An investigation of the current validity of career planning in hierachically structured organisations such as the South African Air Force

Bibliography: p. 245-246.In l975 it became increasingly clear that the build-up of international political pressures on South Africa could lead to military confrontation with the Republic. Predictably such a possibility accelerated Defence expansion. This necessitated the more effective use of human, material and financial resources of, not only the military but also of the civilian sector of the country. Better performance of personnel could be obtained if they were able to recognise and appreciate the requirements for advancement to their goals in their chosen careers. Viable careers are formulated in career plans - those top management directives containing details of career development programmes, job activities and opportunities, guidance, behaviour patterns and the requirements for advancement in the organisation. No formally structured career plans were found in a number of large hierarchically structured civilian organisations such as Shell, Mobil or the University of Cape Town, to name but a f ew. Moreover, according to W F Glueck (1974) a similar situation existed in the United States of America. Furthermore this was also true of the South African Air Force's pilots and navigators - that vital personnel section of the Air Force's air crews. This enigma is difficult to comprehend. The implementation of the personal practices of manpower planning, attraction, selection, rewards, protection, career development, manpower control and evaluation increases the effectiveness of an organisation. Likewise a formally structured Career Plan would ensure greater development of an organisation's personnel and give them satisfaction and dignity. Moreover, the use of such career plans reduces turnover (and thus costs) and the hoarding of high calibre personnel. The integrity of the last two statements led to the formulation of this dissertation's hypothesis:- If the desirability of.a formally structured Career Plan, containing a career development programme, a counselling guide on the application of the programme, an appraisal system to measure performance and a model for predicting promotion vacancies, were recognised by an organisation, its adoption should be seriously considered. Thus the aim of this exploratory and descriptive study is to demonstrate the advisability and subsequent advantages to an organisation of a career plan, as proposed in the hypothesis, were adopted f or use by their personnel