Causes of Leaving Job at Ministry of Housing 2

Business Report: Causes of Leaving Job at Ministry of Housing in the Sultanate of Oman

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Executive SummaryWithin the Sultanate, the Ministry of housing is charged with regulating land use in areas such as housing and development including but not limited to land distribution. Despite the decent wages offered to the its staff, the ministry has been faced with the perennial problem of a employees leaving the ministry. The ensuing report covers some of the main causes behind the high number of employees leaving the ministry before suggesting feasible suggestions to dealing with the causative agents. Some of the causative agents discussed include lack of staff training, poor working conditions, involuntary departures, absence of employee rewards and poor staff communication. The suggested solutions are offered for integration with the existing human resource policies that are currently present at the ministry. Suffice to say that the report concludes stressing the need for developing a means to measure the effectiveness of the suggested policy recommendation.

Table of Contents

2Executive Summary

3Table of Contents

4Introduction

5Statement of Issue

5Analysis of Factors contributing to a Employees Leaving the Ministry

5Staff Training

6Working Conditions

7Involuntary

8Rewards

9Workplace Conflicts

10Employee Communication

11Staff Appreciation

12Opportunity for Advancement

12Job Skills Mismatch

13Recommendation & Analysis

14Soft System Changes

17Conclusion

19Bibliography

IntroductionThe Ministry of housing is one of the most important ministries under the umbrella of service ministries in Sultanate of Oman. Its role is to regulate issues concerning land use by preparing detailed plot plans for governments and the various regions of the Sultanate and distributing lands to citizens who should be eligible in accordance with the existing laws. This ministry also provides housing units through the established housing assistance scheme as well as non-interest housing loans program. The ministry has employed current technology (e-services) to assist in efficient service delivery. The ministry has 3237 employees across the sultanate. Despite the staff being well paid, retention levels are generally low. To this end, the ensuing paper is a reporting aimed at discussing the causes of employees leaving the Ministry of Housing in the Sultanate of Oman with a view of suggesting feasible measures for mitigating the causative agents. In particular, the report makes particular emphasis on the application of a soft systems approach as a remedy to the issues highlighted in the discussion. The subsequent report is important as:

(a) The study will be able to establish the factors that motivate employees to stay with the organization and those that cause them to leave

(b) The study will also enable the ministry to development HR practices that will result in increased employee performance and efficiency

(c) By so doing, job satisfaction will increase and as a result retention levels increase which implies less employees leaving work and reduced costs for the ministry in terms of recruitment and training costs.

Statement of IssueIn light of the above system issues at the ministry, effort needs to be placed in easing the employees leaving the ministry. A possible approach is to conduct an internal study to establish the factors that cause employees not to be satisfied with their job and those that result in job satisfaction as well as those factors that cause them to leave job. The second step will be to evaluate the existing human resource practices to determine their effectiveness. Third is to integrate the findings of the internal study with the HR practices and make adjustments to improve them. Last step is to implement the new improved strategies and measure their effectiveness to establish whether employee retention will increase.

Analysis of Factors contributing to a Employees Leaving the Ministry Staff Training

Ones success in any job is heavily dependent on the amount of skills that they are able to acquire before and during their job posting. Working in the public sector, in this case the Ministry of Housing, the employee is exposed to a flurry of expectations and targets all of which would require that they complete within a reasonable period. However, as research shows, the amount of in-house training invested on civil servants at the ministry is very negligible. This implies that the employer, whether new or seasoned, may struggle to adapt to the new mission statements and objectives that the government may place on them and thus quite the ministry. Suffice to posit that as the nation embarks on a path towards modernization, the government attempts to keep pace with this by requesting the respective ministries to adopt the current emerging trends and practices in service delivery and productivity in general. For example, within the ministry, the use of new softwares for executing ministry function implies that all employees need to acquaint themselves with the new program. As is often the case, the ministry leaders are often quick to roll out the software enhancements without first training the staff. The result is a frustrated employee who faces constant criticism from their supervisors. In conclusion, suffice to posit that the introduction of new technology or policies often result in the employee facing a difficult time at work in the event that they did not received adequate training on the new paradigms.Working Conditions

It is the desire for any given employee to work in an environment where they are in a position to work in a hospitable and cordial setting. From preliminary investigations, it was revealed that another reason employees left the ministry resulted from poor working conditions. With such a revelation, further inquiry revealed that there were several aspects to the employees alleging that the ministry has poor working conditions. These reasons focus on the case for resources or tools for performing their duties.

Cognizant of the fact that the ministry is tasked with managing the housing infrastructure in the entire sultanate, suffice to posit that some of the employees are required to perform fieldwork. During such occasions, reports indicate that the employees are not accorded ministry vehicles and are instead asked to use public transport. Whereas this might not be too bad for the environment, the situation becomes dire for the employees where they are forced to use their personal resources for transport with the hope that they will be reimbursed by finance.

