Role of human resource policies in ensuring women’s safety in the workplace
- Author(s)
-
DOIhttp://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.21(1).2023.02
-
Article InfoVolume 21 2023, Issue #1, pp. 13-23
- 912 Views
-
743 Downloads
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This paper aims to assess how human resource (HR) management policies affect women’s workplace safety. In addition, this study analyzes the degree to which measures have been taken to ensure that working women have a safe environment. Responses from 208 women working in Saudi Arabia’s small and medium-sized private businesses were gathered. The paper employed a survey questionnaire using snowball sampling technique. Thus, critical HR practices that have an impact on workplace safety for women are highlighted. As women frequently face these difficulties, the findings suggested that HR policies should tailor working women’s needs in maternity, health, transportation, childcare, and a safe workplace. Moreover, support for divorced and widowed workers would significantly increase women’s safety at work. Compared to other HR policies, there is a stronger correlation between medical and maternity leave. This paper supports research on women’s safety and HR management in the Saudi context and has significant practical implications for practitioners.
Acknowledgments
The author thanks all the respondents who participated and contributed by giving their valuable opinions and making this study possible.
- Keywords
-
JEL Classification (Paper profile tab)J24, M54, O15, J88
-
References50
-
Tables4
-
Figures0
-
- Table 1. Demographic profile of respondents
- Table 2. Mean, factor loadings, and Cronbach’s alpha
- Table 3. Correlation matrix
- Table 4. Summary of hypotheses testing
-
- Abdalla, I. A. (1996). Attitudes towards women in the Arabian Gulf region. Women in Management Review, 11(1), 29-39.
- Al-Lamky, A. (2007). Feminizing leadership in Arab societies: The perspectives of Omani female leaders. Women in Management Review, 22(1), 49-67.
- Au, S. Y., Dong, M., & Tremblay, A. (2021). Employee Sexual Harassment Reviews and Firm Value. SSRN Electronic Journal.
- Brennan, M. P., & Rajan, N. (2020). HR Issues: Sexual Harassment, Workplace Diversity, Cultural Sensitivity, Privileging, Credentialing, Denying Privileges, Difficult Conversations. In N. Rajan (Ed.), Manual of Practice Management for Ambulatory Surgery Centers (pp. 239-252). Springer, Cham.
- Chatty, D. (2000). Women working in Oman: Individual choice and cultural constraints. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 32(2), 241-254.
- Clark, K. R., & Vealé, B. L. (2018). Strategies to enhance data collection and analysis in qualitative research. Radiologic Technology, 89(5), 482-485.
- De Stefano, F., Bagdadli, S., & Camuffo, A. (2018). The HR role in corporate social responsibility and sustainability: A boundary-shifting literature review. Human Resource Management, 57(2), 549-566.
- Dechant, K., & Lamky, A. A. (2005). Toward an understanding of Arab women entrepreneurs in Bahrain and Oman. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 10(2), 123-140.
- Deshpande, V. (2013, March 8). At MNCs, Sexual Harassment Complainants Face Uphill Battle. The Hindu.
- Elamin, A. M., & Omair, K. (2010). Males’ attitudes towards working females in Saudi Arabia. Personnel Review, 39(6), 746-766.
- Fenech, R., Baguant, P., & Ivanov, D. (2019). The changing role of human resource management in an era of digital transformation. Journal of Management Information and Decision Sciences, 22(2), 166-175.
- Ferris, P. A., Deakin, R., & Mathieson, S. (2018). Workplace bullying policies: A review of best practices and research on effectiveness. In P. D’Cruz, E. Noronha, C. Caponecchia, J. Escartín, D. Salin, & M. Tuckey (Eds.), Dignity and Inclusion at Work (pp. 1-26). Springer.
- Fitzgerald, L. F. (2017). Still the last great open secret: Sexual harassment as systemic trauma. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 8(4), 483-489.
- Friborg, M. K., Hansen, J. V., Aldrich, P. T., Folker, A. P., Kjær, S., Nielsen, M. B. D., Rugulies, R., & Madsen, I. E. (2017). Workplace sexual harassment and depressive symptoms: a cross-sectional multilevel analysis comparing harassment from clients or customers to harassment from other employees amongst 7603 Danish employees from 1041 organizations. BMC Public Health, 17(1), 675.
