05 Mar As a consultant, you need to develop an in-depth analysis and evaluation of the selected agency’s budgeting parameters and then provide recommendations for i
Overview
As a consultant, you need to develop an in-depth analysis and evaluation of the selected agency’s budgeting parameters and then provide recommendations for improvement based on your research of related academic sources and websites. The analysis will be read by the VP of Public Service and client support, as well as by the leaders of the agency for whom you are working. Write a 4–6 page paper (including title and reference page) titled Part 4: Evaluation of the [Selected Agency]’s Budgeting and Cumulative Report, in which you separate the content into the following sections:
- Analysis of Budgeting Plans and Actual Expenditures.
- Implications of Foreign or Domestic Policy.
- Budget Request and Recommendations.
Instructions
- Determine which intergovernmental agencies contribute to or influence the budgetary decisions for the current and future budget over the next five years.
- Based on your agency selection, analyze the impact of either international or domestic policymaking on the current year’s budgets and its possible impact on future budget line items.
- Consider our current practice of assembling and approving our national budget.
- How does politics impact discussion and decision-making?
- How does our Debt ceiling impact budget formulation and impact the agency you selected?
- Examples of domestic policy impact could include neighboring localities or states assisting other agencies.
- Consider our current practice of assembling and approving our national budget.
- Recommend two strategies the agency could use to improve the budget for the next fiscal year. Recommendations should be detailed and focused.
- Use at least two quality sources to support your writing. Choose sources that are credible, relevant, and appropriate. Cite each source listed on your source page at least one time within your assignment. Include no more than one nongovernment website.
- For help with research, writing, and citation, access the library or review library guides.
- Produce writing that is clear and well organized and applies appropriate SWS style. Writing contains accurate grammar, mechanics, and spelling.
Note: Before submitting Assignment Part 4, be sure to review Part 3 professor feedback and include your final version of Parts 1–4 as one submitted document for grading.
This course requires the use of Strayer Writing Standards (SWS). The library is your home for SWS assistance, including citations and formatting. Please refer to the Library site for all support. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
The specific course learning outcome associated with this assignment is:
- Evaluate an agency’s budgeting and financial strategies.
Part 3: Evaluation of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Human Resources Management
Gabrielle McNeely
Strayer University
Professor Andre Lee
Pad 599
I. Introduction
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs functions as one of the largest federal agencies by employing 400,000 staff members who support veterans across millions of locations in the United States. Human resources management at the agency plays a critical role in ensuring its employees maintain the necessary competence for delivering high-quality healthcare benefits and services. Due to its wide-ranging operations, the VA must solve major human resources hurdles in attracting workers, maintaining commitment, and planning for position vacancies. The organization faces workforce-related challenges that reduce service quality while diminishing employee motivation, so effective solutions must be developed. This review assesses VA human resources processes, workforce adaptations, and leadership preparation approaches as it recommends operational enhancements.
II. Human Resources Processes
HR at the VA handles employee acquisition, new employee integration, worker development, and performance assessment. Hiring at the organization requires following federal procedures, which also involves multiple checks, including background verification credential verification, and security clearance authorization. The checks and measures that guarantee professional standards create long hiring durations, which makes potential employees less likely to continue with their application process. The VA employs a Performance Management and Appraisal Program (PMAP) to format its performance evaluation system, which helps assess employee effectiveness. The performance evaluation system successfully detects qualified team members suitable for promotion, although bureaucrats complain about its rigidity, which restricts personalized assessments of non-standard employee work.
The VA provides multiple training programs under the VA Learning University (VALU) to deliver professional development training to its staff members. The organization dedicates development initiatives to technical competence and leadership abilities through programs that show inconsistent delivery methods . The VA has initiated various initiatives to retain its staff, but medical jobs in the private sector and workplace fatigue prevent the organization from keeping qualified workers. The move of experienced staff to higher-paid employment in private industry decreases the number of skilled professionals in the VA. The VA must improve recruiting methods, training programs, and simplified evaluation systems to build staff growth and job satisfaction.
III. Implications of the Human Resource Workforce
Several key elements influence workforce levels and service delivery operations at the VA, and they need strategic management actions. The VA faces ongoing workforce shortages that affect medical staff, such as nurses, physicians, and mental health specialists. The growing requirements for veteran healthcare are delaying services because of existing workforce problems. The agency faces increased difficulty in delivering consistent care because of the high personnel turnover within its medical services. Professionals choose to depart from their work due to excessive workload, government bureaucracy, and restricted professional development options (Hastuti and Timming,2021).
The VA's aging workforce substantially influences operations because many staff members approach retirement age. The aging workforce in the VA creates problems regarding the transfer of institutional knowledge and leadership succession. The agency lacks structured leadership transition programs, resulting in a danger to its combined institutional memory and operational performance. The high complexity of following federal employment guidelines prevents the VA from successfully attracting younger talent. Job seekers work in private enterprises because they approve prompt hiring and better compensation than government work. To solve these workforce challenges, the VA needs to create new methods that attract and keep their emits while providing better professional growth prospects.
IV. Succession Planning for HR Management
Organizational continuity and leader advancement at the VA depend on the development of successful planning for leadership replacements. The VA Leadership Development Framework represents one of the programs within the agency that develop employees who will assume more senior roles. The programs work to discover future organizational leaders while building their capabilities for seamless transfers in leadership positions. Multiple barriers limit these programs' success because they face inconsistent execution and lack enough mentoring help. Middle-management workers encounter challenges in advancing their careers because bureaucratic obstacles are combined with inadequate established mentorship systems (Perry et al.,2022).