However, this is not always the case as the stringent procurement policies dictate that the officer needs to produce verifiable receipts for reimbursement. In most cases this is not possible due to the nature of the public transport industry. Where one uses a taxi that may provide such receipts, their reimbursement is rejected because they overspent the quota. Overtime, employees find the situation a little bit too tough for their personal economies. It is important to state here that the transport allowance accorded to ministry staff only caters for the routine transport to and from work and does not cater for in-work trips.

Involuntary

Another source of concern for ministry management is employees leaving due to involuntary reasons. By involuntary departure, the employee is forced by circumstances that are beyond their control. In examining this category, one has to take note of the fact that within the ministry, there are both local Omanis and expatriates working alongside one another. There are several circumstances responsible for involuntary staff departure.

Firstly, retirement is one of the causes of staff leaving the ministry albeit one that is not so much of a great concern. With the retirement age placed just below 60, employees who attain that age are forced to retire with the chances of any extension highly unlikely unless endorsed by the minster under special circumstances. Key to note here that most civil servant never asks for extension as they opt to focus on personal business using the expertise and connections that they acquired at the ministry.

Health reasons force a small population of ministry workers to resign from the ministry. Some of the health conditions that may render them to such a resignation include advanced stages of diabetes and cancer. Moreover, there have been situations where workers were involved in accidents thus rendering them unable to discharge their duties effectively and thus retired.

Lastly, a section of departing expatriates hired to work on special ministry projects leave the ministry over concerns pertaining to them being unable to fully adjust to the weather and climate in the sultanate. Moreover, some are recorded as suggesting that they may not be in a position to serve the government over their personal opinions over national polices and cultural perspectives.Rewards

Monetary gain is another source of conversations making employees leave the ministry. Suffice to say that consistent with theories revolving around individual utility, persons are by designed expected to source employment from places where they are assured of reaping the most benefits from. In particular, the ministry employee may opt to simply offer their services to the nation for the purposes of acquiring contacts and experience, which they then use is seeking for employment in the private sector where it is more likely to pay more.

In addition to the above scenario, a common trend among ministry staff is where they utilize some of the government education privileges in ensuring that they achieve the highest level of education, PhD, after which, they use it a launch pin into seeking for employment in the private sector. For example, with the PhD, the local Omani ministry employee may be drawing a salary of about RO 1500 but they may get an offer twice the amount in the private sector. Interestingly, the employee would actually apply for early retirement where they might be entitled to a decent pension. Besides the issue of employees seeking employment in the private sector, there are those who have simply quit the ministry as they are of the opinion that their salary may not be sufficient. Workplace Conflicts

The sultanate is a cosmopolitan region drawing in peoples from various cultures and background to not only work but also live in the region. With regards to the ministry, it employs local Omanis from different parts of the sultanate and those close to the royal family. In addition to this, there is a small group of expatriates hired by the ministry to perform certain services as the locals are yet to acquire the level of expertise required to fully run the ministry. As such, the ministry is full of persons with different work ethics and behaviors.

Cognizant of the above, there are recorded cases where employees sought to quite the ministry over situation where they reported incidences where they had conflicts with their colleagues. In most cases, the norm would be that the human resources department, if not the departmental head, would intervene in trying to have the staff work together harmonically. However, they reported that there was little if any form of intervention from the human resources thus resulting in the staff feeling as if their feelings were irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

Some of the workplace conflicts that are noted as being among the most common are those involving cultural issues between employees from different sexes. Bearing in mind of the dominant religion in the sultanate, certain male employees find it difficult in relating to their female colleagues especially in circumstances where they are their supervisors. In other cases, the staff are said to have conflicted with their immediate supervisors over certain assignments, which they claim their team leader did not handle managing the project effectively, and thus when the project resulted in a failure, they were quick to place blame on their subordinates. Absence of reprieve, they resulted to quitting their jobs.Employee Communication

Employee communication on ministry directives is another major cause for employees leaving the ministry. As is with any relationship, there is need for senior ministry officials to be in constant communication with their staff especially on matters pertaining to organizational changes. However, the norm has been that the cabinet develops the key socio-economic policies after which the ministry head simply channels it down to departmental heads who do the same. The staff are expected to comply with every directive lest their employment is terminated. Consequently, the staff feels that their input is irrelevant in the planning of the ministry and thus social services. Such sentiments often result in reduced work output that eventually leads the worker to seek employment where their input would be desired.

