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Human Resource Management - Global Challenges of International

assignment

Article · January 2015

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1.0 INTRODUCTION : International assignment Global Challenges

The success of a company today is not only dependent on its competitiveness in the country but
abroad as well. Business globalization has made the business more open and competition
between companies is becoming more intense and challenging. Therefore companies need to
plan thoroughly to remain competitive in the global market place. One way is to participate in
the international assignment. Brynningsen (2009) explains international assignment as “the
single more powerful experience in shaping the perspective and capabilities of effective global
leaders”. International assignment provides opportunity for growth and professional
developments and an important aspect for revenue and profit growth as well. China has become
popular country for international assignment due to its rapidly growing economic power.
According to Goldmand Sach (2007), by year 2035, China will surpass United States to become
the world’s largest economy. However, international assignment in China is not an easy task due
to its intercultural differences such as politics, culture and economics. The next section will
explain a number of barriers and global challenges faced by assignee in China international
assignment.

Language barrier

Language is the greatest difficulty for international assignee in China. Although English is taught
as a second language in China but challenges in communication still at the highest level. The
obvious problem is the way words are expressed and how the meaning is understood ( Crump,
2012). According to Crump (2012), communication is the biggest challenge in China as the word
expressed could be interpreted differently, when someone say yes, that does not mean they agree
or understand what has been said due to a lack of much common vocabulary. The main reason
here is English-speakers emphasis on objective thinking (scientific and analysis) while Chinese-
speakers emphasis thought is more important than form (Guime, 2011). Therefore english-
speakers are individualistic while Chinese-speakers are collectivist. This situation led to
differences in the expression of both languages. These differences are one major problem that
affect people’s communication in international assignment. Besides that, assignees would also
have severe problems communicating with local peers especially when most communication in

1
office take place in Chinese. Therefore, exchange of ideas becomes difficult with a limited
ability to communicate between each others.

Cultural Differences

Participants of international assignments are more likely to experience culture shock due to
different cultural practices. China is a country with cultural diversity. Cultural diversity is
referring to differences in race, ethnicity, language, nationality, religion, and sexual orientation
in a community (Diwakar Singh, n.d). Assignees from different cultural backgrounds need to
adjust their lifestyles to fit the host nation. They may encounter problems such as insecurity, fear,
disorientation and lost of confidence due to cultural distance. One example of cultural difference
in China is working relationships. Chinese people live together under one roof, work together in
a group and depend on each other for living and working (Nowak. L & Dong. D, 1997). They
emphasis overall harmony, prioritize group objectives and follow the rules of group (Yue, 2011).
While in Western countries, business organization practices individualism which stressing on
individual accomplishment, productivity, independence, rights and personal freedom (Yue, 2011
& Nowak. L & Dong. D, 1997).

Besides that, Chinese people’s way of life is influenced by Buddhism religion. Chinese
management culture is to follow instructions, perform the tasks entrusted and taking initiative to
make changes considered beyond the mandate and the intervention of the affairs of others. This
is totally different in other countries where the organization is more interested in candidates who
are active and tend to take the initiative to make changes rather than waiting passively (Yue,
2011). This culture is apparent in China where leaders lead and subordinate follow orders.
Concept of age is another difference in Chinese culture. Chinese respect for seniority. People
who have worked long considered have more working experience and knowledge but in other
countries respect is based on individual performance and achievements rather than experience
and knowledge (Nowak. L & Dong. D, 1997).
Family Roles

International assignments usually involve sending the whole family. This means the selection of
participants not only depend on his management skills and qualifications but his family members
too. Studies show that international assignment success is highly dependent on the attitude of the
participant families to adjust to the situation in other countries (Brynningsen, 2009). The ability
of families and participants to adapt in a foreign country has always been an international
dimension to complete international assignments. One of the main reasons participants
terminating international assignments early is because couples fail to adapt in a foreign country
(Black et al. 1999; Konopaske, Robie, & Ivancevich, 2005 as cited in Brynningsen, 2009, p.9.).
In addition, the dual career is another issue that affects international assignments. Some
companies provide assistance with finding suitable employment for spouses either in the same
company or another (Lapinoja, 2012). This is to facilitate international assignments involving
family members. However, working in the same location less favored by couples. The issue of
dual careers can be a problem for women because most organizations consider international
assignments participants were male. According to Lapinoja (2012) serious spouse-related
problem can occurs when the men have to be a secondary earner.

