1 Manpower 'Emaratization' in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Federal Government: An Exploratory Study from the Perspective of Civil Service Leadership Dr. Ahmed M. Elhussein Associate Professor Political Science Program College of Humanities and Social Sciences UAE University hamadna@yahoo.com Dr. Abdelrahim Elshahin Assistant Professor Political Science Program College of Humanities and Social Sciences UAE University Abstract The major objective of this study is to explore empirically the attitudes of the UAE civil service leaders towards the policy of Emaratization of federal government jobs in all ranks. Emaratization refers to the strategic United Arab Emirates government policy to replace expatriate manpower with national personnel. To achieve the major objective of the paper the study is divided into three parts. The first part discusses theoretically the Emaratization policy and its components. The second part contains the empirical stuff and the analyses of the responses of the leaders to the study s questionnaire which reflects the attitudes of the UAE civil service leaders towards the different dimensions of the policy. The third part displays the results and the recommendations of the study. Introduction: An Overview The term Emaratization is used in this paper to designate the policy of manpower nationalization or localization which has substantial strategic significance for the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Therefore, the major objective of this study is to explore the attitudes of the UAE civil service leaders towards the Emaratization of federal government jobs in all ranks. It also attempts to explore the degree of agreement or disagreement among these leaders with regard to the importance and implementation of the policy. Manpower nationalization is a strategic policy not only to the UAE government but also to its other sister Gulf Cooperation Council states (GCC). In fact the importance of this policy is reflected in the central position it occupies in the institutional and systematic policy agenda of all these states (Elhussein 1991). The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, a central figure in the UAE system of government, was recently reported to have said to a meeting of GCC Ministers of Labour that population structure, unemployment, and manpower nationalization are common serious concerns to all GCC States (AlKhaleej 16 November 2006). All these countries, with the exception of Saudi Arabia, are under populated and very rich. They all suffered in the eve of their independence from a chronic shortage in specialized manpower to run not only the post independence state's administrative machine but also to man the fast growing business sector. Being under populated and wanting in qualified and specialized personnel, the GCC states represented a pull area for immigrant skilled and non-skilled labour in all fields of specialties and all types of nationalities (Alkibeesi 1982). With the establishment of educational facilities at all levels, local qualified citizens began to show up in small numbers and then in large numbers in certain theoretical specialties. Nevertheless, the
2 shortage of manpower persists in non- technical and to a greater extent in technical and professional specializations. The existence of large numbers of expatriates, in some cases exceeding the total numbers of nationals, has posed security, cultural, economic as well as national identity problems (Fadlalla 1981; Elhussein 1991). At this juncture the issue of replacing expatriate manpower with national personnel has assumed a strategic importance for all GCC states (Alsaaiq (b) 1989). The different labels that are coined in these states to designate the policy of manpower nationalization attest to its centrality and the nationalist dimension attached to it. All these labels insist on adding a suitable suffix to the name of the country. Thus, we have: Kiwata (Kuwait), Amnana (Oman), Saáwada (Saudi Arabia), Qatrana (Qatar), and Emrata (UAE). The Theoretical Framework: The Magnitude of Manpower Problem and the UAE Government Policy The issue of manpower nationalization in Gulf States has received wide coverage in the Arabic literature reflecting the importance of the issue in the agenda of these countries. However, the majority of those studies are qualitative in nature. This fact made this study one of the first attempts to approach the problem using a statistical approach. At the GCC states level a series of studies attempted to explore the magnitude and challenges of the issue of manpower localization in many