ICTY: The Training of Staff and Selection in the Recruitment Process Staff

Abstract

ICTY – International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia investigates crimes committed by the former military rulers of Yugoslavia. The crimes investigated are crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and murder on a large scale. Experienced investigators who are recruited from the police forces of different countries conduct investigations and before being inducted into the investigative teams, the recruits are given an induction and training program. There has been some amount of discontent over the quality of training being provided and the paper has researched some key aspects of the perception of current and ex employees of ICTY to understand the shortcomings and problems of the training program. A structured interview was used and administered to participants and the results analysed. Among the problems that were identified, the main problem was the orientation and induction lacks in focus, does not have depth and that recruits are given very little exposure and training on systems, methods, policies and techniques used by field investigators. The paper concludes that these problems have created a gap between the field requirements and what is taught during the induction program. To set the problems right, the paper recommends that a formal knowledge management system should be initiated that would serve as a single point repository for important learning’s, knowledge that could be used by new recruits as well as experienced personnel. It is expected that such a KM system would address the issues and frustrations faced by new recruits and help in providing them with quality training.

Introduction

ICTY – International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia is a division of the United Nations – UN with regulatory and judicial powers. The body has been constituted to examine heinous war crimes committed in Yugoslavia. ICTY operates under the United Nations Security Council resolution 827 that was promulgated on 1993, May 25. The body has the right to carry out investigations and judge offenders and pass sentences that the honourable Judge may consider fit. Human resources form a very important aspect of the ICTY operations and employees include judges, investigators, lawyers, law enforcement officers, administrative staff and other types of personnel. Recruitment of appropriate staff and training them forms a key process area for ICTY. Investigators are hired to work in the UN ICTY and are required to be very experienced in their field and expected to have special skills. In the conversations most of the investigators have described the beginning of their employment in the ICTY being confusing, because the culture and mandate are different that in police. While investigators that are recruited to the UN ICTY, and other UN organizations have adequate experience, dedication and integrity, new recruits sometimes have problems in adapting to the UN procedures and standards. The UN system differs from the standards of all the civilian police organizations so much that even the experienced investigators require induction and guidance. The lack of many tools that the police are using; power to arrest people, telephone surveillance, etc. make the investigators face challenges they are not necessary familiar with. Where the police are normally an independent body targeting to solve the crimes, the UN investigators are often facing political obstacles and require more diplomacy in order to achieve what is needed. The study aims to form an opinion about recruitment and training processes and principles and would attempt to find out what was maybe missing from the training the recruits received. The paper has used an extensive literature review to find empirical understanding about current trends in recruitment and further conducted a survey among current and previous staff if ICTY. It is expected that the research would help human resources to make the suitable adjustment in their training programs.

Aims and Objectives of the Study

Aims of the study are:

1. To find out how ICTY investigators with a police background find the work different in the service of a large international organization comparing to their service in the police force.
2. To identify the possible professional difficulties the employees face when they join ICTY and to identify areas in which the new staff members could be given additional training to make it easier for them to adopt the ICTY methods and ways of working.
3. The ICTY is planning to end its role by the 2010 and new staff will not be recruited to the investigations team. However, other tribunals will be established and the investigators would be offered placement in them and the aim of the research is to help in planning the staff’s training in these new tribunals.

Objectives of the Study are:

1. Understand and define changes in the training method so that investigators understand the principles, purpose, ethics and limitations of the work.
2. Identify best fit for investigators background and profile that would suit ICTY goals and requirements
3. Understand how investigators with military background would feel about military structures

Research Question

The research question that is proposed is “The training of staff and selection in the recruitment process; to get the best out from our resources”.

Investigations that are made in large international organizations; how the training for the work could be improved and what would be the role of the supervisors in supporting the staff’s orientation to the work. The research material will be collected in a form of a questionnaire from the present and former investigators of the UN ICTY (The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia). The research will also try to find out the personnel’s opinion of the personal qualities, education, training, work experience and knowledge that would be helpful in order to successfully conduct the investigations.

Ethics

The Ethics Checklist is given in ‘Appendix A2. Ethics Checklist’. The research will not reveal any operational secrets. None of the individuals participating will be named or their identity otherwise revealed. At this point there are no ethical concerns.

Analytical Framework

The analysis would develop an understand of the requirements for more focussed induction that would again depend on the work recruits are expected to do. New recruits are not expected to work at their full capacity in the first few days and they would require some time to understand the culture, legal processes and systems that should be followed. It is expected that with improvements in the induction process, recruits would require shorter time for adjustment. Though the focus of the research would, focus is investigating the training and education, the issue is very much managerial, how the supervisors are able to help their staff to produce the best possible results.

Methodology Used

The methodology would involve using through literature review of investigating agencies and international organisations across the world. It is proposed to use a survey instrument that would be administered to current and ex staff of ICTY. The questionnaire would attempt to gather their reflections and experiences their experiences after the recruitment process was over and when they started working. Questions are designed to find answers to issues such as did they find the provided training sufficient, was there something more that they would have needed in order to adopt the goals of the organization sooner. Do they feel that if they have had certain knowledge or skills it would have helpful? The instrument would be sent as an email attachment to the respondents by the end of September 2008 and they are requested to send the completed instrument by mid October 2008. Reponses would be entered into a database by October 2008 end and analysis of the responses would be done by mid November 2008. Writing of the thesis would be completed by middle of January 2009. Information would also be requested from human resources department for a lost of the courses that are conducted and these would be compared with the with the staff’s opinions of what according to them would be needed.

A through review of records and archive material suggests that the research question has not been investigated in the ICTY or the United Nations. Some amount of work has been done for education efforts and the paper would attempt to integrate these learning’s. The student would use the use the material that has been provided by the university and the content used in writing the essays of the modules. Although the questions are made to the investigators and they are about the training, the results will reflect upon the managers’ and the supervisors’ ability to be leaders and the organizations ability to provide the needed tools.

Summary of Findings

The main findings of the paper are:

• There is a lack in qualified documentation available for the inductees and there is no single point repository from where adequate training materials can be obtained.
• Training artefacts need to be standardised as per the policies of ICYT and a ‘starters kit’ has to be prepared that introduces important issues.
• There is lack of information and knowledge sharing and learning’s from expert investigators are not documented properly so that new recruits cannot make use of the accumulated learning’s of ICYT.
• Knowledge artefacts have to be created and mentoring is required to ensure that new recruits learn from experiences of seniors.
• To shorten the learning curve and to prepare the new recruits to ‘hit the ground running’ there should be a means to learn from experiences of other investigators. This can be achieved through seminars, knowledge sharing sessions and by creating knowledge management repositories.
• Induction needs to be technical as well as systems based and provide recruits with basic knowledge that allows them to quickly understand different aspects of the work. While self efficacy should be encouraged, learning should not be the sole responsibility of inductees and the organisation has to do everything possible to prepare them.
• ICTY being a division of UN has to practice a number of international laws and there is very little practical training on how these laws work. There is very little practical exposure during induction to Geneva Conventions and International, Humanitarian Law, Military Law, War Crimes, Chain of Command and other such legal issues.
• Compared to the previous years, there has been some improvement, however small, in the induction and training program.
• Induction program provides very little practical experience for the investigators and field work, that includes observing investigators at work should be introduced
• Reporting levels have to be reviewed and clear reporting lines must be drawn to avoid conflict
• A standardised system of information management has to be introduced and content prepared by specialists in different fields such as law, policy, methods, field investigation and so on.
• In effect, Knowledge is not managed at ICTY.

It is recommended that a Knowledge Management system has to be initiated at ICTY that would serve as a repository for new recruits as well as current staff to quickly obtain information from a single source, harness the collective knowledge of the organisation and investigators and reduce the learning curve.

How the Thesis is Organised

The thesis is made of different chapters and the structure of the thesis is as given below:

Chapter 2: Literature Review: The chapter provides an extensive literature review of training needs analysis, new technologies and trends in trends and problems faced by people who undergo training.

Chapter 3: Discussion on Methodology: The chapter presents an extensive research and discussion on methodology and has examined various aspects of qualitative and quantitative research methods. An examination of the methods used for Questionnaire design along with the discussion of the Ethics Checklist has also been performed

Chapter 4: Research Findings and Analysis: The survey instrument that was used in the research has been discussed in detail and the findings analysed to understand the problems and perceptions of new recruits who undergo training and induction. The extensive analysis has resulted in some observations and conclusion on which recommendations have been made

Chapter 5. Conclusions and Recommendations: The chapter has arrived at a number of conclusions that were drawn from the research. Based on the conclusions, recommendations have been made that would help to mitigate the current problems.

Literature Review

A literature review of various training models and methods in modern organizations is performed in this section.

The LTSI Model of Training

Noe (2008) have presented a model of the Learning Transfer System Inventory – LTSI that broadens the training theory and develop a valid and reliable measure of transfer. The main feature of the model is that it tries to build on previous transfer of training theory and research and by broadening the focus from an emphasis on climate to an emphasis on transfer system. According to the authors, a transfer system is a broader construct that includes all factors in the individual, the training, and the organization that affect performance. They considered factors such as general motivation to transfer, expectancy related constructs, learner readiness, self-efficacy, feedback-performance coaching and personal capacity for transfer. Evidence from 20 years of training and research into motivation by using metal analysis shows that peer support, climate and supervisor support were strongly related to transfer with true correlations and that training motivation were strongly related to transfer. The model includes all individual, organisational and training factors that affect transfer. One of the problems transfer research is the lack of commonly accepted and used measure of transfer. Of nine quasi-experimental studies on transfer the identified, all used colloquial measures of transfer factors. It would be ideal if an instrument with sound psychometric properties could be developed, universally accepted, and used by training researchers and practitioners. An example is the Job Descriptive Index – JDI that has achieved such a status among those studying the antecedents and consequences of job satisfaction. The absence of a commonly accepted transfer measurement tool makes it difficult for researchers and practitioners to get understand clearly the relationship between personal, climate variables and training environment and transfer to help us identify which variables have been shown to affect transfer so design interventions to affect them and on what variables are needed for further empirical study. Meta-analysis is a technique that allows determination of the direction and strength of the relationship between personal and organizational variables that affect performance and transfer. Even though meta-analytic techniques can still be used for the transfer literature, differences in measurement tools may account for significant variance in the true correlations observed. Moderator analysis by using measurement tool as a moderator can be conducted to explain this variance, the small number of studies of transfer climate and the small number of studies using any one instrument make this analysis difficult if not impossible to conduct.

New Trends in Training Methods

Salas (2001) report that training methods and techniques have undergone many changes in terms of practice and the science of training. There are a number of pressures such as the technological, socio economic and political pressures that have forced modern organisations to take a closer look at the human capital and at training. Organisations have to depend on workplace learning along with continuous improvement to be competitive and training is increasingly seen as a fully integrated and strategic component of an organisation and not as a stand alone and isolated activity. There are a number of new approaches in training and these include just in time training, action learning, coaching, mentoring, organisational learning and management of skill portfolios. The authors argue that with change in demographics, training has to cover the needs of diverse workforces.

Modern training costs a huge sum of money and estimated are that organisations across the world spend more than 200 billion USD annually on training. With such a huge spending, there is an increase in awareness to make training more effective, bring in new technologies, performance improvement process, services and practices. Modern organisation regard training as vital to increasing profits, safety, reduction of errors and to increase the market share (Smith, 2007).

