Paper Title
Effectiveness of HRD in Private Sector: A Case From The Kingdom of Bahrain
Abstract
The Gulf Corporation Countries (GCC) still face the challenge of creating the private sector as a vehicle towards
building a diversified economy less dependent on the oil sector through forming the private sector as an employer of choice
to nationals. It has long been criticized that GCC nationals do not prefer the private sector viewing it as a less attractive
sector. Despite, governmental efforts to form the private sector as an attractive sector , the dependency on foreign labor stays
at 70%. The research explores strategies that have been developed in the GCC for forming the private sector as an employer
of choice which reveal the presence of “Human Resource Development” strategies as a solution to attract nationals towards
private sector employment. The paper presents a review of governmental strategies in the GCC states but focuses its
exploration towards the Kingdom of Bahrain. Despite the presence of HRD strategies and its importance in retaining
employees within organizations, the study reveals that nationals in Bahrain prefer the government sector despite the presence
of extensive HRD strategies. Hence, this raises a deserved area of exploration towards the investments of HRD strategies for
private sector versus the retention of nationals within private sector in other GCC states as well. The research data collection
has focused on the Kingdom of Bahrain by collecting data from four private sector organizations to assess the presence of
HRD and nationals view towards government sector employment. The study reveals findings towards the importance of
forming policies that form the private sector an employer of choice through extrinsic means by restructuring the
remuneration structure.
Keywords - Capacity Building, Human Resource Development, national labor participation