2.0 PRE-DEPARTURE TRAINING

Pre-departure training is necessary to ensure that individuals have the basic knowledge of
culture, language, behavior and sufficient information regarding the host country. According to
Katz & Seifer (1996), international assignees will not only have to face a different culture and
language but also the political, religious and social life differences. This basic information will
help international assignees with greater understanding of the new living area and give higher
confidence to complete the assignment (Neill, 2008). In order to facilitate adjustment in foreign
countries, multinational firms will carry out pre-departure cross-cultural training. Cross-cultural
training is intended to help reduce culture shock while providing a more realistic expectations,
job satisfaction and reduce early return from international assignments (Black & Mendenhall,
1990).
2.1 Training Components

Proposed pre-departure training for China mainly focused on the aspects of language, culture and
the assignees as well. The company should ensure that workers have been able to adapt to
conditions in foreign countries and have the ability, motivation, open-minded and willing to face
challenges. This is because business ethics in China is different from other countries. Weiss and
Bloom (1990) in their studies recommended components for China pre-departure training such as
actual cases, role plays and critical incidents from expatriate working experience, country’s
political, historic and cultural background, Chinese language training, negotiation skills, practical
on reading Chinese non-verbal cues and mixed messages and the spouse/family should be
included in the training.

2.2 Pre-departure Training Content

Pre-Departure proposal for this case, the company will assign 3 male and 1 female employees to
China for 1 month. The female assignee will be accompanied by her husband.The content of pre
departure training are based on cognitive approach such as country and cultural briefings,
language training and affective approach such as critical incidents, role play, case study and
discussion. For the proposed pre-departure training, there are no specific guidelines for
determining the required training period. However, the type of training that will be conducted is
dependent on the time period specified for the training. Thus, affective approach will be used for
this pre departure training as in Figure 1.0

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 Figure 1.0 Pre-departure Training

Source : http://rphrm.curtin.edu.au/2004/issue2/expats.html

Pre-departure training will be conducted in 5 working days from Monday to Friday starting from
8am to 5pm. Language training will be conducted for 5 months, which is an hour a day
(weekdays only). The training session will be held at the company. It will be an intensive
training and should be attended by the assignees and the spouse and sometimes children. This
training will be conducted by trainers who are experienced and knowledgeable about the culture
of China. This training will focus on culture, communication practices, social challenges and
leadership style in China. It will help assignees to be ready to face the challenges of living in the
host country while performing the assignment.

Day 1: Country Briefings and Cultural Profile

Country Briefings

The first day of training will discuss the overall content of the training which will last for 5 days.
Session identification will be carried out together with trainer and the company will provide
some clarification on the purpose of the training was held. Then, trainer will give a briefing on
general information of China in terms of geography, climate, race, religion, economics, politics,
laws and health facilities. It is important for the assignees to know the relevant information of
host country as Malaysia and China are different. Specific topics will be given to the participants
and later will be discussed in a group discussion with trainer.

Cultural Profile

This session will focus on the similarity and differences of culture between home country and
China. Information and knowledge sharing related to ethics, communication, dress codes, social,
behavior and cultural life of the community of host country would be the main content. Intention
of this session is to teach awareness about the host culture. Introduction to the culture of the host
country is necessary to mitigate the effects of culture shock that would be faced by the assignees.

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Training activities will include situational approach, case studies and role play methods to
address specific problem situations.

Day 2: Cultural Adaptation & Critical Incident

Cultural Adaptation

This session is a continuation of the introduction to the culture of the country China. Recognize
culture simply cannot help assignees to adapt themselves in foreign countries. So, this session
will focus on issues of culture shock, adaptation and adjustment to host country cultural
differences. Cross-cultural training activities will be performed to increase cultural awareness
and skills to work with foreign nations. The purpose is to increase foreign cultural adjustment of
assignees and family in a new culture besides improving business performance (Pesala, 2012).
Cultural adjustment will be taught in general, employment and interactions dimension that
encompass the way of life, food, goals and work responsibilities, communication and social life.
China cultures and their real life will be displayed to participants via video to enable participants
to assess and understand host nation culture. In addition, the video why the assignees could not
adapt to the culture of Chinese society will be shown to help assignees better prepared with
culture shock to be faced.

