Many executives in the academia and the corporate world sadly perceive the Armed Forces, to be a strict hierarchy where rules are deeply entrenched and orders are embellished and given from the top without debate or discussion without exception. Such thoughts are sadly concocted and are more of a figment of one’s imagination. The Armed Forces all over the world in their own unique way encourages innovative, positive out of box thinking.
An instance in point of the silo culture of rank and file is broken is enumerated in the case study appended below. The aim of the case study is to showcase some of the best HR practices for gaining a better understanding of the Armed Forces culture which in its own unique way creates bonding of the most exemplary kind for community living, a pre-requisite for survival both during peace and war.
Case study
This case study has been deliberately written in the first person
I am an Air Warrior and have served the Indian Air Force for 23 long years. I have served the Indian Air Force as an Education Instructor tradesman in the Indian Air Force. My entry level qualifications during recruitment read Honours in English Literature from Scottish Church College Calcutta and a Masters in the same subject.
The time I speak of is the year 2007. I was then on the posted strength of Electrical & Instrument Training Institute, Air Force, Jalahalli; Bangalore and tasked to conduct English lessons for our Technical recruits. The task was challenging as our trainees hail from diverse ethnic backgrounds and only some trainees are overtly familiar with the functionalities of the English language; having studied in schools affiliated to the CBSE or the ICSE. Many of our trainees have studied in the vernacular medium and hail from remote villages from India. The lack of functional knowledge of the English language thus thwarted the trainees understanding and assimilation of technical concepts at the training centre.
The language instructors (which included me as well) were tasked to improve the listening, speaking, reading and writing skills of the trainees to garner better competency levels. The trainees’ evinced keen interest in mustering rudiments of the English language as acquiring qualifying standards in the term end examinations earned them an entry as a non-commissioned technician in the Indian Air Force. So there was no lack of motivation or determination on the part of the trainees to put in efforts and the English classes proceeded with a blend of nuances of grammar, comprehension, paragraph writing, and exercises based on skill based learning.
However, my counterpart the technical instructors were far from happy. They were required to drill in technical concepts on aerodynamics, thermodynamics, aviation and technical related matter which called for the trainees to have a moderate understanding of the gradations of the English language, which very few trainees sadly could easily master. It was a messy situation; the boys had to be taught and taught fast to service the aircraft and maneuver the missiles on the ground and all these had to be in taught in English (a foreign language) within a short span of 06 months’ time. Trainee Performance in the term end examination ( 100 % results was the KRA) had a bearing on instructors’ appraisal; so the stress button and onus was on all the instructors; after all you cannot have promotions coming your way without meeting your training targets.
The critical situation necessitated a brain storming session and ideas were mooted by the commanding officer and instructional staff to cure the system of its perennial woes. The easy alternative was to bell the cat and pass on the buck to the Education Officer and his team to bring in academic rigor to teach the boys quickly the basics of English; all easier said than done. It was purportedly not a cake walk, an easy goal to accomplish. You cannot teach English language in six months time the fact was an obvious one.
There were yet others who suggested that the selection process at the entry level be brought under the scanner; and selection rules be made more stringent in terms of talent identification with high proficiency skills level in English, for all purposes of communication. Then someone said jovially that do we require a language expert or a technical hand. The ideas were good but the ideas merely served as round peg in square holes; not tailor made to fit in with our objectives to derive a solution.
In India, English as a language is not taught in all schools at the primary level, the curriculum in most Indian states do not cater for teaching English as a subject from the first standard onwards and hence the proposal to enhance entry level standards created a virtual storm in a tea cup. We at the training centre had no functional control over the decision making body to change entry level prerequisites other than to depend on the accumulated wisdom and prudence of authorities at the highest echelons which includes the Air Headquarters and the Central Government.
