Case Study III- Human Resource Management practices in a Transition Economy- Challenges & Prospects.

Human Resource Management

ASSIGNMENT 3

Case Study III

Human Resource Management practices in a
Transition Economy
Challenges & Prospects
14th November, 2016

Submitted To:
Course Instructor: Mr. Jayendra Rimal

Submitted By:Mohit Maheshwari

EMBA Fall 2015- Semester II

0|Page

Case Study III- Human Resource Management practices in a Transition Economy- Challenges & Prospects.

Q1. What questions/issues is the author trying to address? How important are they? Why?
The study conducted by John O. Okpara and Pamela Wynn has been conducted in Nigeria with
a sole purpose of various Human Resource Practices conducted in the country and the
challenges and prospects of these practices. As per the authors this area Nigeria, a sub-Saharan
African country has been neglected for research and since this economy is heading towards
globalization a need to do a Human Resource Management study has been arising to know
whether the same human resource management theories are been employed or a new or
different theory are been used in place of the traditional practices in the Western Economy or a
Developed economy.
The authors have focused on four points in their study:
i.

With an increase in the globalization in the world economy it is a necessary that the
human resources management practices are been used in the non-western economy.
But we also need to intervene that those policies are used and followed. They argue
that with the globalization of the world economy there is increasing recognition that the
efficacy and generalization of Human Resource Management interventions in a nonWestern context need to be investigated.

ii.

Nigeria is a developing or transition economy from developing to developed economy

but as per the president of Nigeria Obasanjo, he said that the State-Owned Enterprises
(SOEs) were doing better that the private sector of the country but the SOEs were
unable to live to the expectation of the people and were not able to produce the
desired good and services required or demanded by the country. And hence Nigeria has
opened its borders to international business, making it imperative for scholars and
practitioners to understand Human Resource Management practices and challenges in
Nigeria.

iii.

The era of mixed economy system (socialist/capitalist) has ended in Nigeria and since
they has opened the gates to the international business and enter the phase of
privatization and globalization, it has become essential to determine whether Human
Resource Management practices and policies developed in the West also hold in a nonWestern country. Which is required because due to the end of State-Owned Enterprises
or Public Corporation reduction in labor force have occurred as the public sector
organizations are associated with over staffing, which was one of the core reason to the
downfall of State-Owned Enterprises.

1|Page

Case Study III- Human Resource Management practices in a Transition Economy- Challenges & Prospects.

iv.

There has not been many studies in the sector of Human Resource Management in
Nigeria so a need to study the how the Human Resource Management arises in the
country. Once how the Human Resource Management functions has been studied
developing the effectiveness and sustainability of the same in context to the
management studies in Nigeria is required. The authors also focuses on the academic
perspective and states that this study shall help to understand the practices and
challenged faced by the Human Resource Management and shall also be a big
contribution in the field of Human Resource Management for future development.

The research is first of its kind and problems have certainly aroused to complete this research.
But since it is first of its kind it has help in further research that will be conducted in the country
in the future.

2|Page

Case Study III- Human Resource Management practices in a Transition Economy- Challenges & Prospects.

Q2. What basic assumptions/arguments does the author make? What facts/opinions does he
present? How valid are these assumptions/arguments/facts/opinions in the light of
theoretical development in the thematic field?
The authors have started their study without any prior information in the human resource
management theories or practice in the country Nigeria rather they have made their base from
the Human Resource Management studies that have been conducted in the developing
countries.
Five different sector of industry namely Banks, Construction, Manufacturing, Oil and
Transportation with 365 HR Professionals have been interviewed in order to complete the
research. The facts and opinions are provided by the authors are in a tabular format which
shows the Number of HR Professionals interviewed (n), Mean, Standard Deviation (SD) and
different techniques like Face to Face Interview, Questionnaires were used to light up the
study.
The assumptions that are drawn for the study are drawn from the Human Resource
Management studies that were conducted in the developing country and hence it might be
different than the Human Resource Management study results in the Nigerian economy. There
are very few studies demonstrating the effectiveness of HRM practices outside Western
countries. To date, very little research has been done on HRM practices in Nigeria in general,
and none on this particular topic. And hence the arguments and comparison that have been
made might not be sufficient to create a clear picture towards how the human resource
management works in the country.

3|Page

Case Study III- Human Resource Management practices in a Transition Economy- Challenges & Prospects.

