organizational performance and the social sciences; business journalists; researchers; and interested individuals.
A Presidio of San Francisco Closure Study began after the controversial Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1988 (BRAC 88) was enacted and placed the Presidio of San Francisco on the BRAC 88 Base Closure list. The required Presidio of San Francisco Closure Study, prepared by the Headquarters, Sixth US Army staff, tried to justify the continuance of the Presidio Post. This study continued for several years but eventually was ineffective bowing to political and military pressure and interference. This Case Study complements the Presidio of San Francisco Closure Study that overlaps the same time period that planned and programmed a systematic process where both management theory and assumptions could be applied to justify improvements in management competence, organizational improvements, and cost effectiveness. This Case Study contains a chronological history of events at the Presidio of San Francisco, and reviews a crisis precipitated by the Department of Defense (DOD) action under a Congressional mandate for Post and Base closures. This caused an administrative dilemma while concurrently, trying to plan the realignment of the Headquarters, Sixth US Army staff; discontinuance of the Presidio Garrison; closing the Presidio of San Francisco as a US Army military Installation; and transferring the Presidio Post operations, repair, and maintenance activities to the US National Park Service.
