2003 IMTA Proceedings - International Military Testing Association

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Originally a prospecting term (a stakeholder being someone who holds a gold claim), SA
has its contemporary roots in the field of management. It is widely used in social science
research today, to identify all social groups impacted by a research process, and to assess their
relative influence and importance based upon the criteria identified for project success. A SA
allows researchers to identify the various individuals, groups and organisations that are
“significantly affected by someone else’s decision making activity” (Chevalier, 2001: 1). The
United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) defines SA as: “the
identification of key stakeholders, an assessment of their interests, and the ways in which these
interests affect project viability and riskiness.” (DFID, 1995: 1). A defining feature of SA is that
it forces researchers to think through the numerous levels of impact a project may have on the
diverse stakeholder groups: to differentiate between indirectly and directly, and positively and
negatively affected stakeholders; to examine levels of influence and importance; and to uncover
stakeholder saliency. The following pages describe the basics of SA and provide the reader with
some rudimentary analytical techniques.
2.0 How could SA be Used in Human Resource Analysis?
The SIS has numerous potential applications for social science research and human
resource analysis within DND. Three examples of such will be presented in the discussion
section of this research note. In order to allow the reader to capture how SA could be used in
DND research, the methodological techniques presented in the following pages are discussed in
reference to the following fictitious 11 research scenario: You are at the planning stage of a
research project aimed at modernizing or transforming the services offered in Military Family
Resource Centres (MFRC), in light of changing definitions of ‘the military family’. You would
soon realise that a number of ‘key players’ – important civilian and military stakeholder groups -
- across Canada are already involved in activities that relate to your project. You would also
foresee numerous ways in which your project could impact upon various individuals or groups.
SA would allow you to plan a research project that captures the needs of MFRC clients, service
providers, and other stakeholders, and to anticipate and mitigate potential conflicts that might
arise over the course of your project. Moreover, SA could be used to ensure the co-operation of,
and knowledge sharing between many of the ‘key players’ involved in or impacted by MFRC
service delivery. SA and the SIS provide researchers with the theoretical understanding and
practical techniques needed in order to get to know key stakeholders and to develop appropriate
communication and consultation frameworks required to effectively share knowledge among all
of them.
11 This is fictitious example is used for the sole purpose of demonstrating SA techniques; there are presently no such
plans for MFRC modernisation.
45 th Annual Conference of the International Military Testing Association
Pensacola, Florida, 3-6 November 2003