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Professional and Teaching Experience
A qualified psychologist, David Schmidtchen completed 17 years in the Australian Army specialising in the areas of professional military education, strategic workforce planning and development, and organisational design. In 2000, he received a Chief of Army Commendation for his contribution to reforming strategic human planning and workforce development practices in the Army. The Chief of the Defence Force has twice awarded David a Fellowship to examine strategic human resource development challenges confronting the Australian Defence Force (ADF). His final posting was as the Senior Research Military Fellow at the Land Warfare Studies Centre.
David has significant experience in delivering large-scale human resource management and development initiatives in the Defence Personnel Executive and Army. These projects covered areas as diverse as recruitment and selection, organisational re-structure, workforce planning and development, cultural change, leadership development and base disposition. Drawing on this experience David has written three books on strategic human resource management in the ADF and Defence Department. His most recent works examine the impact of technology-driven change on organisational design and the implications of network connectivity and organisation on workforce development. His expertise as a scholar and practitioner is recognised nationally in the academic and private sectors, and internationally in the military community.
For 10 years, David has run a consulting practice offering services in strategic planning, executive coaching, leadership development and change management to public and private sector clients. He is also an invited Senior Lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology where he teaches leadership, organisational behaviour and human resource management to postgraduate and executive students.
In 2006 David joined Jacobs Australia where he is the Head of Innovation and leads the Management Consultancy Domain.
Publications
Books
David Schmidtchen and Robert Stevenson, Innovation and Organisational Change in War: The Lessons of the Lewis Gun for the Hardened and Networked Army, Study Paper, Land Warfare Studies Centre Publication, Canberra, (forthcoming, 2007/08).
David Schmidtchen, The Rise of the Strategic Private: Technology, Change and Control in the Network-Enabled Force, Land Warfare Studies Centre, Canberra, 2006.
Nick Jans and David Schmidtchen, The Real C-Cubed: culture, careers and climate and how they affect capability, Strategic Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, Canberra, 2002.
David Schmidtchen, Preparing Capable Australian Defence Force Peacekeepers: Principles and Foundations, Defence Publishing Service, Canberra, 1999.
Refereed Journal Articles and Working Papers
David Schmidtchen, ‘A place for learning in the evolution of the Australian military profession’, Australian Army Journal, (forthcoming Winter 2008).
David Schmidtchen, ‘The Pros and Cons of Workforce Specialisation’, Australian Defence Force Journal, Nov/Dec, vol. 172, pp. 83-94, 2007.
David Schmidtchen, ‘Generational Differences and other Marketing Myths’, Australian Army Journal, vol. 3, no. 3, 179-196, 2006.
David Schmidtchen, Eyes Wide Open: Stability, Change and Network-Enabling Technology, Working Paper, Land Warfare Studies Centre, Working Paper no 129. Land Warfare Studies Centre, Canberra, 2006.
David Schmidtchen, ‘Network Centric Warfare: An Idea in Good Currency’, Australian Army Journal, vol. 2, no. 2, 111-124, 2005.
David Schmidtchen, Network Centric Warfare: The Problem of Social Order, Working Paper no 125. Land Warfare Studies Centre, Canberra, 2005.
Nick Jans and David Schmidtchen, ‘Culture and organisational behaviour at Australian Defence Headquarters’, Australian Defence Force Journal, Jan/Feb, pp. 23-29, 2003.
Nick Jans and David Schmidtchen, ‘Rethinking the personnel-capability link’, Australian Defence Force Journal, Nov/Dec, pp. 23-29, 2002.
David Schmidtchen, ‘Developing creativity and innovation through the practice of Directive Control’, Australian Defence Force Journal, Jan/Feb, pp. 11-17, 2001.
David Schmidtchen, Australian population and workforce trends: The strategic human resource challenges and opportunities facing Army, Australian Defence Force Journal, Jan/Feb, 2000, pp. 17-24.
