Human Resource Management- Emiratization - Coursework Example

Human Resource Management- Emiratization Name Institution Course Date Human Resource Management- Emiratization Introduction The UAE has made an effort to increase emirates employees’ participation in both public and private sector (Jasim, 2008). The main objective of UAE is to increase the number of nationals in the workforce. The government and organisations have come up with ways to develop an Emiriti labour force that will be at per with the expectations of the local employers. Emiratization is an initiative that has been developed by the UAE government to employ its nationals in both the public and the private sector (Jasim, 2008). This initiative has increased the number of Emiriti in the public sector but the same result has not been witnessed in the private sector. Many people are adamant whether localization will bring about organisation success. Although Emiratization brings about economic and social benefits to UAE, it is still unknown whether localization will be advantageous to companies operating in the country (Jasim, 2008). Overall, the number of UAE nationals in the private sector remains low irrespective of the efforts of the government to invest in education, training and development. Therefore, there is a need for the government to introduce new initiatives that will be able to support the employment of nationals in the private sector (Jasim, 2008). This paper will offer numbers of recommendations to the government in order to increase the number of Emiriti in the private sector in the next five years. In addition, it will recommend ways that the government can change the perception that localization bring organisational inefficiency. How to Increase Private Sector Employment of Emirati Implementation of quota systems The public sector is considered the source of employment in many countries (Jasim, 2008). However, in UAE, the private sector is made up of a small percentage of nationals since most of the employees are expatriates. One key approach that the government can take is to implement quota systems. This approach means that a certain percentage of the whole employment in the private sector would be allocated to the UAE nationals (Remaithi, 2016). This law can be used to promote employment of Emirati through the implementation of an employment quota system. This can be done through offering the vocational guidance and placement services using private employment security offices. These offices can be used to offer vocational guidance, employment referral as well as placement services for nationals in the private sector (Remaithi, 2016). Each office can serve specific staff for their services and can offer guidance to employers who achieve employment quotas for nationals (Remaithi, 2016). The quota system should be implemented as a moral obligation imposed on private sector without much enforcement power. Private sector employers should report to the private employment security offices the number of UAE nationals they employ annually. Private employment security offices can request employers who fail to adhere to this obligation to come up with a plan for their employment. The name of the private companies who do not want to employ Emirati should be disclosed to the public so that the hostile publicity can change their attitude towards employing nationals (Remaithi, 2016). In addition, the government can complement the quota system with levy and grant system which will offer finances to private companies who provide job opportunities for Emirati. For instance, a certain amount of levy can be collected from the private employers who do not each the mandated quota percentage (Remaithi, 2016). The government can then redistribute this amount in form of grants for employers who employ Emirati workforce. The employment quota can be determined in line with a formula that can be developed to offer Emirati with employment opportunity. Considering that all the private employers have the obligation to employ UAE nationals, the number of nationals whom a given private employer needs to employ can be calculated by multiplying the number of employees with the employment quota. Nevertheless, there is some nature of jobs that makes it hard for Emirati to perform well. In such cases, the quota system should not be employed. The quota system should be revised after every five years in order to take into consideration the changes that may have occurred in this period (Remaithi, 2016). The implementation of quota system will be very advantageous to UAE and will contribute to the increase in UAE nationals in the private sector. Companies that employ Emirati should be offered funds to promote their undertaking. There are other favourable conditions can also be introduced by the government with regard to quota system (Remaithi, 2016). For instance, a private company that does not employ Emirati employees may be obliged to buy products or service from private companies that employ these people. Even with the implementation of a quota system, Emirati can be employed to work on the lowest payed working places. Therefore, in order to prevent this, the government should come up with a specialised quota system that is able to increase the number of Emirati in the management positions (Remaithi, 2016). A specific percentage of management employment position should be allocated to Emirati. In addition, the government can implement a law that gives advantage to Emirati when applying for certain jobs in the private sector. Thanks to this law, many Emirati people will be employed in the private sector (Remaithi, 2016). Partnership for development Another approach that the government can take is to form a partnership with the