Human Resource Management in Libya - Coursework Example

Human Resource Management in Libya The concept of Human Resource Management came into limelight in 1990s. Human Resource Management, if made efficient, aids organisations to gain a competitive edge compared to their competition. However, it’s a challenging undertaking due to cultural and national differences to which it is subject to. HRM is a function of organisations that was primarily an area of attraction to western developed countries sparking a lot of research on its functioning. With time, though, it has spread worldwide. Thus, there will be an examination of HRM practice in one of the developing countries and more specifically, Libya, an African nation. Libya, before it attained its independence, was a colony of Italy. Italy colonised Libya until 1951. Libya was formed by the combination of three provinces, Fezzan, cryrenaica and Tripolitania during the times of colonisation. Due to this colonial background, Libya has several aspects that differ with other counterparts of the prominent world of Arabs to which it’s a member alongside 21 other nations. Apart from being colonised by Italy, Libya had been occupied by other powers as well. These were Greeks, Phoenicians, as well as Arabs. The nation had, since independence, been ruled by a monarchical government. But this was to last until 1969 when a coup d’etat was successfully carried out and this saw 70 army officers seize the power from the then government. The overall leader was to be Colonel Muammar Qadhafi and their government was more of a group leadership. It also changed the course of Libya to an Arab Socialist state, which marked the end of capitalism and Marxism. Qadhafi has from then onwards had a great influence on this function of HRM. His movement’s aim was especially at halting inefficiency and enhance national coordination of the political system. He urged his followers to do away with the traditional system of governance and take up a new one. This was to be “people’s committee” and its establishment became far and wide to organisations in Libya. The system of “people’s committees,” thus had a great impact on employee-management in Libya. It especially based its approach on direct democracy as put across in Qadhafi’s book ‘The Green Book’ of 1976. The book subsequently saw the introduction of an all-people’s participatory structure of “people’s congress” and later on to a new element of “revolutionary committees”. Capitalism was thus in total ban in Libya and it was followed by a new dawn of employees’ self-management via committees as well as partnerships of profit participation in public and private enterprises alike. A law on property was also passed and forbid ownership of more than a private place of dwelling. Libyan employees also took over the control of the nation’s big companies, which were now state-run. Socialism, therefore, has had a conspicuous impact on the HRM system of Libya. It depends, mostly, upon exportation of oil. As per the estimates of 2000 unemployment rate stood at 30% and the labour force at 1.5 million workers. Islam and the overall Arabic culture have also affected the course of Human Resource Management in Libya. Libya Culture Culture in this context is the way of life of Libyan people and Islam is the dominant religious affiliation in Libya. In a typical Arab country, culture is highly adhered to religion. However, Arab nations differ in their culture and beliefs due to their background economically, historically and also social differences. Generally, Arab nations rank higher in terms of feminity, power, distance, community, paternalism and fatalism among others. Islam religion plays a vital role in the way of life of communities as well as interpersonal relationships. The end, thus, is that it guides management in organisations towards achieving individual obligations in the groups of the organisation. Libya as well as other Arab nations emphasises a lot on the essence of interpersonal relations and strength in Kinship. Therefore, ties in families, affiliation in ideologies, sectarianism, aside from academic credentials have a very high impact on the decisions of managers in promotions in organisations as well as recruitments. (Kamoche, and Debrah 2004 pp 169-173) Having been invaded by Arabs, Romans, Turks as well as Italians, Libya isn’t devoid of history. Thus, the culture of Libya is a mix of many other cultures. Initially, the culture was that of Berbers, later came the African and lastly the Turkish. Libyans have, however, upheld their traditions in spite of this. The culture of Libya resembles a great deal that of the neighbouring states of Maghreb. Its citizens perceive themselves a part of the vast community of Arabs. Libya considers Arab is the sole official language and further extends to make its anchorage in it more firm. Berber language is not at all taught in Libya as a result. The heritage of the Arabs of Libya can be traced through the nomadic Bedouin traditions. Provinces in Libya differ in their cultures, though. The people of the west are more cosmopolitan-like than their Eastern counterparts. These Western dwellers are a variety of Turkish, Berber and Sudanese African culture oriented. Cyrenaica has minute influence in the South and the West. The nation’s folk culture is still evident with various groups presenting it in dance and music locally and internationally. Tuareg kind of dance and music is more common in the South and in Ghadames. Most of the programmes in the Libyan television are Arabic with a small presentation in French and English, often in the half-hour news broadcast. This is usually with the government’s approval. The nation’s cultures are concentrated in traditions