Alrajhi Bank Staff Satisfaction Concerning The HRM In Saudi Arabia - Research Paper Example

Alrajhi Bank Staff Satisfaction Concerning The HRM In Saudi Arabia Introduction Management has been known since human beings have existed, imposed by the conditions of life, to live in communities with others, and to live alone. They started cooperating and coordinating efforts with others to provide the demands of life (Thaher, 2009). Nowadays the office of Human Resources Management (HRM) performs evaluations to ascertain the wellbeing of their employees, their work performance, have them trained to fulfil the daily tasks, and seek to find out information concerning customer service. This performance evaluation is a critical component. This instrument of measurement is used as an important strategy to provide the Human Resources Management feedback concerning its employees´ (Pynes, 2004). The employees´ satisfaction and feedback is very important to the companies. Given this assertion the employees have an annual survey or as many times as it is necessary to maintain their high performance levels (Kaplan, et al. 1996). The human race has advanced in a rapid manner in almost every sector. In particular, in the business world as it has been witnessed in drastic alterations to its environment. Human beings are the most important elements in the business sector and they are often a major impact on the company´s performance. The companies build their plans with the support of HRM. HRM is also supportive of the organization or an impediment on it based on the performance of the human element within the organization. Companies are known to spend large amounts of money to develop administrative regulations and train its employees to ensure staff satisfaction. Staff satisfaction is the main theme for this research. About Alrajhi Bank Alrajhi Bank is one of the largest Islamic Banks in the world and the largest bank in the Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia which is located in Alriyadh (capital of Saudi Arabia). It was established in 1957. Alrajhi Bank´s capital is 15,000,000,000 SR (about 4,000,000,000 $). It has more than 8,000 employees, more than 550 branches, and more than 129 exchange centre branches. It also has more than 2440 ATM around the Saudi Arabian cities and villages. The Alrajhi Bank has the largest percentage of customers in Saudi Arabia. The Alrajhi Bank has new plans, to invest its money in new foreign markets, such as, Malaysia. It has opened 19 branches in Malaysia since 2006 (Alrajhi web). The research title is “An Evaluation of Alrajhi Bank Staff Satisfaction Concerning the Human Resources Management in Saudi Arabia”. It is specifically about the HRM´s performance and to what extent the employees´ satisfaction is correlated with performance in the Alrajhi Bank along with how can the HRM improve their employees´ performance. Purpose of the research The purpose of this research is to evaluate Alrajhi Bank´s employees´ satisfaction. This researcher worked at the HRM office in the Alrajhi Bank. It is the largest Bank in Saudi Arabia and it has over six hundred branches and more than eight thousands employees. With this number of employees this researcher had to work hard and use the new technological systems and its software programs to help the organization and employees reach a high level of performance and reach the employees´ satisfaction (Alrajhi Bank website). Research Questions The research questions are as follows: 1. Are the employees at the Alrajhi Bank satisfied with the HRM performance? 2. Do the employees know what the HRM role is within the Alrajhi Bank? 3. Does the HRM work or perform its work in a positive way? 4. Is there any new program used by the HRM to improve the employees´ performance? 5. Is the employees´ performance evaluation at the Alrajhi Bank based on staff development and systems development? Research objectives The objectives for this research are: 1. To find the level of satisfaction of the employees at the Alrajhi Bank concerning the HRM performance. 2. To evaluate the HRM performance at the Alrajhi Bank. 3. To find the value of the software programs used by the HRM in the Alrajhi Bank? Are they according to expectations or do they need to be updated? 4. To find out the existent relationship between the HRM and the Alrajhi Bank employees. Literature review The literature review will discuss some of the significant aspects of the studies related to the HRM and the employee’s satisfaction at their workplace. There is almost no firm in the world these days that is not facing the pressure of increased competition. In short, it is not the profits of these firms that are at stake, it is their existence and survival, which is at risk. This increased struggle has forced the corporate executives of large companies to come up with ways, approaches, and studies to increase the profitability, quality, and efficiency. It is not unusual to hear the corporate executives point out to the employees´ satisfaction as one of the most important factors or as one of the prime areas of concern. These are the companies interested in improving their quality, efficiency, and profitability (Fitz-enz et al. 2002). The