Training Needs Analysis

Training needs, analysis is one of the most important steps in developing training programs. The first stage is to understand who and what should be trained. The training need analysis is mainly conducted to find areas where training is required, what has to be learnt and taught and who the participants would be. Learning objectives shape the design and delivery of training and the process of criteria development and this can be best accomplished by organisational analysis and job or task analysis and person analysis.

Organisational Analysis: According to Goldstein (1993), the reason for organisational analysis is to create an outline of the system wide components of a firm that would have an impact on the delivery of the training program. The analysis focuses on the convergence between training objectives with issues such as available resources, organisation goals, constraints and support transfer. Many training programs are not successful in reaching their objectives because of organisational conflicts and constraints that could have been identified and taken care of before the training program was started. Therefore, organisational analysis is an important phase of the training design. Organisational climate situational cues and consequences was a good indicator if trainees transferred the learned skills effectively. Organisational climate and culture had a direct impact on post training behaviours. As requirements of job undergo changes, organisations plan their HT activities accordingly. There is a need to understand how organisational context influence human resources strategies to continuous learning environment, managing knowledge effectively and to find the best organisational strategy for learning and training.

Job and Task Analysis: Arvey (2002) argues that this factor is used to identify the information required to create the learning objectives and gives a detailed description of the work functions to be performed on the job, the conditions under which the job has to be performed and the methods required for performance of the tasks. The author explored the use of task inventories to predict abilities and skills required for a future job. The results showed that such forecasting prediction could give useful information for training analysis. The authors also examined the impact of task experience and individual factors on task ratings of training emphasis and found that as self-efficacy increased over time, it made trainees to increase their ratings of training emphasis.

Cognitive Task Analysis: According to Dubois (1998), this refers to a set of procedures for understanding the mental processing and mental requirements for job performance. It deals with how trainees acquire and develop knowledge and how they organise rules, concepts and associations and the nature of expertise and how experts make decisions in complex natural environments. It is based on techniques such as verbal protocols that are used by cognitive scientists to obtain knowledge from subject matter experts. Products of a cognitive task analysis include information generating templates for mental model developments, cues to foster complex decision-making skills, cues for developing simulation and scenarios and feedback protocols. A cognitive task analysis can complement existing behavioural forms of training need analysis. Findings on meta cognition show that through continued practice or experience, individuals automats complex behaviour and free up cognitive resources for monitor and evaluate behaviour. By understanding trainees current complex cognitive skills, instructional designers can gain insight into trainers capacity for proficiency and diagnose performance deficiencies. So, training needs analysis has to identify not only the required knowledge and skills to perform tasks but also the cues and cognitions that allow trainees to know when to apply those skills. By including the development of these skills into training, instructional designers can recruits with valuable self help tools. Cognitive task analysis has become useful but needs refinement.

Antecedent Training Factors

Tannenbaum (1993) points out that these are factors before training can start and they are very important to understand on how effective training is given. The factors are of three types: what trainees bring to the training session; variables that engage the trainee to learn and participate in developmental activities and how the training can be prepared so as to maximise the learning experience. Some of the factors are discussed as below:

Cognitive Ability: According to the author, the role of general cognitive ability and previous job knowledge in subsequent job knowledge attainment and work sample performance during training. The resulting model showed that ability influenced the attainment of job knowledge directly and that general cognitive ability influenced work samples through job knowledge. Hence, it can be concluded that general intelligence is good, that it promotes self-efficacy and performance and it helps a great deal with skill acquisition. Those who have high cognitive ability will learn more and succeed in training. Manu jobs have requirements that are more than cognitive ability and depend on other factors for success. Therefore, it is important to understand the nature of the job to determine whether cognitive ability will be a valid factor of training transfer.

Self Efficacy: This factor, whether one has it before or acquires it during training leads to better learning and performance. It is the belief that one can perform specific tasks and behaviours and is a powerful predictor of performance. It also mediates a number of personal variables including job satisfaction, organisational commitment, intention to quit the join, relation between conscientiousness and learning. Self Efficacy has also been shown to have motivational effects, to influence training reactions and to dictate if trainees will use training technology. It enhances learning outcomes and performance.

Goal Orientation: It refers to the mental framework used by individuals to interpret and behave in learning or achievement oriented activities. There are two classes of goal orientation, mastery or leaning goal orientation and performance goal orientation. Master refers to the situation when individuals seek to develop competence by acquiring new skills and mastering novel situations and performance is where individuals pursue assurances of their own competence by seeking good performance evaluations and avoiding negative ones. Goal orientation influences learning outcomes and performance and mastery orientation is a strong indicator of a knowledge based learning outcome. Mastery orientation was positively related to the Meta cognitive activity of the trainee.

Training Motivation: Trainees motivation to learn and attend training has an effect on their skill acquisition, retention and willingness to apply key skill areas on the job. It is multifaceted and influenced by a set of individuals such as cognitive ability, self-efficacy, anxiety, age and situational characteristics. There is a need to assess recruits personality during training needs analysis and there is the need to expand the kind of personality variables such as emotions, adaptability and trait goal orientation. There is also a link between age and motivation to learn, older workers showed lower motivation, learning and post training efficacy. In an era of technology driven instruction and an aging workforce, a challenge for instructional developers will be to design learning environments where older trainees can be trained and retrained.

Knowledge Management Based Systems

Ahmad (2001) argues that there are a variety of reasons for the emergence of KM as a real business concern. Among them, is the messy transition from industrial-based production and work systems to information-based systems, which rendered many functions and people obsolete. Though downsizing seemed to be the answer of the 1980s, this butcher’s knife approach often resulted in the loss of valuable knowledge rather than the financial gains that firms expected. KM offers, instead, a surgeon’s scalpel that sharpens and refines the value of people and what they know. The author posits that KM is emerging as a system of choice for many organisations that wish to increase the effectiveness and pace of training given to their staff. The author conducted a survey that focused on targeting government and private or joint venture organisations in Kuwait to see how many subscribed to the idea of Knowledge Management systems for training. The questionnaire was designed and piloted to assess: time required to complete the questionnaire, simplicity, clear language, clarity of instructions, comprehensiveness and item sequence. The pilot sample includes Nat West Bank, British Airways, IBM, Elida Faberge, ICL and University of Bradford. Once the final questionnaire version was available, the survey sample was selected. For the purpose of the study, the only criteria for sample selection was the size of the organisations and their financial statutes. The sources used to select the sample were Ministry of Planning and case studies analysis in the literature. The selected populations for this research are training department managers and HRD managers in all government and joint venture organisations. For the Government sector, there are currently 48 authorities, and for the private sector, the investigator will study only the main shareholding companies (joint venture with the government, only 38 companies working in investment, insurance, industrial, real estate, transport, and services) (Ministry of planning, 1998) and in addition the banking sector (eight banks) and hotels (14 hotels). Initially, the study participants were presented with several statements to assess the perceived importance of KM in Kuwaiti organisations. Participants were requested to show how strongly they agreed with these statements on a five-point Likert scale.

As per the research findings, many organisations in Kuwait have embraced full scale KM systems or some elements of KM strategies such as knowledge sharing and integrating learning’s and this practice has increased the effectiveness of the training offered to not only new recruits but also to experienced personnel.

Organisation Theory and Practice

Deci (1985) defines motivation as “the set of reasons that determines one to engage in a particular behaviour”. Goldthorpe (1968) has commented that employee motivation relates to keeping employees engaged and interested in their work so that constantly try to improve and give the best in terms of performance and attitude. There are a number of employee motivation theories and these are briefly discussed in this section.

Need Achievement Theory: David McClelland proposed the theory and it suggests the employees have a need for three things: need for affiliation, need for power and need for achievement. While these needs influence the behaviour of employees, there is a difference on the degree of influence that each exerts.

Need Hierarchy Theory: Proposed by Maslow, the theory is also called the ‘hierarchy of human needs’. According to the theory, humans have a hierarchy of five needs that progressively starts increasing both in quality and quantity. The hierarchy of needs are: physiological need for items such as food, shelter and clothing; safety where the individual is concerned about the safety of the workplace; belongingness where the individual has a need to belong to other groups; esteem where the individual has a need to achieve recognition and the highest level of self actualisation where the individual retrospect’s and thinks about what he has achieved.

Herzberg’s two-factor theory: Proposed by Frederick Herzberg, the theory proposes that there are two factors leading to motivation and job satisfaction. If these factors are present then there is a level of motivation and if they are absent, then there is dissatisfaction. The factors are: motivators such as recognition challenging work and recognition and hygiene factors such as wages, job security and other benefits.

Theory X: Based on the work of Freud, the theory assumes that people hate and avoid work and that they are lazy; do not have any ambition or initiative. They only need job security and to get work done, people must be coerced, bullied and intimidated by using the carrot and strict approach. This theory does not hold true in the modern world.

Theory Y: Proposed by McGregor, the theory proposes that people like to learn and work and over a period, they develop self-discipline and take up self-development. For them reward is not about money but to take up challenging work.

Vroom’s Expectancy Theory: Proposed that the style of leadership should be adapted as per the situation or a group. Individuals place different values for rewards and some may like cash rewards while others may like recognition or promotion and managers must design the rewards accordingly to suit the individual’s needs and this increases motivation.

Discussion on Methodology

The thesis will undertake both primary and secondary research to answer the objectives that were framed in the fist chapter of the thesis. The term Methodology refers to the approach taken for the research process, from the theoretical framework, hypothesis to gathering and analysing of data. The term method refers to the various means by which data can be collected and analysed. The methodological assumption is concerned with the process of the research, from the theoretical underpinning to the collection and analysis of the data (Silverman, 2001).

Qualitative and Quantitative Methods

Studies that use data cover areas of economic study, unemployment, health of the economy, scientific study, patterns of demography and others. Different type of data is collected using methods such as databases, reliable government studies, secondary research published in peer reviewed journals, experiments, observations, interviews and others. Data that is collected can be designated into two basic categories, quantitative and qualitative. This also formulates what type of research a study will be conducting: quantitative or qualitative. Denzin (2000) described quantitative research as “the research which gathers data that is measurable in some way and which is usually analysed statistically”. This type of data is mainly concerned with how much there is of something, how fast things are done, and so on. The data collected in this instance is always in the form of numbers. In order to obtain quantitative data, one should have a specific framework about what has to be researched, what should be known, types of inputs that are admissible and so on. Such as approach can help in designing the questionnaire, make observation and so on. Denzin also defined Qualitative research as “the research that gathers data that provides a detailed description of whatever is being researched”. Both types of research have their supporters and detractors and while some claim that quantitative research is much more scientific others argue that qualitative research is required to examine a specific issue in depth.

