Critique of HRM in the Public Sector in Jordan Compared to the UK

Running Head: Critique of HRM in the Public Sector in Jordan Compared to the UK
Critique of HRM in the Public Sector in Jordan Compared to the UK
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Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Introduction PAGEREF _Toc291818956 \h 3Research question and objectives PAGEREF _Toc291818957 \h 4Literature Review PAGEREF _Toc291818958 \h 5Methodology PAGEREF _Toc291818959 \h 13Bias PAGEREF _Toc291818960 \h 15Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc291818961 \h 15Works Cited PAGEREF _Toc291818962 \h 18
Introduction
The Jordanian public sector is quite different from the UK public sector, mainly due to the fact, that one is a Middle Eastern country with a different culture and value systems, whereas the UK public sector is the Western ideal. The main objective of this research is to critique the HRM systems in Jordan and suggest methods of improvement in HRM policies of Jordan, which lags behind the UK. This paper will try to compare, along various criteria, the public sector in these two countries, and will try to outline how human resource management in both the countries differs along different continuums of hiring criteria, attitude towards women - whether there is a quota or not, anti-discrimination rules, processes, and the systems that are in place for the entire HRM process, and how Jordan can improve. Moreover, the paper will look into the systems and procedures in both the countries, and try to ascertain the standards being followed in Jordan and in the UK and will then outline how Jordan can improve its public sector by ridding itself of corruption, nepotism and discrimination against women- who can be a good source of HR for public sector companies.
The report and its findings are expected to aid various companies as well as countries in determining the characteristics that need to be present in an ideal situation, and how some of these characteristics can be inculcated, following a through examination of the scenarios at hand.
Research question and objectives
The research questions that will be answered as a part of this project include:
Are there any differences in HRM practices in public sector and private sector companies in general?
What are the HRM practices that are followed by public companies in Jordan?
What are the HRM practices that are followed by public companies in United Kingdom?
What are the major differences that the public sector companies in both the countries have with regards to HRM practice being followed?
How can Jordan learn from the ideal set by the UK in making its HRM systems more transparent and more efficient?
In order to translate these research questions into tangible instruments, and in order to have a measurable impact, the questions need translated into the objectives of this study. Having said it thus, the objective of this study overall is to ‘find and recommend measures of improvement in the Jordan public sector HRM practices using UK HRM practices as a model`.
The various objectives associated with the questions include:
‘Find the differences in public and private sector HRM practices in general`.
‘Determine HRM practices that are followed by public companies in Jordan.`
‘Determine HRM practices that are followed by public companies in UK.`
Compare and contrast the HRM practices that are followed by public companies in UK and Jordan` and last but not the least:
‘Suggest areas of improvement for the developing market in light of the developed UK market`.
Literature Review
While there is a variety of research available about HRM policies in the UK, Jordan`s management practices are not studied as extensively. Moreover, few studies have focused on differences between public and private sector HRM differences, and this paper seeks to fill this gap left in existing literature, and add to the knowledge base in this manner.
The objective of this paper is to outline the differences that exists in HRM practices in public sector enterprises in the UK and Jordan, in order to critique Jordan`s State Owned Enterprises, and to that extent it is imperative that a discussion on the factors that impact HRM in the public sector and how they impact HRM differently in the public sector as compared to the private sector, be carried out. This is important in order to truly understand how some of the HRM policies that successful private companies have adopted can not be implemented in inefficient public sector enterprises. Some of the factors that teachers at the University of Birmingham have identified as part of their course on ‘Public Sector Human Resource Management` include:
" the public sector, many of the most visible and interesting controversies, such as affirmative action, employee ethics, sexual harassment, drug testing, and labour-management relations, are part of human resource management. Human resources also account for the largest percentage of the operating budget for most public agencies, and public administrators must have both an appreciation for the costs of personnel decisions and the ability to project those costs" CITATION Pat07 \l 1033 (Ingraham & Rubaii-Barrett, 2007)
This goes to say that HRM policies in the pubic sector are influenced by the political orientations of the organization`s members, and the more political clout a person has within the organization, is generally the person who can influence the people who are recruited. That is the reason why many of the public sector enterprises are generally overstaffed, especially in developing countries such as Jordan, where corruption is rife, power distance is high, with people being accepting of the inequality in social class, CITATION Hof93 \l 1033 (Hofstede, 1993) and there is more of a collectivist orientation with emphasis on seniority with the company rather than meritocracy of individual members. Moreover Jordan ranks 50 out of 178 countries on the transparency international index CITATION Tra101 \l 1033 (Transparency International, 2010). This is in stark contrast to the UK, which ranks 20th out of 178 countries. CITATION Tra101 \l 1033 (Transparency International, 2010) This index is an important consideration in terms of HRM as public sector enterprises are mainly marked with corruption, and this level of corruption means that people who drive the public sector enterprise in Jordan are more corrupt than in the UK, and hence Jordanian policies will be marked with self-interest of the public officials more so than in the UK, and that these officials will be more prone to hiring those people, by using their political clout, who support them. In this case, reforms will be tough to bring about in face of opposition from corrupt quarters.