private sector. One factor that has contributed to the minimal number of Emirati in the private sector is lack of resources in the part of the private sector (Schuler and Tarique, 2007). Just like any other companies private companies have implemented strategic management. Strategic management refer to a process whereby a company determine what is to be done to achieve objectives and goals (Schuler and Tarique, 2007). Managers and organisation leaders are required to evaluate the full resources and its resource capabilities in order to determine the optimal fit to achieve any objective (Schuler and Tarique, 2007) . Strategic management also ensures that managers design a culture and climate that are conducive to employees and identify the company’s competencies and type of employee that match these competencies (Schuler and Tarique, 2007). The private sector often accesses the performance requirements and employs employees who fit well in the company. Expatriates are considered more experienced and knowledgeable compared to Emirati. This is partially why private companies prefer expatriates over Emirati. And when they decide to employ Emirati, they are required to train and develop them in order to blend well in their tasks. For instance, one important training method Emirati undergo is Communication skills Training. Being an effective and efficient communicator takes time (Schuler and Tarique, 2007). Good communication need to be developed through an on-going training. In order for employees to be effective in the workplace, they need to communicate well. Communication skills training involves the development of both the verbal and non-verbal communication. The training entails the basic communication dynamics, development of effective communication skills to enhance interpersonal relationships and learning skills in order to create an effective communication strategy (Schuler and Tarique, 2007). Training and Development require financial resources that most of them lack (Schuler and Tarique, 2007). Therefore, the cooperation between the government and the private sector will be an effective idea that will offer sufficient budgetary resources to extend the employment of Emirati. Public-private partnership has a potential to benefit both the private sector and citizens. In private-private partnership, some percentage of funds should be allocated to the private sector for the purpose of training and developing employees as well as other responsibilities towards Emirati employment (Schuler and Tarique, 2007). Funds directed towards the private sector often face strong resistance from the government budgeting control. The government should come up with funding, budgeting and an expenditure mechanism in order to ensure transparent private sector funding. The government should come up with independent project development funds that offers funding to private sectors for the cost of managing and employing Emirati (Schuler and Tarique, 2007). Although there is need to increase the number of Emirati in the private sector, there is a realization that private companies need to carryout Human Resource planning before making any call to hire more employees (Schuler and Tarique, 2007). When an organisation hire surplus it leads to increased demotions, layoffs, terminations, early retirements and attrition (Schuler and Tarique, 2007). Therefore, there is need for Human Resource planning which entails situation analysis, forecasting demand, analysis of the supply and development of action plans. Situational analysis ensures that the strategic plan adapt to environmental circumstances since without a plan that supports recruitment and selection, an organisation can fail (Schuler and Tarique, 2007). The private companies also must ensure that they forecast the demand of the employees in terms of the number and the type of employees required. One technique used by private companies for forecasting the demand employees is the skills inventory that involves the identification of the skills, experience and expertise employees currently have. Often, due to their sizes, private companies may not have the ability to hire many employees due to lack of fiancés to pay them (Schuler and Tarique, 2007). Therefore, the government should cooperate with the private sector to ensure that private companies adapt other employment models such as part-time employment, subcontractors involving Emirati, and involvement of independent Emirati professionals (Schuler and Tarique, 2007). The government should come up with a body that manage Emirati subcontractors and Emirati professionals. The government can fund the training and education programs that these people undergo before being employed in private companies. This will increase the number of Emirati in the private sector and will enhance the ability of private companies to hire and develop more employees (Schuler and Tarique, 2007). Effective Remuneration policy Remuneration can be termed as the compensation received by employees that include bonuses, salaries, and expense accounts among others (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). The amount of remuneration that employees receive depends on factors such as employee’s value, job type, employee performance etc. In UAE country, the private sector is said to pay low wages compared to public sector others (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). This discourages people from wanting to work in the private companies. Therefore, the government has a responsibility of adjusting its remuneration policy. The government should introduce a pay scale higher than the already existing rates in order to satisfy the Emirati. Therefore, first what the government has to do is to identify what type of