Critical Incident

The purpose of critical incidents activities is to improve communication skills and ability to
handle the problems that may occur during cross-cultural communication. Trainer will provide
several problems scenarios that may faced by assignees related to intercultural communication.
Some examples of critical incidents are greetings and gestures. Greeting and meaning of
gestures in different cultures often vary greatly. The selected issues are based on the experience
from previous international assignment participants. Participants need to use critical thinking in
solving the problem. Participants must put themselves in the problem and find solutions using
Chinese language which will be conducted in a group. The aim is to increase the confidence of
participants and train them to make the right and wise decisions. Trainer will help give the best
solution to the current situation by the end of the discussion.
Day 3: Interaction Training

Interaction training is very helpful to the participants of the international assignments. This is
because the success of the assignment is dependent on the interaction between the participants
and co-workers. Failure of interaction is one of the causes of participant early returns from
international duty. The methods of training will involve interaction between new paricipants and
returned participants who have experience with local culture. The participants are expected to
acquire more useful knowledge through interaction with participants who have carried out
international assignments. Hands-on-training and on-job-training is usually refers to methods
used in the training interaction (Littrell et al. 2006). The benefits derived from this exercise are
explanation of tasks, introducing contacts, and knowledge in management and operation of the
workplace. In this session, participants will be given a case study and divided into two groups.
Both groups have to perform and interact based on given situations. In addition, activities such as
games and quizzes will be held to enrich the interaction training.

Day 4: Business Etiquette

This training aims to sensitize participants about Business Etiquette, Sensitivity Training and
table manner. Participants will learn the right way to respond to the new environment, the role of
gender (men and women), gestures, body language, relationships in the workplace and
expression in business. Business etiquette training is essential to build a productive relationship
in a business. This session will cover information on business social situations, business
entertaining, written communication, dressing code for business occasion, gift-giving and
meeting procedures. Movies related to business etiquette will be presented to participant to
expose on etiquette practiced in China. Dining etiquette is crucial when working abroad. Food is
something that is very important and each country has their own traditions that need to be known
in foreign countries. Therefore, the table manner also will be taught to ensure that participants
understand and adhere to local food culture. Sensitivity training will be conducted in groups to
create awareness to things like cultural sensitivity, gender issues and the disabled. The purpose
of sensitivity training is to help participants understands, sensitive and adapt to the various needs,
concerns and characteristics of different human characters. It will help foster interpersonal
relationships among team members. The training involves sharing of perceptions themselves as
the characteristics of self, emotional issues, and other concerns with members of the group.

Day 5 : Language Training

Profesional language trainer should be hired to conduct Chinese language training every day
after for one hour. Training will be conducted in accordance with the requirements based on
international assignment period. Language training requires at least 2-3 months to understand a
foreign language. Language training will be conducted for 6 months to ensure that at least the
participants can understand and be able to use it in the work environment, although not yet
reached the level of fluency. Goodall, K., Li, and N. Warner, M. (2007) argues language barrier
is the most significant problem faced by international assignees and the Chinese are very
sensitive to the language skills of foreign workers. Assignees who can communicate in Mandarin
and have a passion for learning is considered to have a good commitment to working in China
( Goodall, K., Li, and N. Warner, M., 2007). Therefor, focus on this training would be listening,
reading, daily conversation, business conversation, and meeting conversation. Auditory training
will be conducted using a simulated CD, listening to songs and watching Chinese movies.
Reading activities will be carried out using various media such as magazines, newspapers,
comics and more. In addition, the trainer will teach basic Chinese writing as well to ensure the
participants master the language skills.

A comprehensive pre-departure training covers all aspects such as briefing country, cultural
differences, cultural adjustment, business etiquette and knowledge of the local language is
important to ensure international assignees withstand various constraints that may arise in the
course of the assignment. Therefore, it is important to take into account all aspects mentioned so
that tasks can be executed successfully.