GCC countries. The most notable examples include Alsaaiq (1989), that studied the Kuwaiti experience, Abdelgadir (1989) described the Saudi government endeavours to nationalize government jobs and Hamam s article (1989) documented the Qatari experience of manpower localization. Some studies on the experience of UAE attempted to define the meaning of manpower localization. These Studies include Tawfiq (1987), Abu Sin (1987) and Fawzi (1987). Along the same lines Alqattami (1990) attempted to provide analyses of the UAE manpower localization by concentrating on the policy of expatriates' replacement. Alsheebi, (1987) surveyed the reality of the policy of manpower localization, and Fawzi (1987) discussed the legal dimensions and their role in the policy of manpower localization. Other studies attempted to outline integrated plans for Emiratization and these include Abdelwahab, (1987) and Aboud (1987). Overview of the Policy of Emaratization The UAE political system is a federal one composed of 7 Emirates. These are Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Shargah, Ajman, Ummelqwain, Rasellkhaima, and Alfujaira. The political system consists of three layers of administration: the federal, the Emirate and the local municipality levels. Each Emirate has a governor presiding over an autonomous government with wide constitutional powers. All these levels of government employ expatriates in their administrative institutions mostly from Arab and Asian countries. Emaratization or manpower nationalization is the United Arab Emirates' Comprehensive strategic policy for localizing its labour force in both government and private sectors. It is composed of many strategic goals covering the fields of education, training and human resource development. With regard to personnel policies it has a short term policy of expatriate replacement (in Arabic called ihlal) and a long term job localization policy (in Arabic labelled tawteen). Since the official language of communication in federal government organizations is Arabic, the majority of federal government employees are Arabs mostly of Egyptian,
3 Sudanese, Syrians, Jordanian and Lebanese nationalities. The UAE government, which gained its independence in 1971, adopted very ambitious policies to modernize its economy and society in a context of chronic deficiency in trained manpower. Modern educational facilities were virtually nonexistent in the wake of independence. This situation led the government to depend solely on expatriates who are attracted to the country by the very lucrative salaries and prospects for higher incomes especially after 1976 when the Israeli-Arab War and the Arab oil embargo led to phenomenal rises in the prices of oil. Table 1 shows the evolution of the numbers of nationals and expatriates in the federal government s ministries between 1972 and 2003 Table 1 The Evolution of the Numbers of nationals and expatriates in the Federal Government Ministries (Selected years between 1972 and 2003) Year Total Nationals % Expatriates % 1972 10575 7962 74.90 2649 25.10 1975 18562 7101 38.30 11461 61.70 1978 29627 10341 34.90 19286 65.10 1981 40112 12632 31.50 27480 68.50 1984 39380 12214 31.02 27166 68.98 1987 41882 14485 34.60 27397 65.40 1990 47072 17276 37.70 29796 63.30 1093 52466 20512 39.10 31954 60.90 1996 57596 22334 38.80 35262 61.20 2000 56084 25126 44.8 30958 55.20 2003 54975 27390 49.80 27585 50.20 Source: Annual Statistical Reports/ Civil Service Council Table (1) shows clearly the increase of expatriate personnel in the federal government institutions in both absolute numbers and percentages. The overall trend depicted by the table is of increasing numbers of both expatriates and nationals in the ranks of the civil service. The percentage of expatriates started to decline after 1996. However, expatriate labour continued to constitute slightly more than 50% in 2003. However increasing absolute numbers and percentages of nationals after the 1990 reflect the impact of the rising output of the educational system which the government is committed to employ in the civil service. Therefore, the decline of expatriates' percentages does not indicate rising levels of job localization. It actually reflects on one hand a problem of overstaffing at different levels of government because of government commitment to absorb all graduates in the ranks of the federal civil service and the expanding size of the federal government on the other. The expansion of the federal government during the 1970s and the 1980s in the area of infrastructure and services provision augmented further the problem of manpower.