Researchers who support that quantitative research argue that numerical data can be statistically analysed and in this way it can be established whether it is valid, reliable and whether it can be generalized. By using numerical data, these numbers can be used to compare between other studies, which also use the same numbers, the same scales, etc. With qualitative research it is not so easily possible to achieve this result, as no specific method or scale of measurement is kept. This is basically the main disadvantage of qualitative research, as their findings cannot be generalized to larger populations with a large degree of certainty and validity. The reason that this happens is because their findings are not tested and evaluated statistically in order to establish whether they are due to chance or whether they are statistically significant and to what extent. Another advantage of quantitative to qualitative research is that qualitative research is descriptive and many times subjective too, as it depends on the researchers perspective or how the research registers certain behaviours. Another researcher conducting the same study may observe the qualitative data, which is given in a completely different way. Quantitative research does not show this disadvantage as all the data is in the form of numbers and, therefore, it may be translated in only one possible way, that which is given from the objective value of each specific number. However Qualitative research has many advantages to offer too, which are not offered through quantitative research. It is usually through such type of research that a rich, in-depth insight can be given into an individual or a group, by being far more detailed and by recognizing the uniqueness of each individual. This type of research realizes the importance of the subjective feelings of those who are studied. For example, qualitative research on success factors of OPEC or research on barriers to oil price formations may often give rise to breakthroughs and insights which could not be acknowledged through the rigidity of quantitative experimental designs. Qualitative research analysis does not have to fall into the pitfall of being ‘forced’ to have all its values into certain numerical categories. It is clear that not all phenomena can always be adequately assigned a numerical value, and when this does happen, they lose much of their naturalistic reality. Qualitative research can simply describe a data for what it actually is without having to assign it to a number. Qualitative research can give attention to occurrences, which are not so common. For example, it is very difficult to find enough participants to conduct statistical correlations between nations on women being more accident prone and indulging in rash driving because women will not be willing to be used for such studies. In such cases, quantitative research is impossible and it is only through qualitative research that such cases can be examined in depth and conclude to specific findings and results (Byrne, 2002).

Qualitative Methods

The paper has used a number of primary data gathering techniques for considering research. This chapter provides information on the primary methods used.

Data Gathering

Gathering data is a very important phase and due consideration must be given for the time frame of the research.

Single and Multiple Methods: It is not possible to recommend a single data collection method for each project since each project would have different requirements. In such cases the use of multiple methods is essential. Multiple methods by using survey instruments, review of documents to understand the project is recommended as it gives a better overview of the data. Such methods also highlight the errors between different methods and the occurrence of bias by a specific method is reduced. In some cases, the use of multiple methods is possible when the project requires large analysis spread across multiple sites. Also multiple resources require more manpower and resources and these are usually available for larger projects (Denzin, 2000).

Selecting Data Sources: Selection of the source of data or the reliability of the information repository is as important as the selection of the method. Data can be obtained from government bodies, NGOs, institutions such as UN, Databanks, etc. It has been suggested that some type of data sources are friendlier when the proper data collection method is used. An example is the use of surveys to asses the satisfaction of parents since the instruments can be sent by mail to busy parents. It is also essential to use different data sources and while projects may have some previous information and data analysis done, a proper audit of the programs used in the project and data available through prior research, needs to be done. Such measures will ensure that the load on data collection would be lessened (Byrne, 2002).

Sample Selection: The sample to be researched largely determines the data collection method that is used. Surveys are better suited when used to obtain information from participants; while focus groups would require a different method since the groups are diverse. The sample size would also depend on the project requirements and the group that has to be studied. While considering large number of subjects is best since the results are more reliable, the costs of studying such large samples increases. If the project has sufficient budget allocations, then it is possible to include larger samples and members in the study (Byrne, 2002).

Cost Considerations: Cost is an important aspect for research projects and choosing the method for data collection depends on the budget. For tasks such as running observations, program and project document review can be achieved with lesser costs but tasks such as the design of the survey instruments, administering the instrument to subjects and analysing the results would need the help of an external evaluator. In some cases, staff would have to be sent for training. When standard tests and analysis is to be used, some external staff and experts may have to be involved. For storing and archival of data, software would have to be used so that the data can be analysed as required. Since project budgets tend to be smaller in the initial stages, effort should be spent in creating a number of data collection instruments and tools with a view to fulfil future requirements as the program evolves and moves across different phases (Byrne, 2002).

It is important to have adequate controls for research projects and the selection of the control would depend on the research objective. Control of critical independent variables is important to ensure that the variable that has been selected would create the required effects in the dependant variable. Researchers face problems where it is difficult to control all independent variables because of the very nature of such variables. In addition, by attempting to study and control all such independent variables would make the study very large, complicated and unmanageable. Researchers take up such variables that may be deemed to be relevant to the study and their distribution across different comparison groups are studied by using randomisation methods. In many cases, when such independent variables are not controlled, there is cause for arguments between different sets of researchers. In many cases, studies from other researchers are replicated since a researcher feels that the research did not consider certain uncontrolled variables and lead to inconsistent results. Such failures and failings are usually regarded as errors and only called as frauds when it can be proved that the original researcher deliberately and knowingly ignored some aspects of data during the analysis. Failure to instil correct methods of observation or control of different independent variables would lead to loss of reputation for the researcher and the research community regards any future activities undertaken by the scientist with suspicion. When faced with a deluge of random variables that cannot be controlled, it is best to shift the research to another perspective, reframe the research question or focus on any important and key aspect that would remain unaffected by such variables. At the beginning of the publication and research findings, it is best to declare such occurrences or misgivings and gaps under the heading such as ‘Limitations of the study’. This section should clearly explain what has been studied and what has been omitted (Freiman, 1978).

Research does not end with completing research work but should also be supported by informing other researchers and members of the research community about the findings, observations and conclusions that were formed. Other researchers may respond by giving critics and reviews and comments about the quality of research, inclusion or omission of certain datasets, methods used and so on and such critiques should be taken in the right spirit. Where required, the researcher should pick up important criticisms and use them to support other experiments and research. In such cases, the bias of the experimenter would tend him to make observations that would favour certain parameters or areas. If observers and the research guide notice such a bias, they should point out the anomaly areas. The researcher should then take cognisance of the observers and attempt to correct the direction of the research and any failure to take the required steps would result in the researcher being guilty of misrepresentation and misconduct. This is a serious offence and the researcher should quickly consult appropriate authorities and issue clarifications and take up corrective actions. When a researcher is faced with such accusations, these comments tend to ruin the reputation and any future research that he takes up, are ignored by reputed publications and authorities. Moreover, such blacklisted researchers would find it difficult to obtain funding and even teaching assignments and it may spell the end of their careers (Lock, 1984).

The sample size used in research has always created disagreements and controversies. Various issues such as ethical issues and statistical problems arise and these need to be addressed properly. When very large sample data sizes are used, the ethical issue of wasting resources will arise while selecting a smaller size will create another ethical issue. When the research objective is large, then a difference that is statistically significant may be observed even with a smaller sample. But the difference that is statistically significant may happen when a smaller sample size has been used and such differences to do emerge and also when there is actually no difference. Freiman (1978) reported that a study on clinical trials that showed negative results for certain parameters for the effectiveness of a treatment. But after the results were further examined it was found that because of the small sample size, 50% of the results and method used were not adequate to cover 70% of the improvements. Many researchers when faced with shortage of resources or when they find that bigger sample size is not available or would take too much time, tend to use smaller samples in the hope that the size is representative of a wider section of the data. But in many cases this is misleading and researchers would be held responsible of major errors that were caused due to ignorance rather than due to misconduct. In research, ignorance does not lead to a researcher being free of mis-representation charges and such practices cannot be excused (Freiman, 1978).

A very important area for research is to select the parameter and variable that has to be observed. Researches use a structured method in which hypothesis are first framed, experiments are then designed and then results from the experiments are collated and analysed and these form the basis for results and conclusions. The results form the basis and the report and thesis is based on the results and this is the recommended process. However, often, some researchers use the services of students and other post graduate students who are given instructions on the experiment. The main researcher would create a bias when he tells his associates about what he expects to find and the conclusions and results he expects from hiring the students. The students on their part feel duty bound to make observations that are as per the instructions informally give and the researcher would further refine the results and take up results that best fit his goals, ignoring anomalies that in some cases are serious. Such research is unethical because the method has attempted to create bias and the researcher has taken up only those results that he wants. The researcher is expected to make an observation of all results and present them in the findings (Jackson, 1984).

The researcher should be able to anticipate future events and needs to have plans set up for various scenarios that may hinder the project. Experimenter bias tends to have an effect on observations and researchers are to some extent susceptible to such errors and not all of them can be called as frauds but at the same time, the research has an objective and a purpose that constrain the project in the proper direction. But problems arise when researchers are bent on proving or disproving a certain set of results and take all measures to ensure that the results favour their need. This often happens in economic studies when the researcher wants his results to point out certain patterns in demographic studies, fiscal studies and study of natural resources. Researcher would in some cases want to prove that a certain natural resource such as oil, coal, natural gas have not proved beneficial to the economy. In some cases, researchers may unwittingly fail to observe a particular result that were required. A researcher should keep an open mind and sit back every now and then to understand the pattern of results and see where the observations are heading (Neher, 1967)

The researcher Mishkin (1998) has argued that when researchers are not able to or not willing to produce primary date, then one should suspect that the data did not exist at all. The author suggests that such unwillingness may point to a fraud in the experiment but also suggests that some legitimate reason may also be the cause. The author suggests that researchers should take backups of their results in computers and in different logbooks. In some cases, when researchers are working on projects that have high importance or when there would be high commercial impact, they would not be willing to give out data that may be publicized and impact their chances for recognition. But the author suggests that this behaviour is not acceptable and data should be given to agencies that provide the funding, university and schools that support the research and other stakeholders in the project. In such cases, the authorities need to make the research aware of the consequences of refusing to reveal data and assure the researcher that the data would be handled with the appropriate amount of security. The author also recommends that data should be preserved for as long as needed since it may be required for any future research that may be undertaken (Mishkin, 1998).

Data Interpretation

While gathering data is one part of the research, interpreting data is very important. Different classifications are used to identify data. Variable: A variable is an item of data and some examples include quantities such as: gender, test scores, and weight. The values of these quantities vary from one observation to another. Types and classifications are: Qualitative-Non-numerical quality; Quantitative-Numerical; Discrete-counts and Continuous- measures (Silverman, 2001).

Qualitative Data: This data describes the quality of something in a non-numerical format. Counts can be applied to qualitative data, but one cannot order or measure this type of variable. Examples are gender, marital status, geographical region of an organization, job title, etc (Silverman, 2001).

Qualitative data is usually treated as Categorical Data. With categorical data, the observations can be sorted according into non-overlapping categories or by characteristics. As an example, apparel can be categorized as per their colour. The parameter of ‘colour’ would have certain non-overlapping properties such as red, green, orange, etc. People can be categorized as per their gender with features such as male and female. While selecting categories, care should be taken to frame them properly and a value from one set of data should belong to only one type of category and not be able to get into multiple categories. Analyse qualitative data is done by using: Frequency tables, Modes – most frequently occurring and Graphs- Bar Charts and Pie Charts (Silverman, 2001).

Quantitative Data: Quantitative or numerical data arise when the observations are frequencies or measurements. The data are said to be discrete if the measurements are integers e.g. number of employees of a company, number of incorrect answers on a test, number of participants in a program. The data are said to be continuous if the measurements can take on any value, usually within some range (e.g. weight). Age and income are continuous quantitative variables. For continuous variables, arithmetic operations such as differences and averages make sense. Analysis can take almost any form such as Create groups or categories and generate frequency tables and all descriptive statistics can be applied. Effective graphs include Histograms, stem-and-Leaf plots, Dot Plots, Box plots, and XY Scatter Plots with 2 or more variables. Some quantitative variables can be treated only as ranks; they have a natural order, but these values are not strictly measured. Examples are: age group (taking the values child, teen, adult, senior), and Likert Scale data (responses such as strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree). For these variables, the differences between contiguous points on the scale need not be the same, and the ratio of values is not meaningful. Analyze using: Frequency tables, Mode, Median, Quartiles and Graphs Bar Charts, Dot Plots, Pie Charts, and Line Charts with 2 or more variables (Silverman, 2001).