It was then that our commanding officer Group Captain Ajeeth Kumar (Presently retired AVM ) came out with the much sought solution. He had erstwhile chaired all our meetings and had been a witness to all our discussions, debates and brain storming sessions which often carried more smoke than fire in terms of generating solutions. Our genial commander advised us to go to the root cause of the problem and to identify our strengths and competencies to help evolve a home grown strategy. It was path breaking thinking that we were called upon to perform; to delve free from preconceived notions and analyze each parameter independently.
“Reasoning and analytical thinking is to be our key to garner solutions” our commander asserted and the thought process started with a new vein. The agenda was made more positive in thread bare terms and the following points were discussed and deliberated upon:
(a) All our trainees do not have the necessary skill based competency to understand the English language and this comes in their way of understanding and impairs comprehensive ability to understand the nuances of the technical concepts as given in the training manuals written in English.
Discussions:
(i) It was unanimously agreed upon that we had to hit upon solution or multiple solutions quickly and proactively.
(ii) Our trepidations were brought to light as poor performance by the trainees would translate into poor performance appraisal of instructional staff.
(iii) Further, putting the onus on Education officers and his team of language experts was no solution; this was akin to shrugging off responsibility.
(ii) ‘Remedial English coaching’, was mooted as a solution but not agreed upon owing to time constraints.
(iii) Putting the blame on the higher authorities for giving us poor trainable material was akin to crying over spilt milk.
(b) Make use of peer learning to create better learning outcomes
Discussions: (Points deliberated upon)
(i) Administer diagnostic test to ascertain proficiency level of use of the English language for the target population.
(ii) Results of the test to be used to form heterogeneous group to create positive learning outcomes.
(iii) The system (mentioned ibid) was not validated because the results were not tested and hence deemed inconclusive. The deterrent factor was time and its paucity.
Results
We again came to the square one situation. Our thinking cap had become dysfunctional. It was akin to beating your head against the wall. The solution looked at bay. We had reached the crossroads and looked at our Commanding Officer for some miracle to happen.
The results came. It took time; an offshoot of creative and out of box thinking. But then at that perilous hour we the instructors were at our wits end.
What then was the answer? The answer had to come from us. We had to devise the answer key. Again we had to go to the very basics and were impressed upon to connect the dots. Our Commanding Officer asked us to define the problem. In very lucid terms he called for the problem statement. It was surmised as “Our trainees are weak in understanding the English language and hence they are not compatible in understanding technical concepts as given in the training manuals.”
The next question was who makes the training manuals? Well it was the technical instructional staff. The training units were empowered to make the training manuals and the syllabus is formulated by a third party. The syllabus however was sacrosanct, it catered to the training requirement; the syllabus was made with due diligence and sincerity to maintain high standards to train young air warriors on the serviceability of aircrafts and ground equipment. We had no reasons to complain as the syllabus served its purpose adequately well.
Then our Commanding Officer made us to contemplate on the qualitative aspects of our training manuals. How good were they? How often were the training manuals revised and to what effect? Well! We knew that the training manuals were formulated by the Chief Instructional Officer and his team which included select band of instructional staff on rolls of the unit. We also knew that the periodic revision of the training manual had become more like a routine event necessitating minor addition or deletion and editing work. Further, with the advent of computers and the World Wide Web there was an influx of information on technical matters and thus editing and revision were periodically undertaken and completed perfunctorily on schedule. This was like a routine exercise and not often conceptualized to bring in great results. ‘Cut and paste’, remained a hot favorite the end results of editing work.
Then our commanding officer asked us to assemble in a classroom and he requested one of the instructors to take a lesson on thermodynamics. The lesson went on well, the instructor knew his subject he was an expert in his field. However, after 10 minutes of assiduousness; the lesson was stopped abruptly and the Education Instructor that was me was asked to summarize the learning outcomes. Now this was like a bolt from the blue. I had not studied science at the undergraduate level; I had majored in English literature and the lesson on thermodynamics sounded nice to my ears but honestly I had not followed it. I had no background knowledge of the subject.
Please wait...