as well as folk art. These two are much dependent upon Islamic way of life. Islam has prohibited traditional arts of embroidery, leather work, metal engraving and weaving’s representation of animals or people. The still existent traditions are depicted in horse races, festivals and folk dances. Egyptian influence is also felt in non-religious literature which has grown from the 1960s onwards. Most of the Libya’s population also enjoys the country’s beaches. Archeological sites present yet another factor of attraction like the Leptis Magna a roman archeological site. In the Libyan capital, Tripoli, are several archives and museums with the inclusion of the Ethnographic museum, the library of the government, the museum of archeology, museum of Epigraphy, national Archives and the museum of Islam. The most known of museum is the museum of Jamahiriya constructed with the aid of UNESCO. Most of the events in this nation have high levels of religious and political influence. Based on this the nation, thus, celebrates several holidays. Besides these holidays there are also other events in the Libyan year. They occur in different dates dependent on the calendar of Islam. One of these events is the Ramadan which takes up to a whole month and its end is the Eid al-Fitr celebrations. In some areas, Eid al-Fitr leads to the full closure of businesses and restaurants. (Somali Press, 2009) Libya Culture and Communication in Organisations In the traditional culture of Libya before the revolution, ethnic groups in Libya functioned as communities of de facto ministries and support. The existence of each of the tribes in the nation was attached to grazing land, farms and wells which they owned. There were intertribal conflicts and the identity of each ethnic group was based on geographical location and lineage. (Ham, 2007 p 45) The work ethnics as stipulated by Islam have respect for hard work and courtecy to persons in the work place is of essence based on its upheld virtues. Interpersonal relationships are considered important at work. The social relations are healthy and good relationships are encouraged with the leadership and fellow employees because of this fact. These relationships, within and outside work, aid in achieving the goal of communication that’s successful among the stakeholders. Common humanity is especially a notion worth much attention according to the Islam beliefs. People affiliated to Islam, therefore, also recognise non-Muslims, non-Libyans and persons from other communities as well. Peace and tranquility, besides social relationships, are some of the virtues that the culture of Arabs perceives important. Initiating, maintainace and relationships that are characterised with respect to strangers is also another function considered essential in the Libyan culture. The communication involved in the social relationships is applied in the decision making and performance of evaluations in organisations. The aforementioned values are specially maintained and encouraged. Thus, Islamic religion is a major determinant when it comes to the culture of Libya and communication among workers. It also prescribes the culture of organisations in the nation of Libya. Due to the culture of the people of Libya, in organisations, there’s a big aspect of masculinity as opposed to feminism, low power proximity, uncertainity and avoidance, and low personal consideration. This has ended up impacting negatively the way the staff in organisations communicate and thus making hard the function of making decisions in organisations. The negative aspect, particularly, is not desirable on the part of management due to their way of communication in organisations and the process of decision making in this context of Libya. Studies carried out by researchers have it that the culture of Libya is so traditional and the human fraternity in this nation is highly Islamic. People can also have relations. Yet, when it comes to female- male interactions the culture is highly strict. This has as well been the case when it comes to work organisations of the nation of Libya. Proximity is an issue to be put in check especially when it comes to personal space. Gender verbal and non-verbal communications can backfire easily. Opposite sex communications are required to be transparent and thus cannot be carried out in enclosures when it comes to the work place. Whatever a person does in the workplace is considered to be before the eyes of Allah and therefore, one is answerable to him. Failure to put this into account can cause Allah to fail a person. Adoring Allah can thus be achieved through hard work at the organisation where one is placed. Direct delivery is utilised whenever good news are transmitted in organisations while an indirect approach applies to negative message delivery. The Libyan culture is also considered a high context culture compared to first world nations’ low context cultures. In the Libyan context the lesser the words used the better the form of verbal communication. Due to the western countries influence there are hierarchies in Libyan organisations and as mentioned earlier respect is a virtue that’s upheld in the nation’s culture. There, differentiation of high positioned staff and low level workers is also evident in organisations. Formal titles are used to converse with the leaders of organisations like the common Sir and Madam references. Emanating from the hierarchical systems in organisations formal language is used while conducting organisational communications. Also due to power distance top organisational management staffs discourage a great deal the allowing subordinates to give advice, feedbacks to messages and also offering opinions on how to handle given tasks. Practice of