Human Resource Practices in Canada, different from the UAE
Canada has less paternalism ties than UAE. Canadian employees show little or no loyalty to their communities and have a greater tendency to tolerate risk of work compared to their UAE counterparts. HR practices in Canada seek to increase an employee’s attachment for a firm for long-term knowledge and skill gain for the firm’s competitive advantage (Gellatly, et.al, 2009).
The labour laws in UAE are tied to international labour practices; however, given the countries Islamic orientation, there are significant differences in HR practices as compared to those in Canada. Workers in Canada continue work in harsh weather conditions while their counterparts in the UAE get to rest when temperatures reach extreme levels.
Canadian companies prefer employing people on short contracts, which present very little additional employee obligations to the companies. On the other hand, UAE relies on state policies to guide employees’ terms of engagement such as maternity leave and termination of employment.
Canadian organizations are showing an average of ten per cent concern on the welfare of their aging workforce population. An increasing proportion of the Canadian workforce is aging, which leads to the modification of HR practices. New developments include the customization of training methods and provision of age awareness training as HR practices (Armstrong-Stassen & Templer, 2005).
Contrariwise, the UAE faces no immediate aging problem and only focuses on nationalizing the employment of Emiratis. Every Canadian province has additional bylaws that govern human practices and these regulate the minimum hourly wage. In UAE, no given minimum wage exists but the government regulates the compensation of contracts through the approval or denial of employment contract permits (HRMAsia, 2007).
Linking Practices with Cross-Cultural Theories
The Canadian HR practices assume an individualistic norm as the dominant culture while in the UAE; collectivism behaviour dominates the country’s HR practices. In Canada, practices originate from individual firms and perpetuate to national levels. Moreover, different provinces have direct authority over HR practices within their boundaries, which further enhance the individualistic norm.
Practices in the UAE hinge on the theory of strong uncertainty avoidance. Most industries in the country are relevantly new and depend on international best practices as a tested way (McAuliffe, et.al, 2003).
As a country, the UAE appears to be embracing masculinity in its practices. HR practices involve the use of forceful laws, which govern the employment and compensation of human capital. Canada is feministic because of its allowance on provinces to set their own minimum wage and other employment terms.
However, Canadian practices are masculine as they prefer the fulfilment of the needs of an aging population. On fulfilling the needs of Emirates by nationalizing employment laws, the UAE not only becomes collective, but also stands out as nurturing and caring. The impact of religion on national policy is also making UAE stand out from Canada as feminist, for the concern it shows on its citizen affairs, including HR practices (Gellatly, Hunter, Currie, & Irving, 2009).
Canada has a small power distance between normal employees and senior management. There are various avenues allowing an employee to climb the management ladder. The availability of avenues for employee power-hierarchy advancement makes Canada more ready to interact in cross-cultural affairs than the UAE. The different forms of classifying culture used above all fall within the details of the cross-cultural theory. As shown above, it depends on a particular HR practice for a county to fit into a given dimension within the cross-cultural theory.
References
Armstrong-Stassen, M., & Templer, A. (2005). Adapting training on older employees: Canadian response to an aging workforce. Journal of Management Development, 24(1), 57-67.
Gellatly, I. R., Hunter, K. H., Currie, L. G., & Irving, G. P. (2009). HRM practice and organization commitment profiles. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20(4), 869-884.
HRMAsia. (2007). HR in the United Arab Emirates.
McAuliffe, B., Jetten, J., Honsey, M. J., & Hogg, M. A. (2003). Individualist and collective norms: when it is okay to go your own way. European Journal of Social Psychology, 33, 57-70.