Business and management studies - Thesis Example

Motivating Employees by Developing a Good Performance Appraisal System at the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia Topic: Performance Appraisal System and Motivation of Employment: (An Empirical Study ministry of education in Saudi Arabia)IntroductionBackground informationAn organizations main purpose is to attain a competitive advantage and arrive at its goals by getting used to a competent usage by its employees. For the last twenty years an increasing concern in explaining the effect of Human Resource Management strategies on the government organizations accomplishment has evolved within the human resource research (Bratton, Gold 2007).

Therefore main goal of organizations is to last. Employees’ output is vital to support the organization to achieve its objectives. Workforce is the most significant advantage that leads to success or failure in organizations. Performance appraisal should be one of the most effective means of the psychologically charged activities in business life. In addition, performance appraisal is one of the generally broadly studied areas in industrial/organizational psychology. However, the conventional study program has done very little to advance the value of performance appraisal as a managerial tool (Bratton & Gold, 2007).

An amount of studies has related the human Resource practices to different Organizational outcomes such as output, value, proceeds, market value and general profits. Organizations bearing long terms objectives of constant aggressive advantage and high productivity should improve their human capital by putting in place structure and practices to accomplish and retain their goal (Hoque, K. (1999). Current study has stirred away from studies of rater correctness and psychometric measures to subject of employee response towards performance appraisal as indicators of organization satisfaction and efficiency.

The reason is because employee sensitivity of fairness of performance appraisal has a great impact on organization efficiency (Bratton & Gold, 2007). Perceptions of justice are seen as an important issue in employee approval of and fulfillment with performance appraisal. This has forced the managers to have both a principled and legal compulsion to conduct appraisals in a fair, honest and unbiased manner (Bratton & Gold, 2007). Problem statementThe government of Saudi Arabia has in recent times adopted a negligent tactic to human resource management in both public and private sectors.

The private sector in Saudi Arabia has in recent times received more attention (Bratton & Gold, 2007). Since the early 2000s, the government has initiated a broad legal structure to control the management of people in the private sector, because the government is investing heavily in the private sector in order to make it more attractive for international companies (Bratton & Gold, 2007). Therefore, Human Resource Management is important in any organizations. The overall principle of Human Resource Management is to ensure that organizations are able to accomplish success through their members of staff.

Performance appraisal has a great impact on a number of HRM. Strategies such as elevation, job retention, lay-offs, and employee learning are all done by the HRM. In the Arab World relations are based on strong family connections secured in linage networks (Bratton & Gold, 2007). These have effectively been used to override established laws and traditions where they existed and are used in place of relevant regulations and standards. The ministry of Education has however tried not to follow the practice.

Your Curriculum Vitae has to be as per the standard requirements by the Government. If performance appraisal is ignored, or responds to the particularistic criteria of ones family and social connections, then the organizations will be at risk (Bratton & Gold, 2007). This study will be about is to explore the relationship between Human Resource practices and the Organizations’ performance is determined by the decisions made by the Management in the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia.Research scopeThis research seeks to determine the role played by a good performance appraisal system in motivating employees in an organization.

In any organization, the various management and administration tools are guided by the culture established in the organization. This research will therefore seek to come up with a study that is limited to the culture of an organization and the role of a performance appraisal system in the ministry of education in Saudi Arabia. As a result, the culture of the ministry will guide the researcher in obtaining the information about the current performance appraisal system in use and the constraints to its success.

This will therefore help this research form a basis in developing a theoretical framework and a conclusion that will seek to answer then research problem. The research problem will be solved when the researcher has given the distinct and important roles of a good performance appraisal system and therefore the best system to be applied at the education ministry. This will benefit the ministry in the decision making process especially changes in its culture when dealing with changes in the internal and external environment.

The governments consciousness of the important role of excellent manpower in the communal and monetary development of the Kingdom has encouraged it to give abundant support to the education division. The Saudi government offers universal education for both boys and girls, through the Ministry of Education (Bratton & Gold, 2007). Research Objectives1. To see if the performance appraisal has a positive effect on the employee2. To see if the performance appraisal has a positive effect on the organization.3. To check the aspects that influence the performance appraisalStudy questions1.

Which are the key features of the traditions that have an effect in the practice of performance appraisal?2. Are the employees of the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia satisfied with the performance appraisal currently used? 3. To what extent do the employees perceive that performance appraisal is being used by their Organization of evaluative or developmental reasons?4. Is employees’ satisfaction with performance appraisal related to perception of its fairness?5. How do employees perceive and decide that the performance appraisal used by their company seems fair?