Data Analysis

Graphs Used for Categorical/qualitative Data are (Tufte, 2001):

Pie Charts: A circle is divided proportionately and shows what percentage of the whole falls into each category.

These charts are simple to understand.

They convey information regarding the relative size of groups more readily than does a table.

Bar Charts: Bar charts also show percentages in various categories and allow comparison between categories.

The vertical scale is frequencies, relative frequencies, or percentages.

The horizontal scale shows categories.

Consider the following in constructing bar charts.

• all boxes should have the same width
• gaps between the boxes (because there is no connection between them)
• boxes can be in any order.

Bar charts can be used to represent two categorical variables simultaneously.

Graphs for Measured/Continuous Data:

• Histograms
• Stem and Leaf
• Box plots
• Line Graphs
• XY Scatter Charts (2 variables)

Histograms: Histograms show the frequency distributions of continuous variables. They are similar to Bar Charts, but in ‘pure form,’ they are drawn without gaps between the bars because the x-axis is used to represent the class intervals. However, many of the current software packages such as Excel do easily not make this distinction (Tufte, 2001).

• The data is divided into non-overlapping intervals (usually use from 5 to 15).
• Intervals generally have the same length
• The number of values in each interval is counted (the class frequency).
• Sometimes relative frequencies or percentages are used. (Divide the cell total by the grand total.)

Rectangles are drawn over each interval. (The area of rectangle = relative frequency of the interval. If intervals are not all of the same length then heights have to be scaled so that each area is proportional to the frequency for that interval.

XY Scatter Chart: This type of chart should be used with two variables when both of the variables are quantitative and continuous. Plot pairs of values using the rectangular coordinate system to examine the relationship between two values.

• Basic Principles for Constructing All Plots
• Data should stand out clearly from background

The information should be clearly labelled and include:

• title
• axes, bars, pie segments, etc. – include units that are needed to interpret data
• scale including starting points.
• Source of data should be identified, as appropriate.
• Do not clutter the graphs with unnecessary information and graphical components that are really not necessary.
• Do not put too much information or data on one graph.
• Sometimes, you have to try several approaches before selecting an appropriate graph.
• To describe data, consider the following.
• Shape of the Distribution
• Symmetry

Modality: most frequently occurring value

• Unimodal or bimodal or uniform
• Skewness
• Centrality
• Spread
• Extreme values

In interpreting graphs, consider:

• Horizontal and vertical scales; what is the relationship – are the distances between, for example, 10 and 20, the same on each axis? A no answer may distort the interpretation.
• The centre point – of particular importance in comparing two histograms. Look at the starting point of the vertical scale – does it start at 0? How could this affect the interpretation of the data?

Time Series Analysis: The movement of oil markets and macro economic indicators are best performed by using a time series analysis. In this technique, the following points should be noted (Tufte, 2001):

Time series data form a sequence of analysis and measurements that use certain non-random orders. Analysis of time series data is done by assuming that successive readings in the data show consecutive measurements that have been taken at equally spaced time intervals (Tufte, 2001).

Time series analysis has two main goals and they are predicting future possible values of the time series variable) and in identifying the properties of the process that is defined by the sequence of observations. Both these objectives need to have that the pattern of time series data is identified and formally described. After the pattern is proven, then the data is interpreted and integrated with other sets of data and employed in the theory of the phenomenon that is being studied. Some examples include seasonal commodity prices, inflation, consumer price index and so on. By using proper techniques and methods, an accurate forecast of future trends can be projected (Tufte, 2001).

In time series analysis just as with other types of analysis, it is presumed that data is made of a systematic pattern that can be described in terms of trend and seasonality. Trend stands for a general systematic linear or non-linear component that would undergo change over a period of time and would not repeat in the time range captured by data so that there is no plateau followed by a time range of increased growth (Tufte, 2001).

There are no standard methods and techniques to identify trend components in the time series data. It can be stated that as long as the trend is monotonous and made of consistently increasing or decreasing components, a part of data analysis is relatively easier to follow. If considerable errors exist in the time series data, then smoothing should be adopted as the first step in the method of trend identification (Tufte, 2001).

Time series is best used in analysis of economic indicators, prices of oil, performance of the share market and other such phenomenon that sees regular movements. If data of a few years is available, then it can be subjected to analysis to find out how a particular indicator has behaved over the years. If multiple indicators are available for a certain number of years, then a comparative analysis of different indicators can be done. This would mean that the value of one indicator such as crude rate or the rate of inflation could be used a base reference and analysis done to see how it has effected other indicators.

Design of Questionnaire

The questionnaire that was used for the research had 11 questions, each question designed to elicit a different type of response from the respondents. Questions were designed to identify the role and function of the respondents, number of years that they had spent in the police force before they joined ICTY and their impressions about the course and treatment of the subjects. A further analysis of these questions and responses is formed in later chapters.

Oppenheim (1992) points out that Questionnaire design is one of the most important phases of the research project and it provides the researcher a means to ask focussed questions that are relevant to the project. The responder may have extensive experience and learning’s but the researcher wants replies in a very narrow area of the responder’s expertise or views. Hence, the questions should be structured with the single goal of the research in mind. The questionnaire is not supposed to work in isolation but it has to be synchronised with the research goals and objectives. The replies that would be expected should be such that they could be appropriately categorised and grouped so that further analysis is possible. When the research project deals with a small group of people with common interests and job, as in the current research project, then the task becomes easier but focussed. The aim of the questionnaire is to focus on micro groups within the responders and ascertain their impression about the issues at hand. The effort here is to split the group into the smallest possible sub groups so that the views and interpretations of all responders are considered. If the questionnaire was for marketing research such as the buying preferences of shopper in a shopping mall, then the effort is to find larger groups among the customers.

ICTY is a special organisation and the roles of the investigators is specialised. Investigators also come from different countries and backgrounds and these cultural issues have a major impact on their perceptions about ICTY and the training courses. The ethics committee also had approved the research and there were certain restriction and guidelines. Investigators are or were engaged in running investigations of legal nature and by making unintended disclosures, there was the risk of committing contempt of court or otherwise jeopardising the investigations. Therefore, the questionnaire had to be constrained in its structure and had to give satisfactory answers to some questions. Some of the questions and the impact, under which the instrument had to operate, are (Appendix A2. Ethics Checklist):

“Will the researchers inform participants of all aspects of the research that might reasonably be expected to influence willingness to participate and in particular, any negative consequences that might occur?”. The question meant that the research did not have a hidden agenda and the research would not be conducted for any other purpose than what was suggested to the respondents. This clarification was important since ICTY conducts investigations into heinous crimes in the former Yugoslavia and investigations would often be conducted on issues that are very secret and confidential and involve the life of citizens.

“Will the researchers ensure that participants know of their right to withdraw from any stage of an investigation?” Investigators may have agreed to participate in the research under the impression that their work would not be impacted adversely. However, if after some time into the research, they find that the research is conflicting with their job or their personal integrity or for any other reason, and then they should have the means to withdraw from the research. The participants should also be allowed to withdraw at any stage of the project. This meant that the questionnaire had to be short, not delve too deeply into the specifics of the cases that the investigators are involved with and that interdependencies should not be formed.

“If the research involves participants with impairments in understanding or communication, will the approval of independent advisors be sought?” The question of using an independent advisor arises since investigators are from different countries and whose native language is different. There is also the possibility that they may even have trouble in understanding the questions or the manner of communication. By allowing an independent advisor, clarity of communication would be ensured.

Considering all the factors and issues, the questionnaire was designed to both protect and guide the participant as well as meet the project requirements.

Oppenheim (1992) points that there are different types of questionnaire such as structured, semi-structured and unstructured. In structured questionnaires, there is an exact order and wording for the questions. The order in which the questions are presented would also be defined. In addition, there would be predefined and exact answer choices for the responders. Some examples of such questions would have yes or no fields, certain designations to select, predefined choices for the satisfaction levels such as entirely disagree to total agree and so on. The structured questionnaire brings uniformity for the research and ensures that replies do not stray or too many vague elements that are subject to interpretations do not occur. Structured questionnaire would have values associated for each score and for each question and this allows the replies to be evaluated using statistical methods and software. However, since the subjects cannot express their true feelings, the satisfaction and dissatisfaction becomes restricted to numbers and scores and some researchers have objections to such structured questionnaire. Semi-structured questionnaires has different types of questions that would have predefined answers and also questions where the participant can give the required responses in their own informal manner. The order of the questions and the type of questions would be the same and it is felt that the semi-structured questionnaire more flexible than structured questionnaires. The responses also reveal more information and hidden feelings from the responders. However, the issue of commonality is deprived from the responses and many of the answers would be subjected to interpretations from the researcher who could interpret the responses in different ways. Oppenheim argues that when the issues being researched are subjective and cannot be defined qualitatively, then such questions have to be used, rather as a last resort rather than as the first choice.

Research Paradigms

The researcher used the longitudinal study approach for the collection of the primary research. Longitudinal measurement are certainly important for the successful evaluation of the primary date and this approach is not always feasible the learning cycle may span great lengths of time, although in this case the researcher believed that longitudinal measurements were relevant to gauge the quality of the primary data especially when the research is conducted in department that is experiencing growth. By taking a cross sectional measurement, assessment, of the courses is enabled by assessing the experience to date. The rational between choosing a longitudinal study over a cross sectional study is because we are not able to estimate the quick changes and trends found within the field.

Typically, the research design, methodology and approach are driven by the research question being scrutinized. Corbin (2007) infers that depending on the field or research that there may be several research approaches and methods that are considered appropriate; this is a view which is also shared by Creswell (2003). The research paradigm will influence the selection of an appropriate research method and approach by the researcher of which they could choose either qualitative or quantitative research, in some cases, as stated by Creswell, (2003) mixed method procedures which incorporate both elements of qualitative and quantitative research are obtaining a level of validity within academia where it has aspired to a level of legitimacy within the social and human sciences. In this section, the researcher discusses several alternatives from which may be chosen to conduct primary research a view shared by Tashakkori and Teddlie (2003).

The paradigm adopted in any research has important implications for methodology decisions. Corbin (2007) identify that there are three paradigms evident which are the: Positivist paradigm; Interpretivist paradigm and Critical theory paradigm.

Positivist paradigm: The ‘Positivist Paradigm – Positivism’, as stated in Pachauri (2001), sees social sciences as an:

“Organised method for combining deductive logic with precise empirical observations of individual behaviour in order to discover and confirm a set of probabilistic causal laws that can be used to predict general patterns of human activity“.

The objective mentioned above can be achieved by verifying for causal relationships and regularities between the fundamental elements. Roth (2002) stated that there are two major approaches in research, these being scientific and Interpretivist. The scientific approach is based on empirical study, which corresponds with the intransient nature of positivism. Positivism has been the dominant paradigm of research. Montréal (2003) stated that 97 percent of the academic research which was conducted within the United States of American corresponded to the positivism paradigm. More recently, Interpretivism has gained wider acceptance (Klein and Myers, 1998; Lee, 1999) and critical theory has been discussed and used (Myers, 1994; Ngwenyama and Lee, 1997; Orlikowski and Baroudi, 1991). While paradigms have imprecise boundaries and include numerous variations, common themes for each paradigm can be identified.

