Back to Case Studies

Client: Canadian Forces MOSART Project

Case Study: Career field analysis and recommendations

Client Profile

The Canadian Forces military occupation structure was designed in the 1970s. By the early 21st century, a review of the structure, including land operations occupations, was prudent in light of cumulative minor changes over the years and the fact that governance from a centralized HR authority had waned over the same time period. In order to meet this need the Canadian Forces launched a project known as the Military Occupation Structure Analysis, Redesign and Tailoring (MOSART).

Business Challenge

Under the military occupation structure there are four occupational areas related to land combat, collectively known as the “combat arms”: Infantry, Armour, Artillery, and Field Engineers. The senior leadership of the land component of the Canadian Forces had for a long time been managing and administering these occupations as a de facto single career field with constituent occupations. It was time to conduct a thorough analysis and make specific recommendations on whether and how to create a deliberate career field structure for the combat arms as part of the MOSART project. Critical challenges would be to maintain the integrity of the Army’s regimental structure – fundamental to the maintenance of cohesion and morale – as well as contributing to continued operational effectiveness and administrative efficiency. Moreover, there was a concern that introducing radical changes to traditional branch and regimental affiliations as a result of a “change for change’s sake” mentality could very likely lead to an emotional reaction and resistance. This factor had to be taken into serious consideration and the study team would have to walk a fine line between competing requirements.

Solution

In 2004-05, while still serving as a military officer, Richard Martin led a strategic-level team of professional officers and Chief Warrant Officers in conducting the occupational analysis and career field study for the Canadian Forces' combat arms occupations as part of the MOSART project. This team represented a cross section of highly experienced soldiers from across the nation and relevant Army branches. Working together as a team of subject matter experts and occupational analysts under the leadership of Richard Martin, the team thoroughly analyzed the results of thousands of job questionnaires submitted by officers and other members of the combat arms. These data were clustered using a software analysis tool in order to identify commonalities on the basis of common jobs and tasks. The identified jobs were then grouped into relevant career field and occupational areas. The most interesting result was that the analysis mostly validated the historical and traditional approach to management of the combat arms occupations.

Even more interesting though, was that the thorough analysis and rigorous methodology were instrumental in leading to clear strategic recommendations to maintain the current combat arms occupational structure essentially intact, while introducing incremental changes in the form of an overarching career field and a minimalist management framework. Thus, the study team was able to maintain the integrity of the branches and regimental system, while slightly redesigning, adjusting and tailoring the occupational structure. This was fully in line with the stated aim of introducing only the changes that were absolutely required.

Back to Case Studies