The Employment Status of the Graduates and Undergraduates for Later Job Opportunities - Statistics Project Example

Introduction: In the T306 project (unemployment) the chosen systemic process to be used is the soft system method. SSM will integrate the entire learning cycle and help in understanding, deciding and acting upon the respective situation and will be more effective than relative methods to address all the issues and help to solve it. The SSM can further assist in all those involved to analysis’s the situation in depth and help then support any arguments on which course of action they wish to take. As a result of the use of SSM we will be able to understand any relations between ideas and especially amongst those that are in support of the policies, and the way to implement and regulate the policies that we support. With the use of different diagrams we will be able to explore the problem much more easily. Spray diagrams will help in summarizing the problem while a system map will provide us with details on the possible relationship that exist between the different areas of the unemployment issue. The log frame activity will let us explore and illustrate as well as define the activities, purpose, results and the goal of this project which will be defined by making certain assumptions at every phase which will eventually lead us to the upper phase. Summary: The first and foremost issue to the employment issue is the employment status of the graduates and undergraduates who have to suffer from lack of jobs till they eventually do find one. As of 2009 Saudi Arabia has an unemployment rate of 11.6%, excluding the female population (Online). In less then ideal situations some of the graduates take up a job which does meet their expectations or have nothing to do with what they desire. This may be due to the need they feel to earn some sort of a salary and in the process be able to fill their CV’s for later job opportunities. Some of these graduates and undergraduates give on the situation and just consider it a lost cause and go into depression and become hopeless thinking that they will never find a job meant for them or one that will provide them the salary that they want. Due to the ever increasing population this problem is aggravated as there are thousands of graduates each year and not enough jobs to accommodate them. To further deepen the crisis we can break the situation down the public and private sector. In the public sector there is a longer time span in job rotation and many of the people from the previous generations continue to hold positions they had climbed to long ago. As far as the private sector is concerned there seems to be a greater need to hire experts from outside the Kingdom thus resulting in the local population getting jobs that offer menial wages. 85% of the organizations that have training facilities to equip staff members with skills to adapt to the organization requirement are lacking in funds and thus lacking in proper trainers. They have to depend upon the staff that is currently on-board to assist those who are newly employed. This is more or less a phenomenon in the private sector while the public sector is not too quick to help in this area. The quick pace at which technology is moving is also a problem for those who are seeking a job. Technology is making man less and less relevant in the job market. Computers are now used at almost every organization and manage to do the work of quite a number of men. This leads to managers preferring to spend an initial large capital amount on the purchase of technology rather then spend money on monthly wages as well as on the training of personal. The impact of unemployment is having impacts on the society and the culture of the country as well. Due to the increase in numbers of the young men who are unable to find jobs they have nothing to do leading them to indulge in criminal activities and lead to an increase in substance abuse too. These will not only destroy the life of the person involved but drag the family into the scene and lead to a disruptive society where an increase in these behavior will cause not only social disturbance but lead to diminishing cultural values. Further more, all the free time will eventually lead to anger that can be disastrous. As a newspaper has published, the youth in their free time can become targets of terrorist organizations (Jasim Ali). Economy is also having an impact on the unemployment rate as the foreigners who are employed in the Kingdom in large numbers send their wages back home and so out of the Kingdom. As these foreigners hold the high pay-scale jobs the Saudi’s have less to spend which will affect the economy. Spray diagram: The first line of issue in to go about this project was to decide upon the problem and then place a title on the project. A logical framework was then set up to show the stages of the project with one leading to another. This framework is shown below in four phases. Goal To explore the state of unemployment in Saudi Arabia and decide whether solution should be short term or long term Assumption The long run solutions & developments seems to be more effective against the unemployment problem Purpose Verify if unemployment causes is the government or the citizen - Highlight applicable solutions Assumption A decision to verify the main cause of unemployment at SA could be producible – Solutions of unemployment at SA to be re-evaluated for more verification Outputs Size of the problem – plans & solutions of the government – opinions of employed & non employed people Assumption The search is possible – government plan is already available – people is cooperative to provide useful information Activities Search & questioner at street & in the employment ministry – visit to the private & public sectors to build an information system Assumption Each group has it's questioner format - Visits shall be organized & accepted - Evaluate the history of unemployment could be achievable Now we will go back to the learning cycle of SUDA and how the SSM was conducted and its representation of the unemployment situation as shown below: Being aware The situation of unemployment in the Kingdom is recognized by all and as an economist in the country has stated this may be the most important challenge to the kingdom (BBC Online), though more issues are highlighted when reflecting on this problem systematically. This stage provided the methodologies which were chosen to be applied alongside the SSM and led to the next stage of the project. Engaging: In order to understand the issue in depth there were actions such as searches, visits surveys and other methods that were engaged which were helpful for the production of outputs. They helped to gauge the magnitude of the issue and what propositions were in line to solve it. These led to the main goal of trying to realize the main reasons for the unemployment problem. Consequently, the goal became to find out if there can be a solution for