The Strategic Role of the HRM Function in Government Agencies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The study investigated whether government agencies in the KSA have been transformed from using a traditional style of public personnel administration to a broader, more inclusive and strategic model of HRM. Accordingly, the aims of this study were to determine the extent to which the HRM function plays a strategic role in KSA government agencies, as well as to investigate the differences in participant responses based on whether they had previously been briefed about the RCJ's HR strategy. Ulrich's model (1997) and questionnaire were used to collect data and the RCJ was chosen as a case study due to the difficulty of applying the study to all agencies. The HR function was not found to play a strategic role in the RCJ, and the assessment of the four roles considered placed it in the range of traditional HR performance. Strategic roles and tasks received the lowest scores from the participants; operational tasks and roles received higher scores but remained within the traditional performance range. Moreover, communications between HR and line managers were not well positioned. The results also showed that line managers who had been informed of HR strategy assessed the HR services delivery as higher than others who had not been informed of strategy, suggesting that understanding and participation affected their ability to evaluate HR service performance. This is an important conclusion because it indicates key challenges and provides a rationale for why the HR function is still carried out in the traditional manner in agencies in the KSA.