1.

LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION

In specifically, this paper examines the literature on human resource management methods
to illustrate the study's theoretical underpinnings. This study was conducted to learn more
about the significance of human resource management and the HR procedures used by the
company to keep personnel. This article, which offers a review of HRM and HRM methods
and seeks to enhance organizational performance, was developed using research from
books, research papers, and theses. I tried to do a literature review on human resources
management strategies for employee retention in this research article.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Human Resource Management
All management choices and procedures that have an impact on an organization's
workforce are included in human resource management (HRM) (Bhatt and Reddy, 2011).
There have been many definitions of human resource management used by different
scholars. Daud (2006) defined HRM as a system, policy, and practices that can affect folks
that work in an organization. In addition, Shahnawaz and Juyal (2006) defined Human
resources management (HRM) as all decisions and practice that influence worker within
organizations. De Cieri, et al. (2008, p.5) explained HRM as “the policies, practices and
systems that influence employees' behavior”. While Hussain and Ahmad (2012) considered
HRM to be a system that attempts to realize an active balance between the personal
interests of people and their economic added value. Lastly, Burma (2014) viewed HRM is a
strategic and clear approach for the organization’s most valued assets behind on the
employees.

Human resources management is considered to be the most important factor that helps the
organization to achieve a competitive advantage (Obeidat, et al., 2012, 2013, 2014;
Masa'deh, et al., 2019). This is due to the fact that managers in both public and private
organizations consider human resources to be the main source of sustaining competitive
advantage; this is done by having the “best of the best” human resource systems for
recruiting, selecting, motivating, and efficiently managing their people (Mesch, 2010).

HRM practices are defined as “organizational activities directed at managing the pool of
human resources and ensuring that the resources are employed towards the fulfillment of
organizational goals” (Pankaj and Saxena, 2012, p. 671). However, it must be taken into
consideration that human resource management practices are not fixed; they differ from
one country to another (Ozutku and Ozturkler, 2009; Tiwari and Saxena, 2012).

A significant body of research focuses on several specific human resource management

practices. Such practices include staffing, training and development, performance appraisal
compensation management, safety and health, industrial relations, and recruitment and
selection (Ferguson’s, 2006). Singh (2009) worked on the addition of a number of HRM
practices including planning, performance evaluation, career management, and rewards.
Karunesh and Pankaj (2009) examined the HRM practices implemented and identified
some other practices, such as employer-employee relations, recognition through rewards,
culture building, career development, and benefits. Furthermore, Pahuja and Chander
(2012) added a few other practices: inculcating the right skills, knowledge and attitude;
having a congenial work environment; and maintaining good employee relationships. In
Hussain and Ahmad (2012) work, others HRM practices, namely staffing, training and
development, performance appraisal compensation management, safety and health, and
industrial relations. In addition, Obeidat, et al., (2014) included the practices of job design,
and teamwork as important HRM practices.

Based on the comprehensive literature review, this study focuses on four HRM practices;
recruitment and selection, performance appraisals, training and development, and
compensation and reward. The rationale behind selecting the practices is that these
practices occur relatively frequently in HRM literature for manufacturing and service
industries.