remuneration attracts the UAE nationals. Private companies are not in the standard where companies in UAE should be. Most of the companies do not offer free food and their salaries are relatively low others (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). According to research studies, most private companies offer low cash compensations and have no incentive compensation. The companies believe that, people still want to work there because of the availability of big ideas and projects and the compensations are not determinant factors for high productivity others (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). Most private companies would not admit how much they pay its employees, but according to research private companies pay less salary compared to public companies. This is one reason that has increased low retention rate of employees in the companies. Most private companies are said to have exploitative and bizarre workplace cultures that do not go hand-in-hand with the salaries and wages others (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). The companies are also known to put the customers first at the expense of the employees; another reason for their low employee retention rate and detrimental publicity from Emirati. To solve the problems of poor remuneration, private companies should offer remuneration based on working conditions, performance and working period. The companies should also establish merit pay founded on individual performance others (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). They should also offer bonuses and shares options as incentive remuneration. One way the companies can increase employee retention rate and enhance their publicity is to match the employee’s experience, work period, and position with the remuneration received. They should ensure that jobs of differing sizes attract appropriate salary differentials others (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). Also, private companies should offer remuneration that are affordable to the companies but at the same time attract and retain workers and match with their work efforts. Nevertheless, most private companies are not willing to do the above mentioned recommendations. Therefore, the government should act as a driving force to ensuring the implementation of these strategies through the establishment of better remuneration policy. It should be a mandatory law for private companies to meet the minimal salaries requirements established by the government others (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). The government should ensure that the minimal salary scale of the private companies match with those of the public companies taking into consideration the size and the ability of the companies to achieve this. The remuneration law should also prohibit discrimination in terms of salary packages. This must be monitored in order to make sure that private companies adhere to these requirements others (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). For instance, the government should establish the primary policy-making body that will ensure that private companies adhere to remuneration policy. The primary policy-making body would work to match the salaries of both expatriates and Emirati with the level of employment they occupy. This would be done by maintaining a database of salaries of different positions in different private companies. Salaries information is collected by the employers and is compared to salaries information of public companies in order to evaluate their correlation. Moreover, private organisations often fill vacant employment positions at a lower cost by employing expatriates. Thus, persistent wage differentials deter private companies’ workforce participation by UAE nationals. Therefore, the government should also ensure they are subsidizing private sector salaries so as to match them with those of the public sector. The Emiratisation has no chance of being successful without wage subsidies (Jasim, 2008). Although the cost incurred in such an initiative will be high, it cannot be compared to cost that would be incurred in creating more government positions. A subsidy could be such that the imbursement for a specific employee were phased out over time. For instance, the government should pay the subsidies towards salaries and compensations and training. During the first stages of working, when a private company may not be benefiting from an Emirati worker due to lack of expertise, the government subsidy should be high, but the amount should reduce overtime as the worker get accustomed to the work or acquire the skills and experience needed by the company (Jasim, 2008). Doing this, the government would reduce the risks and uncertainty of hiring an Emirati as this will make them more attractive for private industry companies. From the views of Emirati in UAE, it seems that remuneration plays a fundamental role in motivating the employees and ensuring that they are engaged and committed to achieving organisational goals (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). Motivation is among the most fundamental notions of any organisation. Companies are faced with very strong competition which tends to create many challenges (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). Therefore, there is a need for continuous enhancement of the company’s competitive advantage that will enable the business to survive. In order for this to happen, every organisation must exploit the full potential of the employees. Leadership plays a fundamental role in the process. Managers should aim at motivating the employees in order to achieve success (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). Theory X and Theory Y can assist managers understand factors that can motivate employees. Theory X assumes that employees have inherent dislike of working that can encourage authoritarian leadership style (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). Managers must therefore intervene in order for work to be carried out effectively. On the other hand, theory Y assumes that employees are motivated and are happy with their work. According to the theory, manager’s perception of the nature of employees is founded upon a number of assumptions. This makes them restructure their behaviours and reactions towards employees relative to these assumptions. Theory Y argues that the most essential needs dominate people. McGregor establishes that theory Y is more valid than Theory X (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). overall, McGregor suggest that approaches such as engagement of employees in decision making, offering challenging work, offering attractive remuneration and good workplace relationship can encourage employees’ motivation (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). Implementation of other Policies Successful Emiratization will need a clear balance between conditions as well as rewards offered to Emirati in both public and private sectors. Remuneration policy will not be enough in improvement of Emiratization in the private sector (Jamin, 2008). There is a need for more policies that will balance conditions in private and public sector. It is important to address the working hours in the private sector if more UAE nationals are to enter into this industry sector (Jamin, 2008). Incentives are needed including aligning the benefits and working hours. Emirati’s willingness to work in most private companies is affected by sociocultural barriers. For instance, private companies do not consider certain vacations and holidays socially or culturally important to the Emirati. Many private companies operate even during important holidays that are considered significant and spiritually a must by the UAE nationals (Jamin, 2008). Therefore, for more and more Emirati to be willing to work in the private sector, the government should intervene and establish policies that support life-work balance of the Emirati. The government should necessitate high performance work practice systems in the private sector (Jamin, 2008). The High Performance Work Practice systems are used by organisations to engage their employees. Organisations consolidate workflow around fundamental practices and develop teams that can carry out these practices such as training, remuneration, and performance management anticipated to improve employee skills, motivation as well as flexibility (Jamin, 2008). High performance work practices may involve implementation of family friendly management practices (Lengnick and Beck, 2011). Employers can commit to assisting the employees establish a balance between work and family life. According to institutional theory, the initiation of family-friendly initiatives is the conformation to the pressures from the society and the government. However, the main focus in implementing these practices should be to manage work-family conflicts (Lengnick and Beck, 2011). The pressure to adapt family-friendly practices varies from one industry to another. The more the management values the employee’s work-life balance, the greater the chances of motivating employees. Therefore, the government should implement family-friendly policies that support work-life balance among the Emirati working in the private sector. The Emirati in this sector should be given a chance to attend public holidays and any other holidays the same way their counterparts in the public sector do. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory argue that people have a hierarchy of needs that should be satisfied from bottom to top (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). From the bottom are the psychological needs that are satisfied first and at the top are the self-actualization needs that are satisfied after other needs. According to the theory, the lowest level of unsatisfied needs is the key motivator of behaviour. These are needs which humans require in order to survive such as shelter and clothing. This comes in terms of adequate wages as well as a stable income to employees (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). Managers can attend to the psychological needs of their employees by offering a comfortable working environment. Once the employee’s basic needs have been adequately met, they will want their social needs met. This level of social connections is fundamental in humans because they show a certain level of acceptance into their social environment (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). Therefore, managers can encourage cooperative teamwork by giving employees an opportunity to tackle both mental and physical challenges together as a team. In addition, in order for managers to motivate their employees effectively, they can offer both praise and recognition when they have done well (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). This can come in form of incentives and gifts that can boost the employees’ self-esteem thus motivating them. Employees require self-actualization so as to reach their full potential. Therefore, managers can effectively utilize this need by challenging their employees in their area of expertise. This can help the employees broaden their knowledge, improve their capability and contribute more in a teamwork project (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). Also, according to the theory, managers ought to invite their employees to take part in decision making activities. This will give them a