Finding the balance between schoolhouse and on-the-job training / Thomas Manacapilli ... [and others].

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Manacapilli, Thomas.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Air Force. Air Education and Training Command.

Aeronautics, Military--Study and teaching--United States.

Aeronautics, Military.

United States. Air Force. Air Education and Training Command--Evaluation.

United States.

Evaluation.

Aeronautics, Military--Study and teaching.

Physical Description:

xxiv, 124 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Santa Monica, CA : RAND Corp., 2007.

Summary:

The Air Force typically trains 30,000 to 40,000 new airmen in some 300 specialties each year. It utilizes two methods for training its enlistees: centralized initial skills training (IST, or "schoolhouse" training) and decentralized on-the-job training (OJT). All too often, only IST costs are considered when "pricing" training, seriously underestimating the overall cost to train an airman. When all the costs are considered, including those of OJT, decisions related to the length of IST can be better informed. To determine the most cost-effective combination of IST and OJT, the authors developed a methodology based on a cost-benefit analysis of seven Air Force specialties. From a statistical analysis of data taken from surveys of senior enlisted personnel, they were able to assess how productivity changes when IST course length changes and to make recommendations concerning the IST course lengths that would produce the most productive airmen for the least possible cost.

Contents:

Motivation and Background 2

Centralized and Decentralized Training in the Air Force 4

An Approach for Determining the Length of Centralized Training 8

Data Sources 9

Structure of the Monograph 11

Chapter 2 Review of the Literature 13

Measuring Productivity 13

Comparing Technical Training Graduates and Directed-Duty Assignees 15

Calculating Costs for OJT 16

Additional Options 18

Current Program and Available Data 18

What This Monograph Adds 20

Chapter 3 A Survey to Determine Productivity and Effectiveness 23

Survey Contents 23

Selection of Survey Participants and Sample Size 25

Quantifying Time to Become Fully Mission Effective 27

Variance in Responses 28

Deriving Effectiveness Curves 30

Scaling the Effectiveness Curves 32

Determining What Curriculum Elements Should Be Dropped or Added 35

Discussion of "Suggestion" Responses 37

Summarizing the Qualitative Data 42

Developing Incremental Change Functions 42

Chapter 4 Calculating Total Cost 51

Productive Activity and Human Capital Development Costs 51

Training Costs 52

On-the-Job Training Costs 53

Chapter 5 Cost-Effective Course Lengths 57

The Full Cost of Human Capital Development 57

Reducing Human Development Costs 60

Cost, Productivity, and End Strength 62

Constant End Strength 62

Constant Productivity 65

Constant Cost 67

Chapter 6 Recommendations and Conclusions 69

A Air Force Specialty Code Descriptions 73

B Survey Instrument 75

C Defining "Fully Mission-Effective" or "Mission-Ready" Airmen 83

D Data Cleaning 87

E Statistical Results 91

F Productivity Curves 97

G Comments on Adding/Deleting Content from IST 105

H Cost-Productivity Results for Seven AFSCs 113.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 121-124).

ISBN:

9780833040459

0833040456

OCLC:

86117746