In addition to the above, there are occurrences where the ministry has resulted to developing plans that would essentially trim down the expenses. In such situations, one of the key targets would be to retrenched staffs that are deemed as either excess or redundant. When such word gets out before the ministry heads can explain the situation to the staff, an element of fear is generated within the staff resulting in a handful of them terminating their services so as they may get a head start in venturing into other organizations.Staff Appreciation

Any employee feels appreciated when they perform tasks that exceed their potential or the targets that were accorded to them by the their supervisors. In this regard, a handful of staff have commented that they at times feel unappreciated when they go out of their way and perform impossible tasks. In some cases, after performing such tasks, it has been noted that the section heads simply consider whatever fete they accomplished as part of their routine responsibility. In such cases, the employee feels that they are unappreciated and thus their output reduces as they feel uninspired in exceeding their performance. As such, some opt to seek employment elsewhere.

Another similar situation is where the employer is at the centre of suggesting key ministry solutions whereby their ideas form the core of a future ministry policy. The norm would be to have the supervisor inform the minster as to who was behind the suggestion. However, the practice at the ministry has been such that the section heads receive the bulk of the credit. In turn, the ministry staff opts to leave for the private sector that rewards employees for such business solutions.Opportunity for Advancement

Every employee has the vision that one day they would be at the very heart of an organization where they have dedicated their entire career at. In the case of working at the ministry of housing, majority of the employees are weary about their progression into the higher echelons of the ministry due to the political nature of the appointments. Cognizant of the fact that the ministry is within a sultanate, a number of the senior most positions in the governments are exclusive to members of the royal family. On this account, the ministry employee would keep in mind of the fact that regardless of their academic and professional expertise, they might on be able to get to run the ministry.

As such, to them, they find it better if they were to focus their activities towards an organization that they are sure that they would get to be the chief executives in the future. Moreover, note here that in as much as the ministry might opt to increase their remunerations, certain employees value the title over the cash incentives and thus this might not work for them. Consequently, where the employee feels that they have come to the limit of their career growth, they would secretly seek positions in the private sector where they may be able to achieve their ambitions.Job Skills Mismatch

Perhaps the last subtle reason making employees leave the ministry of housing revolves around the issue of job skills match. Suffice to say that the ministry of housing requires person who have a knack for helping the selfless in the community. Moreover, the job demands that the employees be strategic thinkers that may be able to deliver the ministry targets in the most feasible manner. With this regard, in as much as one might have a strategic management and legal background, they need to be persons who are comfortable with working with the community. Recommendation & AnalysisFrom the above discussion, it is apparent that the ministry of housing places itself in a precarious position in the event it fails to take hold of the situation. Key to note here is that where the above causes for employees leaving the ministry is not sorted appropriately, there would be consequences that would work to the detriment of the ministry. Cases in point, increased staff departure implies that the ministry would result in spending more resources in ensuring that they recruit new personnel. In this regard, it implies that the ministry would b compelled to increase its budgetary allocation for staff recruitment.

Moreover, the ministry of housing might result in offering poor services to the people as it would be understaffed. In such a situation, the ministry services will have to be scaled down for the available personnel to work out a decent plan of action. With such a scenario, the available ministry staff might be overloaded as the ministry tries to accomplish a huge workload with personnel. On this account, more employees may opt to resign at the wake of the workload. Suffice to say, failure to attend to the issues leaves the ministry open to increased problems.

Based on the causes of the discussion so far covered in the report, key policy recommendations need to be considered to rectify the situation. As the issues raised in the discussion pertain to both people and ministerial structure, suffice to posit that policy recommendations need to consider both hard and soft systems. In particular, care has to be taken to examine the current existing human resource policy before suggesting ways in which to rectify the situation. in other words, the policy suggestions need to be integrated with the current human resource policy and target a specific causation to employees leaving the ministry. Once that is accomplished, implementation may commence.

Cognizant of the need to ensure that the policy recommendations are effective, the ministry heads need to develop mechanisms where they can measure the success of the policy. Absence of such a measure may render the implementation of the recommendation redundant, as there would be no benchmark. The following are policy recommendations designed to tackle specific causative agents to the problems. By tackling these agents, it is envisaged that the symptoms to the problems would disappear with time and thus the discussed repercussions to the agents averted. Soft System Changes Staff training throughout the fiscal year is necessary to ensure that her employees are equipped with the most relevant and recent emerging trend in practices unique to housing institutions. As observed, the human resources department does not have a cohesive training program let alone a designated budget for it whereby heads of department may refer to when they wish to empower the staff. As such, the HR department should consider the areas that staff need training in after which they may proceed to examine some of the most feasible ways in which they may be able to impart the much-needed skills on her staff. With this in place, staff that may not be familiar with emerging trends and technology are less susceptible to leaving the ministry. On the part of involuntary employee departure due to cultural and climate issues, suffice to posit that the ministry lacks a cohesive orientation program for expatriates. As such, this report suggests that the ministry develop one such package with the aid of a tourist consultancy firm. With such a program, the expatriates are informed more of the culture and socio-economic dimensions of the sultanate in such a manner that they feel comfortable in seeing through their duration of contract. Key to note here that the recommendation in hiring a tourist consultancy firm is based on the issue of capacity in which the ministry does not possess now. Moreover, such firms are experts in that field. The human resource department needs to ensure that it recognizes effort from its staff and acknowledge credit where it is deemed necessary. Regardless of the civic responsibility that the civil servants posses, there are actions that calls for an applause from the management as is the case with numerous private organizations. To this end, the ministry needs to issue out a memo to its respective heads of department and inform them of the need to identify outstanding employees who exceeded the demands of their job description. These employees should then be recognized during public holidays or special commendation days and thus encourage all the staff to perform more than their requirement.

