Operations Management in UAE Civil Defence
The core of assuring safety and protection to citizens of any government starts with civil defence. The department is a priority and a necessity of any country. The civil defiance department of any country not only devises defensive strategies for the country but also trains the civilians to participate in the defiance system and the protection and security of the country. This process is carried on through training and preparing ordinary people to join the armed forces, police force, or the medical force. Operations management is envisioned as an epicentre of achieving the oversharing objectives since it is primarily concerned with sensitive functions. These include planning, controlling, organizing, and leading regarding the areas poof manufacturing, production, and delivery of services (Karlsson, 2010). Operations management in civil defiance refers to ensuring that the people or the general public recruited are adequately prepared to deliver the required competencies. UAE government, like other governments, is also concerned about the safety and security of its people and the sovereignty of the state. This is the reason which is why the government pays special focus to the civil defiance department of the country. Hence, understanding how UAE's civil defiance has implemented OP and the measures adopted to integrate developments is essential in promoting their safety.
Research Question
A research question is essential in completing this study as it will provide a sense of direction. By answering the research questions, it will be easier to examine issues related to the survey question. This study will be guided by the research question, “In the currently increasing terror landscape prompting the adoption of OP within the civil defiance function, what are the different strategies UAE has implemented to improve civil protection?” The proposed research question is believed to harbour critical variables, which, if properly addressed, would help understand the implantation and development of the UAE's civil defence. Nunnery (2019) observed that data collection and measurement instruments depend on the research question, study design, and literature review (86). Devedjian et al. (2018) clarified that research design is informed by the research question that needs to be answered, implying the latter's predominance in decision-making. Hence, although Nunnery (2019) noted that both research design and research question offer precedence to subsequence survey activities, Demerjian et al. (2018) recognised the latter as the chief factors for prioritisation. With these insights, the proposed study considers the research question the core of making informed decisions regarding the methodology and measurement tools that will be applied. Hence, this makes it vital in the successful completion of this study.
Accordingly, answering the research question is the purpose of the proposed survey. It will be inadequate to examine the research topic exhaustively without unearthing the inherent variables. The comprehensiveness of achieving this is dependent on the study question as it identifies the potential variables attached to the subject of exploration. While Aparasu (2011) supported the notion that data collection operationalises research questions, as signalled by the authors discussed above, the integration of the concept of coherence makes superb implications in an ambitious survey initiative. In this study, the research question will play the role of maintaining consistency with other study methodologies. This will include the identification of variables measurement tools. Importantly, this will inform an appropriate research design. Hence, the research question will enable the author to attain a higher level of coherence in the survey design and method selected.
Aims and Objectives
It will be pointless to dedicate time and other resources without knowing what needs to be achieved throughout a research project. This adds rigour to a survey process. According to Profetto-McGrath et al. (2010), the aim must fabricate acceptably discernible modulus Operandi that could be utilised by those involved and the accomplishments they wish to achieve other than creating appeal to potential sponsors. Hence, like the research question, this study considers its aims and objectives indispensable in achieving its targets. Accordingly, the proposed study aims to investigate the implementation and development of OP in the UAE civil defence. To attain it, this is tied to specific objectives. They include:
- Creating a profile of the OP strategies, practices, and the improvements adopted by the UAE’s civil defence by collecting relevant data.
- Investing advances that have been made by comparing findings with those published in the literature about other countries and the international standards.
Literature Review
Any research project needs a literature review to place the survey into context and identify gaps. Hence, a literature review is an essential ingredient in the recipe for planning and implementing a sound study project. In the proposed study, the planned approach to utilisation of insights from published work entails the exploration of three search engines. They Include Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and Google Books. To ensure that relevant sources are retrieved, various keywords have been identified. Civil defence is one of them. In this context, it is understood as the efforts streamlined to enhance the protection of civilians and property within a country under crisis circumstances. Operations management (OP) was also considered a keyword in civil defence endeavours. OP is defined as execution of practices that could improve efficiency in UAE’s civil defence. It encompasses preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation activities. Lastly, the concept of “the best practices” has been captured in this survey. In this case, this entail activities that could improve the effectiveness of the civil defence. An effective civil defence needs to embrace good practices in achieving excellence in its national civilian planning process (Kunikowski & Rostek 2019). Hence, in understanding the successes of OP implementation and development within the UAE civil defence context, its approaches to revolutionising depend on the best practices it has adopted.
The above process resulted in multiple sources that have helped build a theoretical background to the proposed study. This ranges from the characteristics and roles of a defence system to the best practices. For instance, there is a notion that civil defence tends to be an essential part of any country's defence system (Brookes, 2013). The civil defence department of the country makes sure that the armed forces and the civilians of the country are well prepared for any situation in case the country gets in any civil or military trouble (Almarzooqi 2019). The civil defence department of UAE is known as the Civil Defence General Command and is controlled by MOI to protect and safeguard the lives, properties, and environment of the whole country (Alteneiji et al. 2021). Although each emirate has its department of Civil Defence, the General Directorate of the Civil Defence is located in Dubai, which supervises and controls the overall functions and operations of the department of civil defence (Alawadhi, 2019). These studies illustrate the components of the roles and qualities of ideal national security. Hence, it could be seen that an effective national civil defence undertakes multiple functions to achieve high levels of citizen protection.