Executive leadership remains the primary focus in the VA's current succession plans, while middle and lower-level employees maintain little emphasis even though their collective stability ensures long-term success. Career development programs that merge senior staff with new employees through mentorship relationships help students cross this skill deficit. Specialized leadership training combined with rotation programs provides employees with experiences that develop their capabilities to fulfill leadership positions in the future. Leadership continuity and a professional development culture emerge from efforts that strengthen succession planning at the agency. The VA must implement proactive actions to protect institutional expertise because leadership deficiencies generate service delivery problems.
V. Recommendations for Improvement
Several strategic initiatives will lead to improved Human Resources effectiveness at the VA. The organization can better keep quality staff and reduce work exhaustion while strengthening employee appreciation through premium employee benefits, adaptable work schedules, and comprehensive mental health services. The VA encounters staff retention problems because employees quit because of workplace strain and limited pay benefits, so the organization must focus on keeping its personnel. A mentorship combined with a leadership training initiative will help employees transition into higher positions within the organization. Established mentorship programs with structured guidelines enable workers to receive helpful instruction and developmental possibilities, which enhances long-term staff retention.
The organization should develop an expansion plan for work-from-home and hybrid setups to reach more potential candidates. Remote work capabilities for several administrative duties cut operational expenses while boosting staff contentment levels. Flexible work arrangements at the VA would help the organization recruit younger professionals who focus on blending their professional and personal lives. Adopting digital and AI hiring solutions helps simplify the VA hiring process. Implementing technology systems to find top employees allows the VA to challenge private-sector recruiters to find their best candidates. Such approaches work together to preserve the workforce while enhancing operational effectiveness.
The VA should develop programs that advance existing staff to help their careers and continued organizational dedication. Developing an organized career progression framework should describe all promotional advancement specifications. Career stagnation often happens when employees cannot see how to advance since promotion pathways are hard to understand. This causes workers to become frustrated, and the VA experiences high employee turnover. Implementing clear promotion guidelines enables staff to dedicate efforts toward their skill improvement. The agency should offer certification training and tuition benefits to let staff develop new abilities that qualify them to pursue upper-level roles in their department.
Employee advancement becomes possible through leadership development programs designed by the organization. Cross-training assignments and rotational duties show team members various workplace sections and abilities. These experiences train staff members to fulfill leadership positions since they expand their knowledge base and power to make executive decisions. Regular leadership evaluations help workers get helpful performance assessments while gaining resources needed for career development. Strong advancement programs protect internal employee motivation, thus preventing external recruitment needs.
VII. External Recruitment Strategies
The VA needs to establish unique recruiting approaches to draw skilled candidates from outside the organization. The VA needs to build alliances between university institutions and professional associations as an effective talent acquisition strategy. Academic institution partnerships enable the VA to locate and recruit outstanding graduates from healthcare with IT and administration backgrounds (Sandbrink et al.,2023). By providing internship and residency opportunities to students, the agency ensures real-world experience, which boosts their chances of securing full-time job positions after graduation. The agency sets up pathways which generate trained experts to support its mission delivery.
VI. Promotion and Advancement Strategies
The utilization of modern technology represents another recruitment enhancement method. AI recruitment tools enhance hiring operations through improved efficiency in finding appropriate candidates. The VA builds connections with future employees through social media networks and professional platforms to promote the advantages of VA employment. Job applicants will be more inclined to choose the agency when the application procedures become straightforward and administrative obstacles decrease. The put-into-practice strategies help the VA enter competition against private sector businesses to develop a lasting workforce.
VIII. Conclusion
The VA's HR management system supports the organization in delivering on its mission: providing services to veterans. The efficiency of workforce operations at the VA requires the resolution of current difficulties, including staffing shortages, high employee turnover rates, and gaps within succession planning programs. The VA will achieve workforce sustainability in the future by improving employee retention and flexibility, lamenting mentorship programs, and updating recruitment systems. Organizations should dedicate funds to develop employees professionally because this increases personnel commitment to agency missions while sustaining employee engagement. The active resolution of these human resources challenges allows the VA to offer peak service levels for veteran populations and conserve its workforce.
References
Der-Martirosian, C., Wyte-Lake, T., Balut, M., Chu, K., Heyworth, L., Leung, L., … & Dobalian, A. (2021). Implementation of telehealth services at the US Department of Veterans Affairs during the COVID-19 pandemic: mixed methods study. JMIR Formative Research, 5(9), e29429.
Hastuti, R., & Timming, A. R. (2021). An inter-disciplinary review of the literature on mental illness disclosure in the workplace: Implications for human resource management. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 32(15), 3302-3338.
Perry, C., Liberto, J., Milliken, C., Burden, J., Hagedorn, H., Atkinson, T., … & VA/DoD Guideline Development Group. (2022). The management of substance use disorders: synopsis of the 2021 US Department of Veterans Affairs and US Department of Defense clinical practice guideline. Annals of internal medicine, 175(5), 720-731.
Sandbrink, F., Murphy, J. L., Johansson, M., Olson, J. L., Edens, E., Clinton-Lont, J., … & VA/DoD Guideline Development Group. (2023). The use of opioids in the management of chronic pain: synopsis of the 2022 updated US Department of Veterans Affairs and US Department of Defense clinical practice guideline. Annals of internal medicine, 176(3), 388-397.