4 Although this expansion provided job opportunities to the local manpower in some administrative posts, it has resulted in the domination of expatriates in professional and technical posts (Alqattami 1990). This is because national graduates mostly prefer administrative to technical jobs because the former are easier and socially more prestigious than the latter (Alfaris 1991; Elhussein (b), 1994). Table 2 shows the distribution of expatriates and national personnel in the federal government in 2003 according to job specialization. Table 2 The Distribution of expatriates and nationals in the Federal government in 2003 Specialization Total Nationals % Expatriates % Administrative 8020 6850 85.4 1170 14.6 University Faculty 27300 13000 47.6 14300 52.4 Medical Professions 8220 920 11.2 7300 52.4 Source: Federal Personnel Affairs Department The Grand Policy of Emiratization The government response to the problem consists of a grand policy of Emiratization. The Emiratization policy is a long-term strategic policy composed of many strategic goals in the fields of education, national identity, and training and human resource development. With regard to the field of human resource development, the policy of Emiratization is composed of one short term and one long term policies: manpower localization (tawteen) and expatriates' replacement (Ihlal). 1-Manpower Localization (Tawteen) Policy There are many definitions in the literature to the meaning of manpower localization policy in the context of GCC states. It is defined as the ability of the national employee to perform his job s functions without depending on an expatriate to do the job for him while the national is only left with the job of final signature (Tawfiq 1987). This definition reflects the fact that in the eve of Independence many UAE nationals with elementary school level or less were understandably appointed to positions of leadership in the federal and local government positions and more experienced expatriate counterparts were posted beside them to take care of the technical details of the job leaving the national head to sign his name. The policy of localization suffers in implementation from job doubling, which means that there are fewer expatriates leaving the service and more nationals coming in. Consequently the ranks of the federal government are suffering from overstaffing, therefore, creating masked unemployment (Aboud 1987). In most cases the expatriates' contracts are renewed although new nationals were appointed. The figures of unemployed nationals in 1995 totalled 15594, of these 9589 were females, 4751 males (Alittihad 19 June 1995). The figures of unemployed females reflect, in fact, the impact of local social traditions which do not allow females to be appointed in jobs outside their home Emirate. In reality, overstaffing is found in some administrative job grades while technical grades suffer from lack of national skilled personnel (Elsheebi 1987). The government tried to address this problem by establishing in 1984 the Higher Committee for Manpower
5 Planning (Council of Ministers Resolution, 1984 and 1985). The Committee task was to reorganize the process of manpower recruitment to the ranks of the federal government. The Committee asked a group of experts from the World Bank to provide a plan for manpower development in all fields (Alzau'abi 1990). The Committee also recommended the establishment of a joint branch committee from UAE University, Institute of Administrative Development and the Civil Service Council to prepare a comprehensive report about the system of recruiting national graduates to the civil service (Abu Sin 1988). In 1989 the Council of Minsters issued a resolution outlining the general framework of the manpower localization policy (Alittihad 1 Feb 1989). The resolution provided for preparing five-year plans for manpower localization. The first plan started in 1989 to cover the period until 1993.The resolution required that localization of manpower should start by localizing administrative posts first. The resolution also required that employment plans should be related to the figures of expected graduates and real needs for jobs and to appoint university graduates at the grade (2/4) (junior executive jobs) instead of the grade (2/2) (supervisors). This last requirement attempted to correct a previous government policy to appoint fresh graduate nationals as supervisors at the grade (2/2). This resulted in federal government ranks in many cases to have more supervisors than subordinates. The resolution also required that federal institutions determine their real needs from different specializations necessary for manpower localization in coordination with the UAE University and mandated the Civil Service Council to issue the rules for the processes of manpower localization in the federal government. Following a meeting with a delegation from the National Union of Emirates Students, which believed that the resolution jeopardised their financial rights and benefits, the UAE President overruled the Council of Ministers Resolution. In 31 July 1989 the Council of Ministers decided the continuation of appointing graduates at the grade (2/2) and thereby halting the first five-year plan (Alittihad 1 Aug 1989). Hence, ever since the localization policy has remained as a strategic goal without operational plans to realize it in practice and most current efforts in this respect mostly depends on the policy of ad hoc expatiates' replacement on irregular bases. 2-Expatriates' Replacement (Ihlal) Policy Expatriates' replacement policy is a modest pragmatic version of manpower localization and represents its short-term and ad hoc operational side. Expatriates' replacement can be viewed as the executive tool to translate the policy of manpower localization into reality (Alqattami 1990). It is defined as the replacement of expatriates in federal government jobs with nationals after the latter are trained to qualify them to occupy government posts in ministries and other government institutions (Abu Sin 1987). The policy emphasizes the gradual replacement of expatriates with nationals under the umbrella of national medium, short and long term manpower strategic plans (Fawzi 1987). However, in practice the implementation of this policy is not following a clear-cut path. There are in UAE two government agencies responsible for the affairs of the federal civil service; these are the Civil Service Chamber and the Employees Affairs Chamber, with the latter acting as the executive arm of the former. These two federal bodies are aided by executive networks of employees affairs committees and employees affairs divisions hosted in different ministries of the federal government.
