Introduction
Until recently, most governments have resolved to undertake the task of shaping the HRM functions in both the private and public sectors using a comprehensive legal framework. Basing the arguments on the published information and most of the interviews carried out in both developed and the developing countries, this paper shall succinctly explore on the implications of the emerging legal framework for the HRM in public and private sectors.
The paper will also explore on the challenges that a government may face in trying to change the HRM practices through its laws and regulations. Furthermore, it will also highlight on the difficulties that the policy makers and managers encounters in either introducing HRM into a certain sector or even practicing it within the country.
In essence, the paper is aimed at drawing concrete analysis by comparing and contrasting the challenges faced by HRM in Middle East Africa as opposed to UAE. This discussion compares Saudi Arabia with UAE.
An Overview of HRM practices in Saudi Arabia
Until recently, the government of Saudi Arabia implemented a lax approach to the overall management of people in the private sector (Budhwar and Mellahi 99). The approach was in practice up to the late 1990s, when the regulations that governed the Human Resource Management in the private sector were founded on a labor law.
As it can be recalled, the labor laws that were implemented were in use in the early 1969 (labor law-royal Decree no. M21 45 – 48). The labor laws adopted, their scope and regulations were so limited to the contractual issues and they did not at all interfere with the way of managing people within the private sectors.
As a repercussion of such limitation, the employers in the private sectors had inadequate legal obligations towards their major expatriate employees. Atiyyah (268) asserts that in the absence of Human Resource Management practices, unscrupulous private employees have undertaken this advantage and therefore, they treat foreign workers in unfair manner, and especially those that are unskilled.
International media and non-governmental organizational have for quite a long time claimed that the Saudi government has not been able to provide enough protection for the foreign employees, especially in the private sector. According to the recent report outsourced by BBC, the rights of the foreign employees are not only being abused by the employers, but also by the country’s legal system.
Moreover, the allegations that are accustomed on foreign employees in the private sector cannot be ignored. Budhwar (14) reported that managers in the Saudi Arabian private sector are very dictatorial and carried out their tasks under the hire and fire criteria. This means that they tend to employ a large number of employees whom they can manipulate as they wish.
For more than a decade, the government has been impelled to introduce a system that tends to utilize the legal framework in managing employees within the private sectors. In achieving this objective, the government is impelled to raise the rate of unemployment opportunities and also the rate of external pressures towards certain private sectors that are not ready to assume the laid down strategy of incorporating HRM into their strategies.
For instance, in meeting this requirement, the laws required the private sector not to employ any Saudis within their system. Additionally, Saudi Arabia has been put under external pressure by international bodies such as the International Labor Organization (ILO) and World Trade Organization (WTO) in amending its labor laws with regard to the issues of the welfare of the workers, labor rights, and the work standards within the private sector.
After Saudi government was put under much pressure, it resolved into implementing new legal framework, which was meant to replace the foreign workers with competent skills and create more jobs for the Saudis in the private sector. The new laws were also to be utilized in regulating the management of both the local and foreign workers.
Furthermore, the laws would also be used in improving the social welfare of the Saudi and expatriate working in the private sector (Debrah 135). In making sure that the private sectors do not overlook the welfare of workers, the government had to intervene in the new labor laws to suppress the extent at which the workers are exploited.
In essence, the government involvement in monitoring the labor laws is to ensure that workers are endowed with the required basic rights, such as the right to annual leave, health and safety measures, maximum working hours, maternity leave, and favorable working environment, especially for the female workers.
It has therefore been noted with great concern that the appropriateness and effectiveness of government interference in the HRM has generated a far-reaching research, in that, there is an affirmative action taken by the government on the employment status of minorities in the larger society (Budhwar and Mellahi 63).
An overview of HRM practices in UAE
The management of Human Resource Management and its related issues in UAE takes into account the initiatives designed to promote employees development, putting into consideration all the contextual factors known to have influenced the managerial practice in this domain. Until the recent times, the HRM practices were primarily based on the English Nations.
However, with a rampant increase in globalization of the emerging markets and the increase in the interdependence of the global economy, there has been a steady increase in the HRM research activities in other parts of the world, and most particular in UAE (Abdullah and Shaw 82).
In line with the HRM strategies practiced mostly in developing countries, it is worthwhile to note the significant changes that have evolved from the use of HRM. Also in line with this perspective, it can be noted that the research that has been carried out in UAE has also triggered a need to introduce HRM in other developed countries.
Though there is an intense effort in introducing HRM in the developed countries, in most of the developed countries there is inadequate evidence regarding the nature and pattern of HRM systems. This is much evident and valid for the countries within the Middle East Region. Recently, some attempts have been made to fill this gap (Gilmore and Williams 50).
