HR Research Process Analysis and Recommendations for Saudi Aramco

This report delves into the human resource research process, outlining its eight key stages from problem identification to strategy implementation, with a focus on Saudi Aramco. The study identifies training and development as a critical area for improvement, particularly addressing the challenges posed by an ageing workforce and the need for technological adaptation. The report explores various data collection methods, including interviews and observations, and reviews relevant literature to draw conclusions and propose recommendations. The analysis highlights the importance of training in enhancing employee performance, motivation, and the ability to adapt to changes. The report emphasizes the benefits of training and development, such as improved employee skills and productivity, while also acknowledging associated challenges like costs. The paper concludes by suggesting strategies to address issues like lack of motivation and technological adaptation, aligning with recent trends in HR practices to enhance employee experience and leverage advanced analytics.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE RESEARCH PROCESS
HUMAN RESOURCE RESEARCH PROCESS
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1HUMAN RESOURCE RESEARCH PROCESS
Executive Summary
Human resource research process includes a process for conducting research related to a problem
identified with the HR practice and for the purpose of solving the same. There are 8 main stages
in the process of human resource research starting with the problem identification, to gathering
proper information, to analysing and evaluating the information, to formulation of different
strategies to implementation of those strategies and therefore helps in summarising the entire
process in details to the stakeholders. The company selected for the purpose of this study
includes- Saudi Aramco Company. The main aim of the paper was to carry out a HR research
process in the selected organization. The paper therefore discussed about the different stages of
the HR research process, the areas of HR practice that needs improvement, critical review of
literature related to the area of HR practice and it also helps in drawing conclusions from the
same for the purpose of making recommendations.

2HUMAN RESOURCE RESEARCH PROCESS
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................4
The stages of the research process and comparison of the different data collection methods........4
Area of HR practice for investigation..............................................................................................6
A critical review of the different information sources relevant to the chosen area.........................9
Drawing conclusions from the critical review and recommendations for improving the existing
practices...........................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10

3HUMAN RESOURCE RESEARCH PROCESS
Introduction
The research process of human resource includes research in the human resource field.
Therefore the Human resource research helps in providing a detailed analysis of the management
issues and the current development with the help of case studies in real life that further helps in
carrying out implementation and formulation of different strategies within the organization. The
process of human resource starts with the grievance of the employees and therefore in such
situations it becomes necessary for the management to identify the early signs of employee’s
problems and provide a solution to the same. And it is only when the management is incapable of
solving the problems that the role of HR research steps in. Therefore the main purpose of
conducting a human resource research includes- finding the solutions to different problems of
HR. Therefore the HR research process includes investigations, re-assessments, and re-
examinations and also includes revaluations. The company selected for the purpose of this study
is Saudi Aramco. This company is a natural gas and national petroleum producing company. The
main aim of the paper is to carry out a HR research process for the chosen company. Therefore
the paper will discuss about the stages of the HR research, identify areas of HR practice for
investigation, conduct a critical review on the basis of different sources of information related to
the chosen area, draw meaningful conclusions and provide recommendations for the purpose of
improving the overall HR practices.

4HUMAN RESOURCE RESEARCH PROCESS
Discussion
The stages of the research process and comparison of the different data collection
methods
The research process of HR comprises of 8 main stages and starts with the problem
definition and therefore a question is prepared for this purpose. Then the next step includes
reviewing the available literature or what is known as the internal data, then a research approach
needs to be designed along with determination of the type of data. The next step includes
analysis of the literature, and then comes writing down the research question. The 6th stage
includes evaluation followed by interpretation of the results and lastly the process ends with
summarising the findings (Subramony 2009). Therefore the HR research process involves
carrying out an investigation into the problem in order to understand the same and develop
solutions accordingly. The HR research process starts with a problem such as employee’s
dissatisfaction and lack of motivation within the organization. Then the next step of reviewing all
the available literature includes going through the past records in order to understand if such
incidents have occurred previously in the organization and what steps were taken then to solve
those issues. This step helps in collecting relevant knowledge in the field of research. Then the
next step includes designing a proper approach for the research and it basically includes the
research plan for answering the research question. Moreover it is necessary to have a good
research design because it can help in ensuring that sufficient information has been collected for
solving the research question. Then comes the stage of analysis of the literature which includes
carrying out a critical analysis of the available information and it is also important because it
helps in understanding the research problem that is being studied. Then the 5th stage includes
writing down the research question. The research question helps in providing guidance to the

