Abstract

The paper rethinks the role of sustainable human resource management practices in achieving corporate excellence, using the case of Oman, an emerging Arab Gulf economy currently pursuing an economic diversification strategy tagged Oman Vision 2040. The paper is based on the survey data collected from 212 workers and managers working in the nation’s capital city, Muscat, between December 2020 and February 2021. The respondents were randomly surveyed across Oman Vision 2040’s priority economic diversification agenda sectors: investment management, infrastructure, energy, banking, and telecommunication. The analysis includes 22 data points covering essential HRM practices, including recruitment, compensation, motivation, organisational training, and learning and development. The IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for the data analysis. Descriptive statistics and hypothesis testing of Karl Pearson’s r correlation, emphasising the p-value < 0.01 interpreted to be highly significant at a 1% significance level, are presented. Adopting HRM as a strategic partner in a business model significantly impact organisational excellence, especially concerning staff training and appraisal system. However, while country-specific factors might influence the HRM practice in the domestic context, the expected association between Omani strategic HRM factors, such as labour laws, expatriate workforce, and foreign education and organisational excellence, may not be supported by the current empirical evidence. The research also found a weak correlation between job performance and employee appraisal systems. This paper used survey data from human beings, workers and HRM managers, whose responses might be open to distortions; further research is required to confirm these results using multiple data sources. The need to encourage creativity and innovation in job performance through continuous on-the-job training and development leveraging technology and data analytics applications is acknowledged. The implications for rethinking SHRM practices and policies towards developing a new intrapreneurial, well-motivated, adaptive, and trained workforce are documented. Human capital’s adequacy and quality have been widely recognised as critical to any organisation's value-creation goal. Still, research to date is somewhat inconclusive on what the priority HRM practices should be in the contemporary fast-paced, technology-driven business environment. This research makes a theoretical and empirical contribution to scholarly discussions on the role of SHRM practices in modern organisations. It also adds value to SHRM research and practice. The present research may be the first Oman-specific SHRM study with empirical perspectives from the Covid-19 pandemic.

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