Personnel and Organizational Consequences of Microcomputer Use in the Naval Military Personnel Command

Jonathan A. Morell

Oak Ridge National Laboratory TM-10498, 1987

This study is a preliminary effort to both determine the impact of microcomputer use within the N4 (detailing) branch of the Naval Military Personnel Command and develop a methodology for making further assessments on a wide scale.

The study found three main areas of impact of microcomputer use: budgeting, non-fiscal planning, and time savings. In the budgeting area, small work groups were able to keep better track of available funds,and to make more accurate estimates of funds that would be available in the future. As a result there wes better cooperation between detailing groups and those with financial oversight responsibilities. Also, work was better paced to the use of more and better information fro planning and decision making. The primary advantages of "time savings" were allowing people to do new tasks and giving people opportunities to do better analyses of problems. Overall, these impacts were highly positive, and the were no serious negative consequences.

End-users did not have extensive knowledge of microcomputers in the beginning, but they did have a strong belief that the technology could help solve problems. This belief led them to acquire microcomputers, to learn how to use them, and to devote time to system development and maintenance

Only minimal levels of training and programming support were available. This lack was overcome by end-users' efforts, but is likely to become more problematical as microcomputer use spreads beyond highly committed users. There is little systematic effort to ensure continuity of use as people rotate into new positions.