these ways of communication is seen as negative by the leadership of organizations in Libya (Abubaker, 2007) Leadership in the Context of Libya Culture When Libya was attaining its independence, sheikhs of various main tribal groups controlled leadership in the entire country-side. Religious figures and rich families did similar to the Libyan cities. Monarchical system was evident, which depended upon the lines of traditional authority, patronage as well as social inequalities, in the Libyan society. Two decades from independence, significant changes shifted the Libyan central system. Also, there was the influence of the discovery of oil in 1959. The discovery of oil especially had the poor people find a way out, which the traditional society was devoid of. Technocrats taking part in the new industry of oil started to pose challenges to the grip and influence of traditional leadership. The traditional leaders had relied so much on the inheritance of leadership. Profitable careers arose and impoverished families found work chances in the military. The old order was now in the face of threat. People migrated to cities in search of work. Young people broke out of the traditional system of marriages and intermarried across tribes. They were also introduced to politics. Of great impact were the Egyptian leaders like Gamal Nasser. Eventually, a revolutionary government seized power towards the end of year 1969. Institutions came up as a result of the witnessed change in Libya. From 1969 on wards, the ideologies of nationalism were applied a great deal with suspicion being raised regarding the old system of tribal loyalties Libya was ramified into zones of administration overlapping the old tribal borders. Wealth, lineage and piety which were the way to go traditionally were replaced by social as well as educational progress. The basis shifted to become cantered on individual competence. New leaders had to put into account the tribal leaders, which was a hard to balance act. (Ham, 2002 pp 37-28) The nation of Libya is highly recognised today in terms of leadership, as the regime of President Mu’ammar Qadhafi. His is a self-styled revolutionary government. Qadhafi has been the domineering political leader of Libya for four decades since its independence. His regime insisted upon self-reliance in its mission to a statelessness way of governance. This leader was however; set to face difficulties while pursuing this and besides, there was a lot of Western countries’ attention. His, is viewed an authoritarian leadership approach in running the state affairs, though. His way to convey the message of statelessness was through Jamahiriyya. In this system the population governs itself free of a modern state’s approaches. Qadhafi also says that he is a representation of the Arab world nationalism and future pan-Arabism, in Middle East. Despite the stipulation of Jamahiriyya, organised opposition to the government is not allowed. Thus, the decision making process, has been left to a small number of confidantes as well as government advisors. The president has also termed primordial family and ethnic ties as remains in the Libyan systems that are a letdown to the modern statehood. Qadhafi’s arguments of statelessness were seen as rhetoric, though, since Libya is a nation that exports oil and therefore, calls for the state intervention. The regime has relied upon a wholesome management approach that didn’t leave chances for the economy’s fine tuning according to vandewalle. The government of Qadhafi has, however, had to face hardships due to multilateral sanctions, high isolation by the diplomats and sanctions by the USA. (Vandewalle, 2009) Overview of the Gas and Oil Industry in Libya The oil of industry of Libya is operated by the state through National Oil corporation from the year 1968. The NOC has entered agreements with several companies from other countries. Examples may include Agip-Eni group of Italy. Oil from Libya is considered high quality by international standards since it has low content of sulfer crude. The nation sells its gas as well as oil to European countries despite the sanctions imposed by other foreign countries and the UN. However, it’s still believed that its capacity for oil and gas production is still underutilised by the lack of proper investment. Foreign nations have been reluctant to invest in Libya which has resulted to the slow rate of growth of the industry and led to weak prices. Though, it was been believed to be the African country with highest levels of oil reserves, by year 2000, only 50% of its capacity is believed to have been exploited. Its gas reserves were around 46.3 trillion cubic feet as per 1997’s estimations. In year 1996, the Italian underwater pipeline contract made Libya the second biggest exporter of liquid gas after Algeria. It’s also seen as underexploited according to Paul Rivlin. It was not until year 1999 that UN raised its sanctions against Libya. But this was a win-win situation since Libya was to surrender its two citizens accused to have been involved in acts of terrorism. These were to be tried at a Netherlands court. This has led to increase economic growth since then. (Rivlin, 2001, p 63) Libya, as one of the biggest North African countries, has a very big natural gas and oil reserves. Its consumer base is about 6 million. The economy of Libya fundamentally depends on the oil sector’s revenues for its upkeep with around 95% of its exports coming from the sector. A quarter of the Libyan GDP is catered for by the oil exports and wages of the public sector for to the oil sector at about the rate of 60%. It produces about 1.7% million barrels of oil each day and the government of Libya has a mission to escalate this up to 3 