3.0 EFFECTIVENESS OF PRE-DEPARTURE TRAINING

International assignment involves high investment but its success will give good returns to
business development. Successful International assignees can improve sales, marketing,
profitability and the relationship between the shareholders. However, it is very risky due to
various factors such as cultural distance can contribute to failure. Therefore, organizations
provide relevant training to ensure that international assignments benefits both assignees and
organizations. Implementation of training shall be designed taking into account the best interests
and the potential costs of international assignments (Arthur et. al, 2003). The design, assessment
features and effectiveness of training is essential for achieving the task. Therefore, the
assessment of the effectiveness of training should be done to determine the final result. There are
several approaches and models used to evaluate the effectiveness of training and the most
popular is the four-level model of training evaluation. For this task, Kirkpatrick's model has been
chosen.

3.1 The Kirkpatrick Model of Training Evaluation

This model was introduced by Donald Kirkpartick and very popular in the training community
since the late of 1959. In particular, these Kirkpatrick's model focused on instruction programs
through asking questions (Arthur et. al, 2003). There are four steps that need to be considered to
evaluate the training program which is Reaction, Learning, Behavior and Results (Kirkpatrick,
1978). Level 1, Reaction is aimed to assess the affective and attitudinal reactions to training
program. In this stage, the trainees’ attitude or response to a training component will be assessed,
including satisfaction with the training. Level 2, is learning criteria to assess the extent to which
trainees have learned and acquired knowledge from the training program. It aims to look at the
results obtained from the training and its impact on trainees. Level 3 is behavioral criteria that
assess the extent of the training program affect on-the-job behavior change of trainees. Level 4,
the results of criteria to assess the extent to which the training program has increased the revenue
or effectiveness of an organization such as sales or profits (Punia & Kant, 2013). The final
results include increased productivity, improved quality, lower costs, greater competition,
improved morale, more profits and better service (Kirkpatrick, 1978).
Level 1: Reaction

Reaction goal is to measure participants' reactions to the training program. Evaluation at this
stage is to include the reaction of participants to the program as instructors, topics, schedule,
style of presentation and others. The reaction was to assess the satisfaction of participants
(Kirkpatrick, 1978, 1996). The positive attitude of participants is essential for a training program.
Therefore, it is important to assess the reaction of participants to ensure that the program will
benefit the organization and the participants. Attitude measurement can be made using a
questionnaire. The questionnaires can be composed of closed-ended items as well as open-ended
items. Examples question is, How do you rate the subject ?, What did you like best?
(Kirkpatrick, 1996). The questionnaire can use five or eight point scale rating. In addition,
participants will also be asked about weakness and strength of the program. Weakness identified
can be used to improve training programs. The information obtained from the questionnaire can
be evaluated to identify reactions and make judgments on the required training program.

Level 2: Learning

The objective of learning is to know what is learned by the participants during the training.
Learning outcomes can consist of knowledge, skills or attitudes. This is because there is a
training program that emphasizes knowledge, some emphasize skills, some will emphasize
attitudes, and some will emphasize multiple learning outcomes. For knowledge based training,
assessment is made through a standardize test performance or contructed by instructor based on
learning program (Kirkpatrick, 1996). For oral presentations, the participants can be asked to
make some presentations to be made later evaluation. In addition, the performance test can be
used to assess training-related skills. Performance test is a test that requires participants to create
a product or demonstrate the process. The goal is to identify whether the participants can perform
the skills that were taught during the training. If it involves the measurement of attitudes,
questionnaires can be used as a measurement tool. Test design may use various items such as
Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, or Strongly Disagree or with other rating scales.
Level 3: Behavior

The goal of this stage is to identify whether there is a change in the behavior of the participants
work after undergoing training. It refers to the transfer of knowledge, skills and attitudes
acquired from training to the workplace. There are some guidelines for evaluating behavior of
participants. According Kirpatrick (1978), the measurement can be made before and after the
training program to determine whether a significant change in participants. Surveys using
questionnaires and interviews can be made to the supervisor of the participants, their
subordinates and those who often observe the behavior of the participants. This survey is called
retrospective survey design. It is called retrospective design because participants were asked to
think back behavior before the training and compare current behavior and decide whether there is
a change of behavior. Behavioral assessment is difficult because changes in behavior take a long
time to be applied in the workplace (Kirkpatrick, 1978). Behavior change will have a positive
impact on the organization even if they do not change then it does not mean that trainees have
not learned anything. Therefore, time is important to see the changes happen and participants to
adapt to the current situation.

