Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company
Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) is based in the Kingdom of Bahrain, Sitra. It was established and incorporated in December 1979 and jointly owned by the government, Petrochemical Industries Company of Kuwait and the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation.
This company manufactures petrochemicals and fertilizers and is credited for using natural gas which is a readily available commodity in Bahrain. It also uses methanol and urea totaling to 1.4million tones every year. The company has a working staff capacity of 474 employees and more than 95% of them come from Bahrain.
Human resource management in the company
As noted, the company has slightly over 400 working staff spread across its branches. This number is viable for effective management. According to Allen (102), effective management of human resource increases company’s turnover and organizational support.
Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company recruits its staff based on professionalism and possible contributions they can bring to the company. This company is rooted in value of social exchange brought by the recruited staff. Its 30 years of excellence are rooted in maintaining its employees plus improving the welfare of the working staff.
The company also carries out regular capacity building and training programs for its human resource team. The management of this company considers employee development and trainings as very crucial towards the success of the organization. The company has invested quite substantial amount of money in development programs since it was incorporated and a program referred to as Bahrainisation.
The company has also been awarded severally for improving the welfare of its employees especially training and development programs. For example, in 2009, it was awarded the Middle East ‘Best Learner Adoption Statistics’ award for using e-learning methods for its employees.
The reward scheme in the company is effective since it has helped in retaining employees. Rewarding employees in the organization is one of human resource practices that have direct impact on effectiveness. According to Snell and Dean (468), human resource practices that capitalize on rewarding employees in the organization are capable of increasing the productivity of the employees and the organization.
Gulf Petrochemical industries Company use quality of production and commitment in rewarding its employees. An employee who is committed and shows a lot of willingness to improve is liable to be rewarded as compared to an employee showing lack of enthusiasm and dedication (Bratton & Jeffrey 88).
This company has a number of motivators that make the employees increase their productivity and relevance. Snell and Dean (468) note that any company should first analyze the factors which are likely to motivate the employees. The company uses wages and salary as its foremost motivator. The employees are well remunerated and a lot of allowances are advanced to them.
There are good working conditions in addition to good relationship that makes it possible for employees to work out their improvement effectively. Motivation in this company is also done through enhancement of health and safety. All their medical expenses are covered by the company and the employees have safety equipments to enhance their working in the company.
However, it is not everything good that can be said about the practice of human resource in this company. To start with, the company practices homogeneity in management. The little percentage of employees who are not from Bahrain feels that they are not comfortable in the company.
Second, the company has not put in place the right strategies to maintain a uniform organizational culture among employees. Third, the main focus of the company is to increase individual productivity with minimal disregard of cohesion.
Kuwait Finance House
This company was established in 1977 in Kuwait as the first of Islamic Sharia bank. However, the branch in Bahrain is very critical and popular. The company is publicly quoted in the stock market in Kuwait and has market capitalization of over KWD2.667 billion.
This company has product and services that are compliant with Islamic Sharia and covers issues such as investment portfolios, trade fiancé, real estate and general banking. The company has witnessed huge international expansions. It has made to establish banks in Malaysia, Turkey, and Bahrain.
Human resource practices in Kuwait Finance Bank
It has been rated as one of the best companies in human resource management. As noted in its website, the company is keen on training and developing all employees and making professionals out of them. According to Thang, Quang and Buyens (30), there is a strong relationship between organizational performance and levels of training in the organization.
Based on this knowledge, the company has put strong measures which ensures that all employees under undergo light and intensive training on key areas of productivity. Mostly, employees are subjected to lots of computer trainings as a way of being at par with modern forms of management.
Employee appraisal is done in the most effective manner. It can be considered that some of evaluation methods are uncomfortable and are aimed at causing anxiety among employees. This company has a different approach to appraisals especially one meant to improve productivity.
The employees are first of all informed before it is carried. In addition, the appraising company is introduced to the employees for the purposes of awareness. Use of outside body to appraise the employees was designed to remove anxieties that come with using company personnel.
The company uses an online service for technical services. Kuwait Finance House launched a new model of Oracle Human resource to enhance its business practices. Crum (26) defines oracle human resource as an online based method of application that answers needs concerning human resources in an organization. This method has allowed the employees to have an ability to use system online anytime and anywhere.