Firstly, positivist research is based mainly on deductive style of reasoning, as used in natural science (Williamson, 2000). In other words, it is hinged on the understanding that the world phenomena description is reducible to observable facts and mathematical relationships. The positivist paradigm focuses on numerically measurable events and scientific study (Montréal, 2003). Such research is often concerned with hypothesis testing and is used to find natural laws that can be used to forecast and control certain events.. Fact and evidence are two words primarily associated with the positivist paradigm (Neumann, 1994). The positivist paradigm utilises quantitative data where data is collected through experiments, questionnaires, content analysis or existing statistics. While the accuracy and high reliability of a positivist approach is clear, criticism concerning the depth of understanding gained (Fichman, 2004). Arguments against positivism and in support of the Interpretivist paradigm are based on quantitative methods producing artificial and sterile results. These results are argued to be incapable of representing the complexity of social realities. People are reduced to numbers and abstract laws and formulas are arguably not relevant to the actual lives of real people and have low validity (Neumann, 1994).

The Interpretivist Paradigm: Interpretivism, as defined by Corbin (2007) is the:

“systematic analysis-of socially meaningful action through the direct detailed observation of people in natural settings in order to arrive at understandings and interpretations of how people create and maintain their social worlds.”

Interpretivism is related with the theory of hermeneutics (Neumann, 1997), which emphasises detailed examination and assessment of text, which could refer to written words. This paradigm is more established in research in Europe compared to the United States of America. In contrast to positivism, the Interpretivist paradigm is particularly concerned with qualitative data. This data is rich and can be examined for social meaning. The qualitative approaches take the stance that information about the world’s phenomena when reduced to numerical form, loses most of the important information and meaning (Serafeimidis, 2000). In other words, Interpretivism does not try to generalise from a carefully selected sample to a specified population but rather to develop deep understanding which may then inform understanding in other contexts (Glaser and Strauss, 1967; Orlikowski and Baroudi, 1991; Walsham, 1995).

Methodologically, research within the Interpretivist paradigm uses small samples, open ended questions, unstructured interviews, individual case studies, diary methods, participant observation and the like. Research using these techniques has high construct validity and realism, however is more suited to theory generation. As with the positivist paradigm, the Interpretivist approach, however, possesses weaknesses. It is difficult to replicate interpretivistic work because the data and findings are socially constructed between the respondents and researcher/s. Positivist criteria of validity and reliability cannot be easily applied. Rather truth and trustworthiness are used as criteria and are observed through different means (Carroll, 2000).

The Critical Theory Paradigm: Critical theory is derived from the works of Marx, Freud, Marcuse and Habermas (Lyytinen and Klein, 1985; Neumann, 1991). Critical theorists disagree with what is viewed as the anti-humanist and conservative values of positivism and the passive subjectivism of Interpretivism (Doolin, 2002). Critical theorists go beyond seeking understanding of an existing reality and critically evaluate the social reality being studied in order to implement improvements to it. Their aim is to achieve change (Neumann, 1991). Research may result in strategies to reveal contradictions, empower subjects and initiate action. Critical theory is receiving increased attention from Information Systems researchers (Doolin, 2002).

Selected Research Paradigm: This study is based in the positivist paradigm. The research asks target respondents questions in a written questionnaire to collect objective statistical data. In terms of data collection, there is no manipulation of the situation, with respondents answering numerous questions in a short period (Carroll, 2000). The data when obtained is expected to be precise with high reliability, so that when measures are repeated, the findings have comparable results (Coolican, 1994; Hussey and Hussey, 1997).

Despite its shortcomings, the positivist approach is well matched to the objectives of this study. Techniques that will be utilised to gather evidence and impact the manner in which analysis of the evidence would be done. Some of the following approaches are predominantly positivist while some may be used with either phenomenological approach.

Research Methods of the Positivist Paradigm: Gliner (2000) provides a list of methods or tactics suitable for all types of business and management researchers. Researchers have to know these approaches and their characteristics as they will influence the Forecasting Research techniques that will be utilised for evidence collection and influence the way in which analysis of the evidence would be done. Some of the following approaches are predominantly positivist while some may be used with either phenomenological approach.

Forecasting Research: Forecasting research tends to be associated with mathematical and statistical techniques of regression and time series analysis (Armstrong, 2001). This type of research may also be regarded as falling under the heading of mathematical simulation. These techniques use historic evidence to make projections and this approach is high quantitative in which mathematical models are fitted to empirical data or evidence points (Hendry, 2003)). This research method was not chosen as it attempts to establish relationships between different sets of historical evidence and to understand why these relationships exist.

Futures Research: Futures research provides a way of considering and developing predictions although not as mathematical or technical as, but at the same time similar in intent to, forecasting research (Evangelos , et all, 2007). Unlike forecasting, futures research has a forward orientation and thus looks ahead, rather than backwards, using Delphi studies, scenario projections and other techniques (McCarthy, 1992; Malta!, 1993; Goldfisher, 1992). Futures research is rather used in technology forecasting, business trend analysis and other specialised areas. Similar to forecasting research, this method is not suitable for the purpose of this study.

Simulation and Stochastic Modelling: Simulation and stochastic modelling may be defined as a domain of study in which the input variables and the manner in which they interact is generally known to an uncertain level of accuracy (Nelson, 2003)). In other words, stochastic modelling is employed in areas that cannot be analysed by deterministic or analytical treatment. Simulation is used in areas where formal mathematical relations have to be evaluated with a number of assumptions (Freedman, 1992). This is used in business management research only when mathematical modelling has to be done.

Case Study: Yin (2002) regards a case study in much the same way that the natural scientist regards a laboratory experiment. According to Huberman (2002) “the case study approach is an umbrella term for a family of research methods having in common the decision to focus on an enquiry around a specific instance or event”. More formally, a case study can be defined as “an empirical enquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real life context, when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident, and in which multiple sources of evidences are used” (Yin, 2002). In a case study, the researcher examines features on many people or units, at one time or across time periods. It uses analytical logic instead of numerical statistical testing (Huberman, 2002)).

The researcher will select one or a few key cases to illustrate an issue and study them in detail. Case study gives a multi dimension view of different events and factors such as corporate political issues, relationships, influencing patterns in specific contexts can be obtained. The researcher can do so by using combined sources of collection of information and data such as interviews, archives, observation and survey instruments.. However, based on this research strategy a researcher is an observer and a large number of variables are involved with little or no control. Outcomes deriving from a case study can be either qualitative, quantitative or both (Eisenhardt, 1989; Galliers, 1990). Given the time and resources available, a longitudinal study is not feasible. Therefore, the case study method was not chosen for this study.

Experimental based Research – Laboratory and Field: Experimental research uses the logic and principles found in natural science research (Eiben, 2002). Experiments can be conducted in a laboratory under controlled conditions typically in a specifically designed setting or a purposely equipped laboratory, conversely depending on the research it could be conducted as a field experiment which could be conducted within its natural setting. They usually involve a relatively small number of people and address a well-focused question. Experiments are most effective for explanatory research. They are often limited to topics for which a researcher can manipulate the situation in which people find themselves. Compared to other social research techniques, experimental research is the strongest for testing causal relationships because the three conditions for causality (temporal order, association, no alternative explanations) are clearly met in experimental design (Sekaran, 1992). In general, experiments are widely used because of their logical rigour and simplicity, consistency with positivist assumptions, and relatively low cost. Despite its advantages, the experiment method is inappropriate for the purpose of this study.

Survey: Questionnaires produce quantitative information about the social world and describe features of people or the social world (Neumann, 1997). They are also used to explain or explore about people’s beliefs, opinions, characteristics, and past or present behaviour. The survey is the most widely used data gathering technique in sociology, and it’s used in many other fields as well (such as communication, education, economics, political science, and social psychology). The survey approach is often called correlation (Song, 2002). Survey researchers sample many respondents would be given the same questions. Different variables are measured and different hypotheses are tested. An understanding of the temporal order from the survey is obtained about previous behaviour, characteristics and user experiences. The relation between these variables is later measured with statistical techniques. Survey techniques are often used in descriptive or explanatory research (Song, 2002).

The advantages of survey methods, such as the economy of the design, the rapid turnaround in data collection, and the ability to identify attributes of a population from a small group of individuals are clearly presented in Song (2002), Fowler (1988), Babble (1990), Fink and Kosecoff (1985). The survey instrument gives description of the numeric and quantitative percentage of the population or the sample by using data collection methods and asking people some questions. (Song, 2002),). This data collection, in turn, enables the researcher to generalise the findings from some examples of replies to a population. Conclusions can also be made about the attitude, characteristics and behaviour of the sample. (Song, 2002).

Survey Method Issues and Limitations: Survey research can be complex and expensive and it can involve coordinating a considerable amount of people and copious steps. One of the issues involved with questionnaires is non-cooperation (Pinsonneault, 2007). Due to an increasing number of academic courses requiring students to conduct formal research, many individuals and organisations are tiring of being continually surveyed. This leads to low response rates, or worse still inappropriately answered questionnaires that eventually impact negatively on the generalisability of the results. The generalisability or the external validity of questionnaires may also be affected by the sampling technique employed. As proposed by Williamson (2000), the more focused the target group, the higher the response rates; and conversely, the more generalised the target group, the lower the response rate.

Types of Survey Methods

Survey data can be gathered in a number of ways and from different sources and settings. Interviewing, administering questionnaires, and observing people and phenomena are the main methods of data collection in survey research. The choice of data collection methods depends on the facilities available from the organisation, the extent of accuracy required, the expertise of the researcher, the time span of the study, and other costs and resources associated with and available for data gathering (Pinsonneault, 2007). The following sections discuss each method with their advantages and disadvantages.

Telephone Interviews: The main advantage of telephone interviewing, from the researcher’s point of view, is that a larger number of people can be contacted – across the country or internationally – in a short duration. From the respondents’ standpoint it would eliminate any discomfort that some respondents might feel in facing the interviewer, especially with disclosing personal information (Corkrey, 2002). The disadvantage is however, the fact that respondent could unilaterally terminate the interview without warning or explanation by hanging up the phone. Other disadvantages include relatively high cost, limited interview length, and the researcher not being able to see the respondent to read the nonverbal communication. In a multi-cultural society such as Dubai it can also be difficult to perform telephone interviews with individuals where English is their second, third and possibly forth language. One must also consider the effect such an interview could have on the household if an individual unknown to the head of the family makes a, supposed, personal call to a female family member. Dubai regardless of what it may look like to an outsider is a society where the modesty of women is very important for example it is not untypical for car windows have 100% tinting, regardless how dangerous. This fact is described by Al-Theeb (2007) where she stated that in an interview with Bushra:

“I used to have 30 per cent tinting and many times I was chased by men who followed me from my house until my workplace. Thirty per cent tinting was not enough at all, I therefore applied 100 per cent tinting,”

Face-to-face Interviews: Face-to-face interviews have the highest response rates and permit the longest questionnaire (Newman, 2002). The researcher can adapt and modify the questions as required, clear any doubts and questions and make sure that that the questions are clearly understood by either rephrasing or repeating them. Non-verbal signs and cues can also be collected and this would not be possible in a telephone interview or mail questionnaire. The main disadvantage is however, the geographical constraints on the questionnaires and the larger number of interviewers required if such questionnaires need to be done over a large geographical area. The costs of training interviewers to minimise interviewer biases are also high and, finally respondents may feel uncomfortable since the replies are not anonymous and they would be face to face with the researcher.