The studies carried out indicate that in the Arabs society and in particular, UAE, government ideologies and political situations strongly influence the organizational culture. In a nut shell, despite the UAE being an important region within the Middle East for both domestic and international trade, it also experiences lack of HRM practices, and there is a need to allocate resources that will contribute to a better theory and HRM practice development.
HRM-related Challenges in both Saudi Arabia and UAE
In the UAE and Saudi Arabia, HRM is a vital aspect, but a less developed field of expertise. UAE, in particular, has resolved to adopt the western way or culture in modernizing, privatizing, and expanding its business activities – industrial and financial. For instance, as in the employment perception, employment of female employees has taken a different approach as it has been discovered to be increasing drastically.
UAE has also taken a different course when it comes to the political field. Initially, Chaudhry (23) reckons that politics took a great initiative in influencing the manner and pattern at which HRM was being practiced in the country. UAE, being characterized by a stable and strong confederation means that it is able to protect its local entities.
However, the level at which human resource management is practiced is limited by the laws and regulations that are used in both countries. That is to say, the two countries are both strongholds of Islamic religion, meaning that they are headed by Sharia. This means that the sharia is the dominant source of most of the norms within these societies.
Since most of these countries within the Middle East Region work under a common goal, the Human Resource Management practiced within these two regions is based on similar approaches to the recruitment, hiring, training, evaluation, performance appraisal, and dismissal of employees (Clayton and Tangri 180).
Introduction of HRM in both countries also resulted in a major effort to advance the quality and accessibility of education to both the males and females. This therefore led to the female being allocated equal job opportunities in the work places as opposed to the past legal system in which men were favored in terms of job vacancies (Dobbon et al. 44).
UAE has apparently become a relative and a preferred business environment within the Middle East. Abdullah and Shaw (90) affirm that this is endorsed by the fact that the region operates under low custom tariffs besides lacking a personal income tax. Moreover, the region is exceptionally secure and technologically advanced in its business environment.
Initially, the region used to be an era of oil production and export in Abu Dhabi. From the beginning even before 1957, the economic status of Emirates has been independent and this was because the region had a self-ruling system and abundant natural and human resources. During the recent times, Unilever, one of the chief international firms with its strong presence in both Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, generated some job opportunities for Saudi women.
This composed of general education from the kindergarten to high school education. Moreover, it also included training teachers for colleges. In Saudi Arabia, the development planning projects have for a long time, funded the country’s economy. This suggests that a business, when well managed within a country, can grow and become resourceful towards the country as opposed to a situation where the business is carried out outside the country.
It is further anticipated that as the business grows, their will be a need to outsource some of them, which may be of great help during economic hardships. Saudi Arabia in this case is a highly conservative Islamic country in which the sharia, which is based on the Quran, is used to shape the social relations of the inhabitants (Al-Faleh 23).
In this case, Saudi Arabia has high attractive portfolio in terms of human resource management, and this is evident in the production of oil. As Budhwar and Mellahi (63) suggest, the HRM in Saudi Arabia functions as a strategic partner in the business environment and works towards maximizing the human capital.
It does this by being sensitive to the needs, interests, and capabilities of individuals, and matches those needs and interests with the objectives of the firm. Given the high increase in technology and myriads of opportunities available for women interested in the schemes of work, Saudi Arabia women are trained and deployed in such positions, and most of them pursue careers in HRM.
However, as identified by Al-Faleh (28), HRM faces some challenges in UAE and this may affect its operation within this region, and particularly to the developing firms. For instance, the region has the highest male to female population and the work pool is largely the male ratio.
Another impact is that UAE has the highest number of workforce to population ration. This therefore becomes a challenge towards the HRD, in that, it becomes difficult to decide on who to deploy and who to dismiss. UAE also happens to have the largest number of expatriates as a proportion of population.
Benefits that both Countries may adopt from Each Other
Considering that both countries are experiencing similar HRM challenges and that they are both located in the Middle East Region, there is a need for them to integrate HRM policy and practices. Integrating HRM policies and practices would mean that the countries would be in a better position to learn common challenges affecting them and find ways on how to control them.
Conclusion
The Middle East countries are by diverse challenges, including the warfare besides intense competition from other developed countries in terms of goods and services offered. It would therefore be very difficult for a person to develop his or her career in HRM.
Given the explanatory nature of this study, it would be appropriate for both the Saudi government and the UAE to handle HRM policies and practices with a lot of caution. Despite the discrepancies that arise between the two governments, there is need to amend the laws and regulations associated with the HRM practices, and integrate them and come up with a single strategy that will prevent future challenges.
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