Tipología textual

After obtaining organising weaknesses and strengths, and in order to complete the evaluation for the current administrative system, the researcher asks the experts for any recommendations to improve the organising process in the future. These recommendations are illustrated in Figure 4.12 below and will be discussed in the next sections.

Figure 4.12Nodes for Organising Recommendations

Staff S tr en gths d u rin g the Organi sin g S tage Coordination

-Most of the officers have Bachelor qualifications or above in the different disciplines of engineering, science, and administration

-Efficient planning staff that have extensive practical experience

-Accumulated experience for staff members and disaster responders

-Quick response and good organization

-Proper leadership

-Following-up for each joint work

-Working hard and desiring to develop

-Adoption of scientific methods whilst conducting business

-Putting the right man in the right place

-Central decisions

-Duties and responsibilities are known by all staff members

-Lack of overlapping in work between units, departments and branches within the directorate

-Working as a team

-Strong military hierarchy

-Existence of the entire organizational structure approved by the Ministryof Interior

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4.4.3.1 Coordination

In order to gain proper organisation, experts stressed the importance ofcentral leadership for all accidents. Interviewees E10 and E11 mentioned this point in their responses: “The

importance of centralisation with flexibility in decision-making” (E10), “focusing on the

central leadership for all accidents” (E11). Further, interviewee E8 stressed, “Showing

interest in the organisation by the key officials and decision-makers”. This might happen, from interviewee E4, E8, E14, and E19’s perspectives, by “constantly updating the organisational structure”, “the elimination of favouritism and bias”, “transfer and application of experiences from more developed countries”, “the use of global systems

(organisational structures)”, “attending external courses for an exchange of knowledge in

the field of organising” and “communicating with international bodies with experience in

organising rescue operations”. Further, interviewee E12 recommended “separating the

General Directorate of Civil Defence from the Ministry of Interior”.

4.4.3.2 Coordination between Organisations

To guide any nation to respond to different hazards, scalable, flexible, and adaptable coordinating structures can be built to align key roles and responsibilities across the nation, linking all levels of government, nongovernmental organisations, and the private sector. To do so, interviewee E21 put emphases on “governance risk management to ensure the integration of all efforts including government institutions, civil society organisations, the private sector,

media, and public efforts”. This governance might be obtained by “developing a unified plan

to respond to the disaster for the governorate, which includes the participation of all

organisations with all possibilities to determine responsibilities, duties, and the hierarchy” or by “identifying an effective operations centre” (E10). Interviewees E6, E20, E22, and E25 agree with this suggestion, stating the need for “effective interaction between the governmental organisations especially services”. Experts focused on a different specific organisation in addition to organisations that are relevant to the response process, as mentioned below: “higher coordination with the relevant organisations at the incident” (E19), “effective

coordination with water organisations about installing and maintaining a fire nozzles network”

(E12), “imposing the security cordon properly” (E20), andremoving excesses on the national electricity grid system (E6, E22-E24). In addition, due to the utmost importance of organising response process, interviewee E21 highlights two other different points, which can be seen by these responses: “preparing disaster response and addressing systems with good resources, and readiness depends on the national and local capacities alike”, and “adopting national

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multiple risks approach for disaster management and mobilizing of capacities at comprehensive government level without focusing on one executive organisation”.

4.4.3.3 Employees' Rights

Staff can be helped in balancing their responsibilities at work and at home by the way that they arrange their working hours. Interviewee E11 proposed the idea of “taking into account the psychological aspects for all employees”. Such aspects might be provided by “adopting global official working hours (1 day on- 2 days off) or (morning, evening, night)” in their work at civil defence centres instead of (12 hours on- 12 hours off). Interviewees E9 and E12 agreed with this suggestion.

Within the context ofemployees' rights, interviewee E3 sheds light on the staff’s wishes in his recommendations, as in this quote: “Account should be taken of staff wishes to work within a certain department”. This recommendation was also supported by interviewee E11, who added two other important points, namely competence and experience. These suggestions can be seen clearly in the words of theinterviewee: “adoption of competence, experience, and personal preference for the field of work”.

Regarding staff rights to have their vacation outside Iraq, vacations to complement their studies, and health insurance, interviewees E4, E17, and E25-E28 pointed out the aforementioned rights in the Iraqi Act for Civil Service No. 42 of 1960 and law of service and retirement of the Internal Security Forces No. 18 for the year 2011. Those interviewees recommended activating certain paragraphs of these laws within this context, as interviewee E17 quoted: “Employees should get their full insurance rights by the Iraqi Act for Civil Service

No. 42 of 1960, including the right to a vacation outside of the country, vacations to complement

the study, and health insurance”, “activation of certain paragraphs of the law of service and

retirement of the Internal Security Forces No. 18 for the year 2011, with respect to the staff

members vacation enjoyment outside Iraq”.

As far as the problem of employees who are unfit to work (medically classified) is concerned, intervieweesE5, E6,E16, and E21-E24 made three suggestions: firstly,transferring them tothe Social Welfare organisation. Secondly, transfer them to the morning shifts as administrators in civil defence centres. Thirdly, replace them by recruiting new employeeswith experience.

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4.4.3.4 Staff and Equipment

According to intervieweeE3, who has a lot of experience in planning, the key stakeholders should “provide the Directorate with modern staff, instruments and equipment”. Besides that, interviewee E3 asserted that “staff integration, particularly with specialists, is needed”. Similarly,intervieweesE4,E8, E11, E17, and E25-E28 stressed increasing staff in the staffing, adoption of standard staff that are approved by the key stakeholders, recruit a sufficient number of staff with scientific competencies and qualifications as well as commissioning people

experienced in the implementation of organising tasks.

Regarding equipment, interviewees E17, and E25-E28 proposed providing staff members with modern individual protection equipment that keeps pace with modern world

technology. Further,interviewees E6 and E22-E24 suggested developing telecommunications

and informatics in the provinces. Moreover, interviewee E16 recommended “distributing fire engines in some densely populated places”.

A set of various recommendations for the organising stage is shown in this section. Figure 4.13 gives the summary of recommendations for the organising stage sub-themes. The following section is a summary of the interview analysis.