Recruitment and Selection

It is generally agreed by most employers that their staff is the greatest asset for their
company, and thus the recruitment and selection processes are vital in ensuring that a new
employee can become efficient and produce desirable result in a short time. In other word,
the success of an organization depends on having the right number of staffs, with the right
skills and abilities (Mark, 2014).
Various authors who studied recruitment and selection have agreed that there is a distinct
different between the two, this point can be seen in both Taylor (2008) work and Rees and
French (2010) studied recruitment is the process whereby an organization collects
applications for a position and creates a pool of possibly fit workers, while selection
includes using techniques or different methods to evaluate the applicants and choose who is
best fit to the available position, and achieve management goals and legal requirements.
Mondy and Noe (2013) defined recruitment as the process of pool people on a timely basis,
in sufficient numbers and with suitable experiences, to apply for jobs with an organization.
Selection mentions to the process of choosing the individual, who is best suited for position
and for the organization. According to Khanna (2014, 148) recruitment is “a process of
publicizing the vacancies of any esteemed capacity in the most attractive and rightful
manner with the sole objective of attracting maximum pool of eligible candidates for the
position”; while selection is “a process of sorting the most relevant job applications of
candidate selection or closure”.
Performance Appraisals Performance appraisals are a key factor in improving the quality of
work input and encouraging employees to be more engaged. Performance appraisals also
introduce a foundation for upgrades as well as the development of an organization and
employee succession plans (Shaout and Yousif, 2014).
The aim of performance appraisal is to guide and encourage the employees’ activities to be
in line with the organization goals (Zhu, 2010). Hence, performance appraisal is imperative
to the strengthening bond between employee and employer. In addition, it is one of the
important issues for companies getting successful and improving their performance
(Burma,
2014). Also, it is for documenting employees’ performance for legal reasons (Gordon,
2016).
Phin (2015) defined performance appraisal as a process of evaluating the performance of
employees in the workplace. It contains both quantitative and qualitative aspects of
employee job performance. It is a process to communicate to an employee and plan to
develop for improvement. In addition, performance appraisal is also viewed as the process
that affect the status of employee, such as, retention, termination, promotion, transfer,
salary increase or decrease, or admission into a training program (Neeraj,2014). According
to Singh (2014), performance appraisal is a systematic method for periodically evaluating
job performance based on the criteria pre-established and organizational goals.
Training and Development
Training and development are important in the world of business especially in the
increasing competition and challenges between the companies to survive and keep
companies alive and to achieve the competitive advantage and get the best results
organization must providing training and development programs that improve staff skills
and also enhance their performance (Chaudhary and Bhaskar, 2016). It is one of the
important ways to facilitate individual employees in learning new skills and knowledge
with the goal to develop their current skill set and knowledge (Joarder, et al., 2011).
Jimenez and Valle (2013) confirmed in their study that human are valuable assets of the
Organization, thus, an organization needs to invest in training and development to
strengthen their capacities and abilities.
The practice of training and development is defined as the process of improving the skills
and develop the ability to accomplish tasks efficiently and effectively in organizations
(Robert and John, 2004). In addition, this practice is considered technical use to transfer
knowledge, skills and competencies to improve employee working in the current and future
business performance (Parce and Robinson, 2009). In addition, Adjirackor, et al., (2016)
identified training as a systematic approach that improves individual, team, and
organizational effectiveness. Similarly, Noe (2010, p.24) viewed training as “to a planned
effort by a company to facilitate employees’ learning of job-related competencies. These
competencies include knowledge, skills, or behaviors that are critical for successful job
performance”. This is supported by Marsíkova and Slaichova (2015) who claimed that
training and development is a set of tools and methods and content to create a purposeful
approach which is planned by the company's efforts to develop the competencies of their
employees.
Training is considered to be the most important factor in the business sector due to the fact
that training provides numerous benefits. Training develops competencies such as
technical, human, conceptual and managerial for the furtherance of individual and
organization growth (Kulkarni, 2013). It also increases the quality process of connection
with managers and coworkers as well as teamwork ability (Vute and Farcas, 2015). With
regards to employees, training creates a great job satisfaction and morale among employees
and it increases salary, promotion and incentives (Chaudhary and Bhaskar, 2016). Lastly,
training also enhances company productivity (Marsíkova and Slaichova, 2015).

Compensation and Reward

Mondy (2010) stated compensation as a combination of employees’ benefits and services
provided to employee in return for their service, which positively affects the retaining and
motivating employees. Through Werner (2011, p. 587) represented compensation as
“packages entail some basic features that tend to make employees satisfy on their job
amongst which includes salaries, bonuses, incentives, allowances, promotion, recognition”.
In addition, Gopinath and Shibu (2016) viewed compensation as a payment received by the
employee for its contribution to the organization, which is an integral part of the human
resources management Gateway through the monetary and non-monetary benefits which
help in motivating employees and improving the effectiveness of the organization.
Compensation has several benefits such as; the ability to achieve employee satisfaction and
employee retention and increase performance in the company (Osibanjo, et al., 2014). It
can also help the organization to achieve its objectives and increase its competitiveness
(BeckKrala and Scott 2014). In addition, compensation can stably and retains employees
and helps in reducing labor turnover within the organization (Odunlami, 2014). Thus, the
compensation system should be an effective tool for creating desired employee behavior
and positive attitudes within the organization (BeckKrala and Scott, 2014)
According to Chen and Hsieh (2006, p. 66), rewards are “everything employees perceive to
be of value resulting from the employment relationship”. In addition, Armstrong, et al.,
(2011) defined rewards as a strategy, policies, and operations pursued by the company to
ensure that the value of people and the contribution they make to achieving organization
goals. Lim and Ling (2012) represented a reward as a system that consists of rewards and
benefits that are given to employees. Such rewards are vacation holidays, health insurance,
and transportation allowance and reward performance.
Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is one of the critical success factors in today’s competitive business
environment as it influences companies’ market share and customer retention (Ooi, et al.,
2011). Customers are often considered to be the most important asset of any organization;
thus, the success of an organization depends on its number of customers (Iakov, 2013).
Customer satisfaction was related to people who paid for a products or services and used
the products and services (Ling, et al., 2016). It is referring to how a product satisfies
customers or how it fulfills their needs and expectations (Bitner and Zeithaml, 2003). Qi, et
al. (2012) defined customer satisfaction as the comparison between expectations and the
perceived performance after a specific purchase. Therefore, customer satisfaction is
believed a positive determinant of how strong is the relationship between the customer and
the product provider (Saleh, 2015).
According to Akenbor (2014), there are several basic questions that should be asked by a
company in measuring and tracking customer satisfaction; How satisfied are the
customers?, are the customers more satisfied or less satisfied with the company than they
were in previous years?, how does the customer satisfaction level compare with that of the
competitors?, what impact does their satisfaction level have on our company’s profit?.