Mail and Self-administered and anonymous Questionnaires: The most common form of self-administered and anonymous questionnaire in academic research is the mail survey. The main advantage of a mail questionnaire is that a wide geographical area can be covered in the survey and the respondents can complete the questionnaires at their own convenience (Knapp, 2003). This offers anonymity and avoids interviewer bias. It is also by far the cheapest type of survey method that a single researcher can conduct. However, mail survey possesses some major weaknesses such as low response rate and longer turnaround time (Emory, 1980:308). Due to its low rate of return, it is difficult to represent the population that the survey was intended to represent. In addition to the disadvantage mentioned above, any doubts, which the respondent may have, cannot be clarified.

This approach was not considered as an appropriate data collection methodology, because Dubai does not have a door-to-door mail service and it relies very heavily on company or personal mail boxes, although there are no statistics available there have been instances where local mail has taken over four weeks for mail to move from one area of Dubai to another, it is not uncommon for international mail never to arrive!

Electronic Survey: Questionnaires can be conducted by different methods such as eMail, the Web and electronic newsgroups. The data transmitted in electronic form are much more flexible and greatly facilitate the process of data collection, data capturing and data analysis, compared with print-based form (Williamson, 2000). It allows researchers to collect questionnaires from a larger and more geographically diverse population (Knapp, 2003). Electronic survey responses can be collected more quickly, with lower copying and postage costs, and lower amount of time is spent in data entry (Laura, 2007). In a study that compared the cost of web based survey method to other survey method confirmed showed that as the sample size increased, costs of eMail and web-based questionnaires reduced. The process of developing web based survey usually involves developing the questionnaire, designing an online survey form, creating a database for the electronic capturing of data, and informing the population of interest of the existence of the survey (Laura, 2007).

e-Mail Survey: Little academic research has been conducted on web based questionnaires. However, it has been argued that many respondents feel they can be much more candid on eMail (Sheehan, 2006). Researchers at Socratic Technologies and American Research comments that people are more likely to participate in electronic research than in identical investigations using written materials (McElroy and Geissler, 1994:5).

Apart from being cheaper than other modes of survey distribution, faster transmission, and quicker data gathering (Swoboda, Muehlberger, Weitkunat, and Schneeweiss, 1997; Tse, 1998; Yun and Trumbo, 2000), it has also been suggested that eMail questionnaires arouse curiosity because they are novel and they reach respondents who are more likely to answer because people opening their eMail are prepared to interact Sheehan, 2006).

Many of these interactive questionnaires can utilise colour sound and animation, which help to increase participant’s cooperation and willingness to spend more time answering the questionnaires. Despite its advantages, the response rate for eMail questionnaire are lesser than physically administered questionnaires. (Sheehan, 2006) comments about different reasons for the lower response rate of eMail surveys and some of then are that eMails can be deleted by the recipients and since they are not physically available and noticeable, they would have a lower priority and also that eMail responses are not anonymous.

Web-based survey: Before the introduction of the World Wide Web (WWW), web based questionnaires were collected mainly through eMail (Song, 2002). However, as WWW access has become a standard part of network connectivity, web-based questionnaires are becoming increasingly common. web-based questionnaires offer a level of flexibility that eMail questionnaires do not. Features such as adding images, having help options, and enforcing data validation rules on responses by requiring certain types of answers, such as a numerical response, a response under 30 characters, etc (Schonlau, 2002). respondents can also use the function of automatic question filtering. By making the survey experience easier for the respondent , there are less missing data when the survey is configured to be sent to a database or spreadsheet, and no data entry is needed). Regardless of the advantages, for the same sample size, the cost of mail survey is lesser than that of the web based survey. While making web based surveys, developers and programmers have to spend time in building the web page and the database. There is difficulty in calculating labour cost for administration, maintenance of hardware and the network. (Watt, 1999).

Although eMail and web-based questionnaires are relatively easy to design, incur low cost and achieve faster response time than traditional paper survey (Schonlau, 2002), it can be very difficult to procure eMail list of a particular population, other than one’s own company records. In addition, considerable effort needs to be devoted to promote and establish links containing invitations to visit the survey web site.

In summary, a review of various types of survey method has been presented in this section. Certainly, telephone interviews are the fastest way to obtain data. However, due to the aforementioned cultural differences telephone or personal interviews were not considered feasible for this study.

The only viable option was to instigate email survey where a questionnaire was emailed to the respondents who were requested to complete the survey and mail it back to a specified ID.

Research Findings and Analysis

Research findings and analysis are presented in this chapter. As mentioned earlier, a questionnaire was emailed to selected employees and ex-employees of ICYT. Responses were collected from the responders and the findings are given in this chapter. An initial discussion of the respondents is done followed by the presentation of the main findings. In later sections, detailed analysis of each question has been performed.

Presenting the Questionnaire

The questionnaire was sent to 34 present or former investigators of the Officer of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the United Nations International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Out of the 34 people to whom the questionnaire was sent, 14 investigators returned the completed instrument. The questionnaire had a foreword that explained what the questionnaire was designed for and how the responses were going to be handled. All the contacted persons were assured that their individual responses are not going to be made public so that they can be identified from them. In addition, the purpose of the whole research was explained and it was made clear that the purpose of the questionnaire was not to blame the supervisors and neither to praise them. The research was designed to find out the responders views on how the induction to the new work could be arranged so that it would serve both the organization and the new employee the best possible way.

Identifying the respondents

People that were selected to answer the questionnaire have police background and was either currently serving as investigators in the OTP ICTY or were former investigators of that unit. The reason for that kind of a selection was that the selected croup would be as hermetic as possible, although the people are with different nationalities, age and professional history. The ICTY OTP employs also professionals from several other fields, such as Military Analysts, Lawyers and Demographers. One aspect of the research was to find out if the professional background i.e. former rank in the police force has any affects to how the respondents experienced the induction to the work in the ICTY. Other issue to research was the time when the individual investigator joined to the service of the ICTY.

Number of Respondents

The instrument was sent to 34 people who had been short listed as suitable candidates. Out of these 34 people, 14 of the selected investigators responded to the request to fill the questionnaire. Though the number of responses and percentage of responses was small, it does not mean that the research would provide a skewed result or that the results were lopsided. On the contrary, considering that the limited number of respondents had a varied background, it was possible to obtain focussed results.

Main Findings

The main findings of the research are:

• Five investigators out of fourteen, 35.7 % responded that the induction had been adequate when they joined the service of the ICTY. Three of those five had joined to the service 1998 or before that year, which means that the investigations of many cases were still in their early stages.
• The remaining 9 respondents or 64.3 % of the respondents’ stated that the induction was not adequate and their estimation was that had they received better induction it would have helped them to begin the effective work 1-8 weeks earlier.
• The investigators were asked what kind of induction they received. The preset answers were ‘I studied documents, i.e. Case files’, ‘I had a tutor, i.e. senior colleague briefed me.’, ‘I received no introduction to the cases.’, ‘Other method’. Totally 10 out f 14 respondents answered that the induction they had been: ‘I studied documents, i.e. Case files’. In this category, eight out of ten had an opinion that the induction was not adequate. Two out of ten were satisfied to the induction they received only by reading the existing material. Both of these two had joined the service in 1998, which again shows that in the earlier stages of the Tribunal’s work the amount of material was much less than in the later stages and the investigators felt that it was the only available method.
• The earlier rank of the investigators seems to have no affect to their feeling of the adequacy of the arrival training. In the rank ‘Captain or equivalent’ one investigator out of four answered that by their opinion the induction was adequate. In the category of ‘Sergeant or equivalent’ two out of three felt that the induction was adequate. In the category of ‘Officer, investigator or equivalent’ two out of seven felt that the training was adequate.
• The length of the earlier career seems to have some affect to the satisfaction of the induction. Four out of five investigators who were satisfied to their induction had service history over 20 years and one 16-20 years. Of those who were not satisfied to the induction they received, four out nine of had service history longer than 20 years. However, at this point it is important to remember the small number of sampling and therefore, the analysis does not necessary give the right picture.
• When asked the opinions what the investigators would have considered to be the best method for the induction, 64, 3 % had opinion that a combination of self studying and tutoring by a senior colleague would have been the most affective method. The self-studying would have been the best method by the opinion of 21, 4 % and to be briefed by senior colleague only would have been preferred by the 14, 3 % of the investigators.
• Generally, the investigators had a negative opinion about the introduction they received to their work on their arrival to the service of the ICTY. In the questionnaire was also a section where the investigators were asked to give additional comments. In that some of the investigators stated that one of the problems was the lack of standards in the handling of the evidence.
• It would be important give the new staff a thorough briefing about the work they were hired to do. Even the recruited investigators are very experienced and they are specialists in their own areas and in their home counties, the standards are still very much different in the international organization comparing with the national police services. Therefore, the proper induction to the work would have been crucial in order to assist the new investigators to begin their work in the ICTY.

Comments from the Participants and Analysis

The questionnaire had a section where responders were allowed to give their comments and quotes and some of them are given in this section. As per the terms of confidentiality, names of the participants have not been revealed. Each comment is also followed by an analysis about the implications and what needs to be done about the induction course.

“We were at the tribunal at the very start and only had documents that were gathered by the Bassouni Commission, therefore we took that information and developed it further“.

There is a lack in qualified documentation available for the inductees and there is no single point repository from where adequate training materials can be obtained. Inductees are probably given some vague documentation and expected to figure out where to get the rest of the learning materials.

The above comments and observations reflect the sorry state of affairs at the ICYT. As discussed in Chapter 2 where the nature of work done by ICYT is explained, there needs to be strong base of case documents that can be used by inductees and recruits to acquaint themselves in the manner that the ICYT functions. The documentation set should be provided in a structured manner so that recruits are able to understand how ICYT operates, what is expected from investigators, how previous investigations have been conducted and so on. Though recruits are experienced investigators with good track record in their own countries, there is a culture shift in the way that ICYT operates and the manner in which the investigators operate in their native countries. People who would have been investigated in their native countries would be criminals who would have committed their crimes openly and some examples are shooting, drug selling and so on and there would be eyewitnesses around who can be persuaded to testify by assuring them of proper security. In the case of ICYT investigations, the facts and ground rules are totally different. Criminals being prosecuted are often very powerful, immensely rich who once ruled Yugoslavia. These alleged criminals would still have their powerful networks in a reduced form but still viable and there would also be many assassins who would be ready to terminate witnesses and evidence either for money or because they owe allegiance to their former masters.

Hence, it is important for recruits to have access to a wide variety of documents that reveal the nature of crimes, the investigation approach that was used and so on. While the final case papers would have a number of details about the facts, judgements and so on, what is required for the investigator is to understand the extent of leg work and investigations that were used. Personal case diaries of the investigators, duly transcribed and translated along with details such as how leads were obtained, problems faced while investigating the case and so on should be created. The procedure should be followed for both the successful as well as the failed cases that had to closed because lack of evidence.

“There needed to be a standardisation in methodology, as although many of our colleagues were effective and efficient back home, the UN brings together many different cultures, nationalities and people of varying educational standards, who will continue to use their own known methods unless “corralled” into a more cohesive and consistent approach“.

Training artefacts need to be standardised as per the policies of ICYT and a ‘starters kit’ has to be prepared that introduces important issues.

