Abstract
This article relies on documentary and empirical data to carry out a critical analysis of the military contract model of the Portuguese Armed Forces and the incentive scheme that supports them. Theoretical and practical shortcomings, as well as measures to mitigate its negative effects are identified when analyzing the dimensions – recruitment, retention, and reintegration – and how they affect the citizens who enlist on a temporary basis. This research intersects three perspectives of analysis: macro-level (external context), meso-level (organizational context), and micro-level (individual perspective). The study used a qualitative research strategy (Bryman, 2012; Creswell, 2013) and a case study research design (Yin, 2014). The results show that there are shortcomings in the military’s ability to recruit and retain contract military personnel, which indicates that the model should be revised and the incentive scheme that supports it should be updated.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The research will conclude with a third fieldwork study to be carried out at a later date, in which the perceptions of military contract personnel will be ascertained through an inquiry on the main career anchors that lead them to join the military and, with respect to early separation, on the main reasons for the breakdown of the psychological contract with the AAFF.
References
Law No. 174/99 of 21 September: Approves the Military Service Law. Assembly of the Republic. Diário da República, Lisbon (1999). https://dre.pt/application/dir/pdf1sdip/1999/09/221A00/65416550.pdf
Decree-Law No. 289/2000 of 14 November: Approves the Regulation of the Military Service Law. Portuguese Government. Diário da República, Lisbon (2000). https://dre.pt/application/dir/pdf1sdip/2000/11/263A00/64256438.pdf
Decree-Law No. 320-A/2000 of 15 December: Approves the Regulation of Incentives to Service in CS (amended by Decree-Law No. 118/2004 of 21 May and by Decree-Law No. 320/2007 of 27 September). Portuguese Government. Diário da República, Lisbon (2000). https://dre.pt/application/dir/pdf1sdip/2000/12/288A01/00020011.pdf
Santos, L.: Reflections Arising from Military Service Under Contract in the Portuguese Armed Forces: Functional and Social and Citizenship Perspectives. Revista de Ciências Militares, III(1), 331–362, May 2015. https://cidium.ium.pt/docs/artigos/Artigo_123.pdf
Bryman, A.: Social Research Methods, 4th edn. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2012)
Creswell, J.W.: Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches, 3rd edn. Sage Publications, Los Angeles (2013)
Guerra, I.C.: Pesquisa Qualitativa e Análise de Conteúdo: Sentidos e Formas de Uso. Principia, Parede (2006)
Yin, K.R.: Case Study Research – Design and Methods, 5th edn. Sage Publications, Los Angeles (2014)
Decree-Law No. 90/2015 of 29 May: Approves the Statute of the Armed Forces Military Personnel. Portuguese Government. Diário da República, Lisbon (2015). http://www.emgfa.pt/documents/cqw3zjnhvg4s.pdf
Decision No. 8474/2016 of 30 June: Determines the measures to be implemented in the Professionalization of Military Service, to be undertaken by the National Defense Day, Planning and Execution Committee, the Military Recruitment Planning and Coordination Committee, and the Professional Reintegration Planning and Coordination Committee. Diário da República No. 124/2016, Series II, Lisbon (2016). https://dre.pt/web/guest/home/-/dre/74813568/details/maximized?serie=II&day=2016-06-30&date=2016-06-01&dreId=74813550
Wash, V.: Models and theory. In: Durlauf, S., Blume L. (eds.) The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. 2nd edn., Palgrave-Macmillan (2008)
Matsuyama, K.: Structural change. In: Durlauf, S., Blume, L. (eds.) The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. 2nd edn., Palgrave-Macmillan (2008)
Caetano, V., Vala, J. (org.): Gestão de Recursos Humanos: Contextos, Processos e Técnicas. 3rd edn. Editora RH, Lisboa (2007)
RTO/NATO: Recruiting and Retention of Military Personnel: Technical Report of RTO (Research Task Group), HFM-107. NATO Research & Technology Organization, October 2007. https://www.nato.int/issues/women_nato/Recruiting%20&%20Retention%20of%20Mil%20Personnel.pdf
Defillippi, R.J., Arthur, M.B.: The boundaryless career: a competency-based prospective. J. Organ. Behav. 15(4), 307–324 (1994)
Hall, D.T.: Careers in Organizations. Goodyear, California (1976)
Dutra, J.S. (org.): Gestão de Carreiras na Empresa Contemporânea. Atlas, São Paulo (2010)
Van Maanen, J.: Organizational Careers: Some New Perspectives. Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1977)
Martins, H.: Gestão de Carreiras na Era do Conhecimento. Qualitymark, Rio de Janeiro (2010)
Arthur, M.: The New Careers: Individual Action and Economic Change. Sage, London (1996)
Currie, G., Tempest, S., Starkey, K.: New careers for old? Organizational and individual responses to changing boundaries. Int. J. Hum. Resour. Manag. 17, 755–774 (2006)
Dutra, J.: Administração de Carreiras – Uma Proposta para Repensar a Gestão de Pessoas. Atlas, São Paulo (2012)
Hall, D.: Careers In and Out of Organization. Sage, London (2002)
Arthur, M., Rousseau, D.: The Boundaryless Career: A New Employment Principle for a New Organizational Era. Oxford University Press, New York (1996)
Peiperl, M., Arthur, M., Goffee, R., Morris, T. (eds.): Career Frontiers: New Conception of Working Lives. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2000)
Schein, E.: Career Anchors: Discovering Your Real Values. Pfeiffer & Company, University Associates, San Diego (1990)
Rousseau, D.: Psychological Contracts in Organizations: Understanding Written and Unwritten Agreements. Sage, Thousand Oaks (1995)
Moskos, C.: From institution to occupation: trends in military organizations. Armed Forces Soc. 4, 41–50 (1977)
Saunders, M., Lewis, P., Thornhill, A.: Research Methods for Business Students, 5th edn. Pearson Education Limited, Essex (2009)
Denzin, N., Lincoln, Y. (eds.): Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials, 4th edn. Sage Publications, Los Angeles (2013)
Bardin, L.: L’Analyse de Contenu. Presses Universitaires de France, Paris (1977)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this paper
Cite this paper
Santos, L.A.B., Sarmento Coelho, M.M.M.S. (2018). The Military Contract Service Model of the Portuguese Armed Forces. Critical Review and Intervention Measures. In: Rocha, Á., Guarda, T. (eds) Developments and Advances in Defense and Security. MICRADS 2018. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 94. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78605-6_16
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78605-6_16
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-78604-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-78605-6
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)