Operation of the FReMO Analysis requires an understanding of research and evaluative processes and ongoing access to Māori expertise and resource people. As much as is practicable the various steps of the FReMO analysis must be documented so as to enable replicability of its successes and identification and modification of those aspects which have contributed to any failure in reaching expected goals and outcomes.
Initiative
- Describe the initiative by way of a succinct statement that captures its general intent and purpose.
- Describe the extent to which Māori are affected by the initiative.
Broad Goals
- These will be the goals that the project is expected to achieve. At this early stage they must be ‘painted in broad brush strokes’, allowing room for modification, development, and detail as more information is gained over time.
- Goals will include some description of a tentative methodological and implementation process.
Desired Outcomes
- These will be the specific and tangible outcomes that derive from the project and will be informed by Māori perspectives as well as the requirements of the organisation.
- They will need to be precise and measurable but they may change over time as the scope and breadth of the project requirements unfolds. For example if it transpires that the initial outcome expectations are beyond the capacity of the organisation in the short term, they may be still be achievable through redefinition as long term goals, with short to medium term outcomes being the product of the immediate project.
Identify Stakeholders
- Who is the primary sponsor? What steps must take place to ensure their ongoing support? Would the Minister’s office have a specific interest in this project. It’s outcomes? Are there public interest groups that may seek to actively support or undermine the project? Is it crucial to form alliances or working groups with other governmental departments or external organisations?
- Within the Department, what connections need to be made with other services/groups? Who are the staff, line managers, and regional managers critical to the projects acceptance, support, and success? A targeted communication strategy will be necessary to develop and maintain their support for the project.
- Observe all due process and resist the temptation to ‘fasttrack’ a project past someone who may have issues with it. Expect that at least some people will find issue with the project having a focus upon Māori and plan to acknowledge, address, and counter their concerns as a function of any communication to them.
If the integrity of the project is under jeopardy for any reason in relation to key stakeholders then attempts should be made to deal with the issues through negotiation.
- If negotiation cannot maintain design integrity then investigation may ensue around the project being reconfigured whilst ensuring a logical and transparent progression from initial goals to outcomes. This usually involves rewording goals around the subject focus, with the expectation that the product will be different but with essentially similar outcomes.
- If negotiation and reconfiguration are ineffectual or not appropriate without corrupting the design integrity or intentions of the project then termination of the project may need to be considered.
Identify Key Māori Stakeholders
- Who are the Key Māori Stakeholders both within the organisation and out in the community? This will also include representatives from those individuals who form any research sample.
- Specific communications to facilitate support must be considered so as to fit the needs of each stakeholder, with cultural values and practice acknowledged and affirmed. For example the approach to an Iwi representative or group may be packaged quite differently from informing and gaining the support of the Manager, Cultural Perspectives, and again from efforts at gaining support with inmate representatives or groups.
- Ensure through dialogue and negotiation that they are comfortable with the outcomes and that they have had a part in their development. Māori stakeholders are likely to become a resource who will provide advice in methodological design, implementation, data gathering, and interpretation. Some Māori stakeholders may become leaders, monitors, advisors or workers in the project.
- Māori stakeholders are crucial to the process of ensuring that Māori perspectives and Tikanga Māori are an integral aspect of the data collection and interpretation process.
Gather all necessary information to inform the initiative
Mainstream Perspectives
Identify and draw mainstream perspectives from:
- Staff with relevant knowledge and expertise
- Literature review
- Review of similar initiatives
Note that the information should be analysed in relation to specific outcomes for Māori:
- Were there any Māori in the research populations?
- If not then consider the implications for Māori of interpretation of research results and recommendations.
- If there were Māori in the research population, were they represented to a sufficient degree to identify trends in relation to other research participants?
- Were ethnic and cultural differences sought out as goals in research outcomes and data interpretation?
Consider all these issues in relation to the implications for Māori of research outcomes and/or recommendations and their impact or relevance for Māori.
Māori Perspectives
Identify and draw Māori perspectives from:
- Staff with relevant experience and knowledge
- Literature review
- Review of similar initiatives
- Consultation with expert focus groups or Iwi Hui, and Māori consultants.
Note how the data was obtained, collated, and interpreted:
- Ensure the information collection process has not compromised the integrity of the material.
