Global economic recessions in the past have led to decreased financial economic activities around the world that have affected people on many levels and the United Arab Emirates is no exception of course. The effect of economic recessions on the UAE is usually significant because of higher dependence on oil resources. The government thus faces various challenges to manage sectors reliant on the economy with the aim of enhanced productivity and performance. This is more relevant for public organisations as these are already geared to perform inefficiently because of less focus on profits. The response plan to face these challenges consists of soft power and happiness policies being implemented in UAE public organisations with the objective of increasing employee motivation, satisfaction, performance and productivity which will eventually have a positive impact on overall organisational output. This research uses Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) as a case study to explore the factors and aspects related to the implementation of soft power and happiness in the UAE public sector. The research aims to explore the current situation surrounding employee happiness and soft power policies in the UAE. The intention is that the findings from this research are used to develop a framework for the successful implementation of employee happiness and soft power policies in public sector organisations in the UAE. Semi-structured interviews with 25 experts, executives, and employees of ADNOC were conducted. The findings revealed the drivers of implementation of soft power and happiness policies in ADNOC to be fostering cooperation, government culture, global engagement, education, active representation, and persuasion of employees. The critical success factors identified in ADNOC include praise and recognition, meaningful and interesting work, good work-life balance, organisational culture and trust and professional development. The risks identified for the implementation of soft power and happiness policies include demotivation among employees, issues in problem solving and lack of persuasion. The good practices on the basis of implementation stages include employee characteristics, employee engagement practices, training and development and curtailing false conformity. The identification of these aspects provides a guideline to build a conceptual framework as part of this research and fulfil the aim of determining multiple aspects of implementation of soft power and happiness policies in public organisations in the UAE.
A framework for the implementation of employee happiness and soft power policies in the UAE
Alsulaimani, A. S. H. A. (Author). 2024
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Professional Studies