Significance of the studyThe significance of this study comes from the fact that few studies have discussed Human Resource Management, particularly performance appraisal, in Saudi Arabia (Kalleberg & Moody, 1994).) The Middle East region has less available literature related to the field of HRM. Therefore, this study aims to fill the performance appraisal HRM gap in the literature (Wattanasupachoke, 2009). Performance appraisal system is very important in Saudi Arabia at a time like this when the government is shifting its emphasis from quantity to quality in the employment sector.

The process of instructional supervision has undergone a movement of reform and renewal. This current movement will be beneficial because it will act as a motivational tool in the employment sector. It creates the urgent need to have the opinion of the teachers and supervisors perceptions be taken into consideration. Without having this kind of information will definitely create a great deficiency that may misguide the efforts for improvement thereby undermining Performance Appraisal System.

Paucity of research on this research This research is biased because the opinions of the Saudi male teachers and immediate supervisors are the only ones that are considered. This is due to the fact that the male and female educational systems in Saudi Arabia are two completely different entities (Baird & Meshoulam, 1988). The male education is under the Ministry of Education whereas the females’ education is under the General Presidency of Girls Education.Performance Appraisal System main objectives include obtaining, analyzing, and recording information regarding an employee within the organization hence the need to have a fair procedure.

This study is restricted to the perceptions of teachers and supervisors but it cannot be taken for granted that the findings apply to their perceptions in the supervisory system. It is also limited to a random sample of the daytime Staff at the ministry of education because it cannot be assumed it will apply to other kind of schools, such as the vocational schools. Lastly the instrument was developed in English and hence the need to translate it into Arabic. It can be viewed as paucity to the study because some of the expressions might be distorted.

Literature ReviewTo respond to the clients needs, the organization should manage their employee’s particular skills since they are regarded as an important basis of the competitive advantage. When the organization succeeds in fascinating, maintaining and motivating an experienced workforce, it improves greatly in its outcome. Organizations are expected to successfully administer their different Human Resource actions such as employing, selecting, educating and even gratifying their personnel among other activities.

This will enhance the financial growth and also the completion in the education sector. A highly dedicated and capable workforce helps the organization to do well in their approach thus gaining reasonable advantage for as long as the strategies are conveyed and utilized by both phases. All Organizations should consider people as the major assets that improve or drop it. They should not think in terms of how much they pay their staff. Its their skills, abilities and experience that determine the organizations success.

Bratton and Gold (2007) have suggested three aspects of justice which are of concern to people; 1) “long-range benefits”. Employees want to see how their organization treats them over time, and to be able forecast the outcome. In this respect people would like to be treated fairly because fairness gives them things they want. It has been indicated that when an organization rewards an individual for completing his/her task effectively, it makes him/her happy and proud. 2) “Social consideration”.

This factor is about unfair treatment. Employees want justice to be employed in the workplace, and they are more concerned about their value. 3) “Ethical consideration”. People are concerned that others should treat them justly. In order to succeed with performance appraisal organizations have to apply it justly. Bratton supported the argument and highlighted that justice in performance appraisal can provide an overall environment of fairness.Literature on organizational psychology pays great attention to justice in the environment of the workplace.

Some Scholars like Ulrich (2007) “Measuring human resources”, recognize that justice is a significant responsibility for improving the satisfaction of employees and increasing organizations’ efficiency. Job satisfactionJob satisfaction is highly related to the relationship between the employer and the employee (Paul & Anantharaman,2003). It is shown by the punctuality of the employees, absenteeism from work and also the performance which translates to the total turnover from the company.

Work distribution in the office may also have an effect on the commitment of the members of staff. It is a positive emotional state resulting from ones appraisal on their jobs. This includes multi-dimensional psychological responses to ones job. The pay, motivation, and promotions relate well with job satisfaction. Management style and culture also have influence on job satisfaction.Organizational justiceThis is perceived as a reaction to fairness in an organization. There is need for inventive approaches to the many problems within the organization.

Competence is not the only sufficient condition for success. Social interaction is being considered as a basic requirement for an organizations success. Justice needs to be applied in promotions, assignments or during awards. This will influence their attitudes and also behavior hence improving the organizations performance.National cultureValues essential to HRM are not established on individual countries values. This is because the tools have originated from the developed countries. This means most of them are not applicable in the third world countries (Bae and Lawler, 2000).