unemployment either in the short run of the long term. Contextualizing: This step will consider all the potential solutions and help with decision making. As a result of the previous steps we now have the research data and proposals which can be sent to the relevant authorities who can consider them. If approved then implementation would be the next step. Managing: The management of the solutions would take a long time to become clear, however, short run solutions can be seen. These will assist in keeping tap on the implementation and if required then modifications can be made. During the research it was brought to attention that the government was capable of dealing with the problem of unemployment before. It was also noticed that the method under consideration was that of “system of interest in practice to be improved”. The stakeholders in different systems will now be defined as shown in the diagram below: Overall the problem of unemployment is said to be increasing as there is no viable solution provided by the government itself. In the short run many of the youth are out of work and in the long run the situation will further deteriorate as population is increasing with no real jobs being created. One solution tried out by the government was to force the private companies to staff at least 25% of their employees from the Saudi citizens; however, this has not worked out as these companies simply pass on a list of false Saudi employees. One of the reasons is due to the migration from the dessert and small town areas into big cities where the job markets is certainly greater in comparison. So it all fairness it would both be right to blame the government for all problems as there may be jobs available but due to the picky nature of individuals they are left unoccupied. The diagram above is a multi cause diagram showing the causes and effects of unemployment. An influence diagram that show the SSM procedures. Ethicality Statement: The unemployment problem needs to be solved as soon as possible as it will damage the future of the coming generation if something is not done soon. It would be unfair for those who will enter the job market later on. A show of concern is the lack of appreciation for the jobs that certain employed people have, desiring something else. Stakeholders Analysis: Unemployed graduate: The research has shown a large number of people without jobs and they are dependent on others. Some accept small jobs though they don’t consider them to be something they are meant to do. Unemployed undergraduate: These masses are a lot more docile and easier to provide jobs to as they are not that picky about which job they want. Another consideration is there qualifications which are at a lesser standing than a graduates. The employment office: These people are more concerned with the jobs that are offered by the private sector and the applications that the unemployed submit to the branches that they have all over the Kingdom. It uses a computerized system and has a sequence procedure approved by the ministry. The ministry of employment: Collect the statistical data on the population, total graduates and the number of unemployed per annum and makes and places plans accordingly at the employment office. Once a year the ministry has to report back to the government on their plans. Government of Saudi Arabia: Set the policies of employment in all fields and sets goals to be achieved by the employment ministry. The government is currently contemplating the idea of placing limits on number of foreign employees. Public sector organization: Have a limit contribution to solve the problem. The public sector could be more engaged with the help of the government. Private sector organization: Prefer the out of kingdom expertise rather than new graduates that need training and require jobs. These companies rely on outside help rather than inside help (Manal S. Fakeeh). Society concerned institutes: The society will be affected by those young men having nothing to do which will lead to criminal behaviors or alcoholic uses. These actions alone are quite enough to destroy the society not to mention consequences of these. Environment concerned institutes: The environment could be infected; this could occur by the decrease in our culture mentality. The less employment in society leads to more careless people at the street. Conclusion: In conclusion, based on the study done on the topic, there are three main causes for unemployment. The first would be the government which was unable to meet the demand for an increase in jobs. The second is the private sector should rather employ foreigners than their own citizens. The third reason are some of the graduating students themselves as they don’t believe in hard work and building their own career and prefer an office rather than struggling. Though it is noted that some jobs are not meant for the level of education that these people have. The increasing population is also a cause of concern as it was noted that there was a 54% increase in population from the year 1981 to 2001 (Nimrod Raphaeli). It is my opinion that the government and the workforce ministry are the ones who should be blamed at large due to many reasons. If there are not enough jobs in the public sector and if a higher position does open up it is usually saved for a relative or such by others. The government is also unable to keep the private sector in check. Client Report: This project was aimed at trying to find the main problems and potential solutions to the unemployment issue in Saudi Arabia. As the report above shows there are quite a number of ideas floating around as to how to tackle the problem but to know the problem in depth along with its causes is the first step towards a solution. So the following solutions that we will term will be aimed toward the workforce ministry, both public and private sector and the people themselves. The workforce ministry is not given the authority to act independently of the Saudi government which tends to hinder its progress of slowing down the increase in unemployment. This is an unnecessary hurdle created especially since the minister of the workforce Dr. Ghazi Al-Qusaibi has shown his worth in two previous ministries. However, the ministry will need to step across this bump and start to monitor the actual number of people unemployed and create a database with their credentials. This will allow them to adjust these people in any job vacancies that exist. Vacancies should be opened in the public sector and the people adjusted there as this will pick up the public sectors working along-side. The main aim of this project is to solve or reduce the unemployment problem in Saudi Arabia. As discussed earlier in the above; there are lots of ideas that will assist in the unemployment issue. There should be some amendments made in the number of foreign employees an organization can employ in the private sector and make the hiring process more costly. The already placed rules regarding employment