Level 4: Results

This stage will assess the outcome of the training program in terms of production, sales, costs,
profits, and less employee turnover to the company (Kirkpatrick, 1978, 1996). Directly refers to
the return of investment (ROI) that can contribute to the functioning of the organization, changes
in financial results or beneficial effect on the development of the business. It is difficult to get
evidence that the training program be a major factor to change the results of an organization.
This is because to see the results take time and there may be other factors that contribute to the
company's performance. One way to document the level four outcomes is the interrupted time-
series design. Data were recorded on a regular basis, such as sales, and turnover can be used to
measure results over time. A comparison between the data before training and after training may
be referred to the company's current performance.
4.0 RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

Recruitment is the process of generating a group of people who are qualified to apply for a job in
an organization while the selection is a process in which the manager uses a special instrument to
select a group of applicants who can be successful in a given job (French & Rumbles, 2010).
Recruitment and selection is a critical human resource functions for the organization. Hiring the
right employees in an organization will determine the success of a business. This is because the
profitability of the company, corporate culture, production and integrity of the company depends
on the selection of the right employees. According Mankikar (2014), the efficiency of labor
determines the success of an organization and if the recruitment and selection was not done in a
systematic manner will affect the overall functioning of the company. As said above recruitment
and selection is a critical process and the possibility of involving the various problems to be
overcome by the human resource department. Some of the issues and problems of current issues
will be discussed in the next paragraph.

4.1 The Role of Human Resource Planning In Recruitment and Selection Process

Human resource planning involves planning the recruitment of the right employees at the right
time to perform tasks to achieve the objectives of an organization (Anwim, Ekwoaba & Anthony,
2012). Selection and recruitment assignment is a challenge in human resource planning because
employees with less potential can affect the overall function of the organization. Good
employees must have features such as a motivated, responsible, committed work, skills and helps
organization to be more competitive. Potential recruitment is not easy and is influenced by
various factors and challenges. Among the challenges in the selection and recruitment of
employee attitude, workplace diversity, mismatch between applicants' skills and jobs and
environmental factors.

Employee attitude is subjective and difficult to predict. The attitude of the candidate during the
interview might have been different with his attitude after being selected for work. In most of the
time, HR had to deal with the problem employee because the character of each individual is
different. The negative attitude of employees can bring many problems to the organization. This
will cause the HR managers had to assist staff with various training, counseling and disciplinary
action to ensure the harmonious and orderly workplace. Therefore, it is important for HR
managers using legitimate screening instruments and can be trusted to avoid hiring problematic
employees.

Organizations need to focus on workplace diversity. Priority should be given to talented

employees to develop their talents and skills to promote the process of globalization. Workplace
diversity absence will result in less competitive employees and the company will not grow. By
implementing diversity then it will foster productive and innovative environment among
employees. Different approaches work also seeks to resolve issues that may exist in the
organization and improve efficiencies.

Organizations sometimes have difficulty filling vacancies as difficult to find suitable candidates.
This is due to the existence of a qualification issue is not commensurate with vacancies. There
are sometimes, though there are qualified candidates in the market, the unattractive
organization's strategy failed to attract the right talent. Failure to fill the necessary positions will
lead the organization had to deal with adversity to achieve organizational goals. Thus,
forecasting human resource needs to be done correctly and meets current needs. In addition, the
organization also needs to be sensitive to environmental issues and demographics. The location
of an organization also affects the choice of candidates. For example, the location of the
companies located in remote areas and poor infrastructure rarely preferred by the candidate.
Furthermore, current generation now give priority to factors such as motivation, aspirations and
attractive working environment. For example, the organization that has many Baby Boomer
workers may not be an option for the younger generation.
4.2 The Challenges of Recruitment and Selection of Employees in Zimbabwean
Companies

Human Resource personnel in Zimbabwe are facing many challenges in the process of selection
and recruitment. The Zimbabwean crisis in the new millennium caused them to face the
economic challenges that lead to poverty and unemployment at a high level. Zimbabwe
Government has taken some drastic measures to revive the economy but it does not help and
caused the economic situation worsens. Zinyemba (2014) conducted a study to look at the
problems faced by HR personnel in the recruitment and selection of staff who are affected by the
current economy in Zimbabwe.

