Human resource management in public universities of Vietnam: Practices and challenges

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES OF VIETNAM: PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES Nguyen Thi Nhai1 Dang The Ngoc2 Duong Thi Hoang Yen3 Abstract Human resource management (HRM) is a strategic element of quality development in universities.The evolution of HRM is, however, slow and certainly challenging inpublic universities of Vietnam. In this paper, we therefore propose to study the HRM models and their practices in Vietnamese public universities. The HRM challenges the public universities are facing are also pointed out in this paper. Last but not least, we raise some discussion questions relating to the choice of HRM models and the necessary policies to support public universities. Keywords: Human resource management (HRM); HRM matching model; Public university. 1. Introduction Human resource management (HRM) is the strategic and coherent approach to the effective management of an organization’s most valued assets which are the people working within the organization [1]. HRM, focusing on policies and systems, is designed such that the employee performance in service of an employer’s strategic objectives is maximized [2]. According to [1], HRM operates through human resource (HR) systems that are the coherent combination of HR philosophies, strategies, policies, processes, practices, and programs. These components are classified into three levels: the system architecture (guiding principles), policy alternatives and processes and practices [3]. Globalization, international competition, innovation, and technology advancements have emphasized the importance of HRM for competitive advantage. It is broadly acknowledgedt that human is the most valued asset of an organization and therefore of a university. Several studies have focused on some components of HRM and their impacts on higher education institutions and universities [4]-[7]. How HRM works in higher education institutions has been studied by Arslan et. al. [4]. This study examines the faculty members’ perceptions of HRM in their higher education institutions whether HRM operations were 1 Hanoi University. 2 Postsand Telecommunications Institute of Technology. 3 VNU University of Education, Vietnam National University, Hanoi. Email: nhaint@hanu.edu.vn. 443Phần 3: TƯƠNG LAI CỦA GIÁO DỤC VIỆT NAM: NHỮNG VẤN ĐỀ VỀ QUẢN LÝ GIÁO DỤC... adopting value-added service delivery strategies or not. In addition, Shahani studied the impacts of HRM practices on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in the public sector universities of Pakistan [5]. More specifically, the author examined the factor structure of reward management system, promotion practices, performance appraisal system, national culture, organizational culture and OCB in a sample of administrative employees working within public sector universities in Pakistan. Taking Finland as a case example of higher education systems, the authors in [6] investigated the recruitments in Finnish universities. The authors provided insight into the transition of higher education institutions from state-governed bureaus to more an autonomous institutions and the move from a civil servant model to autonomous personnel policy. Based on the analysis of the evaluation data, the authors found that, despite the legal reform, old practices continue to matter tothe personnel policies and management of universities. Permanent positions (formerly public posts) and the funding sources of academic work still define the nature of the HRM practices aimed towards individuals in the new universities. Moreover, strategic HRM in higher education institutions of Saudi was investigated by Allui et.al. [7]. This study explored the integration of institutional strategies to HRM by examining the strategic HRM practices in universities in Saudi. In Vietnam, a pioneering study that proposes applying HRM model of University of East Anglia to Vietnam National University has been done by Pham Trong Quat et.al. [8]. However, the understanding of the connection between HRM and organizational performance in Vietnamese universities is still a limited and unexplored issue. In addition, the movement of human resource from public universities to private universities is a new challenge that public universities are encountering. To overcome this challenge, HRM models need developing soon and properly in public universities. Motivated by this necessity, we will propose to analyze the HRM models and their applicability in universities in general and in Vietnamese public universities in particular. More specifically, we will focus on evaluating the current HRM practices and finding out the challenges in HRM of public universities in Vietnam. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. The HRM models are presented in Section 2. Section 3 investigates the current HRM practices and challenges in Vietnamese public universities. Section 4 concludes the paper. Finally, Section 5suggests discussion and future study. 2. Human resource management models HRM models are mechanisms for investigating and understanding the dynamics of HRM practices. Five most popular HRM models are the matching model, Harvard model, the contextual model, the 5-P model, and the European model. The “matching model” was proposed by Fombrun et. al. in 1984 [9] indicated that HR systems and the organization structure should be managed in a way that is congruent with organizational strategy. The matching model, which is most suitable with current HRM model deployed in Vietnamese public universities, will be presented in detail in this paper. 