EVALUATING THE BAHRAIN GOVERNMENT'S CORPORATE STRATEGY FOR DEVELOPING HUMAN RESOURCES

Abstract

ABSTRACT : There is an argument going on amongst the Human Resources Development specialists as to whether there is a Corporate Human Resources Development strategy existing in Bahrain or not. Nobody can give an exact answer, not even the Government senior officials. The researcher found this kind of argument a rich subject to be tackled. From the data collected through the questionnaires and other sources, the researcher is going, hopefully, to reach a specific conclusion and to put an end to the on going argument. As the State of Bahrain is planning to ride the economic globalisation wave and is accepting the challenges of the next century, the economic growth possibly will be slow due to the aggressive regional and international competition. Therefore the aim of this study is to formulate a Corporate human resources strategy in order to help Bahrain to cope with its human resources problems of the next century. In order to make the aim of the study achievable, the researcher has tackled the issue by analysing its historical dimension as well as the realistic dimension. To do this the researcher took the following steps: First, reviewed the historical dimension of the development of the status of human resources from 1921 when the British Council started its activities. This was followed by a big step when the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) started training activities during the 1930's. The historical dimension provided the researcher with a strong floor to begin with. Second, the researcher then reviewed and analysed the realistic dimension of the human resources development in Bahrain through analysis of the feedback received from the questionnaire. Questionnaires were completed by 42 Human Resources specialists, 22 from the Private sector and 20 from the Public sector and by three government bodies who are directly responsible to develop human resources in Bahrain, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Civil Service Bureau. By applying several analysis techniques such as Strategic analysis, PEST analysis, SWOT and Pettigrew and Whipp's five central factors in managing change analysis, the researcher was able to complete a broad and clear picture about the real situation of human resources development in Bahrain. Third, the analysis of both the historical dimension and the realistic dimension enabled the researcher to establish clearly that there is no corporate human resources strategy existing in Bahrain and that what is available currently is a peacemeal effort. Fourth, the researcher accordingly formulated a guideline for a corporate human resources development strategy to help Bahrain to cope with the rapid changes and challenges that are going to be found during the coming century as a result of the international and regional aggressive competition.