Job Design and Education in the Swedish Armed Forces

The Swedish Armed Force are experiencing the largest change since the conscript system was introduced; the transformation to an all-volunteer force. The success of the transformation is based on that the Swedish Armed Forces get the "right" personnel who perform the right task in the "right way". Despite the transformation the defense's research on personnel has been limited. Research is needed if the Swedish Armed Forces shall be able to make cost efficient changes. In this rapport we use the theories of personnel economics to study the cost efficiency of job design and education way. The rapport is therefore constituted by two separated qualitative studies, one on job design and one on education. According to the theories jobs can be classified as classical or modern. However, in our study the job descriptions are missing. The tasks that are being performed depend on ad hoc assignments and what the individual wants to do. This results in a lack of coordination which creates costs. The idea of education as a tool to achieve utility seems to be lacking in many ways in the Swedish Armed Forces. Many of the employees at the Swedish Armed Forces are being educated but not getting the possibility to use the knowledge acquired from the education in their current or future position. By coordinating positions and educating employees in accordance with the needs of the position, the Swedish Armed Forces can set resources free. These resources can be used to create a more usable, flexible and accessible defence.