5HUMAN RESOURCE RESEARCH PROCESS
research paper and also helps in synthesising all the sources of information. Then comes the 6th
stage of evaluation of all the information helps in finding the validity of the information,
accuracy, reliability, timeliness and also authority. The 7th stage includes drawing conclusion
after the information has been analysed and evaluated for the purpose of making
recommendations that can help in improving the practices. Lastly the information needs to be
summarised in front of the audience in order to present the main ideas statements or facts in front
of the audience.
Figure 1: The process of Human research process
Source: (Gray 2019)
Research refers to the process of consideration of information related to a particular
research question. Research can basically be of two main types that is the primary research and

6HUMAN RESOURCE RESEARCH PROCESS
the secondary research. Primary research includes a research that is conducted by the researcher
himself and includes going directly to the source. Data collection process includes gathering of
data from different sources and measuring the same on different variables for the purpose of
getting answers for the research questions. There are different methods of data collection such as
interviews, observations, focus groups, documents and records and also includes the oral
histories. One of most expensive yet most common tool of data collection includes interviews.
Interview process includes asking a set of questions to the interview however the efficiency of
the same depends upon the questions that have been asked. Moreover it also consumes a lot of
time of the individuals going for the same. Observation is one of the simplest methods of data
collection and it does not include asking questions to different kinds of biases. Further
documents can also be used for the purpose of collecting data and this kind of information is
easily available. However it needs to be ensured that source of data is authentic. Focus groups
includes the combination of a number a data collection methods such as surveys, questionnaire
and even interviews for the purpose of gathering data from a group of similar individuals.
Therefore the main feature of a focus group method of data collection is the collective element
to individual collection of data. Oral histories includes- the recording, interpretation and
presentation of the historical data of a candidate.
Area of HR practice for investigation
The area of HR practice identified for the purpose of this study includes training and
development. The research question selected for the purpose of this study includes- if proper
training and development is being provided to the employees of the company such that the issues
being faced by them presently can be fulfilled. The company under study or Saudi Aramco
Company is being faced with issues of ageing workforce (Hartmann and Patrickson 2000). This

7HUMAN RESOURCE RESEARCH PROCESS
is so because the company recruits employees who are having sufficient expertise and as a result
the workforce of Saudi Aramco comprises mostly of aged employees. Due to this ageing
workforce of Saudi Aramco, their productivity is being affected negatively and moreover the
employees are also losing their interest in work, they lack any sort of motivation and as a result
the employees are also not motivated to improve the overall productivity of the company.
Moreover the aged workforce of Saudi Aramco is incapable of adapting themselves to the
environmental changes taking place that is evident from the fact that they are incapable of
handling technology efficiently which is further acting as a drawback for the company under
study.
Therefore the area of HR practice chosen by me includes training and development of the
employees (Fisher 1989). Training and development process is a part of the organization that
aims at improving the overall performance of the employees. Training is an educational process
of improving the knowledge of the employees, sharpening their skills and concepts, changing
their attitude and thereby it aims at improving the performance of the employees of the
organization. On the other hand development refers to the overall growth of the employees by
not only developing their knowledge but by developing them personally in order to improve the
overall effectiveness of the employees. Training and development of the employees is also
important because there are innumerable changes taking place in the external environment of the
organization and therefore it is necessary to train and develop the employees such that they can
adapt themselves to the changing business scenario.
Training and development helps the individuals in understanding where they presently
are and where they desire to go. With the help of training, new skills and information can be
learnt by the employees of the organization. Some of the major requirements of training and