companies are relying on their staff to reach high levels of performance. If the employee, feels satisfaction while working at the company, that helps them to perform better and if the company achieved a high percentage in staff satisfaction that will lead the company to increase the employees´ benefits (Alkethery, 2008). Staff satisfaction is shown or is calculated by looking at several factors concerning the production and the employee´s attitudes. The productivity of the employees, their efficiency, their absenteeism, their turnover, their attitudes and their motivation levels are affected by the employee satisfaction (Becker, B.E. 2001). The research of CIPD ( ) also focused on the expectant nature of the staff´s satisfaction along with the business results. The satisfaction was based on many aspects of the working life. For instance, recognition for their performance, working conditions, pay, relationships with the supervisors, and team work were found to be valuable for the people in management. Training was a major aspect to be taken into consideration since it included the staff´s needs to increase and improve their job performance and satisfaction. For individuals who normally showed a poor sign of performance, the researchers found that they are at lower levels of satisfaction across the employees and it appears to affect the business performance (Holbeche 2004). In the past, research concerning the employees´ satisfaction (ES) identified one the first elements to be: identify and recruit staff whose personalities were appropriate for the job descriptions, the other one was the internal marketing approach, which proposes to regard the staff as the internal customer customers. The philosophy of the internal marketing approach is based on the idea that the happy employee leads to make the customers happy. From the internal marketing perspective, effectively measuring and improving the satisfaction of the employee is a critical function of contemporary management, because the businesses are becoming more competitive. The employees with good skills and abilities needed to become competitive and they were scarce. Management could no longer afford to see staff replaced (Kahle et al 2006). It is generally understood and seemingly not difficult to believe that a rise in satisfaction would affect performance, however, the research did not established any strongly positive relationships between performance and satisfaction, according to Brayfield & Crockett (1955). Vroom (1964) covered some studies, in each of which one or more items of satisfaction or staff attitudes were correlated with one or more criteria of performance. The median correlation of those studies was 0.14, which is not high enough to suggest a marked relationship between performance and satisfaction (Brayfield & Crockett, 1955). Armstrong (2006) concurs. In a study concerning ES the historical data from the employee´s attitude surveys and financial documents to investigate the relationship between the levels of employee satisfaction and the results of business transactions, found that industrial psychology and Leadership and Management were used as the primary sources of information. This literature review includes the survey of the employee´s attitude, historical views of work, the relationship between the work satisfaction and life satisfaction, staff satisfaction research, and the organizational health (Bruchey et al 2000). The happy employee is more likely to stay at their job than those who are not satisfied, but is there evidence to support this idea? Organizational Diagnostic, a US based firm specializing in organizational reports for surveys, stated that for every two per percent of development in staff satisfaction there can be one percent decrease in staff turnover, so if those figures are accurate, there may be a correlation between employee satisfaction and higher levels of performance (Hopkins et al. 2003). Moreover, measuring the employees´ satisfaction is helping the company in initiating and facilitating organizational development and organizational change. It is also informing any firm what it needs in the future: current strengths and problems in the future. An organization also gets hold of the employees´ feedback, whether positive or negative, based on the internal progress, situation and health of the organization. Lastly, the data may also help the company to increase and manipulate the employees´ satisfaction in the future (Allen et al 2002). Research Strategy There are many methods for measuring the employees´ satisfaction in the business world. Questionnaires, interviews, anonymous interviews, exit interviews, telephone interviews, focus groups and online data. Sample size and sample statistics are vital in defining what methodology to use (Fitz-enz et al 2002). It is also important to ask demographic questions at the beginning as well. This helps the firm to understand the demographic differences, if any are present, and the company may use that baseline to understand future actions by the same demographic groups. On the other hand, experts argue that asking for demographic information is not important if the sample size or the company is very