Employee Empowerment
Employees are seen to possess a certain kind of power, and their potential can be released
through empowerment by an increase of knowledge, experience and motivation (Darvish
and Norozi, 2011; AlHrassi, et al., 2016; Obeidat, et al., 2016a, b, 2019; Abualoush, et al.,
2018a, b; Al-dalahmeh, et al., 2018; Masa'deh, et al., 2018a, b). The first definition on
empowerment can be traced back to 1788 when it was seen as the delegation in an
organizations role which should be assigned to an individual based on their organizational
role (Rezaie and Bagheri, 2014). Empowerment is also seen as the ability to allow others to
assume the responsibilities, risks, and rewards that are linked with making their own
decisions (Armache, 2013). According to Reji (2011), employee empowerment includes
confidence, influence, information involvement, decision making and liability. Moreover,
Ukil (2016) believed that empowerment not only involves giving power to the people to
decide; he also highlights that empowerment is a kind of clever decision-making power that
can be used for helping the company with their activities effectively. Individuals need to be
empowered in order to perform their assigned tasks effectively. Therefore, empowerment
should be at the core of any successful organizational strategy (Awamleh, 2013). A
successful application of empowerment depends on both managers and subordinates.
Employee empowerment as a strategy that enhance organizational performance; it also
helps with developing a flexible organization that can be capable of adapting to a changing
external environment (Ferit, 2015). When employees experience empowerment and see the
impact of their jobs are having on the organization, they identify more with the goals of the
organization and as a result are more committed to it (Elloy, 2012). Similarly, it has been
observed that employee empowerment is important to organizational innovativeness and
effectiveness; with the right individuals, job characteristics and organizational
environment, employee empowerment can have a noticeable effect on motivation and
performance (Kimolo, 2013). Thus, employee empowerments can also improve
productivity, performance and job satisfaction (Greasley, et al., 2005). Chaturvedi (2008)
claimed that empowerment is one of the most effective ways of enabling employees at all
levels to use their creative abilities to improve both the performance of the organization as
well as the quality of their own working life.
Human Recourse Management Practices and Competitive Advantage
Traditional sources of competitive advantage, such as production capacities, research
laboratories, access to financial resources, supply channels or economies of scale, are said
to be necessary but inadequate for success in today’s business environment. It is
acknowledged that individuals are the key assets in the new world market and that all other
assets are regarded merely as commodities which can be purchased at market prices; only
the human asset is highly valued because it has potential to learn, grow, and contribute
(Coff, 2011; Mirah and Masa'deh, 2014).
Competitive advantage can be developed and sustained by producing value in a way that is
rare and difficult for competitors to imitate; the quality of the human resource should also
be difficult to imitate (Pankaj, 2012). HRM practices such as performance appraisal,
compensation, selection practices, employment security, job descriptions, career
opportunities, and training and development practices can be clustered as a means to
communicate to the employees regarding the specific skills and behaviors necessary to
create and sustain a competitive advantage (Adil, 2015). If well managed, human resources
have the potential to be a source of sustainable competitive advantage and have an impact
on fundamental objectives such as quality, profits and customer satisfaction (Absar, et al.,
2012). In addition, if HRM practices are used for improving competencies that are
company specific and for creationing of organizational knowledge, there is a possibility
that competitive advantage can be sustained (Lazim, et al., 2015).
According to Mark (2011), HRM practices of an organization can be an important source of
competitive advantage through cost leadership and product differentiation. The competitive
advantage realized through HRM practices can be more sustainable than that achieved by
other means. Therefore, a company should continuously improve its HRM practices to
retain its competitive advantage. For this reason, human Resources seek to achieve this by
aim the supply of skilled and qualified individuals and the capabilities of the current staff,
with the organization’s current and future business plans; this is done in order to maximize
the return on investment, knowledge management and electronic systems (Aldmour, et al.,
2015, 2017; Almajali and Al-Lozi, 2016; Alenezi, et al., 2017; Khwaldeh, et al., 2017;
Obeidat, et al., 2017; Tarhini, et al., 2017a,b), and in turn ensure future survival and
success (Wen-Cheng, et al., 2011; Obeidat, et al., 2019).
Strategic Planning
In the present, strategic planning for all industries has become absolutely crucial, as there
appears to be unprecedented phenomenon where every sector is being confronted with
substantial increases in both uncertainty and competition (Vel, et al., 2012). All types of
profit or non-profit organizations are seen to be involved in a strategic planning process
(Hough, et al., 2011). Strategic planning deals with making long-term decision that help
organization to respond to changing environments (Volberda, 2010). Suklev and Debarliev
(2015) described strategic planning as activities that are geared towards obtaining success
and remaining competitive in any sector. An appropriate strategic plan helps organization
to change their plans according to market needs; it focuses on the organizational planning
process (Brah and Lim, 2006).
McNamara (2016) defined strategic planning as a disciplined approach to producing
fundamental decisions and actions that gives guidance and direction to members of an
organization with particular emphasis to their role of products and services delivery.
According to Rahman (2016), strategic planning its principle is collaborative and flexible
in order to create and describe a better future and to address diversity of problem. In
addition, David (2013) described strategic planning is a process of accomplishing the
established vision, mission, and goals of the organization.
The objective of strategic planning is to achieve a balance between the external
environment and the internal capabilities of the firm. For this purpose, the strategic
managers identify critical tasks through a process which is known as the strategic
management process (Pearce and Robinson, 2009; Jofre, 2011). This process is the
approach currently used by strategic planners, and it consists of several phases. Such
phases are analysis, formulation, implementation, evaluation and control (Ololube, et al.,
2016).