This company has reaped a number of benefits associated with oracle due to its intensive use. For example, the company has integrated and streamlined its processes well into the organization. Furthermore, the company has brought in new sensations in automation processes, sourcing truths, management of compensations, locating and retaining talent and integrating intelligence in management of organizational personnel.
The company has an award scheme that equates all people as far as they are of the same degree and experience. The reward scheme is based on the levels of experience, the management level and qualification. However, if the employees are of the same qualification, experience and level, they are given the same kind of remunerations.
Even during promotions and rewarding, the employees are considered equally regardless of gender differentiation, region of origin and other factors. Rewarding is done after defined periods in the company. The employees are made aware of the period and this helps them in putting necessary efforts to earn recognition and rewarding.
However, not everything good can be said about Kuwait Finance House. The company has had ups and downs when it comes to management of its human resource personnel. For example, some of the methods such as Oracle Human resources have not augured well with the employees.
Some of them especially those who are not knowledgeable fully in mattes of computer based skills feel that the method may be used to discriminate people. Moreover, the employees are not highly remunerated despite many reward and recognition schemes.
Bahrain Petroleum Company
The company is owned by the Bahrain government and deals with production and exportation of oil. Specifically, it is concerned with production, storage, exploration of gas and oil and distribution of natural gas and petroleum products.
It sells both refined and crude oil. It also employs safety, health consideration and conservation of the environment in the course of production. The company is a member organization in Gulf region in production and distribution of oil.
Human resource practices in the company
This company has been facing challenges in the management of its human resource. It has been noted that the main problem lies with centralization of management and major operations are based on the decisions and policies of the government.
Delaney (968) corroborates this and writes that centralized form of governance of a country or a company hurts humans in the company. For example, they may not be compensated and remunerated as is expected. In most cases, the employees of such companies especially those in Government Corporations tend to seek new avenues with better services.
Employees in this company have been seeking other better prospects of employment. The main problem is that they are not remunerated well and the management takes significant time before responding to their concerns. They have been facing penal prosecutions as well as tyrannical dismissals quite often.
This happens when they try to voice their issues despite having legitimacy in whatever they say. Additionally, workers are barred from taking sides in politics and those who have defied this in the past have faced outright dismissal without compensation.
Issues raised above are usually of great concern to any company. For instance, youth societies and human rights groups in Bahrain have raised this issue persistently. However, little has been done which shows that the government is not willing to take immediate actions as a way of intervening. In May 2011, the energy minister of Bahrain announced that the government intended to dissolve the workers union of the company.
This was largely viewed as a potential way of crippling the workers’ organization. This is not an isolated case as it happens in most government owned companies. Many have been persecuted for reasons that are political and not connected with performance of the company.
When there is inefficient human resource management in an organization, employees are hurt. Without proper representation in top governance of a company, employees may not be remunerated well, may not have breaks in working and may not have strong entitlement and attachment to the company.
This company presents a perfect case of organizations which generally do not care about issues affecting their employees. They are mainly concerned with profits that the company is generating for the government and not the people who are directly involved in such kind of production.
On the other hand, the company has employees who are assured of other forms of benefits such as retirement. This is different from some companies which have their employees covered until the end of their working years only. Such employees are not assured of accrued benefits and the issue of job security.
Even though employees are dismissed in this company, it is only done when there are strong issues such as engaging in politics and unrest in the company.
Works Cited
Allen, David. “The role of perceived organizational support and support human resource practices in the turnover process”. Journal of management, 29.1(2003): 99-118.Print.
Bratton, John & Jeffrey, Gold. Human resource management: theory and practice, Mahwah, NJ: Macmillan Press, 1999.Print.
Crum, Jim. Using Oracle 11i. Indiana: Que Publishing, 2002. Print.
Delaney, John. “The Impact of human management practices on perceptions of organizational performance”. Academy of management journal, 39.4(1996): 949-969.Print.
Snell, Scott & Dean, James. “Integrated manufacturing and human resource management: A human capital perspective”. The academy of management journal, 35.3 (1992): 467-504.Print.
Thang Nguyen, Quang, Truong & Buyens, Dirk. “The Relationship between Training and Firm Performance: A Literature Review”. Research and Practice in Human Resource Management, 18.1(2010): 28-45.Print.