Members of ICYT come from different cultures and backgrounds and from different nations. While they have adequate experience, there are vast differences in the manner of investigations and evidence gathering in their countries and what is followed at ICYT. A person coming from a country such as India would find it very difficult to understand the methodology that is followed at ICYT. While ICYT cannot be expected to change its methodologies as per the requirements of different countries, there is an urgent need to establish standards for investigation and more important, to make them known to all concerned people. When such standardisation measures are taken up, then investigators are able to carry out their work much more smoothly and chances of successful convictions are increased.

“Apart from training in the computer systems, which was adequate, the training into investigation of war crimes was non existent. Much more could have been done to utilise the expertise of the Investigators, because it seemed that the investigations were being driven by people who were not fully conversant with current investigative procedures. It resulted in teams doing things differently and setting up their own structures within the systems available. Also when major decisions were made regarding what to investigate, they were made often on the basis of flawed information. Institutional knowledge was very rarely shared with newcomers, who had to find out themselves.”

There is lack of information and knowledge sharing and learning’s from expert investigators are not documented properly so that new recruits cannot make use of the accumulated learning’s of ICYT.

Organisations such as ICYT perform work that is more of intellect based rather than manual work such as construction or machine shop workers. New recruits often face the problem of not knowing where to start and the problems of communication, lack of information and a seemingly endless maze tends to frustrate and dishearten people. Griffith (2000) has pointed out that training of new recruits should involve not only on job training about the technical skills required but there should also be training given for orientation of what the organisation stands for, the values and its culture and what is expected from them, systems and methods followed and other soft skills. During the training period, employees should be allowed to interact with the existing workers, gauge how the atmosphere is and understand how people work. There should be sessions where the recruits would speak and mingle with the workers so that everyone becomes familiar with each other. The author also recommends that a training shop be set up where recruits are given on the job training to make them understand the technical details of what is expected from them. Such a move would ensure that when recruits are placed in the production line, they are able to mix with the workers and move along with the tide. It is also suggested by the author that during the first few weeks, the employees should be given progressively difficult tasks so that they are able to gradually ‘learn’ the ropes and understand their role and what is required from them and once they learn the work well, then they should be given the full scale work.

“In an international environment it is an idea to have mentors identified to assist the new staff to catch up with team. This way many of the bane, like institutional knowledge etc could have been better preserved.”

Knowledge artefacts have to be created and mentoring is required to ensure that new recruits learn from experiences of seniors.

While having seniors to assists and teach and train recruits is ideal, it may not always be possible, given the nature of investigative work where investigators would be away on field work. The next best alternative is to have knowledge artefacts created, that reflect the collective learning’s, insights and experiences of mentors and senior investigators. Once these documents are created and made available to new recruits, the combined knowledge of ICTY, that would run into thousands of person hours would be available for people to read and learn. Such practices ensure that the quality of training is considerably increased, the means of assimilating knowledge is available and fresh recruits are well prepared for the challenges that the fieldwork provides. New joiners would be much more confident that they can carry out their work as per the requirements, time wasted would be less and better results can be anticipated.

“Most investigators are expected to “hit the ground running” when assigned to a new investigation. They can do that based on their experience combined with: appraising themselves with the investigative brief/tasks; being updated by colleagues; effective workshops/training; field work and interviews.”

To shorten the learning curve and to prepare the new recruits to ‘hit the ground running’ there should be a means to learn from experiences of other investigators. This can be achieved through seminars, knowledge sharing sessions and by creating knowledge management repositories.

Lack of qualified knowledge artefacts, tips, knowledge about methods and approaches used in solving cases, often frustrates new recruits who may not know what is going on. Eventually, they will learn the work and be ready to solve the cases but the time spent in learning can be considerably reduced if information and knowledge is made available. This is the core of organisational learning and sustains many large organisations that have diverse cultures, operate in different countries and have people from different backgrounds. To prepare recruits for fieldwork, systems and methods have to be developed that allow the recruits to quickly understand what is required so that they take lesser time to get ready.

“I was selected for a special role in a Field Office (BiH) as an Investigator / Liaison Officer assisting all of the investigation teams who (i) travelled on mission to conduct interviews or other investigative work or (ii) tasked me with lines of enquiry / interviews etc. My induction into the ICTY in The Hague (4 weeks in the office ) was used to acquire an overview of all the cases (10 teams / numerous inductees – suspects and a massive task); to acquaint myself with the case papers, indictments and investigative strategy in the shortest possible time. My training was self initiated and I was in charge of my own learning. I acquired a basic overview but it should have been more in-depth. The poorest briefings were the political overview of the former Yugoslavia, the ICTY computer systems / procedures and no background information was provided on the UN systems“.

Induction needs to be technical as well as systems based and provide recruits with basic knowledge that allows them to quickly understand different aspects of the work. While self efficacy should be encouraged, learning should not be the sole responsibility of inductees and the organisation has to do everything possible to prepare them.

ICTY clearly lacks vision while recruiting people and focussed training on what is important for field work is not provided. There are different aspects for the investigative work and while recruits have sufficient experience in their home country, ICTY has to understand the importance of providing training for different areas such as political, IT systems use, procedures and methods and the general UN systems. Without such information being provided during the induction, recruits are not equipped to face field investigations and would have to find information on their own. This becomes very difficult for new recruits who do not have sufficient contacts or know where and whom to ask for information. There is another issues that even if they do approach other people, there is no guarantee that the required information would indeed be available with these people and even if they would be willing to share it. To remove this uncertainty, a secure and plausible knowledge repository is required that would have the required information.

“There were many written procedures, but no practise. Training about legal issues such as the Geneva Conventions and International and Humanitarian Law. Explications re Military Law and War Crimes in general, as well as some insight in Chain of Command/ Military ranks/ Artillery etc.”

ICTY being a division of UN has to practice a number of international laws and there is very little practical training on how these laws work. There is very little practical exposure during induction to Geneva Conventions and International, Humanitarian Law, Military Law, War Crimes, Chain of Command and other such legal issues.

This is a very harsh comment by one of the respondents with very serious implications. Recruits may be good police officers in their native country, but their exposure to laws and regulations is limited to crime investigations. Actually, very few people would have had exposure to international war crimes and application of the Geneva conventions. Hence, there is a great urgency to include such entities in the induction as these laws form the core practices on which ICTY works and without applied knowledge of such artefacts, the induction program fails in its objectives.

“When I arrived there was no extensive induction yet, that has changed during the years“.

Compared to the previous years, there has been some improvement, however small, in the induction and training program.

“The best would be to operate more frequently on the field of interest, meeting the witnesses and visits the sites. Would be also useful to have from time to time a training about new investigation techniques”

Induction program provides very little practical experience for the investigators and field work, that includes observing investigators at work should be introduced.

The above observation may not be possible to implement satisfactorily, given the nature of investigative work done at ICTY. Witnesses may not be willing to speak if a number of people are hovering around besides some undercover work may also be involved. However, the experiences of the field investigators can be documented and made available to new recruits so that they know how the process of examination of witnesses and investigative work is done.

“We should have only one “boss” and not a lawyer and a Team Leader. It is very difficult to keep both satisfied on occasions“.

Reporting levels have to be reviewed and clear reporting lines must be drawn to avoid conflict.

Having too many reporting levels in any organisation creates conflicts and people at the lower level would not know how to resolve such conflicts. This is a management issue and it can be revisited to keep multi reporting levels at a minimum. In some cases, it may be essential to maintain such different levels of reporting to different entities such as lawyers, investigating officers and so on. However, such issues have to be sorted out to avoid needless conflicts that could impact the work

“There needed to be a standardised computer/information system, but instead of being introduced and developed by police who knew what was the required eventually output, it was introduced by senior lawyers who had very little hands on experience of how an investigation/prosecution worked from start to finish.”

A standardised system of information management has to be introduced and content prepared by specialists in different fields such as law, policy, methods, field investigation and so on.

Considering that ICTY is a specialised entity with multi discipline work, there are to be a sophisticated IT system in which content is organised as per different skills and disciplines. Content and document for these special disciplines has to be prepared and verified by experts in the discipline. By adopting such methods, many of the current issues and problems of induction and training would be solved.

Summary of Research Analysis

As seen in the previous sections, ICTY has immense talent, experienced investigation officers with thousands of person hours of knowledge and information. Unfortunately, the learning’s and knowledge rests with experienced staff, creating information and knowledge silos. With such a scenario, new recruits and inductees are not able to obtain the required information and the induction program lacks in equipping recruits with sufficient theory and practical work. What learning and training is given to the inductees is far removed from the practical work they are expected to do. As a result, inductees are ill prepared for fieldwork and there is excessive replication of efforts as people waste time in trying to learn a lot of things that should be readily available to them. In effect, Knowledge is not managed at ICTY.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Analysis of the findings has brought up certain conclusions and they are:

• There is a lack in qualified documentation available for the inductees and there is no single point repository from where adequate training materials can be obtained.
• Training artefacts need to be standardised as per the policies of ICYT and a ‘starters kit’ has to be prepared that introduces important issues.
• There is lack of information and knowledge sharing and learning’s from expert investigators are not documented properly so that new recruits cannot make use of the accumulated learning’s of ICYT.
• Knowledge artefacts have to be created and mentoring is required to ensure that new recruits learn from experiences of seniors.
• To shorten the learning curve and to prepare the new recruits to ‘hit the ground running’ there should be a means to learn from experiences of other investigators. This can be achieved through seminars, knowledge sharing sessions and by creating knowledge management repositories.
• Induction needs to be technical as well as systems based and provide recruits with basic knowledge that allows them to quickly understand different aspects of the work. While self efficacy should be encouraged, learning should not be the sole responsibility of inductees and the organisation has to do everything possible to prepare them.
• ICTY being a division of UN has to practice a number of international laws and there is very little practical training on how these laws work. There is very little practical exposure during induction to Geneva Conventions and International, Humanitarian Law, Military Law, War Crimes, Chain of Command and other such legal issues.
• Compared to the previous years, there has been some improvement, however small, in the induction and training program.
• Induction program provides very little practical experience for the investigators and field work, that includes observing investigators at work should be introduced
• Reporting levels have to be reviewed and clear reporting lines must be drawn to avoid conflict
• A standardised system of information management has to be introduced and content prepared by specialists in different fields such as law, policy, methods, field investigation and so on.
• In effect, Knowledge is not managed at ICTY.

The main conclusions are:

1. There is a lack of qualified and accurate documents that can be used for training.
2. ICYT does not have a robust IT system that can be used to make available required online information.
3. Recruits face problems as they do not have the required learning artefacts.
4. There is no single source from where required documents would be available hence new recruits feel frustrated.
5. Training can be made much more effective if these problems are solved.

Recommendations

Based on the research and the conclusions, the recommendations are for creation of an IT based Knowledge Management system. It is recommended that the knowledge repository for ICTY should be created on the lines of some leading organisations. While the current ICTY would cease to exist after 2010, the knowledge repository would help to create a set of learning’s that would be used by other criminal investigation tribunals that are expected to come about in the near future. It is recommended that a Knowledge Management initiative – KM should be set up at ICTY. Knowledge Management – KM is increasingly regarded as one of the support pillars for an organisation’s success. Businesses can reduce considerable efforts by having the ability to create, share and protect knowledge.

