Preferential treatment for military members based on personality type

Air & Space Power Journal, Summer, 2007 by Ryan Kaiser

TELEVISION AND PRINTED news continually remind us of the cost of the global war on terrorism. The United states has assumed significant economic expense--witness the more than $379 billion allocated by Congress as of 29 september 2006 ($360 billion of which has already been spent as of 22 January 2007) for units operating in Iraq--and suffers the majority of the coalition's casualties. (1) In addition to the costs of war, military and political leaders have determined that in order for the United states to remain the world's only superpower, each military branch must have the most technologically advanced equipment available. As of april 2006, the total development and production cost of the air Force's newest aircraft, the F-22 raptor, amounted to over $70 billion-roughly $388 million per aircraft. (2) Because huge portions of the annual budget finance such technologies, the service must cut personnel and other costs. Consequently, air Force members now find themselves trying to do more work with fewer people.

New Recruiting Techniques

Managers have long realized that they can reduce personnel costs by lowering expenditures for training and recruiting, especially by retaining active air Force members. Obviously, recruiting people more likely to stay in the military for a long time would have the effect of increasing retention. By basing its recruiting efforts on testing for recognized, enduring traits such as personality and character types, the service could facilitate the process of identifying such individuals. Additionally, newly recruited members would probably stay longer if the air Force allowed them to choose their career field. Therefore, in order to decrease personnel costs and ease the financial burden of war, the air Force should give preferential treatment in recruitment and job placement to people whose personality type makes them likely to remain in service for an extended period of time.

Personality testing would simply provide a starting point for recruiting efforts by utilizing a narrower base to focus valuable time and resources. However, such testing would not eliminate candidates who lack the targeted personality traits. Because most recruiting efforts are not successful, military services have used everything from television commercials and race-car sponsorships to magazine ads and clothing campaigns to boost recruiting numbers. Moreover, a good deal of recruiting occurs at enlistment stations designed for people who wish to volunteer. To avoid any hint of favoritism, the air Force should retain these methods, which carry no requirement of personality testing. Furthermore, by having trained professionals administer the tests or by commissioning a new test tailored to predict job satisfaction, the Air Force could eliminate other concerns about the process.

Assessment of a potential recruit's personality makes sense only if personality type and character are enduring traits that last the entire length of enlistment. A study by David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates found that personality changes only slightly and that personality type remains consitent over one's adult life span. (3) Large, measurable changes do occur in the personality of children, probably due to the maturing process. Thus, the armed services vocational aptitude battery, administered during the second year old, represents an ideal means of testing the personality of potential recruits sence personalities have stabilized by these ages.

If targeted recruiting could cut the number of Air Force recruiters by half, the savings would amount to roughly $785,500 per month or $9.4 million per year in recruiter pay alone, with much greater savings possible since an increase in personnel retention would reduce the amount of training. Additionally, this situation would create a more experienced Air Force, requiring fewer people to do the same amount of work. Increased efficiency and improvement in the overall quality of work would lead to even more savings.

Potential Problems

Despite the advantages of targeted recruiting, the public might consider mandatory personality tests an invasion of privacy. Even the scientific community, which supports personality testing, would object unless the Air Force uses professionals to administer the tests or tailors them more towards job satisfaction. Any personality test designed to identify good military recruits would have to be given to a large number of individuals shortly before they become eligible for enlistment. Since most high school students do not purse a career in the military, however, doings so would subject them to a test from which they would derive no benefit. Finally, the service must take into account any ethical concerns about a personality test's validity across all subject groups. For example, many types of testing, including the American College Test and the Scholastic Aptitude Test, have come under scrutiny since they show regional and ethnic inconsistencies. Although some recruit new military members, strong evidence suggests that properly organized instruments would meet the Air Force's goals.