- Harrison, T., & Bazzy, J. D. (2017). Aligning organizational culture and strategic human resource management. Journal of Management Development, 36(10), 1260-1269.
- Hemel, D., & Lund, D. S. (2018). Sexual harassment and corporate law. Columbia Law Review, 118(6), 1583-1680.
- Hudson, S. (2017). Sexual Harassment: A myriad of social and business impacts. Journal of Human Resources Management and Labor Studies, 5(2), 1-6.
- Hutchings, K., Dawn Metcalfe, B., & Cooper, B. K. (2010). Exploring Arab Middle Eastern women’s perceptions of barriers to, and facilitators of, international management opportunities. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 21(1), 61-83.
- Itani, H., Sidani, Y. M., & Baalbaki, I. (2011). United Arab Emirates female entrepreneurs: Motivations and frustrations. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 30(5), 409-424.
- Jamali, D., Sidani, Y., & Safieddine, A. (2005). Constraints facing working women in Lebanon: An insider view. Women in Management Review, 20(8), 581-594.
- Kabir, H., Maple, M., & Fatema, S. R. (2018). Vulnerabilities of women workers in the readymade garment sector of Bangladesh: A case study of Rana Plaza. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 19(6), 224-235.
- Keplinger, K., Johnson, S. K., Kirk, J. F., & Barnes, L. Y. (2019). Women at work: Changes in sexual harassment between September 2016 and September 2018. PloS One, 14(7), e0218313.
- Mainiero, L. A., & Jones, K. J. (2013). Sexual harassment versus workplace romance: Social media spillover and textual harassment in the workplace. Academy of Management Perspectives, 27(3), 187-203.
- Marín, L. S., Barreto, M., Montano, M., Sugerman-Brozan, J., Goldstein-Gelb, M., & Punnett, L. (2021). Workplace Sexual Harassment and Vulnerabilities among Low-Wage Hispanic Women. Occupational Health Science, 5, 391-414.
- Mazhar, S. A., Anjum, R., Anwar, A. I., & Khan, A. A. (2021). Methods of Data Collection: A Fundamental Tool of Research. Journal of Integrated Community Health, 10(1), 6-10.
- McElwee, G., & Al-Riyami, R. (2003). Women entrepreneurs in Oman: Some barriers to success. Career Development International, 8(7), 339-346.
- Mellgren, C., Andersson, M., & Ivert, A. K. (2018). It happens all the time: Women’s experiences and normalization of sexual harassment in public space. Women & Criminal Justice, 28(4), 262-281.
- Metcalfe, B. D. (2006). Exploring cultural dimensions of gender and management in the Middle East. Thunderbird International Business Review, 48(1), 93-107.
- Mom, T. J., Chang, Y. Y., Cholakova, M., & Jansen, J. J. (2019). A multilevel integrated framework of firm HR practices, individual ambidexterity, and organizational ambidexterity. Journal of Management, 45(7), 3009-3034.
- Mostafa, M. M. (2005). Attitudes towards women managers in the United Arab Emirates: The effects of patriarchy, age, and sex differences. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 20(6), 522-540.
- Nunnally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric theory. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
- Obedgiu, V. (2017). Human resource management, historical perspectives, evolution and professional development. Journal of Management Development, 36(8), 986-990.
- Omair, K. (2008). Women in management in the Arab context. Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues, 1(2), 107-123.
- Parker, C., Scott, S., & Geddes, A. (2019). Snowball sampling. SAGE Research Methods Foundations.
- Quick, J. C., & McFadyen, M. (2017). Sexual harassment: Have we made any progress? Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 22(3), 286-298.
- Raj, A., Freund, K. M., McDonald, J. M., & Carr, P. L. (2020). Effects of sexual harassment on advancement of women in academic medicine: a multi-institutional longitudinal study. EClinicalMedicine, 20, 100298.
