As presented in section 1.5. and illustrated in Figure 2, the first phase of my qualitative study comprised formulating the research field and finding the focus. The first phase commenced by collecting data related to the studied phenomenon, talent management. The phase also involved conducting several interviews with HR Directors in large and medium-sized companies in Finland to gain an overview of talent management practice in corporations, which worked as a basis for the focus on the non-profit or NGO context.
With substantial professional experience in different HR roles and talent management strategies and processes, the formulation of the research field was relatively straightforward, especially from a practitioner view. As stated above, the practitioner view, i.e. the way talent management is pursued in Finnish companies, was further studied through narrative interviews and conversations with eight experienced HR Directors. The interviews are discussed in Section 3.3.2.
Practitioner views were supported by the substantial amount of practitioner-originated talent management literature available. Developing an understanding of the academic research and literature was the next stage. This was first carried out parallel with the interviews mentioned above, and continued throughout the research process in a circular manner typified by qualitative research.
Data collection for the case study began by seeking information about the eventual talent management related activities in the Finnish Red Cross (FRC). This took place through interviews with an experienced HR
Manager and two other FRC key employees. The interviewed HR Manager is engaged in recruiting personnel deployed to emergency operations and capacity and resilience development programs around the world. These individuals are called ‘delegates’ and are members of the FRC Delegate Roster. The professional backgrounds of delegates vary, and cover fields of expertise from communication and logistics to nursing and surgery. I myself am a member in this roster, which gives me unique access to the context of humanitarian aid. This aspect is discussed in more detail in section 1.5.
One of the outcomes of the interviews was learning about the concept of HEOps at the IFRC. It seemed obvious from the beginning that the HEOps concept was the closest equivalent to a ‘talent pool’ in the corporate world. Additionally, I looked for published papers and studies related to international non-governmental organizations (INGOs and NGOs) particularly in the humanitarian aid field. Various handbooks and guidelines of the IFRC were also collected together with information from the IFRC website, including Annual Reports and Press releases. I was granted access to the IFRC Extranet in December 2015. Several relevant websites were also used to acquire e.g. white papers on Humanitarian Aid and Emergency Operations, including the websites of ALNAP, CHS Alliance, Oxfam, British Red Cross, and UN, to name a few.
To collect the case data, i.e. data related to HEOps, I first carried out 14 semi-structured interviews, which are discussed more in Section 3.3.2 and listed in Table 8 (p. 101). Secondly, and more importantly, I received an extensive amount of material from the IFRC on the HEOps design, feasibility study, implementation phases and actual recruitment requirements as well as competency frameworks in use at the IFRC. The documents are listed in Table 8 in Section 3.3.1. Also videos about HEOps were important sources of information on the incumbents’ experiences in emergency operations.
3.3.1 Case-Related Data Sources
In order to achieve an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon and to follow the case study research tradition and strategy, I used multiple sources of data. This is a point Eriksson and Kovalainen (2008) also refer to, when discussing case studies and their accuracy and richness; case studies are, according to the authors, considered more accurate, convincing, and diverse if they are based on various sources of empirical data. Multiple sources of data gave me possibilities to crosscheck the data to receive a multi-dimensional view of the activities and the context. Especially the internal documents provided me with a better understanding of both the researched phenomenon and the organizational context. All the sources and types of data are listed in Table 8.
Table 8 IFRC-related material and information sources used Narrative/ Semi- structured Interviews SO= Senior Officer USG= Under Secretary General DCM= Disaster and Crisis Management D-HEOp = Developing HEOp DREF= Disaster Relief Fund
Finnish Red Cross, Recruitment Officer September 2014, December 2014, June 2015
Finnish Red Cross, Secretary General December 2014, July 2015, January 2017
Finnish Red Cross, Delegate/Desk Officer + D-HEOp IFRC Secretariat, three officers at DCM, December 2014 IFRC, Senior Finance Officer, December, 2014
ICRC, SO, December 2014 HEOps, ex-incumbent January 2015 British Red Cross, Senior Officer, July 2015
IFRC, Senior Officer, Global Surge Capacity, December 2015 HEOps, Ex-incumbent, January 2016
D-HEOps, Incumbent, January 2016 Two HEOp Mentors, March 2016 D-HEOps, nine persons, March 2016
IFRC USG/Operations and Programs, IFRC, June 2016 IFRC USG/Management June 2016
IFRC, SO, Learning and Staff Development, June 2016 IFRC, SO, Surge Capacity, June 2016
D-HEOps, Incumbent, June 2016
IFRC, Manager, Knowledge and Policy, June 2016 IFRC, SO, DREF, June 2016
IFRC, HR Director, June 2016 IFRC, Senior HR Officer, June 2016 British Red Cross, HR Manager, July 2016 IFRC
Documents Confidential marked with a C
World Disasters Report (2015) World Disasters Report (2016) Handbook for Delegates (2002) IFRC Annual Report (2013) IFRC Annual Report (2014) IFRC Annual Report (2015)
Principles and Rules for RCRC Humanitarian Assistance IFRC Competency Framework (2013) C
IFRC Job Classification Guide (2013) C
IFRC The new Job Classification System, FAQ (2013) C IFRC Emergency Team Leader Competency Framework (2013) C HEOps Feasibility Study Final (2011) C
D-HEOps Application form (2011) C Personal Development Plan/HEOps (2012) C HEOps Competency Matrix (2012) C
HEOps Progress Report January to April to July 2012 C 360 Questionnaire Draft (2012) C
Written communication and analytical skills exercise (2012) SOPs, HEOps C
Toolkit for Managing HR in Emergency (2013) Focus Report, HEOps (2013)
D-HEOps Developing HEOps Pilot Program (2014) C HEOps Report (2014) C
Mid-Term Review (2014) C
Program Description, D-HEOps, 12.4.2015 C Interview panel, Questions, December 2015 C
End of Mission Reports 2012 – 2015 (Syria, Philippines, Bosnia- Hertzegovina, Ebola,) C
E-mail to Selection Board from HEOps ex-incumbent, 9.12.2015 C HEOps Brochure (2016)
Presentations, HEOps Mentors, March 2016 C D-HEOps Induction Agenda, March 2016 C D-HEOps, Lessons Learned, March 2016 C
Personal Development Plan, D-HEOps incumbent, June 2016 C Secretariat structure, organigram (2016)
IFRC HR-Department structure, organigram (2016) C IFRC Human Resources Strategic Framework (2016) C
Websites http://www.ifrc.org/en/who-we-are/performance-and-accountability/ http://www.ifrc.org/en/who-we-are/working-with-us/current-vacancies/ job-description/?id=2196 Extranet, FedNet C Videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piNPs0EnSkw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCFlI5CNUFs Observation D-HEOps Selection Process, 9.-10.12.2015
D-HEOps first Induction meeting, March 2016
3.3.2 Interviews
Stake (2010, p. 95) states three main purposes of interviews for a qualitative researcher, which are as follows: