The Role of the Private Sector in Omanization - Research Proposal Example

The Role of the Private Sector in Omanization Table of Contents Introduction and Research Background 3 Omanization 3 Problem ment 4 Research Aim, Objectives and Questions 5 Research Aim 5 Research Objectives 5 Research Questions 5 Literature Review 6 Skepticism within the Private Sectors to Hire Omanies 6 Training requirement and Facilities 7 Local Employee Retention within Private sector and Constraints 8 Remuneration 8 Research Methodology 9 Research Design and Methods 9 Data Sources and Collection 10 Action Plan with Time Scale 11 Research Ethics 12 Reference List 13 Introduction and Research Background The replacement of expatriate labors with the domestic labors has been witnessed as one of the important central as well as national human resources development strategies within a number of Gulf States. The influence of localization policies within Gulf States has encouraged various private sectors to replace their foreign workers with qualified and skilled local labors. This localization policy has been considered as one of the essential features for the economic development within Gulf States. Hence, the research paper will evaluate the progress of localization policy within the Sultanate of Oman. The main focus of this research is to analyze the role of private sectors in terms of Omanization. The policy of Omanization has been enacted by the government of Oman during 1988. This policy was initiated to influence the employment of national cadre within the domestic workplaces of Oman. The further discussion will detail the application and development of Omanization policies within the private sectors of Oman and its importance. It will also analyze the barriers and problems related to the application of Omanization within the private sectors of Oman. Hence, it will assist the research proposal to design the aims, objectives and research questions to properly fulfill the significance of the research purpose. Omanization Omanization is one of the major fundamental objectives of the Omani economic policies of ‘Vision 2020’ that has been launched in 1996. The government of Oman has taken various essential steps to privatize different economic activities of the country. This policy of Omanization is targeted to reduce the dependency of the local economy on the oil revenue that constitutes almost 70% of the local economy of the country (Forstenlecher, 2010). The Sultanate of Oman is one of the rapidly developing Arab countries in terms of their economy as well as society. By the end of 2013, the country has witnessed 9.2% annual growth in their population which represents almost 3.6 million people. Out of this population, almost 69% is local people while 31% comprises of the expatriates. According to statistical data, almost 40% of the population represents the youthful composition of Omanis who are aged between 18-30 years. The increase in this section of population demonstrates the urge of the government to develop employability for the young population of Oman (Waqfi and Forstenlechner, 2012). Though foreign labor is an essential part of the economy of the country, the local government regulation has emphasized on their target to integrate local skills and expertise in the development of the economy. During 1990s, the government of Oman has influenced the implementation of Omanization within the private sectors of the country by providing compensation for 18 months to the employers in terms of employing, training and retaining local people within organizations. The government has also introduced revised employment law during 1991 to protect the Omanis workers within private sectors (Swailes and Al Fahdi, 2011). This policy has also influenced the creation of Ministry of Manpower in 2001 which was targeted to support different social and economical objectives of Oman that includes framing regulations, licensing expatriate, providing training to the local labors and matching the labor skill as per market needs. The Ministry of Manpower has actively published the Omanization targets for the private sectors of the country which caters a wide range of occupational levels. The two most influential example of successful implementation of the Omanization policy can be observed in the banking and airline sectors of Oman. According to the data of 2010, the employment of locals in the private sectors of Oman includes 91% in banking, 58% in Insurance, 43% in travel and tourism and 75% in oil and gas sectors (Gernal, et al., 2014). Problem Statement Though the Ministry of Manpower in Oman has taken almost all the necessary steps to influence the employment of local labor, a lot of instances have been observed in terms of improper application of these policies within private sectors. The proper opportunities for employment in the private sectors for the local population with intermediate and higher degrees have been seen as a big challenge in Oman. As per the latest report of The World Bank, the ratio of unemployment of higher educated population is increasing in Oman, while employment threats to the worker class and minimum educated population is very low (Gernal, et al., 2014). Hence, this situation is pointing towards the employment strategies, human resource strategies and role of private sectors in Oman towards the implementation of Omanization policy. It has also been described that out of the 147,000 Omanis who are working within different private sectors, almost 76% is earning less than 200 OR per month. Hence, this situation describes the poor wage structure for the Omanies within the private sectors of the country (Schmidt, et al., 2013). This situation has also influenced the research regarding the role of private sectors in terms of adequately applying the policies of Omanization within their employment and remuneration strategies. Research Aim, Objectives and Questions Research Aim The aim of this research is to analyze the role of private sectors in Oman to effectively and efficiently apply the policies of Omanization within organizations that involves a wide range of human resource management strategies such as employment strategy, recruitment, selection, training and development, retention and remuneration of the local population. Research Objectives The proper execution of this research as per the aim of the study needs to consider the following objectives: Proper investigation, understanding and analysis of strategic HRM practices within the private sectors of Oman in terms of following the Omanization policy. Analysis of various factors that influence the private sectors of Oman to build better employment scope as well as to upgrade the talent of local population. Assessment and evolution of the role of government in terms of encouraging the private sectors within the country to focus on the employment and retention of the local people. The research study also needs to analyze the obstacles faced by private sectors in terms of implementing Omanization and necessary changes to influence the practice. Research Questions The proposed research questions for this study include: How can private sector build up a better scope for the local employee base of Oman? What key variables should be focused on for upgrading the talent base of Omans local employees? What role can the Government play in supporting the private sector for boosting the recruitment of local employees of Oman? What changes are necessary in the private sector work process for inclusion of the local employees of Oman? Literature Review The analysis of literature will highlight the role of the management in private sectors to influence the employability and job retention of local population of Oman. The proper illustration of various researches will assist in understanding different theories, models and concept within the subject area as well as its importance on the proper implication of Omanization within private organization. Skepticism within the Private Sectors to Hire Omanies Analyzing the recruitment and selection process within the private sectors of Oman is one of the major perspectives in terms of building scope for the employment of local population. A number of researchers have demonstrated the Skepticism of the management of private sectors within Oman in terms of recruiting the local population for different position within organization. Al-Waqfi and Forstenlechner, (2012) have described that though many private organizations have demonstrate the willingness to replace the expatriate workers with Omanies, the higher authorities and executives of a large number of organizations have displayed strict reservation in terms of the manner as well as the speed of including higher number of Omanies within organizational programs. As per the research report of Al-Lamki, (2005) only the banking and airline industry has demonstrated the higher level of recruitment of the local people. The researcher has mentioned that the banking and airline industries have demonstrated rapid localization of the employees to maintain their independence and security levels. However, a number of researches on the recruitment and selection procedure of the private sectors of Oman have detailed various issues, constraints and negative attitudes in terms of replacing the expatriate employees by the local population. Forstenlechner and Rutledge, (2010) have described a number of quantitative as well as qualitative constraints in terms of recruiting the local population within the private sectors of Oman. As per the authors, lack of appropriate skills and the increasing competition with the public organizations are the major constrains that have restricted the private firms to adequately follow the Omanization policy. As per their research, most of the private firms have witnessed a huge deficiency of skilled and trained Omanies as per the need of the job roles. The research has also evaluated that most of the Omanies lacks proper experiences and training. Forstenlechner and Rutledge, (2010) have also mentioned that most of the highly skilled and experienced Omanies are attracted by the generous remunerations of the public sectors. This situation creates scarcity of local people for the vacancies of the private sectors. Swailes and Al Fahdi, (2011) have mentioned that the managers in private sectors have also experienced two major problems during the hiring process of Omanies. According to their research, the work aptitudes of the Omanies applying for the entry-level are very substandard. The research has also defined that most of the local applicants are coming from the local sources and vocational technical training institutes. Hence, these applicants demonstrate very limited practical knowledge in terms of organizational work environment. Al-Waqfi and Forstenlechner, (2010) have described the tendency of job protection by expatriate as one of the major reason regarding the skepticism of private organizations in term of recruiting Omanies. The authors have mentioned that the expatriates in the middle management of private sectors of Oman have the tendency to secure their job position while recruiting their countrymen. Training requirement and Facilities The proper and adequate training program is one of the major requirements in terms of influencing the employment of Omanies within private sectors. According to Al-Lamki, (2005) the national airline of Oman has demonstrated an intensive training program for their local workforce. These training processes are the crucial phenomena to develop the skills and practical knowledge of the local population of Oman. On the other hand, a number of private organizations have experienced that despite of training facilities most of the local recruits display poor performances and negligence towards long hour jobs. Mellahi and Forstenlechner, (2011) have explained that the private organization in Oman possess very little number of highly trained local population within the higher levels of workforce, while, they possess a number of poorly skilled local people in lower scale position. The authors have mentioned that private sectors in Oman have expressed the requirement of professional trainings for the local employees. These training plans need to include motivation, manpower and career planning and business policy formulation trainings. Gernal, et al., (2014) have mentioned that the lack of local technical expertise within the private organization of Oman also influences the requirement of technical training facilities within the private firms. The researchers have mentioned that the Government Vocational Training facilities do not provide the practical knowledge to the local youth. It also restricts their communication facility in the multicultural work environment due to poor grasp in English language. Hence, it includes the role and responsibility of private firms to provide rigorous training to the local employees to increase their suitability for the higher responsibilities. Local Employee Retention within Private sector and Constraints Mohamed, et al., (2014) have discussed that psychological contract within employer and employee regarding the proper understanding of mutual obligations is essential for the retention of employment within organizations. According to Khan, (2010) the psychological contract within the local employee of Oman and management of private organization mostly describes relational types of contract which influences employees to give reliable performance and loyalty in returns of security. The increase in competition within the private sector and public organizations has reduced the effectiveness of this relation. Hence, the current scenario has influenced the transaction contract within employees and employers in private organization. Khan, (2010) has also mentioned that transactional contract has created problems in terms of retention of the local people within the private organization of Oman. As per the author, a number of private firms are facing local employee retention issue due to the increase of the need or highly skilled employees as well as the working hours and decrease in job security. Forstenlechner and Rutledge, (2010) have mentioned that the rise in employability in the local population of Oman has increased the pressure of Omanies employee retention within the private sector of the country. Remuneration Swailes, et al., (2012) have mentioned that mostly the small and medium sized private enterprises within Oman have described difficulties in their performance in Omanization due to lower structure of salaries. The researchers have mentioned that the SMEs find it easier to hire the expatriates as in most of the cases the salary structure of these organizations is higher than the currency rate of the home countries of the foreign employees. Hence, this practices cause dissatisfaction within the local employees. Swailes, et al., (2012) have also mentioned that due to this issue, a number of large organizations have reformed the pay structure to properly respond to the policy of Omanization. Research Methodology Research methodology generally assists researchers to determine and set specific direction to analyse and achieve the desired outcome. In this research proposal, an adequate aim has been designed to align with the topic of the research. The objectives of the research are based on the aim of the study. A set of research questions has also been designed as per the objective of the study. The further discussion will justify the selection of research procedure and variables (Kumar, 2008). Research Design and Methods The research design demonstrates the data collection and analysis plan of any research project to support the pre-designed research questions. The strategy for research method for this study will utilize the procedure of data collection and data analysis through the secondary data analysis procedure. The secondary data analysis will allow the researcher to utilize relevant publicized information from numerous other sources to answer the research questions of the study. The secondary data analysis can be utilized for the analysis of data from different sources to determine the past as well as current practices as per the research aim and objectives. The analysis of the secondary data can also provide assistance in terms of determining the future practices of the current topic (Vartanian, 2010). The secondary data analysis procedure has been chosen as the research strategy because this methodology assists researchers to gain access to a huge amount of data which are available in a number of sources. As the research topic is focused on analyzing the role of private sector in terms of Omanization, the secondary data analysis process will assist the researcher to gather wide variety of data in terms of past as well as present practices of the application of the policy by the business sectors of Oman. As most of the data required for the secondary data analysis are already collected and sorted out, it will allow the researchers to properly and efficiently analyze the vast data. The data collected for secondary data research are mostly generated through various professional researchers. Therefore, it increases the chances of accuracy of the results of the analysis procedure. Moreover, this process efficiently saves the time and investment required for research procedure (Vartanian, 2010). The research method will utilize both the quantitative as well as qualitative analysis techniques to analyze the data gathered from different secondary sources. The quantitative method will assist in analyzing different statistical data in terms of changes in the employment structure due to the establishment of Omanization. It will enable the researchers to analyze the statistical results of private sectors in terms of application of Omanization. On the other hand, qualitative analysis will enable the researchers to assess the implementation of the policy and the importance and role of different private sectors in this area. It will also evaluate the role of government in terms of the application of Omalization within private sectors (Kumar, 