Before considering the HRM practices in Jordan, it is important to consider what the history of Jordan has been with regards to its business environment and the inclination of the state to own commercial enterprises. When King Abdullah extended his rule over the region, the state was weak with a small private sector and that is where the state started filling in the gaps where private enterprise did not exist. It was only in the 1980s that the state started focusing on privatising its mammoth businesses, and this was the time that coincided with economic depression in the Persian Gulf States. The IMF further emphasised the focus on privatisation as Jordan had to seek IMF help under its restructuring programme in order to cope with the depression, in 1989. Although some efforts were made and some firms such as the Cement manufacturing industry and the telecomm sector were deregulated and placed under private ownership, the elites in the public sector have been opposed to such a move as it would dilute their power. The fact remains, that these public companies exist in a greater proportion that they do in the UK, and in that regards, the HRM practices in the public sector enterprises differ. CITATION Cur02 \l 1033 \m Joa07 (Ryan, 2002; Eilon & Alon, 2007 ) Today, the Jordan government still has a considerable role to play in enterprises, as it still retains regulatory command of the market through semi-autonomous government enterprises which are part of even the privatised enterprises and are in fact an obstacle to market reforms. Additionally, individual bureaucrats who are part of this structure exert influence as they gained economic power by converting petrodollars into investments and expanding the bureaucracy in the public sector. CITATION Tim98 \l 1033 (Piro, 1998)
Clubbing Jordan together with the Middle East, it can be seen that the country shares a similar culture and outlook as other Middle Eastern Muslim countries that have been characterised by a shared fate that is the ‘curse of natural resource abundance` CITATION Bud071 \l 1033 (Budhwar & Mellahi, 2007). The author indicates that most of the Middle Eastern countries are rich in oil, but their rate of growth was still half of that of other developing countries, and goes on to say that the reasons for this state of affairs is due to inadequate and inefficient governments, corruption and a widespread presence of government owned enterprises rather than and encouragement for private entrepreneurship, which has been the backbone of other developing countries.
With regards to specific differences in both the sectors, , gender differences seem to be the key, with women facing more glass ceilings in Jordan that in other areas, due to the culture that prevails where women are highly educated, but cannot pursue their career goals due to family ties and lack of a support system. In such a scenario, it has also been taken into account that these ceilings are more apparent in the public sector enterprises, where in some cases, women are more competent than men and yet are unable to cross that barricade. Hutchings, Metcalfe, & Cooper have tried to gauge the obstacles that women in Middle East perceive that prevent them from taking international assignments, more so in the public sector. The reason that the study cites for this is the various perceptions, physical as well as psychological barriers that exist both within the management and reside with the women themselves. This study is an eye opener here as it indicates that 53.6 percent of the women think that stereotypes created by the women managers themselves of the role expected of them amalgamated in women managers not being considered for international assignments. Moreover the study, which used a survey methodology to collect the views of women managers in Arab countries, indicates that 38.1 percent of women think that the business culture in the country dictates the type of assignments that they would chose to undertake. Additionally, the study concludes that from the 97 female respondents who were either middle or senior level managers, 40.2 percent felt that there were limited education and training opportunities given to them versus their male counterparts, which resulted in them being denied their rightful position in the organization. CITATION Hut \l 1033 (Hutchings, Metcalfe, & Cooper)
Another study indicated the following results CITATION Lin09 \l 1033 (Lindorff, 2009):
CITATION Lin09 \p 439 \l 1033 (Lindorff, 2009, p. 439)
These results indicate the trust employees have in organizational leadership, which has a large part to play in employee engagement, motivation and satisfaction. The Australian survey indicates that females are more positive in their perceptions towards various constructs that lead to the measurement of the leadership concept. These include perceptions of the organization being a good employer, just, good senior management and so forth. While these results might differ in the Jordanian public sector, it has to be noted here that females indicated a more positive perception of all the constructs as compared to males in the public sector. CITATION Lin09 \l 1033 (Lindorff, 2009) Differences in gender perceptions of leadership have also been reported in CITATION Ste03 \l 1033 (Appelbaum, Audet, & Miller, 2003), which is a good source of available theories on the topic. These theories imply that females with their generally positive perception of organizational leadership in the public sector could prove to be better motivated and hence more productive, and in suppressing female managers in the public sector, the Jordan government may be losing out on key potential candidates.
These attitudes and perception prevail more so in the public sector, as their policies are derived from government policies, and Jordan is a conservative and traditionally male dominated society. Therefore despite the lack of a competent male employee, women employees are either not given the chance, or if they are given the chance, a majority decline it due to their family commitments or due to the lack of training investment being done on them, to bring their skills up to par. This is not to say that the state of affairs is derived from a purposeful objective for the annihilation of women managers, but it does reflect the age-old paradigms that exist in traditional society in Jordan, and while things are changing for the better and towards more equity, the progress is slow and painstaking. According to the study conducted by CITATION Hut \l 1033 (Hutchings, Metcalfe, & Cooper):
"Several respondents argued that while qualifications and status are important aspects of Arab Middle Eastern society and business, personal connections override them in recruitment and selection choices as well as opportunities for promotion" CITATION Hut \l 1033 (Hutchings, Metcalfe, & Cooper)
However, in such a restrictive economy there is a chance for female entrepreneurs to bloom, and while the topic is not the scope of this paper, it can be explored in some depth by researchers, seeking to derive some knowledge out of this work.
An important aspect of this study can be derived in part from some of the MNCs that operate in the western world and in Jordan. This is because, while the policies of MNCs might differ with respect to those aspects in public sector enterprises, the cultural differences will be the same for an MNC based in UK and in Jordan as for disparate public firms in the two countries. And this is an important bit of information for the purposes of this paper as it will help in determining the cultural factors that effect HRM in both the countries and how the paper can be structured, and what informative ...