6 This nexus of government agencies, which is formally assigned the job of designing, coordinating and implementing the policy of manpower nationalization, was ironically predominantly manned by foreign experts. In this context it is possible to understand the fact that despite the government passionate attempts to absorb the national elements in federal government, this process is going on very slowly. Therefore, despite the grand strategy of manpower nationalization and extensive rhetoric, the employment policy is still based on traditional slow strategies (Jameel and Elshahin 1995; Abdelkhaliq 1988). Part II: The Field Study This part displays the results of the field study. It consists of two sections. The first section describes the sample data and the second section analyzes the questionnaire questions which are related to the four dimensions of manpower Emaratization; planning, recruitment, commitment and implementation. The Research Problem The research problem in this paper consists of the question of manpower nationalization and a series of issues related to the policy of (Emaratization) as well as the different measures taken by the UAE federal government to address these issues. The problem is operationally broken down into four dimensions which include: planning, recruitment, commitment and implementation. The paper attempts to explore the attitudes of the UAE civil service leaders towards these four dimensions. To address these questions, the study is divided into three parts. The first part deals with the general framework of the study and the second part exhibits and discusses the findings of the field study. The third part discusses the results of the field study. The Research Methodology The population of the study consists of all UAE top managers in the federal civil service. The federal civil service posts are classified into four groups, and each group is divided into grades, the total of which is fourteen. Group 1 includes the posts of top management, of Under-Secretaries and two other grades (1/1 and 1/2) reserved for the Directors of departments. Group 2 houses high posts, which are filled by university graduates and include grades (2/1, 2/2, 2/3 and 2/4). Group 3 consists of middle posts, which are filled by employees with secondary school or higher institutes (post-secondary) qualifications. This group is also divided into four grades (3/1, 3/2, 3/3 and 3/4). Group 4 consists of workers and laborers. This group is also divided into four grades (4/1, 4/2/, 43/and 4/4). The sample consists of those holding top management positions in eleven federal government ministries and occupying jobs in grades (1/1), (1/2), (2/1) and (2/2) in the first and second groups. A random sample of 400 civil service leaders is selected and a questionnaire was designed to collect primary data from them. The questionnaire contains eighteen closed questions related to the four dimensions of Emaratization, i.e. planning, recruitment, commitment and implementation. Four hundred questionnaires were distributed to the individuals participating in the random sample. Only 310 questionnaires were returned. Of those the researchers discarded 42 questionnaires as invalid and the study used 268 questionnaires representing 67% of the total figure of the distributed questionnaires. The study uses the SPSS program to describe and analyze data. Since all variables are measured at the nominal level, the study used frequencies, percentages to describe the data and answer the research questions. 1-Describing the Sample Data
7 Whereas Table 3 below shows the distribution of the sample according to ministry, table 4 exhibits the distribution of the sample according to grade, job and educations. Table 3 shows that the sample represents eleven federal ministries with different levels of representation. The varying percentages of representation reflect the sizes of these units. The ministries of education, health and Labour & Social Affairs have the highest representation in the sample because they are the biggest in the federal system. The ministry of education alone employs 61% of the federal labour force. Table 3 The Distribution of the Sample According to Ministry No. Ministry Frequency % 1 Agriculture, Economy & Commerce, Interior 15 5.7 2 Education 78 29.1 3 Health 58 21.6 4 Labour & Social Affairs 52 19.4 5 Information & Culture 27 10.1 6 Justice & Islamic Affairs 21 7.8 7 Council of Ministers; Planning; Electricity & Water 17 6.3 Total 11 268 100 Table 4 The Distribution of the Sample According to Grade, Job, and Education Grade Frequency & % Job Frequency & % Education Frequency & % (1/1) & (1/2) 37 (13.8) (2/1) 29 (10.8 %) (2/2) 202 (75.4 %) Managerial 35 (13.1) Division Head 92 (34.3 %) Supervisory 141 (52.9 %) Elementary & 18 Secondary (6.7) Graduate 232 (86 %) Post-Graduate 18 (6.7 %) Table 4, on the other hand, shows that almost (14 %) of the sample are drawn from the top ranks of grades 1/1 and 1/2, 11 % from middle ranks of group 2 in grade 2/1 and 75% from the grade 2/2 in the second group. Table 4 also shows that (13.1%) occupy top managerial posts, (34.3 %) are division heads and (52.9 %) are supervisors. The tables also indicate that approximately (7%) of the leaders are elementary and secondary schools graduates, (87%) holding a university degree and (7%) are postgraduates. Demographic data in the questionnaire show that, whereas 51% (136) of the sample enjoy a working experience ranging between 1-10 years, 49% (132) have a working experience of more than ten years. Almost 74% (198) of the sample are not married while only 26% (70) are married. The sample consists of 57% (153) males and 47% (115) females. 