Real Life Situation within an Organization - Case Study Example

Name Class Unit Introduction Etisalat is the major telecommunication company in the United Arabs Emirates (UAE). The company has expanded in size and it is one of the most respected companies in the UAE and some parts of Africa. The company has been able to recruit labour force both national and internationally (Cole). Since 2009, UAE has been pushing for the change in the hiring procedures among the companies. This is through the introduction of laws which encourages the local companies to hire the UAE nationals as they expand. Etisalat employees have over the years been composed of locals and immigrants. The policies set by the UAE on emiratization however led to taxation on the hiring of the immigrants and incentives on hiring the locals. The policy also has job quotas which are imposed on the organisations to ensure there is an increase in the employment of the nationals. The main problem with the emiratization policy is due to fact that it had to make the organisation change its recruitment procedure. By considering the cost factor of the emiratization, Etisalat have been forced to come up with measures to attract nationals. This paper will look at the organisation change at Etisalat following the policy on emiratization. This will be done through analysing the case study on Etisalat efforts on emiratization from 2010 to 2014. The paper will look the change, the need for change and how the change is implemented by Etisalat due to emiratization. The paper will also look at the critical challenges faced and the outcome. Emiratization The policy on emiritization was introduced by the UAE government with an aim to reduce unemployment of the UAE nationals (Khondker). The government introduced incentives aimed at increasing the number of nationals employed in the local firms. Though the policies date back to 1998, most of the firms have become active in implementing them recently. The government required firms to comply with the policies to reduce unemployment. This led to the government categorising the firms into class A, B, C depending on the compliance to the policies (Forstenlechner 84). Non compliance leads to the firms being demoted to lower categories B and C which increases the costs and fees associated with recruiting the expatriates (Macedo 22). Etisalat have been showing commitment to the policies through their efforts. The company had to make changes in their hiring procedures to make sure they comply with the policies. In 2010, Etisalat had more than 36% of their employees from UAE. This included 75% of the senior management professional being from the country (Paul). The company also committed itself to ensuring that they take care of the local talent through training courses. The change Change in the hiring procedures at Etisalat has been gradual. In 2010, the company reaffirmed its support for the policies. The company announced major increase in the efforts that would ensure that they are able to meet their target of employing the nationals. The company in the same year listed the job opportunities that they had kept for the talented national. This was a major change in the hiring process as the past years have been dominated by increase in employment of the immigrants. Change in the organisation has the capability to affect the individuals (Murthy 14). Having organisation development helps the company to implement change and cope with the turbulent times associated with it. The process of emiratization meant that the organisation would have to reduce the foreign employees in favour of the local employees. The field of organisational development helps the organisation to cope with the effects of the change (Singh 31). Etisalat had to use organisation change to implement the process of emiratization. It have been cited that change cannot occur unless the need for it is critical. The decision to increase the number of workers who are Dubai nationals made the organisations realise how critical it is for them to change their hiring procedures. For the organisations that had high number of employees who are emigrants faced higher charges and did not benefit on incentives. This meant that change was critical at Etisalat to ensure that they hire more nationals. The competition in the industry must also have driven for change. This is due to the fact that those organizations with higher number of national employees’ enjoyed more benefits due to reduced tax. To implement change, there must be an absolute need for it. The leaders are tasked in making the organisation see that there is no other way apart from change. For Etisalat, they could not afford to maintain the status quo. The need for change in their employees’ composition was critical. Planning for change Before making changes, it’s required that then organisation comes up with appropriate strategies. The organisation should start by conducting some sort of field analysis. There is a need to look at the driving forces and restraining forces in change. If both the driving and restraining forces for change are equal, then there can be no change (Murthy 27). At Etisalat, the driving force for the change was bigger than the restraining force. This enabled the organisation to affect the plan on how to increase the number of the employees with UAE nationality. Planning is a tool for carrying out the desired change. At Etisalat, planning started long before 2012 with coming up with a strategy (Paul). Having a good plan, Etisalat was able to come up with a way in which they could carry out their recruitment process. The company came up with training centres for locals and also time lines for the implementation of the policy. Field analysis was well done before implementing the plan. This involved examining the potential resources available and the restraining forces that were there (Murthy 45). For Etisalat, planning enables the company came up with the best strategies. The major changes were seen when Etisalat started training and development programs which were meant to enable staff gain leadership skills. The centres were mainly for the UAE employees. Over 3500 of the workers who are nationals of UAE have been trained in these institutions which offer international standards skills (Cole). Process of change The process of change in any institution follows a specified model. There are different models that are associated with change (Waddell, Thomas & Christopher 73). For Etisalat, the model used followed three steps. The first step was assessing the scenario that the organisation was in. This was by looking at the status of the employee and accessing how many of them were UAE nationals. This step was very important as it gave the organisation a picture of what they were required to do to attain the required government quota (Murthy 23). The second step was creating the preferred scenario which started way back in 2010. The company started implementing the policy