MAKING FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES STRONG THOUGH SMALL BUSINESS

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Making Families and Communities Strong Through Small Business Mara West, Honours Thesis, Murdoch University, 20073. METHODOLOGYThe methodology used in this research involved a stepwise process.This process recognises the research requirements of MurdochUniversity and supports protocols that must be observed when visitingor doing business with communities. Further information can be foundin a paper I submitted as part of my honours Doing Business withCommunities: The Proper Way incorporating:Step 1.Identify area for research and undertake a literaturereview.Prior to commencing the Honours program I wasn’t quitesure what I wanted to research although I did know it wasgoing to be about Aboriginal Affairs. The area I chosewould be from an Aboriginal perspective so it would bedifferent from the many reports done by non-Aboriginalconsulting companies. After talking to many Aboriginalpeople the word business kept coming up inconversations and it seemed that many in my networkwere keen to start their own businesses. People weren’tsure about the “what” and “how” of business and wetalked about the old “work information tours” that a personor group could undertake. This program enabled peopleto visit other projects or programs to gain knowledge ofpeople/communities and their operations and topersonally ask questions about the “what” and “how”. Ialso spoke to Aboriginal people who were running theirown businesses and many said they were doing okay andthere were those who were not so okay but didn’t want togive up as returning to ‘normal’ employment was not anoption they were willing to consider immediately but wasa last resort if things did not improve. Being the recipientof a scholarship from Desert Knowledge CooperativeResearch Centre, I attended workshops and foundIndigenous business as one of their project streams. Thisconfirmed the need to research this area albeit anhonours thesis will only scratch the surface of a muchlarger field that requires a more in depth focus.I then began researching available literature and foundmyself designing my thesis around historical perspectivesand how past and current policies have impacted andshaped the lives of Aboriginal people and theiremployment and what has been contributing factors topeople and communities wanting to develop and operatetheir own businesses. In essence it was to answer thequestions of what are the key success actors for existingremote businesses, what are the key linkages betweensocial and commercial motivation and outcomes in26
Making Families and Communities Strong Through Small Business Mara West, Honours Thesis, Murdoch University, 2007enterprises and what support has been provided byservice agencies and how effective has this support been.Step2.Identify potential case studies and seek their willingnessand permission to use them as a case study.Initially I chose three case studies and in hindsight I thinkI was being somewhat ambitious. However, one of themsaid they weren’t keen to participate as they were goingthrough changes and the other wasn’t available as I couldnot contact the Chairperson through whom I had to getpermission to carry out my research. The process ofworking with organisations or communities can be aproblem if you can’t contact the Chairperson as it isprotocol to go through the Chairperson who then presentsyour request to the managing committee who makes thedecision whether they agree or disagree with youresearching their organisation or community.As it turned out, the two case studies who consented tobe part of my research were very different with one beinga sole operated earth moving business and the other afamily operated transport business. This has provided mewith a ‘human face’ to my research as well as assistingme to answer the questions that were proposed at thebeginning of my thesis.Step 3.Apply to Ethics Committee for permission to conduct casestudies.The first application to the Ethics Committee wasn’tapproved due to insufficient information. I then had toresubmit my application making my position very muchclearer especially in terms of having an acuteunderstanding of the processes and protocols associatedwith dealing with Aboriginal communities. Documentssuch as NHMRC Values and Ethics: Guidelines forEthical Conduct in Aboriginal and Torres Strait IslanderHealth Research and the Murdoch University policy onEthics in Research Involving Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander people are very good guidelines but they do notprovide answers to the ‘grey’ areas of how to create anamicable working relationship with the organisation orcommunity. I explained my approach in the ethicsapplication, an approach that didn’t rely on ‘doing itaccording to the guidelines’ but rather through livedexperience. It also made me aware that there was a needto develop a paper on the protocols and procedures thatneed to be recognised and practiced when working withAboriginal communities and organisations. I thendeveloped Doing Business with Communities: TheProper Way and recommended that it be used with the27
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