The study conducted on 10 companies in Zimbabwe shows that there are some issues and
problems that are evident in the selection and recruitment. One issue is the cost of advertising.
Recruitment in Zimbabwe is done through advertising through print media. However, the cost of
advertising using print media such as newspapers and television is expensive. In addition, there
is also a challenge to choose which media have an extensive reader or listener to advertise
vacancies. Selection of the appropriate advertising media may be expensive but a miscalculation
may cause it to fail to reach potential candidates. Recruitment efforts may fail if the advertising
does not reach the target destination. Most of the small and medium companies can not afford to
bear the high cost of advertising that causes recruitment of less qualified staff.

Fake qualification is also among other issues faced by the HR manager. High unemployment are
among the factors the applicant submits false qualifications for job applications. Some potential
applicants likely to use other people’s qualifications, especially relatives with the same
surnames. When companies discover fraud, the company had to re-advertise the vacancies and
incur high costs. Nepotism and favoritism are common in Zimbabwe, where top management
influence recruitment and selection process. The top management more likely to choose their
relatives and friends and advertising job vacancies were created to cater to the procedure only.
Furthermore, the politicians also affect recruitment and selection process of candidates for
appointment by reference to the vacancy. In this case, issue of qualification is unimportant and
there are some that do not need to follow a recruitment and selection procedure. This leads to
qualified candidates did not apply because regard it as a waste of time.

The high unemployment rate is not the only cause of brain drain but had to contend with over
qualified people. The labor market is flooded by people who are highly qualified chasing for
limited jobs that are available. Job shortage has forced them to accept any job that exists. As
soon as they get better jobs, they quit and cause the company to go through another process of
recruitment. This also caused the company to incur additional costs stemming from advertising
to find qualified candidate.

4.3 Recruitment and Selection Process in Bangladesh Civil Service: A Critical Overview

Quality of public services is dependent on the individual ability. Selection of candidates that is
efficient, knowledgeable, innovative and dynamics is essential to ensure quality of service
delivered to the public. However, the civil service recruitment system in Bangladesh is at an
unsatisfactory level. Jahan (2012) has made a critical analysis of the recruitment and selection of
public services in Bangladesh. Recruitment in the public sector Bangladesh made through direct
appointment through open competitive examinations, promotion and appointment of the transfer.
However, the existing recruitment process has many weaknesses and to public criticism.
Therefore, the public service does not appeal to many people who qualified. Examination of
existing procedures for staff recruitment the public service is considered outdated and time-
consuming. Examination format used was not able to test the skills required for the appointment
of the civil servant class 1. In addition, the examination does not test creative thinking and
analytical ability. The candidates just need to memorize study guides to pass the examination.
Furthermore, the tests do not take into account the specialization of labor leads to a mismatch
between skills and jobs. The results are not given to candidates and examiners panel has alleged
corruption and harassment of the candidates. The examination process takes a very long time up
to 24 months for the final selection. This may have a negative impact on public services as a
quality candidate may have worked with other organizations.
In addition, the reservation of posts also affects the recruitment of civil servants. Reservation of
title by the principle of representation and special considerations for a particular group exists in
Bangladesh. Recruitment of female employees also must be university graduates. However, no
university admission quotas for women as both male and female students were selected based on
merit. The absence of women's quotas and the implementation of a quota system that is not
transparent to cause discrimination in recruitment of female civil servants.

Finally, political interference and corruption have tarnished the election of public officials. The
appointment of the chairman and members of the political circles create a bias in the civil service
hiring process. As a result, there is the issue of recruiting candidates in line with the ruling party.
The overall affect recruitment and selection process for civil servants in Bangladesh.

