To gain a better understanding of the HRM practices used
within the Saudi hotel sector, two questions were asked in the
interviews.
Question 1: What is the most important HRM practices
used in your hotel? This question aimed to investigate the
most common HRM practices implemented in Saudi hotels,and to identify whether these practices were in line with the
practices used in the international context. The responses
showed that the common HRM practices are training and
development, recruitment and selection, planning job, the
orientation program, performance evaluation, job description,
motivation, salary and wages, empowerment and
communication. Eight respondents saw “training as something
essential for organisations”. Further, “we have regular training
for all employees”. We provide training programs for Saudis
to improve their skills”. Other respondents noted that, “We do
have off-the-job and on-the-job training”; “Continuous
training and development is fundamental for employees”; “In
every department we have a trainer to monitor new
employees”. In terms of empowerment practice, four
managers reported that: “the most important thing in our hotel
is giving empowerment to all employees”; “empowerment
practice increases loyalty, and gives you feeling that you have
power over decisions”. Most managers believed that
communication was an important practice, for example, “when
you come to practices that have something to do with my
team, communication is the key”; moreover, “the number one
key is communication and learning”.
Further, interviewees believe that “The most important
thing in recruitment and selection is to hire the right people”.
Further, “There is a test to determine personality and
candidate values”. Additionally, “When we recruit the right
person the performance will be quality”. In term of
performance evaluation, six respondents reported having
“regular evaluations every three, six and nine months”.
Sometimes, where “the evaluation of the employee is not good
he/she has to enter into a training program”, while in other
cases “the employee is requested to quit their job”. In terms of
salary and wages practices, the responses acknowledged “that
the hotel industry is the lowest industry in terms of salary and
payment”; that the market is surveyed “to know the
employees’ salary of our competitors”; and that “you make
sure that you have the right payment scale”.
Question 2: Do you use HRM practices as they are
provided by your parent company or do you make changes to
those practices to meet the Saudi context?
This questions sought to understand how multinational
hotels in Saudi Arabia receive HRM policies and practices
from their parent companies, and if they are implemented
without modification. Further what does hotel management do
if the practices do not fit with Saudi context, do they reject
them? This information was very important to know deeply
whether the practices used in Saudi hotels were identical or
have some similarity to those used internationally or whether
the Saudi hotel sector develops its own practices. The
respondents indicated that some practices were rejected
completely because they did not fit within the Saudi context.
For example, “having a welcome Wine is practiced in some
hotels, however, as Saudi Arabia is a Muslim country, the
hotels reject this practice as it does not fit with the cultural
practices”. Another internationally accepted practice is the
“piping of, music at the lobby; this practice is rejected in the
Makkah and Al Madinah hotels because it did not fit with these two contexts”. However, music is not prevented in other
hotels in Saudi Arabia. Further, “requiring females to staff the
front desk is also an international practice that does not exist
in the Saudi hotel sector”.
The interviewees consistently responded that “if the
practice is consistent with the Saudi culture we accept it, but if
not we reject or we modify it”. Additionally, “we make sure
the practice is in line with local values”. Further, “it appears
that the parent company is informed of the Saudi cultural
stipulations, and so the practices are centred on the Saudi
context and employees’ satisfaction”. As one interviewee
noted, “Here, culturally and religiously, we have to segregate
between males and females, so the parent company
understands this and allow us to modify some of the
practices”. Indeed, the “parent company encourages
modification”.
Question 3: Which HRM practices are more preferred in
MNC hotels by Saudi employees? To answer this question a
frequency test was conducted to identify the preferred
practices, with table I below presents the results indicating the
percentage of the most preferred practice among Saudi
employees.