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Introduction
The goal of the scholarly article, “Barriers to Emiratization and the Role of Policy Design and The Institutional Environment in Determining the Effectiveness of Emiratization” is to come to understand the overall effectiveness of the Emiratization policy since it has been implemented for over twenty years, but it has endured many challenges because the workforce has faced a significant shortage. The problem is that the United Arab Emirates adopted a liberal immigration policy which allowed many foreign workers into their country while experiencing a work shortage. The policy continued to rely on foreign workers and thus, it caused a segmentation and distorted the labor market so that over ninety-nine percent of the available positions were staffed by expatriate workers within the private sector; while the national workers became a major concentration in the public sector. Therefore, the unemployment issue began to appear amongst the Nationals since the late 1990s despite having an Emiratization policy in force.
Methodology and Data Analysis
The data for this study consisted of a collection of interviews with a sample of approximately 32 senior managers and professionals in the human resource sector from various parts of the country. It was 12 females and 20 male respondents. The methodology which was utilized was an interview. And to maintain a certain level of consistency; semi-structured interviews were also implemented because it allowed more flexibility to gather detailed insight from the research subjects. The interview method was necessary due to the research being conducted in developing countries and respondents would usually prefer face to face interviews rather than questionnaires. The data collection process was made up of a mixed quantitative and qualitative overall approach. “This is the practice of analyzing, collecting and combing both qualitative and quantitative data within the study exclusively for the primary purpose of a holistic understanding of a research dilemma such as the barrier to Emiratization” (Al-Waqfi & Forstenlechner, 2013). As for the data analysis, only simple descriptive statistics were utilized to analyze the quantitative data. The data was generated by a process known as a thematic analysis which was to identify the patterns or themes of the respondent opinions.
Additionally, the verbatim transcript data classified and grouped the themes that were identifiable by coding the responses into thematic categories. An example of the category was based on the development and training of the employees who worked in the national sector. The themes were created using the data from free-text answers and placing them together in the thematic categories. The themes had to be constantly revised until the researchers of the study felt confident enough that it represented the responses of the participants of the study.
Findings
The findings of the study suggest that Emiratization is only limited to finding real employment opportunities for nationals. The workers are older and more experienced compared to the other locals who might replace them. Any replacement of the locals involves a significant drop in the employee productivity and overall performance level. This is a vital weakness in the job labor market because the workforce productivity is especially low, while comparing to the other counterparts from an international perspective and other developing countries. Other findings focused on the primary obstacle for having a one hundred percent successful Emiratization policy and it was due to the lack of clear and enforceable objectives that offers penalties for non-compliance and reporting structures that are formal. Out of fifteen organizations, only eight of them could achieve the Emiratization objectives, while the other seven organizations did not provide clear cut responses to the researchers for this question. The organizations that met their targets was from the public sectors and none from the private sector. The researcher believed that due to the respondent’s hesitation of not answering the question about whether the company met their goals was an indication of the lack of effectiveness of the Emiratization program. One respondent did mention that “a common reason for not meeting the expected targets was partly due to high turnover rates, higher reservation wages of the Emiratis while compared to the expatriates, and mainly, there are not enough skilled Emiratis workers to hire, and it is almost as difficult to retain one” (Al-Waqfi & Forstenlechner, 2013).
Recommendations
Furthermore, it is recommended that certain measures can be implemented to enhance the effectiveness of Emiratization. There were four recommendations that the researchers suggested and they were a) changes need to be made to the labor laws and their regulations, b) immediate changes to immigration laws, c) enhance the competency and skill level of the country citizens and d) changes to human resource management practices that will aim to support Emiratization policies. The pay gap of the workers needed to be addressed as well to succeed as an organization, and once it is addressed, then the government should develop an adequate system for information related to job vacancies and job seekers.
Conclusion
In conclusion, for the barriers of Emiratization can be removed, they must first be addressed and the appropriate actions must be taken to change them accordingly. Some examples of these barriers are the employees not having the proper skills to complete their job duties, lack of knowledge pertaining to cultural norms and ethics, among other reasons. However, it has been proven that the barriers could be handled with a mixture of the proper educational and learning programs, or workshops that are designed for the employees. The programs should consist of various types of experiential learning and awareness building characteristics at different stages of human resources. This development process is more than necessary because it enables the worker to have the right set of skills needed for their job duties. Not to mention, the primary focus would be on the employee since it would help them to adhere to the highest level of professionalism by having a positive attitude which is required to thrive and perform in an environment that is competitive and the work setting is demanding. These programs would stop the Emiratization policies from relying so much on foreign workers and look towards their own country for the skillful workers who could add value to the company, whether if it is in the private or public sector.
References
Al-Waqfi, M. & Forstenlechner, I. (2013). Barriers to Emiratization: the role of policy design and institutional environment in determining the effectiveness of Emiratization. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(2), 167-189. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2013.826913