Cultural knowledge and a global focus are very crucial in order to survive in today’s business. The core of culture is composed of explicit assumptions held by a group of people. This means culture is a collective phinomenom.HRM is influenced by politics, economics, social factors and culture. Also HRM is governed by rules and regulations. Bae and Lawler (2000) also argues that national culture has a strong impact on HRM practice. In terms dimensions, the Arab World appears to share some characteristics, scoring highly on the power/distance index.

Power, status, and perceived skills are linked to seniority and reflect attainments of family, friends, and, in the Arab World, charisma and the ability to use force. Large Power Distance and Uncertainty Avoidance are predominant Hofstede Dimension characteristics for the Middle East countries. Another important cultural factor is which may mean either mediation or intercession. It denotes the person who mediates/intercedes as well as the act of mediation/intercession. With regard to performance appraisal, it is difficult within Arab culture to say no face-to-face, successful managers are those who have developed the capability to give negative messages while maintaining strong interpersonal support.

In the Arab World, status, position, and seniority are more important than ability and performance. Bratton, J, and Gold, J (2007) noted that performance appraisal system in Saudi Arabia found that the practice of performance appraisal is affected by socio-cultural factors, also and that there is a lack of understanding and awareness about how to fill the performance appraisal forms Methodology and research designThis study shows whether there is a relationship between the human resource practices and systems and the organizations performance in Saudi Arabia.

So the researcher is going to apply both qualitative and quantitative methods in order to answer the questionnaire. The study will be based on the ministry of Education which is a government organization with guidance from necessary authorities. It will only take an overview of the Ministry of Educations Appraisals. Guidance will be needed to make sure the researcher gets the right information. There will be questioners being given to majority of the staff belonging to different job groups. The information will have to be verified by the authority to make sure no organizations secret information is disclosed.

It tries to have a look at the relationship between human resource practices and the corporate performance of companies in Saudi Arabia. The mode of data collection is primarily from a questionnaire and secondary data information, for example, personal interviews. The surveys done were administered in English then later on translated into Arabic. The personnel where requited to indicate the extent in which their company had adopted their HR practices. Dependent VariableTwo types of performance measurement were adopted which included the opinion of the respondents concerning the rate of the staff’s performance within a duration of three years and the sales growth and profit growth during that same period.

Independent VariablesThe questionnaire were developed on the basis of literature review and as well as carrying out studies on some previous ones. A five point Linker-type scale was adopted with assigned values ranging from 5 being "Strongly agree" to 1 being "Strongly disagree" (Cox EP, 1980). Research MethodsThe data is going to be gathered through in-depth interviews with HR managers by adopting a mixed-method concurrent research design. HR individuals with experience and in-depth knowledge where interviewed using a purposive or judgmental sampling.

Before the interview there is need to send letter to them inviting them to participate in the study explaining the objective of the study and a copy of the semi-structured questionnaire. Data from the interviews is to be analyzed and the inductive process is to be used in looking for consistent themes that emerge from the data. Whereas the deductive process is to be used in supplementing the inductive approach to ensure that the researcher did not misinterpret the data. The Sample The research target is 100 respondents and will be carried out with an initial pilot sample of 20 respondents who are identified in the level of their managerial posts at the ministry of education in Saudi Arabia.

The interviews will be done at their workplaces in the ministry’ premises and the data studied for its usefulness. Further research will be conducted on 80 subordinate employees if the technique is deemed appropriate. If the technique is not appropriate the methodology will be redesigned and be redone with a further 100 respondents. Outline of thesisChapter 1: Introduction of the topic with an overview of the study.Chapter 2: This will contain the Literature including the theories of job appraisals and satisfaction.

Organizational justice will also be in the picture as well as cultural effects on appraisals.Chapter 3: It will have literature on recruitment and appraisal of staff. Supervision and rewards will also be included in this chapter.Chapter 4: This will be on the methods used for the research. It will discuss the mode of data collection used.Chapter 5: It will contain improvement of quality work life and the organizational development.Chapter 6: There will be a conclusion on the whole proposal.Chapter 7: ReferencesConclusionHuman resource practices have a straight informal connection by performance obtained in different workplaces.

This shows that the organizations should enhance on the ability of its employees for it to achieve better results. So it’s important for the Human Resource to draw, maintain and motivate their personnel. This way the organization is able to use the human capital as unique incomparable resource in the firm. In spite of the predictable high-quality results acquired from the numerical analysis, the study can also be theoretical or empirical. Empirically the causality result amid the HR practices and performance is not quite obvious since companies with good performance usually adapt HR practices with long term outlook.

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