2008). Research philosophy is used to create background knowledge for researcher regarding the research topic. Research philosophies are generally used for analysis of the historical development of the research topic. In this research study, both the qualitative and quantitative research approach will be used to evaluate the interpretive philosophies. This philosophy emphasizes on analytically disclosing various practices while deriving general observable outcome form those practices (Kothari, 2011). Data Sources and Collection The research study will focus on secondary data collection procedure. The secondary data collection will follow both the internal as well as external sources (Kothari, 2011). The internal sources will cover different governmental websites of Oman which includes data and details regarding the targets of Omanization and the activities of different sectors according to those targets. In this area, the researcher can utilize the online secondary data source of the Sultanate of Oman Ministry of Manpower website. The data collection through internal sources can also utilize government portals for the gateway to government eServices such as Omanuma. Apart from the governmental data, the study will also follow the collection of data from different sources of a number of private business sectors such as Oman Information Centre etc. The secondary data collection process will utilize different external sources of published articles and researches in terms of Omanization and role of different private sectors. Action Plan with Time Scale The action plan for this research has been produced through a Gantt chart for proper distribution of the work as per their occurrence and required time frame. The action plan will be completed through five stages such as defining the research topic as well as questions, developing research methodology, collection of data, analysis of the data and disseminating the analyzed result. Thia process will take near about eight weeks to complete. Action Plan Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Defining the research topic as well as questions                 Developing research methodology                 Data Collection                 Data Analysis                 Disseminating the analyzed result                 Step 1: Defining the research topic as well as questions Agreeing upon research topic and clarifying the objectives and scopes. Designing research questions as per the requirement and topic of the study. Reviewing literature as per the requirement of the study. Step 2: Developing research methodology Developing framework for secondary data analysis. Searching suitable websites, journals and reports supporting the topic. Step 3: Data Collection Data will be collected through properly reviewing all the secondary sources. Data collection will follow the relevance of data as per the research objectives and questions. Step 4: Data Analysis The key concept of the research will be evaluated through the analysis of collected data. Step 5: Disseminating the analyzed result The last week of the study will follow the process of disseminating of the result. Research Ethics The research proposal for the role of private sector in Omanization has duly followed all the research ethics. This research proposal has utilized all the permitted sources and ethical materials to complete the study. Any kind of misuse of private data and utilization of unauthorized data has been strictly restricted. Reference List Al-Lamki, S. M., 2005. The role of the private sector in Omanization: the case of the banking industry in the Sultanate of Oman. International Journal of Management, 22(2), pp. 176- 200. Al-Waqfi, M. A. and Forstenlechner, I., 2012. Of private sector fear and prejudice: The case of young citizens in an oil-rich Arabian Gulf economy. Personnel Review, 41(5), pp. 609-629. Al-Waqfi, M. and Forstenlechner, I., 2010. Stereotyping of citizens in an expatriate-dominated labour market: Implications for workforce localisation policy. Employee Relations, 32(4), pp. 364-381. Forstenlecher, I., 2010. Workforce localization in emerging Gulf countries: the need to fine-tune HRM, Personnel Review, 39(1), pp. 135-152. Forstenlechner, I. and Rutledge, E., 2010. Unemployment in the Gulf: Time to update the “social contract”. Middle East Policy, 17(2), pp. 38-51. Gernal, L. M., Sergio, R. P. and Al Shuali, Mohammad., 2014. Looking Ahead: Scanning Change Management and its Implications to Human Resource Management Practices. IAMURE International Journal of Business and Management, 7(1), pp. 34-92. Khan, S. A., 2010. Convergence, Divergence or Middle of the Path: HRM Model for Oman. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 12(1), pp. 76-87. Kothari, C. R., 2011. Research methodology: methods and techniques. New Delhi: New Age International. Kumar, R. 2008. Research Methodology. New Delhi: APH Publishing. Mellahi, K. and Forstenlechner, I., 2011. 15 Employment relations in oil-rich Gulf countries. Research Handbook of Comparative Employment Relations, pp. 357-362. Mohamed, R. K. M. H., Nor, C. S. M. and Dahalan, N., 2014. The Relationship between Human Resource Management Practices, Leader member exchange, Psychological contract Fulfillment, Trade Union and Employee Retention Behaviour. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 4(6), pp. 174-185. Schmidt, S. M., Moideenkutty, U. and Al-Busaidi, A., 2013. Expatriate and Omani Workplace Relationships and Individual Performance. Culture and Gender in Leadership: Perspectives from the Middle East and Asia, pp. 228. Swailes, S. and Al Fahdi, S., 2011. Voluntary turnover in the Omani public sector: An Islamic values perspective. International Journal of Public Administration, 34(10), pp. 682-692. Swailes, S., Al Said, L. G. and Al Fahdi, S., 2012. Localisation policy in Oman: a psychological contracting interpretation. International journal of public sector management, 25(5), pp. 357-372. Vartanian, T. P. 2010. Secondary Data Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Read More