Strategic Human Resource Management Practices and Organizational Performance: A Case of National Insurance Corporation of Eritrea (NICE)

Abstract

This study sought to establish the strategic human resource management practices and their effect on perceived organizational performance at the National Insurance Corporation of Eritrea. The research strategy was case study. The study population comprised all the 73 employees at the corporation’s headquarters. Self-administered questionnaires and interviews were used to collect primary data. Descriptive statistics were computed to describe the characteristics of the variables in the study. The findings revealed that the corporation had embraced a number of SHRM practices but their systematic implementation was impeded by lack of clear formal policies/guidelines across the corporation and lack of a formal (written down) strategic plan.  In addition, there is the problem of inadequate as well as lack of highly qualified personnel – only one employee in the entire corporation had a master’s degree and none had undertaken a course in actuarial science, which is insurance-specific; problem of staff mobility as evidenced by the few number of employees with a working experience of between 5-15 years at the corporation. It was also observed that the corporation needed improvement in the areas of motivation and performance management. It is recommended that the management embraces the use of a formal strategic plan; enhance capacity building by utilizing both qualified internal staff as well as external experts; training programs be based on training needs assessment; develop formal policies to guide SHRM practices implementation and institutionalization; appeal to the government through the Commission for Higher Education to introduce a degree course in actuarial science in the order to train insurance experts.

Keywords: Strategic Human Resource Management Practices, Organizational Performance, Capacity Building, Performance Management, Motivation & Decision Making