Competitive Advantage
The business sector is currently experiencing intensive competition with both local and
international players in the market; if businesses fail to deal with these changes, they are
likely to lose substantial market share and profit. Finding a suitable position in an
intensively competitive environment is the key to survival and long-term profitability for a
business, and this goal is only possible through creating and keeping competitive advantage
(Gareche, et al., 2013).
Currently, all the market players are fighting for their share in a highly competitive
environment, but only a few market leaders are focusing on the competition; therefore,
these leaders are able to survive while the others die out (Essays, 2013). The term
competitive advantage refers to a “set of capabilities that permanently enable the business
to demonstrate better performance than its competitors” (Bobillo, et al., 2010, p. 607).
Ferrell (2012) suggested that competitive advantage is something that the company does
better than its rival that give it increase customers satisfaction and develop relationships
with important stakeholders. Yaseen, et al. (2016) defined competitive advantage as the
capacity of an organization to create and maintain defensible position over its competitors.
According to Okonda, et al. (2016), competitive advantage is necessary for satisfied
customers who wish to receive a higher value in delivered products for a higher income
compared to what the owners request from management; such wants can be achieved
through the organization of production, a higher application and production costs that are as
low as possible. This goal may be attained either from implementing a value creating
strategy that has not been implemented by other competitors or by implementing the same
strategies used by the competitors but in a superior way. Competitive advantage that are
maintained for long periods of time can turns into strategic or sustainable competitive
advantage(Popa, et al., 2011). The main source for obtaining competitive advantage is by
making the highest-quality product or achieving lower costs than rivals (Porter, 2013).
Other sources include developing critical internal and external business relationships, as
well as building a reputation for product quality (Sachitra and Chong, 2016). Both human
capital and the evolution of information may also represent a source of competitive
advantage (Popa, et al., 2011).

SCHEDULES OF THE ACTIVITIES AND GENTLE CHART

6.1 PROJECT PLANNING AND SCHEDULING

Below is the Gantt chart for this project, which shows the time line flow for the project.