sense of leadership giving them morale in participating in decision making procedures in a teamwork project. From the motivation theory, it can be seen that remuneration is not enough in motivating employees; it only acts as a basis for attracting potential employees. Therefore, attractive salaries and incentives coupled with effective organisational culture that supports employee motivation and high performance work practices should be implemented into the private companies in UAE in order to enhance their attractiveness (Gooderham, Parry and Ringdal, 2008). This will increase the number of Emirati in the private sector. The effort of the government to create a balance between working conditions in the private and public sector will enhance the attractiveness of the private sector. More and more Emirati will be willing to work in private companies and this will increase the number of UAE nationals in the private sector. How to Correct the Perception that Localization means lesser Organizational Efficiency Organise Educational Campaigns to Raise Awareness The uptake of Emirati in the private sector has remained low partly due to the perception that localization brings about low organisational efficiency and effectiveness. It is unknown whether the employment of local nationals can generate returns for the private companies operating in the UAE (Jasim, 2008). Localization is not always beneficial for companies but can be effective depending on a number of factors. In UAE, many companies perceive localization as a means of reducing organisational efficiency but this is not the case. Therefore, the government should be in the forefront in organising educational campaigns to raise awareness of localization. Both the citizens and the private companies need to know that localization may bring about social and organisational benefits (Jasim, 2008). The government can come up with a framework in form of a campaign in order to raise the awareness among foreign employers who enter the AUE market of the newly adapted Emiratization and the importance of localization (Jasim, 2008). There should be proper communication to direct employers and employees coming from other countries about localization and educate them prior to arrival in order to ensure that they are familiar with the laws of the country and are ready to adapt localization. The government through the Ministry of Human Resource can raise the level of awareness about labour market policies through a number of programs held at the workplace using languages they clearly understand (Jasim, 2008). Effective communication is very important in any business organisation. Effective communication in business increases productivity, rate of retention and improves the working environment (Schuler and Tarique, 2007). Effective communication is core prerequisite for the achievement of organisational goals. Typically, no organisation can exist without communication. Co-ordination of work within an organisation is impossible without communication and every act of communication has an effect on an organisation in one way or another. Additionally, communication is very important, especially to managers and leaders (Schuler and Tarique, 2007). Effective leadership communication is thus vital more so during negotiation and conflict management. Therefore, communicating openly and clearly to different private companies will raise awareness of the importance of localization. Spreading the knowledge about labour laws as well as the importance of localization will assist establish harmonious relationships between the private employers and the Emirati employees and will thus encourage productivity (Abdalla et al., 2010). The government can print booklets that are written in several languages in order to reach a wider audience. The booklet will cover the labour laws of the country that companies are required to adhere to and will also offer examples of companies that have implemented localization in their operations and have emerged successful (Abdalla et al., 2010). It will answer the questions that most employers ask about the benefits of hiring nationals and will highlight the benefits that come with doing so. In addition, the government can also use the social media to change the perception of people about hiring nationals. Employers will become aware and better informed of how localization helps the locals as well as the economy of the country which is a huge determinant of an effective macro environment. Campaigns to raise the awareness of localization should be aimed to change the negative attitudes about localization into positive recognition of the benefits that comes with hiring nationals (Lengnick and Beck, 2011). However, it is important to realize this change of perception does not happen overnight. It takes time for employers to recognize that they have power to bring change. The full participation in the campaign depends on the extent of the awareness, acceptance and respect of the laws put forth by the government. in order to increase acceptance by the employers, it is important to offer them information about the abilities, skills and knowledge of the Emirati. Showing that Emirati employees are no different from the expatriates in terms of what they offer to the government can create change in employment pattern for the better as more and more companies will be willing to employ Emirati (Lengnick and Beck, 2011). Implementation of Localization Policies Expariates are expensive and bring about financial constrains to organisations. Expatriation cost pressures is a concern for many multinational companies. Although some companies till use expatriation, the continuous pressure to minimize expenditure can give rise to localization polices. In