Human Resource Management Program for the United Arab Emirates - Term Paper Example

Introduction: Human Resource Management is a concept that is not only important to the private sector, but also to institutions that are managed by government departments and organizations. Human Resource Management concerns itself with attracting, selecting, training, assessing and rewarding employees of an organization. Human resource management also concerns itself with creating an organizational culture, and ensuring that the organization under consideration complies with all the laws that pertain to employer-employee relations (Truss and Mankin, 2012). On this basis, human resource management is a very important element in a business or public organization, as it will ensure that the organization under consideration has highly skilled and efficient employees. This in turn will make the organization to serve its customers in an efficient manner, leading to the achievement of the goals and objectives of the organization under consideration. The government of the United Arabs Emirates has realized on the importance of human resource management. In a bid for the government of the United Arab Emirates to decrease unemployment, and increase the efficiency of its work force, the government has come up with a series of policies aimed at addressing these issues (Werner and DeSimone, 2012). One such policy is the emiratisation of the country’s economy. The government of UAE developed this program, in order to train the citizens of the emirates to be highly competitive employees, and this is through the introduction of a good education system, and sponsoring seminars and trainings that focus on the abilities, skills, and competencies that are needed by employers in the Emirates (Yamamoto, 2013). The intention of this program is to recruit nationals who are in the private and public sector in a manner that is efficient and meaningful. Since the inception of this program, the public sector has made great steps in making this program a success. However, the private sector hasn’t made any progress, with statistic indicating that the citizens of UAE only occupy 0.5% of the total workforce in the private sector. Goals and Objectives: Based on this background, the goal of this paper is to develop an efficient human resource strategy for the government of the UAE. This paper aims at achieving this goal by analyzing the various human resource strategies of the UAE, identifying their weaknesses and strengths. This paper mainly concerns itself with analyzing the emiratisation program of the UAE, and this is because it is the main human resource strategy of the government of UAE. Another objective of this paper is to find out whether the emiratisation policy in the UAE is a success, and if government obtained its objectives in the implementation of the policy. Research Questions: The question that this research aims to answer is whether the emiratisation policy in the UAE has led to the development of highly skilled and competitive workforce in the UAE? In conclusion, emiratisation is an example of a human resource development policy. This is because it is a policy aimed at training, and recruiting nationals of the Emirates into the various positions in the public and private workforce of the UAE. This in turn will help in reducing unemployment, as well as increase the efficiency in the manner in which the nationals of this country carry out their affairs. This is an aspect of human resource management, whose core functions is to recruit, train, assess, and reward the most efficient employees in an organization. Literature Review: Al-Ali (2008) denotes that the implementation of policies regarding human resource management is always difficult, and requires a lot of effort and dedication. However, because of the advantages of an efficient human resource strategy, organizations are always forced to initiate and implement policies that aim at improving the nature and quality of their workforce. On this basis, Forstenlechner, Madi, Selim and Rutledge (2012) denotes that the government of UAE was justified when they developed and implemented the emiratisation policy. Scholar further goes on to denote that the leaders of UAE always have the desire to support any programs or policies aimed at improving and developing the living standards of the people of UAE. On this note, the government of UAE developed the emiratisation program, as a response to a series of nationalization programs that most states of the world were embarking on. Hoch and Dulebohn (2013) further goes on to denote that emiratisation is a very important social responsibility initiative, and this is because in as much as it aims at improving the living standards of the citizens of UAE, the program also aims to ensure that services provided to its citizens are of high quality. This is because emiratisation supports the development of highly skilled workforce. However, Al-Ali (2008) disagrees with Hoch and Dulebohn (2013) on the concept that emiratisation is an important social responsibility concept. This is because Al-Ali (2008) argues that emiratisation is an example of a program that causes racial discrimination. For instance, emiratisation programs require the public and the private sector to reserve the best jobs for the citizens of the emirates. This program only concerns itself with developing and improving the living conditions of the citizens of the Emirates, and it does not care on the living conditions of other people working in the emirates. On this basis, Modarress, Ansari and Lockwood (2013) denotes that emiratisation programs are responsible for causing discrimination. However, Dulebohn (2013) argues against this point, and he denotes that emiratisation has had a positive impact on foreigners living in UAE. This is because, these foreigners have to work hard, and improve on their skills, to be counted better than the citizens of the UAE. Dulebohn (2013) further goes on to denote that the laws of UAE do not discriminate on foreigners in terms of employment, and it only wants to ensure that the foreigners employed in the UAE, have skills that is rare in the country. On this basis, emiratisation is aimed at creating competition in terms of human resource skills between citizens of UAE, and foreigners living in the country, or seeking work in the country. In as much as Marzouqi and Zairi (2010) identifies the negative effect of emiratisation, he is in agreement with Dulebohn (2013) that emiratisation has helped the government of UAE to overcome the challenges that come with developing an effective pension system. In as much as emiratisation is a noble process initiated by the government, the policy faces a number of challenges. One of the