small, when there is mistrust in the employees´ mind regarding company or the period survey is too long ( ). The question is also debatable to whether the research or survey should be conducted with the whole population or a small sample of the company. Companies prefer to go with small random samples when the original population is too large. This helps them to save time and reduce cost but they compromise on the accuracy factor. Other experts argue that since this data is important for the company it should not exclude anybody from the sample. Having the point of view of everyone is important. The company should try to decrease the question numbers or go with online survey in order to save time and reduce costs (Walle, 1958). The location of the interviews is very important. If a company holds any exercises, of finding employee satisfaction, outside the company it is sending a clear message to its employees that it is not safe to speak about your satisfaction level in the company premises (Allen et al. 2002). It is also important to make sure that the employees´ focus group or sample, are randomly selected. The survey coordinators should never allow employees to volunteer to participate in surveys. This will lead to a sample that would have both the extremes of satisfied and dissatisfied employees. Once the whole data is cautiously collected for the company, then it is important for the company to carefully analyze it. At times, the company officials start engaging themselves in the analyzing process. It should be given to the statistician who can provide proper results and feedback. At times, a nonprofessional can make serious mistakes in analyzing it (Becker et al. 2001). It is then significant to present the data in front of the concerned and then make a decision as to what the company thinks would be the best corrective action for the current problem. Methodology The methodology is another significant stage of every study and an inefficient methodology always results in ineffective outcomes even in the presence of focused objectives. In this regard, the proposed study will discuss some of the significant aspects of different research methods that may be a fundamental part of the proposed research. In specific, the proposed research will focus primarily on the secondary methodology that will involve the critical analysis of available books, journals and annual reports which are published from the Bank. Alrajhi HRM develops their annual report concerning the employees´ satisfaction. This includes the findings and the analysis of the previously carried out studies regarding the different HRM strategies and the role of the HRM on the employees’ satisfaction. The researcher will also create specific questionnaires that will involve questions related to different HRM aspects and their impact. One of the major factors of choosing both methodologies is the drawbacks of both methods, and thus, a balanced approach will enable the researcher in benefiting from both research that will be very beneficial in the provision of efficient outcomes and logical findings (Bernard, 2006). References Alkethery, A 2008. Employee Satisfaction and Loyalty The Key to Outstanding Performance. Alriyadh newspaper. Available Online http://www.alriyadh.com/2008/06/26/article353814.html [last access was on 1 December 2009] Allen, D.R., & Wilburn, M, 2002. Linking customer and employee satisfaction to the bottom line: A comprehensive guide to establishing the impact of customer and employee satisfaction on critical business outcomes. U.S.A . American Society for Quality. Alrajhi Bank formal Website. Available Online http://www.alrajhibank.com.sa/ar/Pages/home.aspx [last access was on 29 November 2009] Armstrong, M 2006. A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practices. 10th Ed. London. Kogan Page Limited. Becker, B.E., Huselid, M.A., Ulrich, D 2001. The HR scorecard: Linking people, strategy, and performance. U.S.A. Harvard Business School Press. Bernard, H.R. 2006. Research Methods in Anthropology. 4th Ed. Oxford, UK. Altamira Press. Bruchey, S, Nevins, A 2000. Garland Studies On Industrial Productivity. New York. Garland Publishing Inc. Fitz-enz, J, & Davison, B 2002. How to measure human resources management. 3rd Ed. McGraw-Hill company. Holbeche, L 2004. Aligning Human Resources And Business Strategy. Oxford. Roffey Park Institute. Hopkins, B, Markham, J 2003. E-HR Using Intranets To Improve the Effectiveness of Your People. Aldershot. Gower Publishing Limited. Kahle, L.R. & Kim, C 2006. Creating Images And The Psychology Of Marketing Communication. New Jersey. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. Kaplan, R.S., Norton, D.P. 1996. The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy Into Action. United States Of America. The President And Fellows Of Harvard college. Pynes, J.E. 2004. Human Resources Management For Public And Nonprofit Organizations. 2nd Ed. United States of America. Jossy Bass. Thaher, N 2009. Modern Management. Amman, Jordan. Available at: http://www.hrdiscussion.com/hr7068.html [Accessed on December 1, 2009]. Walle, A 1958. Studies in employee satisfaction: a practical approach. University of Michigan. Read More