Abstract

This research explores the talent management (TM) practices used in for-profit public energy companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), laying focus on how well these practices align with strategic national priorities, particularly the Emiratisation policy aimed at increasing the employment of UAE nationals. The study’s originality comes from considering hybrid organisations, which are owned by the state but still are characterised as commercially driven entities, and these companies have their own set of structural and strategic problems while achieving a balance between making a profit and observing government rules. This focus addresses a notable gap in the literature, where TM in such dual-structured entities has been underexplored.

A qualitative research design was used, and it included interviewing 30 senior HR staff from large UAE energy companies, involving the semi-structured format. Thematic analysis brought forth five main themes: succession planning, performance management, strategic talent development, organisational challenges, and TM outcomes. These themes together show how TM strategies work with the UAE’s specific rules and regulations, especially the one requiring Emirati employees to be hired under the Emiratisation policy.

The findings show that while for-profit public energy organisations strive to align their TM practices with initiatives taken by the government, they still face a number of challenges because of slow-paced bureaucratic processes, limited autonomy in HR decision-making, and the changes occurring in the worldwide energy market - fluctuations in global energy prices and talent competition. Nonetheless, TM has shown to help organisations in many ways, like improving how well employees do their jobs; helping leaders grow; getting workers more involved; and ensuring the company supports the country’s economy goals.

Significantly, this study shows that TM issues arise in different ways in response to rapidly shifting policy, technological, and market conditions. Hence, policy frameworks should give public organisations enough flexibility to adjust their TM plans to real-world scenarios to respond with agility to changes in the global market. By providing ample empirical evidence from a sector that has not been explored much, this research helps fill a gap in the literature about TM in for-profit public companies in the UAE and offers useful insights for improving strategic HR practices when there are market constraints and regulatory requirements to comply with. The research introduces the notion of localisation-practiced institutionality to discuss the way Emiratisation is being practiced based on daily talent management routines to transform the leadership development, succession planning, workforce strategy within the UAE public sector organisations.

The research objectives were adequately addressed: (1) identifying TM methods currently in use; (2) evaluating their effectiveness in workforce performance, retention, and leadership development; and (3) recommending context-specific enhancements to TM implementation. Finally, policy and practice suggestions were made to improve TM outcomes in UAE energy sector organisations.