million barrels by the year 2010. Attributed to the large amounts of revenues resulting from oil exports, is the economic growth of 6.7% and 6.5% in the years 2004 and 2005 respectively however, the country aims at reducing its high dependency upon oil as its only income source and increase concentration of mining, fisheries, natural gas, tourism and agriculture. According to US sources, only a quarter of the Libyan natural factors of production like gas and oil have been explored. In the year 2005, drilling rights were granted by Libya to US companies for about 18 years. The three firms that won the rights from U.S.A are Chevron Texaco, Amerada Hess and Occidental. Also on the rise is the Libyan production of gas as well as exports. This has resulted in the opening of the pipeline of “Green stream” to Europe towards the end of year 2004. Other additional pipelines are also to be established besides the expansion of LNG. In spite of the fact that most of its export earnings come from oil, Libyan gasoline imports are on the fast rise due to an out of date refining sector of Libya. (Export.gov, 2007) The Libya’s major industrial zone is Ras Lanuf which is the largest site of refining plants and petrochemical plant of the nation. Its first phase complex was built in 1987. Each unit’s capacity of RASCO was 330,000 tons/year of ethylene, 171,000 t/y of propylene and lastly 135,000t/y of butene. It also enhances production of 300,000 t/y of pyrolysis gasoline. When it commenced its production, the production levels were below capacity but began to rise in 1989.in the year 1993 /1994 all of its units were running around 85% of the set capacity. The UN, however, placed a total ban on exports from this firm in the year 1995. This wasn’t lifted until 1999. The second phase of Ras Lanuf was to be finished in 1994 and involved projects of US $ 600 M’s worth. But, the awarding of the contract was trouble infested. This phase has scheduled capacities of 68, 000t/y propylene, 160,000 t/y pelletised polyethylene and 52,000 ethylene glycol. The company Uhde of Germany was awarded the contract of phase two’s construction in 1992, but was later terminated in the following year leading to further delays. As per the 1999 findings the project was still stalled. RASCO is in corporate under the procedures of Great socialist Peoples Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. The company is fully under the ownership of NOC- National Oil Corporation. (APS Review, 1999) Conclusion While concluding, thus, one can note that the regime of Qadhafi has had a great impact on the Libyan HRM. To reduce inefficiency, was the initial aim of his government and Qadhafi has urged Libyans to take up a new system of governance characterised by “people’s committees” which has affected a lot the organisations of Libya. The effect has especially been felt on the part of organisational workers’ management. It encourages direct democracy as stipulated by his book “The Green Book” of year 1976. Libyan culture on the other hand has been highly influenced by Islam, where majority of the population are Muslims. Islam particularly plays a very big role in the way of life of communities in Libya and also on social relationships. It has ruled a great deal the decisions made by managers in organisations and their recruitments coupled with Arabic culture. However, other first world countries find Libyan culture as being still traditional in approach. It’s considered a high context culture as opposed to low context usually found in the first world nations. The nation has also moved from the traditional leadership which was tribal based and monarchical. Technocrats have challenged this type of leadership and especially with the discovery of oil deposits in the country. In the traditional system leadership was through inheritance unlike today’s approach. Libya has large oil and gas deposits and relies so much upon these and revenues raised from their exports are about 95% of Libya’s total exports. To the GDP, the sector contributes about a quarter and in terms of job creation, and 60% of the public sector wages come from the oil and gas sector. This sector has been with hiccups, though, since sanctions have been imposed against it by the USA and UN alike due to acts of terrorism. These actions have been subsequently lifted and the economy is back on track. Reference list: Abubaker, A. (2007). Influence of Core Cultural Values on the Communication Behavior of Staff in Libyan Organization. Retrieved March 15, 2009 http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:m2MZQe6FIjYJ:www.ecls.ncl.ac.uk/publis h/text/Influence%2520of%2520Core%2520ABUBAKER%2520approved.pdf+lib ya+culture+and+communication+in+organisations.&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk Aps Review. (1999). Libya RAS LANUF. Retrieved March 17, 2009 http://www.allbusiness.com/mining/oil-gas-extraction-crude-petroleum- natural/281737-1.html Export.Gov. (2007). Market Of The Month: LIBYA. Retrieved March 17, 2009 http://www.export.gov/articles/marketofmonth/Libya_MoM.asp Ham, A. (2007). Libya. Lonely Planet. Edition: 2, illustrated. p 45. Ham, A. (2002). Libya. Lonely Planet. Edition: illustrated. pp 37, 38. Kamoche, K.N and Debrah, Y.A. (2004). Managing Human Resources in Africa. Routledge. Edition: illustrated. pp 169-173. Rivlin, P. (2001). Economic Policy and Performance in the Arab World. Lynne Rienner Publishers. Edition: illustrated. p 63. Somali press. (2009). Culture of Libya. Retrieved March 15, 2009 http://www.somalipress.com/libya-overview/culture-libya-1080.html Vandewalle, D. (2009). A History of Modern Libya. Retrieved March 16, 2009 http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521850483 &ss=exc Read More