The concept of what is a “complement” is probably generally misunderstood. This means the officially allowed number of persons and the officially designated posts for an activity, whether an org or a ship.

Without these basic complements orgs get misposted. Instead of ten auditors they have one auditor and nine admin personnel somewhere else.

This general concept of complement is generally missing and underlies the reason why org boards are, to some degree, in disuse.

In any org which is not doing well you may find not enough personnel and too many personnel. You may also find that the personnel there are not posted onto the post necessary to be held.

Designating the post necessary to be held is what is meant by “assigning a complement.”

I never realized the concept was hard to get across until recently. In the dictionary it says that a complement is simply a full list of the officers and men of a ship. This falls so far short of the actual definition that it generates confusion

A complement is the full list of posts and where they belong on the org board, which must be held. This gives you a slightly different idea of what is meant by “complement.”

One org, for instance, didn’t have a standard complement. It simply had all possible posts which could be held in the org. This does not tell you what posts should be held in the org.

Therefore, personnel control is not possible.

In the case of another org there was a maximum allowed complement but it was never filled up.

There is a complement for every separate and individual org.

Until the complement of an org is laid out, known and filled, there will be continual trouble with personnel and difficulties in handling it.

The sooner this is straightened out, the easier time there will be for all.