major challenges that the policy faces is the unwillingness of the citizens of UAE to do certain types of jobs. For instance, studies reveal that most of the citizens of the UAE are reluctant to be teachers, and to carry out menial jobs. These jobs are always reserved to foreigners, who are always willing to undertake them. It is also important to denote that citizens of UAE are always reluctant to work in private companies. This is because some of the private companies violate the principles of Islam, and on this basis, the citizens of the UAE are unwilling to work in them. Marzouqi and Zairi (2010) denotes that another major reason as to why the citizens of UAE are unwilling to work in the private sector, is because the private sector has a long working hour, as compared to the government. On this basis, the citizens of UAE are uncomfortable working these long hours. Wilkins (2002) further denotes that because of emiratisation, locals normally demand higher positions in the private sector, even without building their CV. This normally occurs by working as a junior official for some considerable time, before getting promotions to the next ranks. However, it is important to denote that the government understands these challenges facing the private sector and its nationals. On this basis, the government has initiated a series of measures aimed at encouraging the private sector to employ its citizens. Scholar denotes that the government has a trust fund, referred to as the Khalifa Fund, aimed at motivating managers of the private sector to employ citizens of UAE, by giving them money as a means of reducing the wage gap that exists between employees of the government and the private sector. In general, Ivancevich (2013) agree that emiratisation policy plays a great role in improving the skills and living standards of the people of UAE. Lee (2012) further denote that the program improves the human resource skills of UAE by educating the nationals of this country in their areas of interest. This policy is also a very unique method of developing the economy of the country. This is because it leads to a high employment rate of the citizens of UAE, and this ensures that the disposable income and salaries of the citizens of the UAE is spent inside the country. This has a positive impact on the market of UAE. Studies further reveal that there is a low crime rate amongst the educated people. On this basis, the emiratisation policy has helped to create security in the Emirates, leading to an improvement on the number of tourists visiting the country. Based on this information, Aldhaheri and AlNehayan (2010) denotes that emiratisation is an efficient human resource strategy that the government of UAE should implement to the later. Research Methodology: While undertaking this research, the research will use both qualitative methods of research. Qualitative research methods involve the collection of data that is not numeric (Bryman, 2008). The main reason of using qualitative research methods is based on the fact that the researcher will want to understand the motivations and the reasons behind the enactment of the emiratisation policy by the government (Bryman, 2008). This methodology helps to provide an insight on the research problem, and it generates ideas and hypotheses that can be tested through research. On this basis, qualitative methodology is useful for this research because it will help to effectively answer the research question (Bryman, 2008). Data Collection and Methodology: During the process of data collection, the researcher will use both secondary and primary methods of collecting data (Bryman, 2008). The following are the methods of data collection that will be in use, Secondary Data In collecting data, the researcher will use journals, books, newspaper articles, and reputable websites. While using journals, the researcher will mostly rely on Jstor and Ebsco. This is because these journals have hundreds of articles that speak about the human resource policies of the government of UAE. It is also easy to access journal articles, and this is because they are readily available. It is also important to denote that the researcher will have to conduct a library research for purposes of getting reliable books and newspaper articles that talk about the emiratisation process of UAE, the challenges and benefits (Bryman, 2008). The researcher will have to be very careful on the choice of books in use. The researcher will mostly rely on books written by professionals and experts of human resource management. These professionals must be either lecturers, or people who have experience teaching the principles of human resource management. The researcher will also conduct an extensive research on websites that talk about emiratisation process of UAE. This is for the main purpose of seeking the relevant information that will help in meeting the objectives and goals of this research. Primary Data The researcher will mainly rely on surveys and interviews as methods of collecting primary data (Bryman, 2008). Interviews: An interview refers to the face to face conversation between an interviewer, and an interviewee. Interviews in this research will be collected for purposes of gaining an insight on the impact of the emiratisation policy in UAE. Interviews will be important because the researcher will manage to get undistorted information from the interviewee (Bryman, 2008). In carrying out an interview, the research will have to identify a leading human resource official of UAE, and an employee of the UAE government, and will ask a total of five questions . These questions and their results are found at the appendix section. It is important to understand that the interviews under consideration were conducted through a face to face communication, and the methods of recording data, was through the use of a tape recorder. Surveys: The researcher used surveys for purposes of collecting data on human resource management, and the emiratisation process of UAE. The surveys consist of a series of five questions, and the researcher will use the internet to conduct the surveys. The use of the internet is important, because it is easy to administer the surveys, and it is also cheaper to the researcher. A total of five people were targeted for the survey. Sampling: The target populations for this study are the citizens of UAE, and policy makers. To find these people, the researcher used the random sampling technique. The researcher identified a group of workers from the department of human resource management in UAE, and randomly chosed one worker, whom the researcher could interview (Bryman, 2008). This technique was also used to choose a senior human resource official at the department. Findings and