- Ensure that whoever collates and interprets the material maintains its integrity by analysing and presenting the material to capture Māori perspectives. This process will involve feedback to informants after the initial gathering and interpreting of data to ensure the perspective is represented correctly.
- Document how the information was obtained and interpreted.
- Given the complexity of Tikanga Māori as defining criteria, these five primary constructs will provide a focus as specific indicators.
- Brief definitions for each of these cultural institutions are presented, however these may be expanded upon or altered by Māori cultural-experts. It is important that any definitions are kept practical to aid assessment as to whether the project or initiative is enabling or restricting Māori access.
- Mana: Culturally sanctioned prestige and influence, being effectual, making a difference. Transmitted both through whakapapa and the efforts of the individual, their Whanau and their Iwi. Enabling Māori to access their inherent Mana.
- Te Reo: Māori language. Acknowledge the importance of Te Reo and the belief systems and worldviews it encapsulates. Enabling Māori access to learning, speaking, and using Te Reo.
Does the initiative enhance Māori outcomes in terms of Mana Te Reo and Tikanga Whangaungatunga and Turangawaiwai
- Tikanga: Māori customary belief systems. Acknowledging their value as a traditional, prosocial framework for life decisions. Enabling Māori access to Tikanga.
- Whanaungatanga: Accessing, supporting, and maintaining immediate and extended familial Hapu (sub-tribe), and Iwi (tribe) relationships. Enabling Māori access to and development of Whanau, Hapu, and Iwi structures.
- Turangawaewae: A place to stand. The traditional source of mana, marae and whenua for Māori individuals, Hapu and Iwi. Enabling Māori to identify their Turangawaewae.
- In consultation with cultural guides identify specific terms how the methodology and expected outcomes will enhance Māori access to each construct.
- If aspects of the methodology or expected outcomes appear likely to detract from the Tikanga Māori constructs then they must be reconfigured or modified until appropriate. This may result in the original short-term goals and outcomes of the project becoming medium or long term goals due to the time and effort required to reposition the project. In this case new goals and expected outcomes will have to be developed. The fresh short-term goals and outcomes will now be more likely to be achieved and thereby serve to position the organisation or project for further gains over time.
- Document how the information was obtained and interpreted.
- Using feedback to the original informants ensures the process of gathering and presenting the data does not distort the original points or concerns.
Organisational Culture
- How is the environment organised and what implications does this have for the design parameters of the project and the processes and methodology considered necessary to effect successful outcomes?:
- Describe the regime that determines staff to inmate or client relationships:
- How does this fit with the methodology and processes required to implement the project?
- Note the physical design of any buildings or structures that will have an influence upon the initiative and its participants:
- How does the physical environment influence staff to staff, staff to client or inmate, and staff to families or public relationships?
- What impact will this have upon the successful implementation of the project?
- Note the flow of information through overt and covert communication both internally and with the non-Māori and Māori public, and inmates or clients and their families.
- What impact will this have upon the successful implementation of the project?
- With regard to the management and staff who have any influence or contact with the development or implementation of the project: How do the senior and middle managers feel about initiatives that target Māori, both overtly and covertly? How will they feel about this project specifically?
- How do staff feel about initiatives that focus upon Māori, both overtly and covertly? How will they feel about this project specifically?
- Note elements of support and resistance. What implications will these have for the design, implementation, and expected outcomes of the initiative?
- What organisational development and training needs to take place to encourage support and ownership of the initiative or change?
- What specific processes for managing the initiative or change need to be developed?
- What needs and benefits require addressing in order to encourage support?
Gather and Review Data
- Where has the literature, previous research or similar initiative been driven by and enhanced the Māori context and perspectives? These need to be examined for best fit with the present project.
- Where has the literature, previous research, and similar initiative not considered, detracted from, or even undermined the Māori context and perspectives? These need to be highlighted and countered by integrating them into a context that reflects the Māori population being targeted.
- With regard to professional practices, and the processes, strategies, and methodologies being considered for the initiative: How can these be utilised and applied in a context that acknowledges, builds upon, and interfaces with the social milieu, belief systems, and environment for the Māori population being targeted?
- Where there is tension or conflict between staff expectations and behaviours and expected outcomes and implementation processes consideration may be given to the redevelopment of staff and timelines for this. Expected outcomes may be modified accordingly.