4.4 Recruitment And Selection In Workforce Localization: Challenges And Practices

From The United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a country rich in oil and is located in the Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC) region. UAE popular as a destination for labor migrants to find jobs and high
living standards. According to the Malit & Youha (2013), the UAE has the fifth largest
immigrant international in the world with a population of 7.8 million of the total UAE population
of 9.2 million. The number of migrant workers has resulted in a large unemployment rate among
local people, especially young people and women increased. To overcome this problem, the
program Workforce localization (WL) is conducted aims to improve employment opportunities
for local people and at the same time reducing the country's dependence on foreign labor.
However, the UAE government had to face the many challenges of recruitment and selection can
be categorized into three namely, demographic, educational and motivational challenges,
economic challenges, and social and cultural challenges.

In terms of demographics, population of UAE nationals covers only a small minority group.
Emiratis labor force represented only 27.4% in the public sector and 1.3% in the private sector.
Minority workforce is a challenge to the UAE for HRM managers to make recruitment and
selection of local employees. In addition, the UAE graduates have less market-oriented skills,
weak in English, less work experience and motivation as well as the employers doesn’t trust their
willingness to work. Thus, lack of qualified candidates among UAE residents led recruiters to
reduce recruitment and selection of local residents.

Direct salary cost of local residents with the cost of qualified and experienced expatriate also a
source of local citizens are not interested in the private sector. Among them, local residents are
subject to tax salaries, pension contributions which shall not apply to foreign workers. At the
same time, employers consider hiring local residents are expensive because they often stop
during training or after training when getting a better deal elsewhere. In addition, different
employment rights of local workers and migrant workers also become an obstacle recruiting
local residents. Under UAE law, the employer is forbidden to dismiss local workers, except for
special reasons. Instead, the laws are more favorable to employers to control foreign workers.

Recruitment and selection in the UAE is also influenced by the social and cultural challenges.
Local residents prefer public sector jobs because of higher wages, working conditions, comfort
and cultural sensitivity. Government jobs that offer wages several times higher than the private
sector as well as the benefits of a better choice for local residents. Local residents are also more
interested in incentives and compensation in the public sector on a par with their qualifications
and experience than the private sector. Furthermore, workplace cultures also become a driving
force to choose work by local residents. Local residents are more interested in working with
other local residents as regards culture and their values respected in the workplace, namely in the
public sector.

4.5 Issues and Problems Faced by Organizations in Recruitment : A Case of Telecom

Sector in Pakistan

Shaukat Malik et al. (2012) conducted a study to understand the problems and issues faced by
Pakistan relating to recruitment organizations. The study involved both public sector and private
sector. Prejudice is seen as a major issue impacting on recruitment in Pakistan. In the public
sector, the main issue is the environmental problem while in the private sector, prejudice once
again become a major problem. For this study, the HR managers of the Telecom Sector of
Pakistan has been selected as a respondent. Telecom sector of Pakistan is major service sector
and more developed sector in Pakistan. It is a major contributor to the gross national output and
has more than 95 million customers. The HR department plays an important role in ensuring this
sector was able to maintain a good service. Therefore, the study is done to determine problems
faced by organizations in the telecom sector of Pakistan.

Shaukat Malik et al. (2012) argue there are a number of different problems and issues related to
the recruitment selected for this study. Among them are the reference, selection standards,
environmental influence (technology, social, economical, political), culture, interview (personal
biases, emphasis on negative information, personality) and prejudice. All of these issues are
examined for their impact on recruitment in the context of Pakistan. Data study involving 130
different HR personnel from telecom sector shows that there are significant differences between
recruitment in the public and private sectors. The results showed that the environment and the
reference as a major issue in the public sector and prejudice and standard selection of the main
issues in the private sector. In addition, there are number of moderate issues that influence
recruitment in Pakistan is the culture and interview. Obviously there are differences in
recruitment issues and problems between both public and private sectors in Pakistan. HR parties
should pay attention to these issues to make sure of the recruitment process is clean so that only
competent and qualified applicants are selected for work.
.
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