2- Analyzing the Questionnaire Questions Each of the four dimensions, planning, recruitment, commitment, and implementation, is represented by a group of questions. Each question measures certain attitudes of the civil service leaders towards particular elements which are relevant to the particular
8 dimension. To measure these elements percentages were computed to all questionnaire questions. The tables 5 to 8 below show the questions and responses to each of them. 1-The Planning Dimension The planning dimension addresses the attitudes of the civil service leaders towards the elements of this dimension which includes the existence of Emaratization plans, periodical reviews of these plans, and central supervision and the existence of manpower nationalization plans at the organizational level. Table 5 below contains six questions designed to elicit information regarding the attitudes of civil service leaders in UAE federal government towards the dimension of planning. Table 5 The Planning Dimension No. Question Yes % No % Don t Know 1 Do you have a clear plan for the process of tawteen and ihlal in your organization? 2 Does your organization perform periodical review to develop plans for tawteen and ihlal? 3 Is there central supervision over tawteen and ihlal at the state level? 4 Is there a plan to train & qualify nationals for tawteen and ihlal in your organization? 5 Does your organization adopt a clear plan for tawteen and ihlal? 6 Do you have in your organization future plans to accelerate the process of tawteen and ihlal? 51.9 31.3 16.8 40.3 31.7 28 41.4 25.7 32.8 44.4 39.9 15.7 29.5 35.1 35.4 24.6 27.6 47.8 It is clear from table 5 that a simple majority of civil service leaders (51.9%) agree that there are clear plans of manpower nationalization (tawteen and ihlal) in their organizations. The significant percentages of negative and unsure responses, (31.3%) and (16.8%) respectively, point to either a lack of communication or indifference on the part of some of the leaders. With regard to the second question, only (40.3 %) agree that there are periodical reviews of these plans. In this question also there are significant negative responses (31.7%) as well as a relatively significant percentage (28%) of those who 'don t know' whether there are periodical reviews of plans or not. This result casts doubts on the seriousness of manpower nationalization planning in the opinion of the respondents. It also enhances our previous finding in the first question. The
9 same conclusion can be drawn from responses to the third question which asks about the existence of central supervision over the policy of manpower nationalization. In this question, whereas only (41.4%) respond positively to this questions, (25.7%) deny the existence of central supervision and (32.8%) do not know whether there is or there is no central supervision. The responses to question 4, which asks about the existence of training plans to qualify citizens for government jobs, projects out a picture similar to the one displayed by the previous questions. Only (44.4 %) are positive about the existence of training plans. The percentages of those who do not know (15.7%) and those who negatively respond to this question (39.9%) confirm the previous conclusions. The information produced by question 5 (does your organization adopt a clear plan for tawteen and ihlal?) indicate that civil service leaders are distributed equally among the three response options. However, the negative responses (35.1%) reflect the absence of clear manpower nationalization plans at the organizational level. Only (25.9%) acknowledge the existence of these plans and (35.4%) are unsure of their existence. Answers to question 6, which enquires about the existence of future plans of manpower nationalization, indicate that (47.8%) do not know about future plans, (27.6%) are sure that such plans do not exist. Only 24.6% acknowledge the existence of such plans. The overall impression conveyed by the respondent attitudes towards the dimension of planning is the lack of serious planning efforts and deficiency in coordination and communication in the federal institutions. 