Research on Efforts to Strengthen the Air Force Resource

Allocation Process and Systems

Michael Barzelay

Colin Campbell

Fred Thompson

as of 1 August 2001

Overall Research Design• Field

– Public Management

• Subject– Managing Government Operations

• Topic– Organizational Improvement by Strengthening Capacity to

Implement Strategic Intent and Manage Resources

• Experience Studied – Efforts to improve the Air Force Resource Allocation Process

during the 1994-2002 period, with special emphasis on activities leading to the AF FY’04 POM submission

Narrative Nomenclature

• E = Events Within the Episode

• RE = Related Events

• PE = Prior Events

• CE = Contemporaneous Events

• LE = Later Events

The Experience

PriorEventsTo be

completed

CE1 Policymaking in Organize, Train & Equip Domain

E1 Reengineering the Corporate Resource Allocation Process

E4 Formulating the FY ’04 AF Program

E3 Deciding the Corporate Investment Strategy

RE1 Attempts to Link Program to Execution

LE1Appro-

PriationsProcess

CE2 Formulating and Revising AF Strategic Intent

CE3 Conducting the HAF 2002 Review

E2 ’03 APOM

t

Comments

• The main focus of interest is E3 and E4 (expenditure planning)– We are interested in both the process and outcomes of E3 and E4,

respectively– In analyzing E3 and E4, we will take into account that success for

them was initially defined in E1– In narrating the episode, we will pinpoint what was learned from E2

and how that learning affected the design of E4 (via E1)

• The formulation of the AF management agenda to include the program-execution link will be discussed in studying E1.– Responses to this particular agenda item are (presently) considered

outside the episode, as related events. We will not discuss these related events in detail, under the present design.