Page 1 of 17
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 8, No. 4
Publication Date: April 25, 2021
DOI:10.14738/assrj.84.9769.
Alharthy, H. S. A., & Matriano, M. T. (2021). A Critical Investigation on the Human Resources Innovation Practices in National Survey
Authority (NSA)-Oman. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(4). 261-277.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
A Critical Investigation on the Human Resources Innovation
Practices in National Survey Authority (NSA)-Oman
Mr. Hamed Said Ahmed Alharthy
MBA Graduate, Middle East College
Dr. Maria Teresa Matriano
Faculty, Department of Post-Graduate Studies, Middle East College, Oman
ABSTRACT
Purpose: In any organization around the world, the Human Resources Department
is considered to be an important division because it is responsible for personnel
affairs in the organization through the practices of staff in the Human Resources
Department. So much so that it is regarded as a police force that works for stability
and security as well as human resources working for the stability of staff in the
organization. Because of the importance of the Human Resources Department, the
organization should periodically evaluate and verify the processes of innovation
and development of the Section if it is consistent with the latest practices of the
developed organizations and if the innovation practices are implemented in the
required manner or not. Methodology: The survey questionnaire was developed
and disseminated among the staff of the National Survey Authority. There were
personal interviews with some officials of the National Survey Authority where they
were asked questions about innovation practices. Findings: The tests conducted by
the NSA in hiring staff was easy. This of course gives the opportunity to those with
simple qualification to be qualified and this serves as an innovation for employment
in the NSA. NSA randomly identifies the employee's department to work in, more
than relying on qualifications and experience. This leads to the appointment of
those who lack experience and eligibility and put the employee in an inappropriate
place and this affects the productivity and causes a failure or weakness in the
system of innovation. Research Implications: The decline in the level of HR
practices will lead to a decline in the level of productivity and also to the resignation
of many aspiring employees who were looking for an environment that motivates
them. Novelty: Technology as in the case of NSA, has driven hugely human resource
innovation practices in an organization. NSA to motivate staff to innovate and help
officials in NSA to reach a deeper understanding of the practices of innovation in
their practices of human resources which will facilitate the decision-making
process in motivating the employee of the organization.
Keywords: Human Resource Innovation, Innovation, Human Resource, National Survey
Authority, HR Innovation in NSA, HR Innovation
INTRODUCTION
The number of research conducted in the field of innovation has increased significantly over
the past two decades; and the interest in the field of innovation is constantly increasing by those
interested in innovation in all kinds of innovation especially on products innovation in
Page 2 of 17
262
Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 8, Issue 4, April-2021
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
facilitating processes and services. The main objective of innovation is development that every
organization seeks in both governmental sectors and private sectors of companies and
factories, with the vast amount of research that has been found in the review process of
previous studies in the thesis. Since human resource is an important department, it is quite
necessary to pay attention to its development so that its employees can work on the basis of
innovation and high skills, hence, the need to evaluate the level of human resource innovation
practices in the National Survey Authority.
OVERVIEW OF NATIONAL SURVEY AUTHORITY
The National Survey Authority (NSA) is a governmental institution under the management of
the Omani Ministry of Defense. It was established forty years ago by a decision issued by the
Council of Ministers, and the main function was assigned to NSA to perform the tasks of
producing maps, aerial photographs, and other geographical works related to Sultanate of
Oman. The National Survey Authority serves the military sectors and many customers from
different sectors such as government ministries, or companies or even individuals and
researchers in the field of geography by providing them with geographical products mentioned
above. Therefore, the work in the National Survey Authority requires the staff to be trained
technically and administratively, so that they can work in the technical departments and
administrative departments such as HR department, and make those employees capable of
accomplishing the work and innovating what is new in their activities, and to do so, needs funds
and creation of the right environment and help in innovation both in daily practices or in the
products of NSA. “NSA is looking forward to fully participate in E-government and apply/share
all its services to be available online.” (Al-Toobi, 2014)
OVERVIEW OF NSA INNOVATION PROBLEMS
Human resources staff in the National Survey Authority suffer from lack of knowledge and
incentives that help them acquire the skills of innovation in their daily practices and the
evidence of the existence of that problem is the slowness that is still noticed in many of the
practices that are implemented by employees in Human Resources Department, such as the
employee's professional planning activities, which are the responsibility of the Human
Resources Manager in conjunction with the Directors of other directorates, or the slow
evolution in data storage from the paper phase to the digital stage, or following-up reports of
the scholarship staff to get idea about their performance in study, or even promotions
procedures and rewards and other activities carried out by human resources, for example,
some staff failed in their training courses. The reason for this was the loss of the most
appropriate selection criteria for these courses and the nomination of suitable staff after
internal tests. The other reason was the failure to follow-up the academic reports of the
students who have been studying since the early stages of study to identify their weaknesses
and the difficulties they faced, to discuss and solve them before they are exacerbated and;
causing academic failure is a reality that exists in the National Survey Authority. This indicates
the existence of the problem of lack of innovation skills among the staff of Human Resources
Management in National Survey Authority in training staff practice.
AIM AND OBJECTIVES
The dissertation is prepared to investigate on the practices of innovation for National Survey
Authority (NSA) in their Human Resources Department to see whether the innovation practices
Page 3 of 17
263
Alharthy, H. S. A., & Matriano, M. T. (2021). A Critical Investigation on the Human Resources Innovation Practices in National Survey Authority
(NSA)-Oman. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 8(4). 261-277.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.84.9769
followed in NSA are compatible to the practices applied in most sophisticated organizations or
not, so with the completion of the dissertation several objectives will be achieved such are:
➢ To identify the practices of innovation that were processed in the Human Resources
Department of the NSA during the last ten years and other organizations.
➢ To examine the use of Human Resources for information technology and various modern
applications and to identify modern technologies to help facilitate innovation in HR.
➢ To formulate recommendations that will play a key role in improving the innovation
practices of staff in the human resource of the NSA.
RESEARCH PROBLEM
Many studies show that innovation play a key role in raising the level of practices of the human
resources management and improving the performance of employees in any organization. In
addition, by using different types of latest technologies, innovation can be facilitated for
talented employees. Well-trained HR staff can benefit from innovation practices and connect
with organizational leaders to create positive impact (Hollon, 2011).
The dissertation aims to critically investigate on the Human Resources Innovation Practices in
National Survey Authority, so to understand the practices of innovation followed in Human
Sources Management in NSA, to realize what modern technologies are used to facilitate
innovation in Human Resources, and finally to end up with suitable recommendations which
can play big role in motivating the employees in NSA and ultimately improve their innovation
practices.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
With the completion of the dissertation, the following questions will be answered on which the
preparation of the dissertation was done:
1- What are the processes or principles of innovation practiced in human resources of the
National Survey Authority and other organizations during the last ten years?
2- What are the modern technologies that will help facilitate innovation in human
resources of NSA?
3- What are the appropriate recommendations that will play key role in improving the
innovation practices of HR staff in the National Survey Authority?
LITERATURE REVIEW
HR Management Functions and Practices
Human Resources Management in any organization is considered an important department
because it oversees the main activities of the organization. A study has been carried out on
industrial companies that proved that human resources management practices have a
significant impact on productivity. It was noted that among the reasons for the low level of
productivity is the low level of human resources and how to manage them in the organization
(Abdulqader, 2012).
On the other hand, the relationship between Human Resources Management practices and the
high performance of staff in the organization considered to be strong and close, and this has
been discovered through models designed by experts in the field of Human Resources
Management (David, 2011). In the UK, a study was conducted by using data collected from
postal survey of UK local government employees. The study showed that HR practices have a