2-The Recruitment Dimension The recruitment dimension main thrust is on the degree of conformance of actual recruitment practices with the goals of manpower nationalization. This dimension is composed of the following elements; allocation of personnel to government units according to their needs; the attractiveness of government units to nationals; and the appointment and recruitment system. Table 6 below contains 4 questions designed to produce information about the attitudes towards these elements. Table 6 The Recruitment Dimension N0. Question Yes % No % Don t Know 1 Does your organization allocate personnel to its units according to their needs 2 Are nationals attracted to work in your organization 3 is the appointment of employees in your organization reflects its real manpower needs 4 Are you satisfied with the present system of recruitment in your organization 44.4 40.7 14.9 78 14.6 6.7 39.9 36.9 23.1 32.8 50 17.2 Question 1 in table 6 asks about the relevance of personnel allocation among federal units according to the needs of these units. The question is intended to see whether recruitment in government units follow a planned pattern that is geared to manpower nationalization or not? A percentage of (44.4%) are positive towards this question. However, an almost
10 equal percentage of (40.7%) have negative responses and a percentage of (14.9%) of those who do not know what really is happening, indicate a less than moderate level of satisfaction among civil service leaders to the question. The goal of question 2 (are UAE nationals attracted to work in your organization?) is to illicit information about government units' effort to attract nationals to their ranks. The responses show a positive attitude. Whereas the overwhelming majority of civil service leaders (78.7%) provide positive answers, only (14.6%) and (6.7%0) are respectively negative or unsure of their positions. Although responses to question 3 in table 6 produce close answers that reflect almost equal positive (39.9%) and negative positions (36%), yet the figure of those who 'do not know' is not insignificant (23.1 %). The responses to the fourth question in the table display considerable dissatisfaction with the present system of recruitment. The table shows that (50%) of the respondents are unhappy with the present system. The overall impression about this dimension is that the civil service leaders are satisfied with some elements but they show alarming dissatisfaction with the element of recruitment. 3- The Commitment Dimension This dimension is concerned with the level of commitment among civil service leaders to Emaratization. It is particularly concerned with certain allegations that hold that it is the civil service leaders who actually resist manpower nationalization. This dimension contains the elements of the leaders' belief on the policy of manpower nationalization; their involvement in making the policy, and their opinion concerning the performance of nationals in the service. Table 7 below contains 4 questions addressed to these elements to measure the level of commitment of civil service leaders to manpower nationalization. Table 7 The Commitment Dimension No. Question Yes % No % Don t Know 1 Do you believe in the necessity for a policy of tawteen and ihlal in your organization 2 Have you been consulted about making a policy for tawteen and ihlal in your organization 3 Do you think that performance will be affected negatively by the process of tawteen and ihlal in your 86.2 2.2 11.6 6.3 84 9.7 10.1 68.7 21.2 The first question in table 7 is intended to produce data about the belief of civil service leaders in the necessity for a policy of Emaratization. An overwhelming majority of civil service leaders (86.2%) emphasize the importance of the need for a manpower nationalization plan in their responses to question 1. However, a small minority of them (2.2%) seems to have no belief in the necessity for a manpower nationalization plan, and (11.6%) of them do not know whether a plan is necessary or not. The responses to the second question, (Have you been consulted about making a policy for manpower localization (tawteen) and expatriates replacement (ihlal) in your organization?) show that a great majority of civil service leaders think that their opinions are not sought in the policy of manpower nationalization. Whereas (84%) of the leaders
11 answers question 2 in table 7 negatively, only a small percentage of (6.3%) indicate that they are consulted and a percentage of (9.7%) say that they are not sure of their positions. Answers to question 3 shows that, contrary to the popular belief, replacing expatriates with nationals is not going to affect civil service performance negatively. Whereas (68.7%) say that replacing expatiates with nationals is not going to affect performance negatively, only (10.1%) believe that it will, and (21.2%) have not made up their mind yet. The overall impression in this dimension is that the leaders are firmly committed to manpower nationalization and dissatisfied with their role in making policy regarding manpower nationalization. 