Analysis: It is important to denote that most of the findings of this research denote that emiratisation policy is a very important and effective human resource strategy by the government of the UAE. The findings of the literature review, and the findings of primary and secondary methods of data collection are all in agreement on the important role of the emiratisation policy in developing the skills and abilities of the citizens of UAE. For instance, from the literature review, we can denote that most scholars are in supportive of the emiratisation policy. In their point of view, emiratisation policy has greatly led to an increase in highly skilled labor, amongst the citizens of the UAE (Hoch and Dulebohn, 2013). This is because the policy has made the government of UAE to invest heavily in education, and other methods of training its citizens for purposes of making them to have skills that are needed by the market. Scholars are also in agreement that the emiratisation policy, has a number of challenges, and this includes the unwillingness of citizens of UAE to carry out other jobs, such as menial labor (Hoch and Dulebohn, 2013). This is because of the high number of the skilled workforce that UAE has. The findings of the surveys and the interviews only confirm this fact that emiratisation policy is a success in the UAE. From the surveys, most people denote that they are comfortable working with the government because the government has better working conditions and hours of work, as compared to the private sector. These people further denoted that there are higher chances of growth when an individual works for the government, as compared when the same individual works for the private sector. On this basis, they would rather work for the government as opposed to the private sector. By analyzing the results of the surveys, interviews, and the literature review, it is possible to denote that emiratisation policy has managed to achieve its intentions. Thai is reducing unemployment rate in UAE, increasing the skills and capabilities of citizens of UAE, and improving the economy of UAE. For instance, all the respondents in an interview denoted that they acquired their skills from the emiratisation programs of the government (Aldhaheri and AlNehayan, 2010). The respondents of the survey were also in agreement that the emiratisation policy has increased the skills of the of citizens of UAE, and they are very competitive in the services that they offer. It is important to denote that results from the interviews were the same. In conclusion, the emiratisation process plays a great role in improving the economy of UAE. Results from the surveys, interviews and literature review confirm this fact. On this basis, the government of UAE has to continue with this policy, investing heavily on sectors of education, research and development, and on encouraging its population to work in the private sector. Conclusion and Recommendations: In conclusion, emiratisation is a good example of a human resource management policy. This is because this policy seeks to achieve the basic functions of human resource management that is recruitment, rewarding, training, and assessing the capabilities of an employee. The emiratisation policy in UAE has managed to achieve this objective, and hence there is no need of the government of UAE to introduce other human resource management policies. However, to solve the problems and challenges of the emiratisation policy identified, there is a need of the government undertaking the following, Initiating laws that will compel the private sector to introduce working hours that are compatible with that of the government. Encouraging its citizens to seek employment in the private as well as the public sector. Funding research that will seek to identify other ways of implementing the emiratisation policy, and this is by involving the private sector. It is important to denote that if the government implements these recommendations, then chances are high that the government will reduce the challenges that the emiratisation policy has on the private sector. Appendix: The questions asked and results of the interview: The following are the questions that the researcher asked for the interview; i. What is the emiratisation policy? ii. How is this policy implemented? iii. Is this policy effective in improving the skills of the workers? iv. What are the challenges that this policy faces v. Should the government continue with it. The researcher interviewed two people, and because of the principle of confidentiality, the researcher will not disclose their names; Respondent A, was a senior government official, at the HR department, Respondent B was a junior government official at the HR department. Results of Respondent A: Q i. Emiratisation is a policy that the UAE government initiated for purposes of promoting the development of highly skilled workforce in UAE. Q. ii. This policy is implemented through investing in education, creating programs aimed at encouraging the private sector to employ citizens of UAE, and sponsoring seminars aimed at training future employees. Q iii. This policy is highly effective in improving the skills of the citizens of UAE. Q iv. Citizens are reluctant to work for the private sector. Citizens choose jobs that they want to do. Q. V. Yes, the government should continue with the policy. Results of Respondent B: Q i. Emiratisation is a policy that the UAE government initiated for purposes of promoting the development of highly skilled workforce in UAE. Q. ii. This policy is implemented through investing in education, creating programs aimed at encouraging the private sector to employ citizens of UAE, and sponsoring seminars aimed at training future employees. Q iii. This policy is highly effective in improving the skills of the citizens of UAE. Q iv. Citizens are reluctant to work for the private sector. Q. V. Yes, the government should continue with the policy. Survey Questions: i. Do you support emiratisation policy? ii. Is this policy effective in UAE? iii. Is the welfare of workers improved because of this policy? iv. Should the government continue with this policy? v. What are the challenges of implementing this policy? Results of the Survey: Of the five people who filled this survey, all of them answered yes, to the questions and they were all in agreement that this policy has some challenges. Most of them denoted that they prefer working for the government as opposed to the private sector. References: Al-Ali, J. (2008). Emiratisation: Drawing UAE Nationals Into Their Surging Economy. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 28(9/10), 365-379. Aldhaheri, M., & AlNehayan, M. (2010). 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