However, this depends on the government's strategies in its OP unit of civil defence. This is because, like any other department, civil defence is marked with various responsibilities. How best they are attained is pegged on the strategies adopted within the OP function of the civil defence. For instance, if best practices are integrated into the training of the armed forces, medical services, or the police force, their capabilities are enhanced in handling the department’s responsibilities (Reid and Sanders, 2019). It is also widely acknowledged that OP in civil defence carries utmost importance as the regulation of various procedures and processes so that all the functions can be executed efficiently. The operations management functions in UAE include multiple dimensions and are based upon several principles like prevention, preparation, mitigation, emergency operations, response, recovery, and emergency evacuation. Different countries utilise different strategies and practices of operations management in order to implement, improve and develop the area of Civil Defence. A similar scenario can be witnessed in the case of the General Directorate of Civil Defence in the UAE. According to Almarzooqi (2019), the UAE government constantly strives to bring in more and more improvement in the strategies and practices of civil defence so that the best protective services can be provided to the population of the UAE.
Additionally, the UAE's civil defence OP seems to have adopted various international standards. This includes the overall strategies and approaches to civil protection. According to a research study conducted by Khan (2014), a number of different strategies adopted by the UAE government can be broadly categorised into five categories; protection, prevention, emergency fire and crisis management. At a local or basic level, the major participants or stakeholders of the civil defence are the police force and the individuals involved in the country's interior ministry. In addition to this, the federal and local bodies of the country also contribute to the prevention process as well as the armed forces of the country contribute to various kinds of operations related to emergency and crisis management. All participants contribute to devising the strategies, plans, and procedures of all these areas and implementing them appropriately. According to Al Hmoudi and Aziz (2015), these strategies, plans, and procedures can be utilised, implemented, and developed under normal circumstances and in times of crisis. These studies give a theoretical background of the UAE’s civil defence. If allowed to proceed, this study will affirm the practicality of the highlighted concepts within the UAE civil defence.
Methodology
The proposed survey is about the investigation and analysis of these standard operations, procedures, and civil defence strategies, specifically pertaining to the UAE. Additionally, the study focuses on improving and developing these practices to ensure operational procedures can be implemented more appropriately. Hence, it means that such improvements efficacy can be obtained through the civil defence department's practices. The researcher also tends to provide recommendations for the development of these practices and strategies so that better efficiency and readiness can be achieved in the area of civil defence. This is expected to provide insightful information related to the strengths and areas of improvement in the OP of UAE’s civil defence.
The researcher has planned to adopt a qualitative research design to achieve these objectives. Specifically, interviews will be leveraged in collected data of interest. Besides, questionnaires and surveys will be utilised where interviews could prove unfeasible. Lastly, observations of the UAE’s civil defence operations will be performed to track advances that have been implemented in the past. Survey participants will be informed concerning the available data collection techniques to allow them choose the one appropriate to them. A sample size of 30 constituting UAE citizens, staff from the Ministry of Interior, and Dubai Civil Defence (DCD) will be interviewed. Hence, it is expected that a total of 30 participants will partake in the exercise. The sample size selected is significant in developing the picture of the OP of UAE’s civil defence. Purposeful sampling will be conducted since it will offer the convenience of drawing interviews from these stakeholders. The non-probabilistic technique relies on the researcher's knowledge in designing the study sample. The flexibility of structuring interviews and the ability to consolidate data collection and analysis without the need to perform them separately are the main drawcards of using a qualitative research design through interviews. However, it offers a less statistical viewpoint of data.
Anticipated Challenges
Even though the proposed research is ambitiously expected to examine and deliver findings on the implementation and development of OP in the UAE's civil defence, there are various challenges the exercise is likely to experience. Acknowledging that a research might experience difficulties is the starting point of planning for their mitigations. Thomas et al. (2012) observed that research planning starts with the envisioning of the potential challenges and capabilities. One of challenges the proposed study is likely to face is the uncertainty of all the planned participants undertaking the exercise since some will include high-profile government officials with busy schedules. The problem of access to adequate funding is also possible. The survey exercise is expected to be expensive, demanding substantial financial resources, which depends on the willingness of financiers. However, the researcher will consider constant engagement with parties as an incentive to increase their contribution.
Ethical Considerations
This proposal recognises the fact that human subjects will be involved. Hence, the ethical issues that have been deemed worth consideration include seeking the respondents' informed consent, confidentiality and privacy of their personal information, and data protection. The researcher has planned on strategies for data protection, duration data will be stored, and how it will be destroyed after project completion. Documentation and reporting of findings will also integrate academic practices. This is consistent with Vanclay et al. (2013) findings that whenever human subjects are involved, avoiding undue intrusion, harm, and deception are among the ethical considerations to be observed. Hence, by making participants aware about the utilisation of their information will be vital in influencing their participation in this study. A timeline for the proposed study is provided in Appendix A.