IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/aly/journl/202177.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Rethinking the role of HRM during COVID-19 pandemic era: Case of Kuwait

Author

Listed:
  • Nino Nutsubidze

    (Ph.D. candidate, Georgian Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Tbilisi, Georgia)

  • Dusana Alshatti Schmidt

    (Ph.D. candidate, Comenius University in Bratislava, the Faculty of Management, Bratislava, Slovakia)

Abstract

The recent pandemic in a shape of the new coronavirus COVID-19 has disrupted global economies and businesses and had unprecedented implications on organizations around the globe. The dramatic changes that were introduced due to the pandemic have influenced human resources management extensively. HR professionals were asked to navigate in the ambiguous present and unpredictable future by managing and guiding employees to cope with stress and adjust with the new remote working practices in an unprecedented speed, rate and scale. The coronavirus pandemic has forced HR professionals to rethink and redefine their role as the organizations started adjusting to enforced social distancing and a new working environment that they may have never imagined. The paper uses qualitative HR expert interviews as a research method. The article tackles to unveil the challenges HRM has been facing in Kuwait, determines the influence the crisis has on HRM and introduces the recommendations for managing the crisis from HRM point of view. The qualitative research findings indicate that organizations, alongside the HR professionals, should channel their efforts towards driving people transformation and enabling change, introducing flexible working practices, relying on new, innovative technology and developing the culture of trust & empathy to deal with the current or future crises.

Suggested Citation

  • Nino Nutsubidze & Dusana Alshatti Schmidt, "undated". "Rethinking the role of HRM during COVID-19 pandemic era: Case of Kuwait," Review of Socio - Economic Perspectives 202177, Reviewsep.
    • Handle: RePEc:aly:journl:202177
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.19275/RSEP103
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://reviewsep.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/1_NINO-1.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://reviewsep.com/?page_id=1239
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/https://doi.org/10.19275/RSEP103?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carnevale, Joel B. & Hatak, Isabella, 2020. "Employee adjustment and well-being in the era of COVID-19: Implications for human resource management," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 183-187.
    2. Iza Gigauri, 2020. "Influence of Covid-19 Crisis on Human Resource Management and Companies’ Response: The Expert Study," International Journal of Management Science and Business Administration, Inovatus Services Ltd., vol. 6(6), pages 15-24, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sónia P. Gonçalves & Joana Vieira dos Santos & Isabel S. Silva & Ana Veloso & Catarina Brandão & Rita Moura, 2021. "COVID-19 and People Management: The View of Human Resource Managers," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-13, July.
    2. Ruba Kutieshat & Panteha Farmanesh, 2022. "The Impact of New Human Resource Management Practices on Innovation Performance during the COVID 19 Crisis: A New Perception on Enhancing the Educational Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-21, March.
    3. Matus Barath & Dusana Alshatti Schmidt, 2022. "Offices after the COVID-19 Pandemic and Changes in Perception of Flexible Office Space," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nadia Kabbara & Hale Ozgit, 2023. "Effectiveness of resource management of Lebanese NGOs in response to COVID-19 and the Syrian crisis," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Mashamba Tarashika & Mukome Constance H., 2023. "The Influence of Covid -19 on Human Resources Management at Marymount Teachers College in Mutare," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(11), pages 1201-1213, November.
    3. Tiberiu Foris & Alina Simona Tecău & Camelia-Cristina Dragomir & Diana Foris, 2022. "The Start-Up Manager in Times of Crisis: Challenges and Solutions for Increasing the Resilience of Companies and Sustainable Reconstruction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-20, July.
    4. Ni, Dan & Jiwen Song, Lynda & Zheng, Xiaoming & Zhu, Jinlong & Zhang, Mengyi & Xu, Lingxiao, 2022. "Extending a helping hand: How receiving gratitude makes a difference in employee performance during a crisis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 967-982.
    5. Ali Zackery & Joseph Amankwah-Amoah & Zahra Heidari Darani & Shiva Ghasemi, 2022. "COVID-19 Research in Business and Management: A Review and Future Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-32, August.
    6. Isabel Marques & Zélia Serrasqueiro & Fernanda Nogueira, 2021. "Managers’ Competences in Private Hospitals for Investment Decisions during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-14, February.
    7. Xie, Junyi & Ifie, Kemefasu & Gruber, Thorsten, 2022. "The dual threat of COVID-19 to health and job security – Exploring the role of mindfulness in sustaining frontline employee-related outcomes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 216-227.
    8. Sangeeta Gupta & Poonam Devdutt & Urmila Jagadeeswari Itam, 2022. "Centrality of psychological well-being of IT employees during COVID-19 and beyond," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 49(4), pages 365-380, December.
    9. Shu Da & Silje Fossum Fladmark & Irina Wara & Marit Christensen & Siw Tone Innstrand, 2022. "To Change or Not to Change: A Study of Workplace Change during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-15, February.
    10. Margherita, Alessandro & Elia, Gianluca & Klein, Mark, 2021. "Managing the COVID-19 emergency: A coordination framework to enhance response practices and actions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    11. Jieun Lee, 2022. "Moral Hazard on Productivity Among Work-From-Home Workers Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic," Papers 2209.05684, arXiv.org.
    12. Leonel Prieto & Md Farid Talukder, 2023. "Resilient Agility: A Necessary Condition for Employee and Organizational Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-24, January.
    13. Ruixin Su & Bojan Obrenovic & Jianguo Du & Danijela Godinic & Akmal Khudaykulov, 2022. "COVID-19 Pandemic Implications for Corporate Sustainability and Society: A Literature Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-23, January.
    14. Silva, Emmanuel Sirimal & Bonetti, Francesca, 2021. "Digital humans in fashion: Will consumers interact?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    15. Sun, Xiaoqian & Wandelt, Sebastian & Zhang, Anming, 2021. "Technological and educational challenges towards pandemic-resilient aviation," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 104-115.
    16. Turgut Karakose & Ibrahim Kocabas & Ramazan Yirci & Stamatios Papadakis & Tuncay Yavuz Ozdemir & Murat Demirkol, 2022. "The Development and Evolution of Digital Leadership: A Bibliometric Mapping Approach-Based Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-26, December.
    17. Christina Deselaers & Alina Dahmen & Sonia Lippke, 2022. "Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on CSR Activities of Healthcare Providers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-27, December.
    18. Ward van Zoonen & Anu Sivunen & Kirsimarja Blomqvist & Thomas Olsson & Annina Ropponen & Kaisa Henttonen & Matti Vartiainen, 2021. "Factors Influencing Adjustment to Remote Work: Employees’ Initial Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-19, June.
    19. Gong, Baiyun & Sims, Randi L., 2023. "Psychological contract breach during the pandemic: How an abrupt transition to a work from home schedule impacted the employment relationship," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    20. Zakaria Nejjari & Hanane Aamoum, 2023. "Concerns facing human resource managers after COVID-19," Working Papers hal-04072282, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    COVID-19; digitization; HRM practices; Kuwait;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J00 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - General
    • J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J81 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Standards - - - Working Conditions
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aly:journl:202177. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Veysel KAYA (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/degraus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.