What are your thoughts on the new OER system that will be implemented 1 Apr 2014?

2014-03-19T09:31:24-04:00

The Army will be implementing a new OER system starting on 1 Apr 2014 that establishes new ranking profiles for the rater. One of the ideas is to allow the rater to have more say in the potential of a junior officer.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Jan 28 at 2014 3:37 PM

2014-01-28T15:37:37-05:00

I think it is a good change. I have seen some senior raters in the past give all the officers they rate high marks when some officers clearly out perform their peers. It adds more accountability to the system I think. I don't think mediocrity can or should be rewarded the same as high performing officers. Now, it does make it harder when you only rate two or three officers to rank someone 2 of 2 or 2 of 3 amongst their peers, but a good narrative that gives quantifiable data is a lot better than simply putting "he done good." Poor leaders get promoted when senior leaders fail to give accurate ratings. It may cause some angst amongst those rated, but as long as you strive to do an excellent job, the narrative should reflect this.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 4 at 2014 2:15 PM

2014-03-04T14:15:51-05:00

It's not too early because there has to be some mechanism to rate the officer against his peers. Also, the company grade OERs eventually get "masked" so it doesn't stay with them their whole career unless a board requests to see it, which doesn't happen that often.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 4 at 2014 4:02 PM

2014-03-04T16:02:43-05:00

Sir-

I don't believe it is ever too early to rate Officers in relation to their peers. Competitive evaluation encourages Officers to learn/adapt/improve. Without the blocks, it became a game of trying to read into the language to determine where you stood. The high promotion rate to CPT already makes 2LT/1LT OERs almost irrelevant. Absent terrible performance or misconduct Year Groups all promote to CPT with peers, where previous OERs are masked. I believe differentiation, through blocks and possibly through zoned promotion, would encourage talented Junior Officers who now feel like their effort is not rewarded.

Response by SFC James Baber made Mar 18 at 2014 8:46 PM

2014-03-18T20:46:39-04:00

Sir,

I think this is going to go the same route as the new NCOER as well. Hopefully someone can figure out they are creating more problems than were actually involved in the old system, every time we get a new form or system, it seems that there are more issues than they were trying to fix from before, I hate to say it, but it is things like this that make me feel glad I retired when I did as it seems more trouble than it is worth.

I do miss the camaraderie, but do not miss the politics and the constant changes that are not as beneficial as they portray them to be.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 18 at 2014 8:51 PM

2014-03-18T20:51:20-04:00

Sir,

I think they are great revisions and the grade slate is a great idea. I think there will be a learning curve for Raters as it pertains to writing styles and the proper way to write these new OERs. An issue I see is the Warrant Officer slates. I think there could have been a separate WO OER. We have CW3 in companies being rated by CPTs. But how is a company grade office supposed to rate field grade competencies on a CW3? How is a W3-4 going to rated as a field grade officer when they aren't? I think there will need to be some adjustment once these new OERs are launched this April.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 19 at 2014 9:34 AM

2014-03-19T09:34:24-04:00

I think some of the ideas are good. I like that it will take into account what the rater has to say about a subordinate. It will also prevent pooling.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 19 at 2014 9:54 AM

2014-03-19T09:54:17-04:00

This will be the 3rd OER system in my 24 yrs of service. Always in the past, the Sr Rater comments and blocking were/are the most important. I don't believe that this Rater profile/block will be any more important under this new system than it has been in the two older systems. I could be mistaken though...only time will tell.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 19 at 2014 10:02 AM

2014-03-19T10:02:54-04:00

No real change. It doesn't fix what's broken.

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 20 at 2014 1:52 AM

2014-03-20T01:52:20-04:00

I do have my concerns of how values and morality will work itself into the OER's new character block should a rated officer's "values and morales" not specifically align with the rater or senior rater's (different than the seven army values). As an example, an officer who may be having a child, but not married being rated by an overly religious rater who believes sex out of wedlock is a no-go.

Response by COL John Rosnow made Mar 21 at 2014 12:12 AM

2014-03-21T00:12:04-04:00

I think the training portal was a good idea, but the fact that there are serious problems with the training portal, I do not feel confident that the roll out of the new system will work without problems.

From the software standpoint, there are many things that should have been caught before the training program was released.

For example, the duty description field was too short to accurate reflect a position. The phone number field is restricted to ten digits. That does not work if you are overseas.

It reminds me a lot of DTS. Great idea, but a lot of problems from a software usability standpoint.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 22 at 2014 1:17 PM

2014-03-22T13:17:17-04:00

I think the best thing it is adding is enforced counseling. So few leaders do any counseling at all. Once I had a senior rater give me a copy of his OERSF and I was totally confused. I thought he had accidentally emailed to to me and was scared to open the file. Without being too specific, I have worked for several leaders who had the "I'll know what I want when you give it to me," style of supervision which was largely because they didn't take the time to plan. Being forced to write quarterly counselings would have at least given me an idea if I was on target before the OER. I don't think the new OER will change someone who has a general lack of planning mentality, but if an officer is going to be called out for a deficiency, he/she would have 3 or 4 quarterly counselings to make a course correction before the OER - and would have a ready defense if the deficiency was never mentioned in any counseling.

Response by COL Vincent Stoneking made Mar 22 at 2014 1:28 PM

2014-03-22T13:28:32-04:00

My understanding is that the Rater ONLY rates/comments on performance and the SR Rater ONLY rates/comments on potential. I like that the rater now has a profile and cannot use the easy out of the free "top blocking" of everyone, vice telling the truth.

I would be a lot fonder if my thru date weren't 15 APR. Nothing like being the very first guy....

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 11 at 2014 1:20 AM

2014-04-11T01:20:41-04:00

Sir,

When the HRC branch chief came to brief us at Huachuca I brought up the same issue. The people who built this sit behind a desk with good internet and probably never deployed. The answer I received was that you would have to print and physically sign the OER and the mail it, I shit you not, mail it back to HRC to be put in a file. They said they really couldn't see a situation where people wouldn't have connectivity.

I also thought the idea of locking the form as bad and don't believe in rater block checks. So as a SIGO with one officer in my section he could get a top block every three years. Wasn't thought all the way through.