Human resource department needs to modernize itself in such a manner that it may be able to adjudicate workplace conflict. The occurrence of workplace conflicts is ordinary. However, what is not ordinary is the manner in which the human resource department within the ministry handles the whole issue. Suffice to say that the ministry needs to develop strategies that would go a long way in creating respective amongst all its employees regardless of their background. Moreover, steps needs to be formulated that may in turn be used to adjudicate where such workplace conflicts occur. Communication is an important ingredient to the success of any relationship. As such, the ministry heads need to appreciate the fact that the ministry staff are humans and that rumors often work against them. As such, they need to develop policies that ensures all departmental heads are in constant communication with their subordinates in such a manner that they would be positioned to make meaningful contributions towards issues and policies affecting them and the ministry as a whole. The sultanate as a whole needs to review the manner in which it develops it policies. In particular, the policy where the heads of government agencies must be persons from the royal family needs to be checked more closely. Suffice to post that some of the royal appointments do not add much value to the respective government agencies as they are made out of kinship and not professionalism. In this regard therefore, the various civil servants may not have much reverence to their leadership due to their lack of professional experience. As a recommendation, the sultanate needs to consider steps in which any qualified person from the sultanate may be considered for such appointments. With this in place, ministry staff would feel motivated to develop their skills and expertise as they prepare for possible promotion to the higher echelons of the ministry. During the recruitment process, the human resource department needs to ensure that the prospective employees are placed on probation pending determination of their usefulness to the ministry. The issue of jobs skills mismatch is of great and growing concern that needs urgent address. With the proposed probation period, the ministry staff would be able to access the suitability of the employee into working with the ministry. In so doing, they are ensured that they will not waste resources on persons who for one reason of the other may not be willing to work in the ministry after they realize that perhaps the civil service is not part of their career plans. Suffice to say that working in the civil service needs persons who are patriotic and committed to changing the lives of others through the implementation of government policies. Conclusion

Employees departing from work remains to be of great concern to any given organization. Steady productivity and service delivery can only be achieved where the organization is positioned in maintaining a decent level of its skilled workforce. From the above discussion, it is evident that the ministry of housing needs to examine these nine causative agents to making its employees leave. The suggested remedy to the causative agents are discussed in detail. In summary, the ministry needs to implement both the hard and soft systems solutions.

Case in point, staff training throughout the fiscal year is necessary to ensure that her employees are equipped with the most relevant and recent emerging trend in practices unique to housing institutions. Moreover, the human resource department needs to modernize itself in such a manner that it may be able to adjudicate workplace conflict. Similarly, the department needs to invest in tools of trade such as ministerial vans that may be used by its officials during fieldwork.

During the recruitment process, the human resource department needs to ensure that the prospective employees are placed on probation pending determination of their usefulness to the ministry. Moreover, the human resource department needs to ensure that it recognizes effort from its staff and acknowledge credit where it is deemed necessary.

As suggested, the ministry heads need to develop ways in which they may be able to measure the rate that employees leave the ministry. One such method may be to develop a mathematical model whereby a correlation may be mapped out between productivity and employee departure. Developing such models would require the integration of several factors that affect ones decision to be employed at an organization. In conclusion, the report has achieved its core objective of discussing the causes of employees leaving the Ministry of Housing in the Sultanate of Oman with a view of suggesting feasible measures for mitigating the causative agents.

Word count: 3989Bibliography

Information Technology Authority . (2015). Ministry of Housing. Retrieved January 2, 2015, from Omanuna: http://www.oman.om/wps/portal/!ut/p/a0/04_Sj9CPykssy0xPLMnMz0vMAfGjzOKDvbydgj1NjAwszELNDDxDvQND3NwMDA0MzPWDU_P0C7IdFQHJ46k0/?WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/EN/site/home/gov/gov1/gm/mhew/