Greg DeSomer and David Schmidtchen, Professional Mastery: The human dimension of war fighting capability for the Army-After-Next, Working Paper No. 107, Land Warfare Studies Centre, Canberra, 1999.
David Schmidtchen, ‘Rethinking the psychological contract between Army and its people’, Australian Defence Force Journal, Jul/Aug, pp. 5-8, 1999.
Conference Proceedings/Presentations
Good People Seldom Survive Bad Organisation, Keynote Address, International Military testing Association, Gold Coast, Australia, October 2007.
Knowledge in the Network, presentation to the International Military Testing Association, Gold Coast, Australia, October 2007.
Thinking about the Future, presentation and workshop to Senior Executive Group, Eyecorp Australia, Sydney, March 2005.
Network Centric Warfare: A Social Phenomenon, presentation to The Technical Cooperation Program, Senior Leaders Forum, Swiss Grand Hotel, Sydney, February 2005.
A Doctrine for Change: Missing Links in the Transition to a Network Enabled Force, presentation to the Defence Human Factors Special Interest Group, Bridport, Tasmania, November 2004.
Networks and Innovation: The Emerging Challenges for Defence and Industry, presentation to Defence Committee, Hunter Chamber of Commerce, Newcastle, September 2004.
The Officer Professional Effectiveness Review Army and the Challenge of Change, presentation to the Senior Officer Study Period, Canberra, August 2004.
The Social Implications of Technology in the Workplace, presentation to the United Services Institute, Brisbane, July 2004.
Initiative, Innovation and Agility: Adapting for Ideas Based Competition, presentation to the Griffith University Seminar Series, March 2003.
The Real C-Cubed: Culture, Careers and Climate: How they shape capability, presentation with Dr Nick Jans to Defence Renewal Conference, Perth, December, 2002.
The Trouble with Elephants is…. , presentation to the Griffith University Seminar Series, November 2002.
Building good houses and good bricks: a challenge to think differently about the people-capability link, presentation to the Armed Forces and Society Conference on ‘Military and Society’, Kingston, Canada, October 2002.
The Legacies of an Industrial Age Military Career System: Excessive Job Rotation and Career Tournaments, presentation to the International Military Testing Association, Ottawa, Canada, October 2002.
Preparing the HR Function to deliver organization wide change, presentation to the Best Practice Human Resources for Government, August 2002, Canberra.
Leadership in the Furnace of Changing Cultures, presentation to the United Services Institute, Brisbane, June 2002.
Cultivating leaders: the organisation’s role in developing and nurturing leaders,presentation to the Public Sector Leadership: Great Leaders for Great Government, Singapore, May 2002.
Aligning remuneration strategies with organisational culture: a case study of the Australian Defence Force presentation to the HRM for the Public Sector, Singapore, April, 2002.
A Commonwealth Government’s case study: The Department of Defence’s retention strategy, presentation to the HRM for the Public Sector Conference, Singapore, April, 2002.
Understanding your people: the competitive advantage, presentation to the Recruitment and Retention in Government Conference, Canberra, September 2001.
Book Reviews
War and Human Nature, Stephen Peter Rosen, reviewed in The Australian Defence Force Journal, vol. 170, 2006, pp. 116-117.
Military Stress and Performance: The Australian Defence Force Experience (Eds) George E. Kearney, Mark Creamer, Ric Marshall & Anne Goyne reviewed in Defender: The National Journal of the Australian Defence Association, Vol XX No. 3, Spring 2003, p. 32.
Interviews
‘Human Aspects of the Networked Force’, Australian Defence Magazine, November 2005, pp. 28-30.
‘A Conversation with David Schmidtchen’, talkforce Newsletter, June 2004, <http://www.talkforce.com.au/000tips_detail.php?id=6>.
‘The Pick of the Bunch’, HR Monthly, The Australian Human Resources Magazine, October 2002, pp. 16-20.
‘Marshalling the Forces: Exploring the Australian Army’s new HR Vision’, HR Monthly: The Australian Human Resources Magazine, May 2000, p. 45.