order to change the perception that localization means poor returns to companies, the government can implement localization policy in UAE that means that compensations are received at local terms (Jasim, 2008). Due to cost pressures of expatriation, many companies will not have a problem of adhering to localization policy. Localization can mean that companies should convert expat contract to local conditions which will eliminate expat allowances and general costs. Localization policy can be of high strategic value in addition to reducing expat costs (Jasim, 2008). In essence, localization has the ability to minimize compensation package which means that there will no longer be inequality between expat and Emirati in the same employment position. Implementing localization policy is a great way to encourage different companies to adapt to localization strategy. It will give a chance for companies to witness the advantages that come with the strategy and will create awareness of the same (Lengnick and Beck, 2011). The government can also reduce the drawbacks of localization in order to encourage the utilization of the technique by many companies in the region. For instance, one drawback of localization is immigration restrictions and high taxes. The government can adjust the tax laws for multinational companies in order to ensure they are attractive to companies (Lengnick and Beck, 2011). This will ensure that more and more companies resort to localization and it will eradicate the negative perception of localization. Creation of a Win-win Situation In order to change the perception that localization brings about poor organisational results, the government should come up with ways that can benefit both the Emirati and the organisations (Jasim, 2008). One way of doing creating a win-win situation is undertaking training and development. Many companies are reluctant of hiring Emirati since they believe that they lack the essential training to undertake the work. In order to change this perception, the government through the ministry of labour can introduce training and development programs and recruitment policies in order to ensure that employee’s skills and knowledge match with the expectations of the employers (Lengnick and Beck, 2011). In addition, the government can alter and enhance the education curriculum of the country in order to incorporate important educational requirements that are marketable in the employment sector (Lengnick and Beck, 2011). This will make it easy for Emirati to be employed by the private sectors. The employers will thus change the perception that localization leads to failure. The assumption underpinning human resource management practices is that the success of strategic human resource management to bring about higher performance and productivity depends on organisations (Gooderham, Perry and Ringdal, 2008). When appropriate and effective human resource policies and practices are implemented properly, then human resource will have a positive impact on organisational performance. Human resource management practices that can potentially influence behaviour and attitudes of employees can positively impact performance of an organisation. Strategic human resource management focuses on important practices including human resource planning, training and development, management-employee relationship, compensation policies and selection and recruitment to name a few (Gooderham, Perry and Ringdal, 2008). The government can use these practices in order to increase the capacity of Emirati to be employed by both private and public sectors. Training and developing its citizens will enhance their skills and will increase their chance of being employed. This will not only benefit the employers, but the employees will use these skills to jumpstart their careers (Gooderham, Perry and Ringdal, 2008). Conclusion The UAE has introduced Emiratization which is an initiative to increase the number of Emirati in both the private and public employment. This program has brought positive results in the public sector but the private sector lags behind. The number of Emirati employees in the private sector makes up a small percentage of the whole workforce. Therefore, the government should come up with ways to increase the number of Emirati in the private sector from 0.5 per cent to 40 per cent. One way of doing this is to implement remuneration policy. The private sector pays lower salaries compared to public sectors and increasing pay in the private sector will enable the government achieve its goal. In addition, establishment of quota system and other polices that bring a balance between the private sector and private will increase the employment of Emirati in the private sector. One reason that has made private sector lag behind in employing UAE nationals is the perception that localization bring about organisational inefficiency. Therefore, the government has the responsibility of changing the perception of both the employer and the employees. This can be done through the implementation of awareness campaigns. The government can come up with a framework in form of a campaign in order to raise the awareness among foreign employers who enter the AUE market of the newly adapted Emiratization and the importance of localization. Other ways of changing the negative perception about localization is the implementation of localization policies and creating a win-win situation for both the employers and the employees. References Abdalla, Ibrahim M., Al‐Waqfi M., Harb N., H Hijazi, and Zoubeidi T 2010, "Labour Policy and Determinants of Employment and Wages in a Developing Economy with Labour Shortage", Labour, vol. 24, no. 2, 163-77. 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