- Ramzy, O., El Bedawy, R., & Maher, A. (2018). Dysfunctional Behavior at the Workplace and Its Impact on Employees’ Job Performance. International Journal of Business Administration, 9(4), 224-233.
- Roscigno, V. J. (2019). Discrimination, sexual harassment, and the impact of workplace power. Socius, 5.
- Sadruddin, M. M. (2013). Sexual harassment at workplace in Pakistan-Issues and remedies about the global issue at managerial sector. Journal of Managerial Sciences, 7(1), 113-125.
- Sahgal, P., & Dang, A. (2017). Sexual harassment at workplace. Economic & Political Weekly, 52(22), 49-57.
- Sharma, P. (2010). India’s First Workplace Sexual Harassment Survey Reveals Startling Revelations. New Delhi: Centre for Transforming India.
- Shaw, E., Hegewisch, A., & Hess, C. (2018). Sexual harassment and assault at work: understanding the costs. Institute for Women’s Policy Research Publication.
- Sheppard, L. D., O’Reilly, J., van Dijke, M., Restubog, S. L. D., & Aquino, K. (2020). The stress-relieving benefits of positively experienced social sexual behavior in the workplace. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 156, 38-52.
- Sidani, Y. M., & Gardner, W. L. (2000). Work values among Lebanese workers. The Journal of Social Psychology, 140(5), 597-607.
- Spalluto, L. B., Arleo, E. K., Lewis, M. C., Oates, M. E., & Macura, K. J. (2018). Addressing needs of women radiologists: opportunities for practice leaders to facilitate change. Radiographics, 38(6), 1626-1637.
- Thurston, R. C., Chang, Y., Matthews, K. A., Von Känel, R., & Koenen, K. (2019). Association of sexual harassment and sexual assault with midlife women’s mental and physical health. JAMA Internal Medicine, 179(1), 48-53.
- Vaiagae, B. (2020). Workplace Safety Strategies Used by Managers to Reduce Workplace Accidents. Walden University.
- Węziak-Białowolska, D., Białowolski, P., & McNeely, E. (2020). The impact of workplace harassment and domestic violence on work outcomes in the developing world. World Development, 126, 104732.
- Williams, C. L. (2018). Sexual harassment in organizations: A critique of current research and policy. In R. Refinetti (Ed.), Sexual Harassment and Sexual Consent (pp. 20-43). Routledge.
- Zhu, H., Lyu, Y., & Ye, Y. (2019). Workplace sexual harassment, workplace deviance, and family undermining. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 31(2), 594-614.
-
Digitalization of talent planning in IT sector: Mediating role of HR policies and practices
Swati Yadav
,
Shikha Kapoor ,
Sandeep Kumar Gupta 
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.22(3).2024.19
Problems and Perspectives in Management Volume 22, 2024 Issue #3 pp. 241-250 Views: 199 Downloads: 49 TO CITE АНОТАЦІЯIn the highly dynamic digital era of the information technology industry, agile talent planning and human resources (HR) management strategies are essential for maintaining a competitive edge. This study aims to determine the impact of HR policies and practices as a mediator between the effectiveness of talent planning and digitalization tools and techniques within the IT sector. The research population comprised IT companies in Delhi (and its national capital region), India. Using the convenience sampling technique, a sample of 106 respondents was selected out of 168 contacted, including human resource professionals and managers. The study employed regression analysis and structural equation modeling. The results reject that digitalization tools and techniques do not significantly increase the effectiveness of talent planning in IT organizations (beta coefficient = 0.455 at p-value < 0.001). Additionally, the paper shows that digitalization tools and technologies significantly affect HR policies and practices (beta coefficient = 0.826 at p-value < 0.001). The findings reject the suggestion that there is no significant positive relationship between HR practices and policies and the effectiveness of talent planning in the IT sector (beta coefficient = 0.425 at p-value < 0.001). Furthermore, the study rejects the perception that HR policies and practices do not mediate the relationship between digitalization tools and techniques and the effectiveness of talent planning (beta coefficient = 0.351 at p-value < 0.001). These insights will contribute to developing effective HR strategies that align with technological advancements and foster organizational growth.
