How Labor Rights Changed after Arab Spring from the Perspective of HRM

How Labor Rights Changed after Arab Spring from the Perspective of HRM

Arab spring is attributable to skewed labor laws that led to poor working conditions and human resource management malpractices especially in Tunisia and Egypt. Denisi et al. (2015) observe that there is a sharp contrast between the working conditions in most Arab states that took part in 2011 revolution as compared to a few years before the spring. The human resource managers utilized authoritarian leadership style to mimic the political style and government structure, but after the revolution, most labor unions realized the importance of employee empowerment in encouraging workforce motivation and best practices. Bellin (2012) admits that radical changes and implementation of renewed labor laws will take years to yield fruits for employee satisfaction. Most importantly, Egyptian labor laws have been reset in a positive trajectory for overall improvement in the sector.

Before the Arab spring, Egyptian human resource management was complicated, though it was way advanced as compared to those of Arab states. However, all the developments in the workforce industry were inspired by fear and negative motivations. Most employees inclined to air out their views on how the organizations should be run and how the policies should be implemented. Atteya (2012) argues that only the top level managers were tasked with decision making, which most of the times inclined towards the fulfillment of their personal interest. What resulted from decades of the dictatorial regime was suppression of employee rights and entitlements. The majority of trade unions were dysfunctional due to constant threats from the government’s labor officials.

Egyptian labor laws were unclear in their support of investments to align the organization with the state’s economic plans and development. Centralization of authority and responsibilities inhibited idea generation and adoption of a corporate culture of authority delegation (Teti, 2012). The corporation owners intended to establish stronger links with investors and loyal customers at the expense of employee needs and entitled rights. It was hard for employees to successfully launch a reform process to improve their working conditions without attracting a disciplinary action, hefty fines or layoffs.

The conditions changed rapidly during and after the Arab spring in Egypt. Immediately after Hosni Mubarak was ousted as Egyptian political leader, uncertainties regarding the countries future ensued. The country’s labor unions suffered intimidation and threats as the hardliners blamed them for the woes that gripped one of the most prosperous nations in the Arab world. However, as a democratic government was installed, sweeping changes in the human resource were introduced. The leaders of the new regime were aware that workforce dissatisfaction was a significant contributor to the toppling of the previous government.

It took a few years for the introduced labor regulations to be felt across the country. The Western model was effectively adopted and implemented since 2012, even though some corporations are resistant to implement some workforce reforms that conflict with organizational values. The laws cover on employee promotion as per merit and service delivery, rewarding and recognizing hardworking employees, and involving the workforce in decision making (Greene and Kuswa, 2013). In addition, the role of trade unions has been expanded to incorporate overseeing the activities conducted by the human resource management taking over the role of government with regards to instigating changes to labor laws to meet the employee needs.

Bibliography

Atteya, N.M., 2012. Testing the Impact of the Human Resource Management Practices on Job Performance: An Empirical Study in the Egyptian Joint Venture Petroleum Companies. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(9).

Bellin, E., 2012. Reconsidering the Robustness of Authoritarianism in the Middle East: Lessons from the Arab Spring. Comparative Politics, 44(2), pp.127-149.

DeNisi, A. and Griffin, R., 2015. HR3. London: Cengage Learning.Print.

Greene, R.W. and Kuswa, K.D., 2012. “From the Arab Spring to Athens, From Occupy Wall Street to Moscow”: Regional Accents and the Rhetorical Cartography of Power. Rhetoric Society Quarterly, 42(3), pp.271-288.

Teti, A., 2012. The EU's First Response to the ‘Arab Spring’: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Partnership for Democracy and Shared Prosperity. Mediterranean Politics, 17(3), pp.266-284.