- Where there is tension or conflict between the environment or organisational culture and expected outcomes and implementation processes consideration may be given to modifying the physical design of the environment and the way in which the regime structures staff and client or inmate behaviours. Expected outcomes may be modified accordingly.
- Considering the available information thus far:
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- Will the original expected outcomes need to be modified to remain achievable?
- Will māori aspirations and quality of life be enhanced if they embrace these outcomes?
- What are the implications for the marketing and delivery of the initative and its expected outcomes? Will it require education, training and staff development, enhacing internal and external communication, modification of building or building usage, restructuring of organisational infrastructure.
Develop Methodology
Identify:
- The specific outcomes that have come through thus far.
- The processes and strategies to achieve these.
- The resource requirements needed to effect the implementation process and to maintain intended outcomes.
In collaboration with Māori experts review and refine aspects derived from:
- Relevant literature (mainstream, indigenous, minority, and Māori).
- Professional practice and experience.
- The integration of Māori perspectives and context.
Ensure that the methodological process will enhance Mana, Whanaungatanga, Turangawaewae, Te Reo and Tikanga.
Ensure that the methodological process enables an integration of what Māori see as relevant to achieve successful outcomes?
Ensure that Māori feel supported and not undermined by the methodological process.
Ensure that each stage and all processes within the methodology can be rationalised from established research literature and requirements to enable Māori participation, data capture and data interpretation.
Develop the Outcome Evaluation
- Outcome measures should be driven both by the requirements of the Department or sponsoring organisation and how the participants actually perceived the quality and usefulness of the ‘product’ they received.
- As with all evaluative procedure with Māori (and otherculture groups), the measuring process and interpretation and analysis of data must ensure that the integrity of information reflects the perceptions of the Māori participants.
- Any evaluation of the implementation process is a dynamic enterprise, which should include regular ‘snap shots’ of what is taking place across the entire implementation procedure. Feedback from the evaluation can then be used to identify and rectify deficits, to fine tune goals and expected outcomes, to refine the methodology, and to provide documentation as to why the initiative is effective (if it proves to be) and how it may be replicated.
- The evaluation should encompass the views of all those involved in the process, from managers and staff, Māori consultants and stakeholders, to those participants whom the initiative is intended to reach. For Māori this would include a comprehensive investigation of the cross-cultural factors and culturally bound phenomena that have taken place. It is very important that all the processes operating for Māori are captured by the evaluation, otherwise a genuine replication of a successful initiative will not be possible, with outcomes varying accordingly. Alternatively if the initiative fails, accurate information is necessary to identify design faults so they may be countered in future works.
Develop the Action Plan and Timelines
- Action plans and timelines are essential, but they must be realistic given the processes required to gain the unique data and outcomes being sought. There will usually be a tension between organisational and sponsor strictures and the difficulties inherent in gathering material that is not necessarily found in the literature.
- Expect the first project to have a steep learning curve, with further projects having the benefits of established linkages with Māori and a significant database.
Implementation and Rollout
Implementing the initiative will require:
- Establishing links with the appropriate resource people amongst Māori and professional groups.
- Establishing a process of consultation to initiate support
- Developing the monitoring protocols and evaluative systems to enable review and documentation throughout the entire process:
Securing the required budgets.
Communicating the initiative to staff:
1. Present the initiative to all staff and invite feedback and comment.
2. Conduct a needs analysis and skills assessment amongst staff with their co-operation in the design and management of the assessment.
3. Arrange appropriate training to enable line-manager, professional and field staff support.
- At all stages every individual involved in the process will be in a position to support or undermine the original design and intent of the methodology or implementation plan. Typically most ‘undermining’ is not deliberate but rather a function of the ‘culture’ of the organisation itself. Managers, professionals, and staff merely operating as if ‘business is continuing as usual’ will not be as effective considering the high level of specific cross-cultural integration required. Active participation in the implementation process will require training to enable individual support and eventual ownership of the initiative.
- Training should provide a sound rationale for what is taking place and why it would lead to an increase in successful outcomes, rather than giving people the impression that the initiative is ‘something that they have to do to please the powers that be’. The rationale must be closely linked to the professional (and personal) concerns and particular skills for each employee or management sector being targeted. Using a ‘catch-all’ rationale for everyone is likely to lead to significant groups of individuals not being able to integrate it into their individual work practices.