8HUMAN RESOURCE RESEARCH PROCESS
development if the employees includes- when there is a requirement to improve the overall
performance of the employees of the organization, when the top management feels that there is
need to train the employees about the specific responsibilities of the job and also skills such as
team management, communication management and other similar skills (Shen 2005). Further
training and development is also required to be given necessarily when a new methodology is
required to be tested for the purpose of enhancing the productivity of the employees of the
organization. Moreover training and development is important for the employees because it can
help the organization in making optimum utilisation of human resources, it is necessary for the
employees to acquire certain skills such as team management skill, time management skills and
also leadership skills and other similar skills. Training and development helps in ensuring the
zeal of the employees, it can help in improving the overall organizational culture, it helps in
improving the safety and quality of the employees, training and development can help in
improving the overall profitability of the employees and moreover it can help in improving the
corporate image and also morale of the employees of the organization (Wilson 2005).
This particular area or training and development interests me because of the innumerable
advantages provided by the same area. For instance training and development can help in
developing the knowledge and skills of the employees; it can help in improving the overall
productivity and efficiency of the employees (Tracey 1994). Moreover training and development
can help in removing different bottlenecks in the operations of the company. Moreover one of
the major advantages of training and development includes improving the motivation of the
employees and help in refreshing them. Some of the issues that are faced by training and
development includes- the cost of training program as the training program can sometimes be
expensive as trainers may have to be called from outside and there moreover the training and

9HUMAN RESOURCE RESEARCH PROCESS
development program may go to waste if the employees quit their job immediately after the
programs. The problems and issues faced by the company under study includes- lack of
motivation, lack of interest and inability of the workforce to adopt themselves to the
technological changes taking place. Some of the recent trends in HR practices includes-
improving the experience of the employees by improving their motivation at work, making use
of learning management systems, providing rewards and recognition digitally, making use of
advanced people analytics, online assessment of skills and similar others. From the recent trends
of human resource management it is clear that employees in the present generation need to have
good knowledge of technology and therefore should adapt to the same.
A critical review of the different information sources relevant to the chosen area
According to Yaldiz, Fraccaroli and Truxillo (2017), in the present world the ratio of
older people as compared to the younger people is higher in certain industries and that is also
leading to a number of changes in the laws and causing entry of lesser number of younger
employees. This trend is further giving rise to a number of issues related to ageing workforce
such as lack of motivation, negative job attitude, and others. Further according to Newton
(2006), the amount of training received and being offered to the old aged people is also less as
compared to younger and the mid aged people. Moreover the older people also showed lower
interest in undertaking any training because they did not want to take advantage of any
opportunity that was being offered to them. Lastly according to Appelbaum et al. (2016), there is
a stereotype that old aged workers lack the interest in acquiring new skill sets and knowledge and
therefore they negatively affect the organizational productivity.
However from the research conducted it was found that sometimes these workers
positively contribute to the organizational productivity. Therefore a common theme among the

10HUMAN RESOURCE RESEARCH PROCESS
three topics is that they agree on the point that number of old aged people in certain sectors is
continuously increasing and in fact they play a very important role in improving the productivity
of the organization. However all the authors have highlighted different perspectives on the
productivity of the old aged employees within organizations based on their training and
development. For instance according to one of the authors there are a number of issues with old
aged workforce such as lack of interest in those employees to learn new skills and lack of
motivation in them to undertake training and development. However one of the authors has also
found out that the old aged workforce is often a victim to stereotyping because the same
workforce has also contributed to increased productivity.
Drawing conclusions from the critical review and recommendations for improving
the existing practices
Therefore it has been understood from the critical review that irrespective of the issues
faced by the old aged workforce related to their motivation, or attitude or lack of interest in
working, they need to be provided proper training and development as that can help in improving
their overall productivity. Therefore Saudi Aramco company also need to carry out training and
development activities for its employees as it has been evident that employees who have
undergone proper training and development have contributed to increased productivity.
Conclusion
Therefore from the above discussion, it can be concluded that HR research plays an
important role in improving the overall HR practices by identifying the weaknesses in the same.
The process of HR research starts with identification of the problems or the grievances being
faced by the employees of the organization and the research process helps in providing a solution

11HUMAN RESOURCE RESEARCH PROCESS
to the same. Further from the paper, the different stages of the HR research process can be
understood and the different data collections methods can be understood such as the focus
groups, interview, observation or even survey and questionnaire. Further from the paper, the
areas of HR practices have been identified that needs to be improved and therefore an
investigation is done into the same. Moreover it is evident from the paper that a critical review
requires to be done related to the areas of improvement identified for the purpose of drawing
conclusions and making recommendations through which the HR practices can actually be
improved. And moreover this business report will be prepared for all the identified stakeholders.
This report will further help the stakeholders in having a better understanding of the processes
and practices used by the business.