progressively making sure they are within the timeline set. In 2010, the company had more than 3600 employees from the UAE. This number was about 36 percent of the total workforce. The company was able to have almost 75 % of their senior staff being nationals of UAE. In 2012, the company reaffirmed its position to meet the 40 % target across the workforce through emiratization. The plan was set to achieve the target by 2015 (Paul). In the same year, the company committed itself to train additional 100 staff who could help in its progress to attain their set target. The company came up with Network International participation as an initiative to attract and retain local talent. This was in accordance with the last step which involves coming up with a plan that is able to move the system from its current situation to the preferred scenario. It has been proved that with proper planning, the results attained are valued (Waddell,Thomas & Christopher 76). This is due to fact that planning and change are directed towards a specific goal. One have first to determine whether there is a need for change before following the three steps. Strategies for change In order for the efforts to be implemented, there is need for someone to rally the resources to support the organisation (Singh 43). The first strategy that was used by Etisalat in carrying out change was use of power tools. The power tools required to implement the strategy were information, resources and support. Power tools help others to see the need for the change. This is very important as it helps the change to be supported by the stakeholders as they are able to see it as critical. Etisalat had to look for enough information on the policies, look for resources such as staff to implement the policies and try to gain support. Emiratization policy required a process in which maximum support is needed. The next strategy used was packaging the change in small steps. Since emiratization policy could not carried out at once, Etisalat made gradual changes. Critical challenges Lack of skills among the UAE nationals was a major challenge. The increase in the training was due to fact that most of the emigrants working in UAE had higher education than the locals. The study proves that 65% of the emigrants had educational qualification higher than bachelor degree as compared to 45% of the locals. The training programs were more enhanced to ensure that there were enough experienced workers for the company future to meet the emiritization requirements. Having an organisation that is engaged with the policy has been perceived to be the main driver for emiratization. Etisalat have proved to be committed in ensuring that the locals are able to gain enough skills that enable them to compete with emigrants (Cole). Another challenge was found during implementation of the policies. In implementing the change in the organisation used top-down as opposed to bottom-up approach. The top-down approach involved the situation where the top management was giving the directions for change. The top management at Etisalat gave their direction on the way forward on implementing the policies. The main problem associated to this method is fact that it is prone to resistance and hence slow. The middle managers as well as other employees may boycott the changes. The top-down perspective is integrated and only the top management have the responsibility for rapid change (Singh 36). The management faced some resistance during the beginning of the process but it was later eliminated. This enabled the emiratization program at Etisalat to have a rapid implementation and a clear direction. Outcome At the moment, Etisalat have been able to effect the changes required under the emiratization program. The company have made major changes in their hiring procedures and almost 85% of the company senior staff is UAE nationals. The results show that there has been a successful implementation of the emiratization program as per the company timeline. The main changes that have been recently observed in the recruitment program are training centres based on emiratization. The company have also started its own academy that has been aimed at enhancing the leadership, telecommunication and business skills. The company have also been pledging to attend recruitment fairs countrywide to ensure they tap lo local talent. Etisalat is among the emiratized companies in the UAE at the moment hence enjoys the government incentives. Preparing the country nationals for the careers has been the major change that has been effected. Conclusion In conclusion, change requires moving from the present state to the desired state. For Etisalat, they had to change their hiring procedures to comply with the emiratization policy. This meant that the company had to implement the change in such a way that they meet the government demands while maintaining a favorable business environment. The organisation started making the changes in 2010. In 2012, the company made greater changes and were able to increase the number of UAE nationals in their companies. The company also established training centres and academies aimed at enhancing the recruitment process in accordance with emiratization. Etisalat has been able to make major steps at the moment and change has been effected appropriately in their hiring procedures. To achieve this, the company used top down approach with the management giving direction. Changes were also implemented in steps to minimise resistance. To attain support, the organisation employed a strategy that enabled the stakeholders see the importance for change. This meant there were no resistance and the procedures for change attained support. At the moment, the organisation has been able to increase UAE nationals in the careers having attained 40% benchmark set in 2012 (Paul). This is a clear indication of successful change in an organisation. References Cole, Alex. Analysis of Etisalat. Munich: GRIN Verlag GmbH, 2013. Internet resource. Forstenlechner, Ingo. "Workforce nationalization in the UAE: image versus integration, Education, Business and Society", Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues, 1, 2 (2008): 82- 91. Khondker, Habibul H. Social Change in the United Arab Emirates: Challenges of Migration and "emiratisation". Singapore: Middle East Institute, 2009. Internet resource Macedo, Sara. Emiratisation: An Assessment of Intercultural Realities. Durham: University of Durham, 2007. Murthy, C S. V. Change Management. Mumbai [India: Himalaya Pub. House Pvt. Ltd, 2007. Paul , Lalovich , Etisalat reaffirms its commitment towards Emiratisation for the year 2010, 28 March 2010, http://www.emiratisationnow.com/2010/03/etisalat-reaffirms-its- commitment.html, 31May 2014. Singh, Kavita. Organisation Change and Development. New Delhi: Excel Books, 2010. Print. Waddell, Dianne, Thomas G. Cummings, and Christopher G. Worley. Organisation Development & Change. South Melbourne: Thomson, 2007. Read More