4- The Implementation Dimension The dimension of implementation is composed of five elements that are measured by five questions. These are: - Are you appointed in a job occupied by an expatriate or in a newly created or a vacant job? - What are the jobs that expatriate replacement should start with? - Which jobs are difficult to nationalize at present? - What is the appropriate annual percentage of nationalization in your opinion? - Do you prefer a policy of replacement (ihlal) in present jobs or a strategic policy of job localization (tawteen) in new jobs or both? Table 8 displays the results for the first question and the results for the other four questions are integrated in the text because their response options format in the questionnaire is not uniformed and cannot be included in one table. Table 8 The Implementation Dimension Question Vacant post % New post % Previously occupied by foreigner % Previously occupied by a national( promoted or retired % What is the nature of the post you occupied when you were recruited to the civil service 39.6 38.1 8.6 8.2 The goal of the first question (Were you appointed in a job previously occupied by an expatriate or in a new and a vacant job?) is to see whether the policy of expatriate replacement (ihlal) is followed in practice or not. The question asks each respondent to state the nature of the job he was appointed to and offers him four options as shown in table 8 above. The responses in table 8 show that (39.6%) of the civil service leaders were recruited to vacant posts and (38.1%) were recruited to new posts not occupied before by expatriates. The third and the four options in the question test the degree of expatriate replacement (ihlal) and they indicate that only (8.6%) were appointed in posts previously occupied by expatiates and (8.2%) were appointed in posts previously occupied by nationals who were either promoted to a higher post or retired. These results
12 indicate that no substantial expatriates' replacement (ihlal) took place and they also prove the concept of "job doubling" discussed in the theoretical framework. With regard to the question "What are the jobs that expatriate replacement should start with? The majority of respondents to this question (69.8%) believe that expatriate replacement (ihlal) and manpower localization (tawteen) can start with administrative posts. Whereas (13.1%) of the respondent believe that this process can start with professional jobs, only (15.7%) believe that technical posts can be the starting point for manpower nationalization. The latter two categories of jobs are predominantly occupied at present by expatriates. This situation proves the fact that the majority of national graduates prefer administrative jobs to professional and technical jobs which has already been discussed in the theoretical framework. The conclusion of the previous question is supported by the responses to the question "Which jobs are difficult to nationalize at present?" Whereas the majority of civil service leaders believe that rare professional posts are the most difficult to nationalize (78%), believe that administrative posts are the easiest to nationalize, and (18.6%) of them believe that technical jobs are difficult to nationalize. The responses to the question "What is the appropriate annual percentage of nationalization in your opinion?" show that (38%) of the respondents support higher annual percentages of manpower localization (tawteen) and expatriates replacement (ihlal) in the civil service. However, (47.4%) favour an annual percentage of manpower localization (tawteen) and expatriates replacement (ihlal) ranging between 20% and 30%. However, only 14.6% support a slower rate of annual manpower localization (tawteen) and expatriates replacement (ihlal). The last question (Do you prefer a policy of replacement (ihlal) in present jobs or a strategic policy of job localization (tawteen) in new jobs or both?), scores an overwhelming majority of (77.3%) who endorse a comprehensive approach to manpower nationalization that include both policies of expatiate replacement (ihlal) in present jobs and a strategic policy of job localization (tawteen) in new jobs. However, A cautious minority of (9.3%) prefer only a pragmatic policy of expatiate replacement (ihlal) in present jobs and another pragmatic group of (13.4%) would rather prefer nationalizing future jobs rather than following a policy of expatiate replacement (ihlal) in present jobs. The overall impression in this dimension is that civil service leaders are aware of the difficulty of nationalizing professional and technical jobs Part III: Research Results and Conclusions Emaratization or manpower nationalization is the United Arab Emirates' Comprehensive strategic policy for localizing its labour force in government and privates sectors. It is composed of many strategic goals covering the fields of education, training and human resource development. With regard to government personnel policies it has a short term policy of expatriate replacement (ihlal) and a long term one of job localization policy (tawteen). This study concentrates on the attitudes of federal UAE civil service leaders towards certain dimensions of this policy. These dimensions include: planning, recruitment, commitment and implementation. Therefore, this part discusses the major research results derived from the responses of UAE civil service leaders to the study questionnaire. The results represent a cross-section of the opinions and attitudes of the UAE civil service
