CASE STUDY: PART 3
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SystemsTheoryLens.docxRunning head: SYSTEMS THEORY LENS 1
SYSTEMS THEORY LENS 5
Part 3-Systems Theory Lens
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Systems Theory Lens
This document will explore the Systems Theories Lens and its application to the Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academy. While taking into account the cycle of production approach of the system theories lens, it has been evaluated that this cycle starts from the identification of the veterans in the USA. The need to build this academy was realized when the federal government and department of veteran affairs faced the challenge to acquire the veterans. A few years back, the department of veteran affairs made downsizing and after the retirement of baby boomers, scarcity of the veteran workforce became adverse.
To fill this weakness, the workforce was outsourced, but it went in vain because of less productivity and lack of training. Thus, it has become the responsibility of the Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academy to acquire talent from the USA, to enroll them in the internship, professional courses, project management, facilitation management, and supply chain management. Talent acquisition teams train the veterans in these roles and assess their performance before getting them in the practical fields.
a) Inputs and through-puts are essential to be included in the systems theory because they inform about the whole process in an organized manner (Teeboom, 2018). The inputs in Veteran Affairs Acquisition Academy include the talent acquisition staff, funding from the federal government, learning and knowledge repositories. The throughputs include the learning material and the simulations where the veterans are allowed to perform their best during the training sessions.
b) Outputs that are to be sent out to the outer world include effective learning, the best performance of talent acquisition team, strength to the department of veteran affairs and federal government, less outsourcing needs and retention of veterans.
1- The Veterans Acquisition Affairs Academy is open to negative feedback from the sub-system and super system while being in the overall system. They get feedback from the subsystem (The Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academy) and the super systems (US Department of Veteran Affairs and the Federal government). If these systems are not satisfied with the services offered by the Veterans Acquisition Affairs Academy, it indicates a need to change the track to use the inputs and throughputs to convert them into outputs. As the Systems Theory Lens is applied to the Veterans Acquisition Affairs Academy, the elements of this approach are being applied in detail.
a) The entropy of the system identifies the weak areas of the system and proper monitoring and evaluation criteria can be developed.This removes the deficiencies in the system to bring improvement in the output ( Systems Theory Overview, 2019). The Veterans Acquisition Affairs Academy is making attempts to make amendments in the syllabus and the simulation activities to prepare the veterans for the challenges of wars. If the professional expertise of the veterans is not displayed, the Academy makes its attempts to revisit the activities and seeks the services of the experts.
b) The equifinality approach to explore other ways to achieve talent acquisition is to classify the interns and professional people separately. There are different departments available for the assistance of each category and to handle these categories is also easier for the organization and running of the academy. The purpose of all these categories is to develop the veterans to be in their specialized roles.
2- The purpose of the Veterans Acquisition Affairs Academy is to continue the mission of the US department of veteran affairs. This mission is to provide benefits to the person who serves the veteran department and if he dies, his wife and the orphans are given proper protection and support from the US department of veteran affairs. This happens because the federal government and the US department of veteran affairs take the responsibility of the families who have been deprived of the breadearners and they need financial and economic support. The genotypic function is adopted to solve the managerial and political issues faced by the country. Hence, the purpose of this academy is to provide economic benefit to those who prefer to be veterans in the US department of veteran affairs. Even after the death of these veterans, if they die in an encounter, the federal government and department of veteran affairs give social and economic security to their families. So, during the enrollment of the internees and professional veterans, the Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academy ensures the social and economic safety of the veterans. The overall economy is protected by the efforts of the Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academy because they are responsible for the defense of the country. The whole society is kept safe by the organized efforts of the veterans as they are always ready to meet the challenges of wars if the existence of the country becomes endangered.
3- A best strategic plan includes the mission, vision, and action plan to translate the strategy into actions (Mccarthy, 2019). This strategy is supported by the maximization principle in the US department of veteran affairs when the Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academystarted making efforts to retain the internal staff to avoid the complexities in the outsourced workforce. There were two options after the downsizing and retirement of baby boomers; to outsource and to make an academy to train the internal staff. The problems were raised in outsourcing and it was also a costly option for the federal government. All the money spent on outsourcing was getting wasted because the desired outcomes were lower than before and lack of trained veterans was creating a serious issue in the defense mechanisms. On the other hand, an option was available to develop staff with government funding. Though this option also required huge funding the strategic output was promising to continue the mission and vision of the US department of veteran affairs. The investment made now will bring more outputs than outsourcing and according to the maximization principle, internal staff development is the best option. The money spent on the welfare and training of this staff will bring positive outcomes and the survival of the veteran department will not be in danger.
4- Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academy is scanning the environment to find out the best resources. Environmental scanning helps the organization to identify the strengths and weaknesses and to find out the threats to convert them into opportunities (Sharma, 2017).The environmental scanning is allowing the academy to select the people who have the potential to be retained by the Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academy. These people will develop the motivation and dedication to serving the department.The talent acquisition team also consists of the best resources and they have the capabilities to teach all the skills including the interpersonal and warfare skills to the veterans. Environmental scanning to know the effectivity of the internal staff development highlights the need to focus on the economic aspect. Because this will save future costs. On the political level, this scanning informs that internal staff can save the legal and political interests of the country in a better way. This will enhance the political continuity and survival of the political agendas. Society will also be protected from the internal and external threats because the internal workforce of veterans will be more effective and concerned with social protection than the outsourced workforce. In return, the federal government and the US department of veteran affairs also give higher social protections to the local veterans and their families.
References Systems Theory Overview. (2019, October 03). Systems Theory Overview. Retrieved from Systems Theory Overview: http://www.cs.unb.ca/~fritz/cs3503/system35.htm Mccarthy, D. (2019, August 31). 7 Elements of a Strategic Plan. Retrieved from the balanced career: https://www.thebalancecareers.com/strategic-plan-elements-2276139 Sharma, A. (2017, February 09). 8 Important Needs and Importance of Environmental Scanning | Business. Retrieved from LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/8-important-needs-importance-environmental-scanning-business-sharma The boom, L. (2018, November 05). Application of Systems Theory in Business Organizations. Retrieved from Chron: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/application-systems-theory-business-organizations-73405.html US Department of Veterans Affairs. (2019, October 03). Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academy (VAAA). Retrieved from United States Department of Veterans Affairs: https://www.acquisitionacademy.va.gov/about/index.asp