Q3. What are the significant empirical/conceptual contributions of or gaps in this article?
The whole survey was conducted with 365 human resource professionals and line managers in
12 organizations which were located in 10 cities which are the biggest industrial hub of the
country. This limited the study within those big organizations only which created a gap by which
the study could not represent the whole country.
The sample size was small and when the sample size is small compared to the population size,
statistically the mean, standard deviation do not show the real result and create more of a
fabricated results which was a problem in this study.
Another limitation with the study was at the beginning of the study, that no human resource
survey or study has been conducted or executed in Nigeria or any other African countries.
When there is no study in the beginning it becomes tough for the authors for knowing where to
start there study and how to conduct it.
And that made the authors to use the study that have been conducted in different developing
countries and conclude accordingly, but such a conclusion does not show the real aspect in the
country because the human resource system, planning, evaluation differ from country to
country and sometime company to company in the same country and hence concluding
according to the study of Human Resource made in other countries does not help in creating a
decision in other country.
Hence, such type of research should be conducted again in a big scale taking consideration of
the results of this research and other research conducted in the country after this research.

4|Page

Case Study III- Human Resource Management practices in a Transition Economy- Challenges & Prospects.

Q4. What conclusions does the author draw? Are these conclusions justified in the light of the
empirical/theoretical evidence by the author? How important are these conclusions?
The conclusions that the authors have drawn are:
i.

Some of the Human Resources Practices like Training, Recruitment, Compensation,

Performance Appraisal and Reward Systems are in place and as per the facts and data
provided by the authors which were ranged in two ways first, No Importance (1) to
Importance (5) and secondly Strongly Agree (1) to Strongly Disagree (5) which
provided us with a high mean and a low standard deviation which is aimed for a perfect
statistical data. And hence the first conclusion that is drawn on the current practices in
the Human Resource Management has been backed up with data and facts and makes it
an important conclusion.

ii.

The next conclusion that the authors draw is related to the Challenges in the Human
Resource Management. Challenges like AIDS, Tribalism, Bribery, and Corruption are
some of the issues that needed to be addressed in the Human Resource Management
techniques in the Nigerian Economy. As per the authors there are no policies in the
Human Resource in place for the above challenges, for e.g.: people with HIV AIDS are
discriminated in the organization and organization should make policies to protect the
right and values of the person with such problem.

iii.

Prospects in the Human Resource Management policies are needed to be look through.
Prospects like Health Care Issues, Sexual Harassment Issues, Leadership Development,
Globalization etc. The mean and the standard deviation for prospects are low as
compared to Challenges and Current Practices but ignoring them will result to a problem
in the organization. Motivation is required to make the employee work for the
organization and as globalization increases more trained and experienced human
resource managers will be required in the organizations.

The conclusion that the authors have drawn are backed up with statistical data but since the
sample size is small the data cannot hold good for the whole economy.

5|Page

Case Study III- Human Resource Management practices in a Transition Economy- Challenges & Prospects.

Q5. How could this work be further extended or refined?

This is the first kind of the research conducted in the country and hence it has created a small
picture as to how and what are the different policies of Human Resource Management that are
been practiced in the country. The data table also shows the various practices, challenges faced
and prospects in the different companies in Nigeria.
The work can be further extended or refined focusing on the following points:
i.

Even though the research was first of its kind in the country and the countries that has
been researched are countries which have the major industrial hub. The research was
limited to 12 Companies in 10 Countries which makes the sample small seeing the
demographic area of the country 356,667 Sq. Mi. the size of the sample should be
increased. Due to the small sample size the findings cannot be put to hold on the whole
economy and companies in the economy.

ii.

The research was conducted on 5 sectors of industry namely Banks, Construction,

Manufacturing, Oil and Transportation which are companies with big pockets and good
financial condition. In a country like Nigeria there will be more of medium ranged
organization than big organization and when the research was conducted in 2008 which
was just 5 years from the beginning of globalization in the Nigerian economy and hence
they shall be more of medium and small organization than the big companies and hence
the study should have been conducted on them rather than the big organization.

iii.

As Nigeria had already entered the globalization phase more research questions likeIs Globalization needed in an economy like Nigeria? Difference Globalization has
brought in the country? What is Nigerias history of engagement with international
markets? What might improve the condition of Human Resource Management in
Nigeria? Etc.

Removing the above limitation aside the research makes a considerable contribution in learning
the practices and challenges faced in the Human Resource Management of the country.

6|Page

Case Study III- Human Resource Management practices in a Transition Economy- Challenges & Prospects.

References
The influence of Human Resource Management practices on learning and innovation in
developing countries
http://www.unido.org//fileadmin/user_media/Publications/Research_and_statistics/Branch_p
ublications/Research_and_Policy/Files/Working_Papers/2008/WP072008%20The%20influence
%20of%20human%20resource%20management%20practices%20on%20learning%20and%20in
novation%20in%20developing%20countries.pdf

Emerging Economies: The role of HR in developing countries

http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/article-details/emerging-economies-the-role-of-hr-indeveloping-countries

7|Page