Knowledge Management Initiative

Nonaka (2001) has written about the KM practices in Japan and the author defines KM as “a dynamic human process of justifying personal belief toward the ‘truth'”. Speaking at length about explicit and tacit forms of knowledge generation, the author points out that for knowledge to be created and exploited, knowledge has to be concentrated in a certain space and time called ‘ba’. The term ‘ba’ has Japanese origins and it does not signify a physical space but refers to a certain time and space and this includes the interpersonal space. It represents a shared time and space for emerging relationship among individuals and groups to create knowledge and examples are office documents, emails, conferences, ideas and so on. Japanese concepts differ appreciably from western concepts on KM and there is more emphasis on creating and sharing tacit knowledge.

Kadapa (2006) has written about the IT industry in India and the manner in which Indian IT companies manage their knowledge. The author points out that with a vast global workforce that operates around the clock, servicing clients in different countries, understanding, managing and dissemination of knowledge within the organisation becomes a challenge. The Indian IT companies have set up knowledge management practices that function to gather the collective learning’s of employees who work in different projects and this represents the vital intellectual capital of the company. The collective knowledge includes source codes, case studies, trouble shooting tips, business proposals and many other artefacts and when this knowledge is documented and hosted on the knowledge management website, it can be made available to other employees. The result, a considerable shortening of the learning curve and new employees are able to learn from others, very quickly and the emphasis is on providing what is required so that the employee can pick and choose rather than flood them with information so that the employee does not have to wade through giga bytes of data.

A reading of the above literature points out that KM is best practiced by being user driven and organisation managed. Firms obtain some amount of competitive advantage when qualified employee learning’s and collective knowledge is shared among other employees so that they know how a certain problem was tackled or an opportunity exploited.

Transaction model of low interdependence and low complexity delivers consistent performance with limited interaction. Routine automated tasks such as factory assembly lines require low employee skills and knowledge is learned through formal rules, procedures and training and KM has to be codified. The Integration Model of high interdependence and low complexity relies on transferring knowledge around the organisation to improve performance. Knowledge is indwelled in process, tool kits and rules. Systematic and repeatable tasks must be tightly integrated across different functions such as supply chain management. Organisations can implement a process-oriented strategy emphasizing cooperation and standardized procedures. The Expert Model of low interdependence and high complexity requires experts or star performers with highly specialised skills and expertise who exercise good judgement and discretion such as a mutual fund manager. KM strategy must enable these top individuals to research and analyse the environment and share these ideas with colleagues. The Collaboration Model of high interdependence, high complexity involves experts partnering to create a new knowledge through improvisation and learning by doing. Teams need to have people with cross functional expertise so that they become fluid members of flexible teams and management consulting is a good example (Terjesen, 2003,p. 238, 239).

Understanding the challenges

ICTY faces challenges in four areas and they are culture, employee turnover, incentive systems and usage (Terjesen, 2003, p. 243). These are briefly discussed as below:

Culture: ICTY had a sporadic knowledge sharing culture and use of computers is less. However, there are challenges since technology can be a barrier sometimes and the ICTY has to find new ways of training people in the way information and knowledge is shared and busy investigators should be able to contribute their knowledge. The challenge is in making employees feel that they belong to an organisation then people who contribute and help the organisation to grow. While knowledge sharing is one of the key principles, the KM systems are have to be made a central and a core practice. A strong company culture introduces a sense of community with fellow investigators and there is enough job knowledge sharing between team members. However, consultant’s contact with investigators is limited to emails and an occasional office meeting, since investigators are spread across different teams.

Therefore, the challenge here is to create an equal urgency to storing and creating knowledge rather than concentrate only on revenue generation.

Employee Turnover: ICTY has a sizeable employee turnover and this happens since people are deputed to other departments or go back to their countries. When investigators move away, they take away the knowledge that they have gained during the course of the work.

Therefore, the challenge is to ensure that the knowledge that the employee has gained during the service is properly documented and available for others who come in his place.. At an organisation level, how can employee turnover be reduced.

Incentives to Contribute: This is a key area of KM practice in general and addresses the basic question of why should people contribute to the KM practice, spend their time and effort and what do they get in return. Organisations have experimented with different extrinsic and intrinsic focus incentive programs to encourage KM. Contribution targeted incentives have ranged from implementing KM oriented performance evaluation criteria to raffling gifts such as Palm Pilots, t shirts, pens and others. Intrinsic motivations are based on altruism, reciprocity and feelings of self worth. While employees want to help, they would want to get a sense of worth from establishing himself as a source of knowledge for others. The feeling of being admired by others is important and so ICTY can think of introducing the role of Knowledge Champions who work with teams and coordinate to collect the project learning’s. Extrinsic motivations are visible to others and can be seen in the form of compensation such as promotions, salary rise and gifts. The company believes in constantly evaluating the manner in which they assess performance.

Therefore the challenge is to bring in quality and to control the race by employees to gather any document available on the net and upload it on KM to ensure that quantity would outweigh quality and that they can get a short cut to promotions and recognition.

Users: Organisations with KM practice find that there are two sets of users, ones who contribute documents and artefacts and others who use the documents in their work. Top contributors would be investigators with about some years experience, technically competent and who know the value of contribution and make it a critical part of their projects. These contributors realise the importance of putting in good and qualified content and enjoy the recognition that comes by contributing documents. These people would eventually grow to be senior managers and become more involved in management and related tasks and eventually spend less time on investigations. There would be a focus and importance given to English language contributions and hence English speaking employees tend to contribute the most followed by others. Machine translations can also be sometimes done but the translations are not very accurate so a brief abstract has to be provided. The other half of the KM practice are users and the top users would be new recruits who are new to the company. Due to their relative lack of experience, they may not be able to locate valuable information effectively and efficiently. These individuals may not know what they are looking for and may waste a lot of time searching for information and they often end up with junk. New users are often fazed by the complexities of the system and don’t know where to search and the fact is that only about 5% of the documents are of actual use.

Meeting the Challenges

As per the findings, there is a lack of contributions of documents to the system and there is a question of getting important investigators and consultants to contribute. As suggested in the case, these people are at the forefront of the investigation activities, they are very busy and they cannot be disturbed. The argument and justification is wrong and there is nothing like being too busy and the pressure to generate the required documents has to come from the head and the senior management of ICTY. KM can become successful only when the senior management is seen to act and not act to be seen and submitting documents needs to become a part of the case life cycle. Analysts and investigators should be made to mandatory create the documents and submit them, as a part of the monthly or weekly status update. Any missing documents should be clearly identified and made a part of the deliverables and this has to be made clear in the meeting with the practice head. To ensure that there is uniformity in the document creation and submission, KM content teams should first prepare a template with different headings and tables and consultants have to just fill in the required content, write the version number and date and then send it to KM. There should also be a list of documents that the analyst is expected to complete and submit. While emails are important sources of information, merely creating a copy of the mail and sending it to KM would not help and the user must make proper notes in the email body, highlighting the issues and how they were handled. Once this process is implemented and followed, even if an employee leaves the company, then the risk of missing out some useful learning’s would be reduced and proper Knowledge Transfer sessions should be conducted to ensure that all work related knowledge is transferred (Kadapa, 2007).

As seen in the case, ICTY has employee turnover problem and while this is a HRM issue, the effect on KM is severe, as the employees would be walking away with knowledge that they have gained at their work. Much worse if the possibility that the employee would leave his position vacant and the new person recruited would find no clues as to what is going on. As a matter of policy, ICTY should immediately should implement a Knowledge Transfer plan to reduce the impact of an employee leaving.

As seen in the case, the management has should introduce a number of intrinsic and extrinsic methods to encourage contributions. Some of the methods are providing commendations to the contributors, giving awards and recognition, linking participation and contributions with promotions, salary and wage rises, creating Knowledge Champions and Knowledge integrators who would encourage participation and so on. These methods have been successful and KM would have sufficient contributions but care should be taken to see that a virtual race among employees should not start. Employees should not tend to see KM as a short cut to promotion and they would flood KM with ill conceived and baldy written documents or even attempt to fabricate documents as tips and guidelines.

There is also the serious issue of confidentiality of the case and efforts should be taken to see that confidential documents that could jeopardise any investigation, if leaked out should be vetted.

ICTY should create two separate types of documents: case based and individual contributions. Case based documents are the ones that would be created by the teams and would detail what the team accomplished, the challenges faced and how they overcame them. Case based documents would essentially be legal documents such as case studies, investigation details, case summaries and so on and these would be written as per a pre defined template. There would be certain confidential information such as source information, eyewitness details, names of key contacts and so on and these should never be uploaded on KM or made available to everyone. Case contributions would be the responsibility of the case or team leader and the case manager and submitting the verified required set of documents must be made mandatory during periodic project review or during case closure. Next comes the aspect of individual contributions and employees should be encouraged to create documents on different aspects of their work. After creating the document, they should be verified and qualified by the case leader and case manager as per specific guidelines on usefulness and avoiding duplication. This aspect would ensure that junk is avoided (Kadapa, 2006, 2007).

As seen in the case analysis, there are possibilities of information not being available on the search function in the KM so there should be a proper facility for focussed search. Taxonomy is a very important consideration while creating KM sites, especially in global organisations that operate in multiple verticals and domains. Another aspect is to use proper content management software and when the two are combined, document organisation becomes very easy. Taxonomy refers to a structured hierarchy of relations with nodes and for example an automobile such as Toyota Prius that is a hybrid vehicle would have a taxonomy nodes such as IC Engines > Automobiles > Four wheelers > Cars > Japanese Cars > New Technologies > Hybrid Cars, and Toyota Prius would essentially be placed under hybrid cars. With a content management software, it would be possible to attach all the hierarchies to Toyota Prius so that any document on the model would be available at all the nodes, but it would be uploaded only in one place. Such an arrangement would ensure that even new users can move directly between the nodes and focus on the exact node that they want and this would allow focussed searches. It should also be possible to attach multiple taxonomies to the same document so that the document would be available in other nodes also (Kadapa, 2007).

The KM site should have a FAQ along with natural language query search. The search application is available as a plug in and allows very powerful context based searches to be run on natural language rather than Boolean operators such as AND, OR. By using this type of search, even new users would be able to easily search for the required documents (Kadapa, 2007).

There is also the possibility of databases of different organisations. It is recommended that all these departments and databases should be integrated with a certain rearrangement of the workflow and architecture of KM. The server of KM should serve as a common gateway and has to be integrated seamlessly with the servers of other practices across UN. When a user visits the KM homepage and searches for a document, the search engine should trawl all the databases and present the results in a common page. At no point should the user be made to search different databases. This practice can best be seen in libraries such as ProQuest where the library provides access to documents from other repositories such as Emerald, Sage, different Journals, newspaper and media reports and so on. As a precaution, certain documents should be given restricted access and only employees of a certain designation should be given access and this ensures that risk of new employees walking away with confidential documents is stopped (Kadapa, 2007).

Final Comments

The paper has conducted research to find the existing problem areas of induction training at ICTY. Along with an extensive literature review, a survey was conducted among current and ex employees of the organisation. The main problems that were identified were that induction training lacked focus, required content was not given to trainees and there was a huge gap between what is taught and what was required in the field. While the organisation has extensive and thousands of man hours of investigative work, there was no method to reuse the organisational learning’s.

A knowledge management system has been proposed in which documents would be created and uploaded by investigators and the training department. These documents would cover important aspects of ICTY such as law, policy, systems, methods, cases, field investigations and so on. These documents would represent the collective learning’s of ICTY and could be provided to inductees on a need-based approach. The KM repository could also be linked to other databases of UN and investigation agencies of member nations. Such a process would help information to be easily available and increase the effectiveness of ICTY employees.

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