of Saudi’s should be focused on and criteria should be maintained that every field of an organization shall have a fixed number of Saudi employees. The wages of these workers should be reviewed and made somewhat more attractive and the ministry should regulate these policies. The government can try to solve the issue by making it compulsory for all fresh graduates to complete at least two years of military service to ensure that the streets are not littered with people out of work. Further more the seats for undergraduates in the military sector should be broadened. New trains can be run between the Eastern Provinces cities; the contracts of foreign taxi drivers can be terminated to accommodate nationals. An increase in the number of buses for public transport can create more jobs, lessen the amount of money flowing out of the Kingdom through foreign channels and the decrease in cars on the road will lessen the accidents. Another option to consider would be to utilize the desert areas of the Kingdom by setting up factories. This can be done through collaboration with foreign companies which can bring in investment and a contract can be designed to ensure a certain percentage of employees are Saudi. At the same time it is essential that those who are unemployed do not lose faith and don’t turn down jobs if they seem of a lesser standard then expected. Some form of work is better than nothing at all. Summaries: 1st period: This period of the project began with the proposals of the T-306 project and it was here that the unemployment area was chosen. At the time there was brain storming done on the unemployment problems and where to start with the work. The next step was to create a spray diagram to summarize the problem integrating the ideas that came up in the brain storming session. Then we drew the systems map after which there was the influence diagram. This period ended with a small description of the problem and an idea of which method to follow to solve the problem. It was decided to employ the hard system method applied with the many different diagrams. 2nd period: In order to apply the hard system method a logical framework had to be set up in this period. This framework assisted in providing the actions to be taken against unemployment and led to the output that were conceived when the actions were applied. The main goal of the project was achieved by applying the outputs. It is relevant to mention here that the activities and all proposed ideas are based on the assumptions indicated in each phase. An example would be the assumption of the actions phase being dependent on the outputs and the along the upper levels of the frame log. This log assisted and guided us what to do and how to proceed, where to get information from and how to process the entire project. This period also holds some of the ideas on the methodologies to use. 3rd Period: At this last period the SSM was applied in order to solve the problem keeping in mind the logical learning cycle. As the problem of unemployment is not new there were many solutions already on the board and so a new system of interest was considered. An introduction of the project was defined with a summary and touched upon the main areas of problem were focused and the work that was done was cited with the methods that were applied. This stage of the project also defines why some methods were chosen A draft has been included with an introduction, summary and discussion of the problem of unemployment, followed by a stakeholder analysis and ethicality statement. Then at the end a last report has been written once again based on the draft and modifications made later. Overall Summary: The T-306 project that was undertaken consisted of several stages and went through all TMA’s until it finally reached the subject TMA. In every stage there is a question under consideration and take up the issue that is under scrutiny. Throughout, the project goes through all the methodologies that were required and used to understand the topic in considerations. There are diagrams provided to show and explain how a particular method would be best fitted for a certain situation. It is brought to attention that the TMA asked question as to apply a method on a particular target area and at the same time to reflect on the method for the project. This is to say that the logical log frame was used twice in the same TMA. Once for a specifically selected title and again for our selected T-306 project. The T-306 course, as a matter of fact, did start with instructions of what project to chose and what methods to follow. Once done the student is to follow all the stages and complete the project and provide a guide at the end. The stages are linked like a chain, interconnected with one another to help with organization of the work. System thinking consists of those methodologies that are useful in assessing a situation, collection of information and then to find the best possible solution to them. Reaching an end conclusion would not be easily possible without the use of this system which helps in summarizing the key points through the use of spray diagrams. While multi-cause-diagram can transparently define the causes and effects of a condition. The stages in this project are in line with those that the T-306 maps out to help students with their project. Through the process we were able to identify many things such as with the identification of stakeholders were better able to understand unemployment. In the end the request to highlight the method selection and decision making process was a good was to locate and correct any previous mistakes. The sequence of the stages of the project goes in line with the T-306 themes that guide the student to reflect own experience & learning on the project itself. For example, the experience of defining stakeholders of any subject had its direct affect on identifying the selected project stakeholders. Stakeholder’s identification raises more ideas & concerns against the unemployment issues which lead to better understanding of the problem. Finally, the request to show a method selection reason & judging own progress is a grate opportunity to locate & correct errors. Works cited: Ali, J. (2008). Saudi Arabia needs to tackle unemployment among youth. Available: http://gulfnews.com/business/opinion/saudi-arabia-needs-to-tackle-unemployment-among-youth-1.91554. Last accessed 25 April 2010. CIA - The world Factbook. (2010). UNEMPLOYMENT RATE.Available: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2129.html. Last accessed 25 April 2010. Fakeeh, Manal S. (2009). Saudization as a solution for unemployment: the case of Jeddah Western region.Available: http://theses.gla.ac.uk/1454/. Last accessed 25 April 2010. Hardy, R. (2006). Unemployment, the new Saudi challenge. Available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5406328.stm. Last accessed 25 April 2010 Raphaeli, N. (2003). SAUDI ARABIA: A BRIEF GUIDE TO ITS POLITICS AND PROBLEMS. MERIA. 7 (3). Read More