13 leaders towards the policy of manpower nationalization. The analysis of the research questions as related to the four dimensions supplies us with the following conclusions: The Planning Dimension The planning dimension addresses the attitudes of the civil service leaders towards the elements of this dimension. These elements include the existence of manpower nationalization plans, periodical reviews of these plans, central supervision and the existence of manpower nationalization plans at the organizational level. The analysis of questions related to this dimension conveys an overall impression that the federal civil service leaders' attitudes towards this dimension are not very positive. Although clear majorities of civil service leaders are aware of the importance of Emaratization policy in federal government, a small majority of these leaders agrees about the existence of Emaratization plans and periodical central reviews of these plans. This result, together with the significant size of those who don t know in this dimension, points to the relative lack of communication among different levels of the federal government and necessitates a review of the communication network. The Recruitment Dimension This dimension is composed of the following elements; allocation of personnel to government's units according to their needs; the attractiveness of government units to nationals; and the appointment and recruitment system. The results concerning the recruitment dimension substantiate an overall impression of moderate satisfaction with some elements in this dimension but they show alarming dissatisfaction with the recruitment system because most leaders are unhappy with the present recruitment policies which seem not to be facilitating Emaratization. Regarding the element of attractiveness of government units to nationals, the overwhelming positive response to this element is not explainable only by the civil service leaders' interest to defend their units, but it is a reflection to actual reality. Most nationals prefer employment in federal units because of high salaries and fringe benefits. The Commitment Dimension This dimension contains the elements of the leaders' belief on the policy of manpower nationalization; their involvement in making this policy, and their opinion concerning the performance of nationals in the service. The analysis of this dimension displays that the civil service leaders are firmly committed to Emaratization but they are dissatisfied with their role in making policy regarding manpower nationalization. It is important to note that a substantial majority say that civil service leaders are not consulted in Emaratization policy making confirming the first result of lack of communication. This fact also reflects the highly centralized nature of government policy making in UAE. The Implementation Dimension The dimension of implementation is composed of five elements that are framed by five questions. These are: Are you appointed in jobs previously occupied by expatriates or in new and vacant jobs only? What are the jobs that should expatriate replacement starts with? Which jobs are difficult to nationalize at present? What is the appropriate annual percentage of nationalization in your opinion? Do you prefer a policy of replacement (ihlal) in present jobs or a strategic policy of job localization (tawteen) in new jobs or both? The overall impression in this dimension is that civil service leaders are aware of the difficulty of nationalizing professional and technical jobs and believe that manpower
14 localization (tawteen) and expatriates replacement (ihlal) will not affect performance negatively as it is widely believed. Responses to this dimension show that ihlal policy is not fully implemented in practice because recruits to the civil service are appointed in new jobs or vacant ones rather than replacing existing expatriate personnel. This result confirms our previous conclusion in the theoretical framework of job doubling in which the new nationals coming to the service do not in most cases replace expatriates. Civil Service leaders are aware of the difficulties surrounding the problem of nationalizing professional and technical jobs. This result also confirms our conclusion in the theoretical framework regarding the job preferences of national graduates. They prefer to study theoretical academic specializations that qualify them for administrative jobs that are more prestigious. In fact this is a chronic social problem in most GCC and Arab countries. Not many civil service leaders support higher annual percentages of Manpower localization (tawteen) and expatriate replacement (ihlal) in the civil service. Still few civil service leaders are cautious about immediate high rates of manpower Emaratization and prefer slower rates of annual tawteen and ihlal. An overwhelming majority of civil service leaders endorse an approach of both ihlal and tawteen reflecting the nationalistic dimension of the policy of Emaratization.
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