444 KỶ YẾU HỘI THẢO QUỐC TẾ LẦN THỨ NHẤT VỀ ĐỔI MỚI ĐÀO TẠO GIÁO VIÊN According to the matching model, there is a human resource cycle (see its adaption in Figure 1), which consists of four generic processes or functions that are performed in all organizations. Four processes are as follows: (i) selection – matching available human resources to jobs; (ii) appraisal – performance management; (iii) rewards – the reward system is one of the most under-utilized and mishandled managerial tools of driving organizational performance. It must reward for short-term as well as long-term achievements; (iv) development – developing high quality employees. Figure 1. The human resource cycle [9] 2.1. HRM Practices The following section discusses the HRM practices used in this study, including recruitment and selection; training and development; pay and reward schemes; performance appraisal; and employee relations and involvement. The reason for selecting these particular practices is based on their relevance to the Vietnamese public universities. Recruitment and selection is the process of giving appropriate actions and decisions so that an organization employs the most appropriate applicant for any post. Recruitment has to ensure that potential applicants are aware of the aim of the organization as well as to make an appointment and facilitate the procedure which then allows potential applicants to demonstrate their suitability for the particular position. Selection is related to the procedures forexamining applications, which have been received, and determine how well the applicant matches the job specification. Trainingis the use of systematic and planned instruction activities that promote learning. It is worth noting that this is a formal process,hence, must connect closely not only mechanisms to provide employees with access to training to acquire the skills needed to perform their jobs effectively, but also the identification of the nature and level of training required. Therefore, in some cases, training is about practical skills and application or 445Phần 3: TƯƠNG LAI CỦA GIÁO DỤC VIỆT NAM: NHỮNG VẤN ĐỀ VỀ QUẢN LÝ GIÁO DỤC... implementation of new techniques or processes.In the context of universities, it also covers the development and dissemination of knowledge. Pay and reward is the issues that are clearly very important in attracting and retaining quality staff. It is necessary for any organization to have a clearly developed reward strategy which makes employees clear about the pay which they can expect and the basis on which this is determined. This may includethe options to incorporate bonuses and incentives, employee benefits or performance-related pay. Each organization has to develop its own framework for its reward and recognition practices and set down basic principles governing pay and benefits. Contingent pay and reward schemes are basically designed to attract employees who have the appropriate qualifications to perform what the job requires to do.Also, they must be appropriately aligned to the pay offered by comparable institutions or organizations. Performance appraisal is a formal process, whose the purpose is to monitor, and subsequently, to improve the productivity of employees. The appraisal process consists of three distinct stages including the definition of the job, the appraisal of employee performance, and the provision of feedback onemployees’performance. Effective performance management requires an ongoing process to appraise the behavior and performance of staff. Monitoring performance should ensure that employees are aware of what is expected of them and also a clear definition of job parameters by which performance will be clearly measured. Performance appraisal must be accompanied by complementary HRM practices like formal training, incentive pay and a robust disciplinary system. Therefore, it is clearly important to ensure that the performance appraisal system which is adopted is acceptable to employees and meets their expectations of providing a fair evaluation and differentiation of performance. Employee relationis a very significant function in terms of dealing with employees in highly-unionized environments. Itinvolves the collaboration of company management and union representatives and is a very important aspect of the HR function in terms of negotiation of pay and conditions of employees. More specifically, it relates to the means of assisting discussion and resolution of collective or individual staff grievances against the working environment, or perceptions of unfair treatment among employees, or even situations in which employees felt that the organization was not acting in their best interests in terms of working conditions, health and safety in the workplace. 2.2. Organizational Performance Organizational performance is widely used as a dependent variable in any research targeting organizations which seeks to demonstrate an improvement resulting from a particular innovation or intervention. To understand the relationship between HRM practices and organizational performance, there is a need to review measures of firm performance used in HRM research. There is therefore a compelling need to examine the conceptual definition of performance and how performance could be measured. 446 KỶ YẾU HỘI THẢO QUỐC TẾ LẦN THỨ NHẤT VỀ ĐỔI MỚI ĐÀO TẠO GIÁO VIÊN The analysis of a performance is based on an examination of the company’s goal or objectives and comparison among three specific outcomes: financial performance,product market performance, and shareholder return. The theme of how to measure and evaluate operational performance in an organization is a subject which comes up frequently in academic literature with reagard to providing a clarification and definition of the concept. 3. HRM in public universities of Vietnam 3.1. Overview of public universities in Vietnam According to the resources and data from Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) in the 2017-2018 academic years, the total number of universities in Vietnam is 235, where 72.3% are public universities (i.e., 170 universities) [10]. In addition, university-level higher education is offered at three main types of institution: multidisciplinary universities, senior colleges with a narrower teaching focus, and institutes which also tend to have a narrow disciplinary focus, but with a specialized research capacity.Public university is a state-funded university in terms of finances and facilities (i.e., land and housing) and operates primarily with funding from public financial sources or nonprofit contributions. Two main mechanisms for employing in public universities are state-controlled and autonomymechanisms.With the autonomy mechanism, universities will have the right to decide on personnel issues, training programs, teaching and learning methods, scientific research activities and tuition fee levels to be able to exploit their full potential, which is being restricted by strict control from the governing body, in return the autonomy universities will no longer receive support from the state budget. 3.2. HRM practices in public universities of Vietnam Based on the matching model, each organization has to establish its ownHRM strategy, which aligns its HRM activities with the business’s strategic goals. However, many Vietnamese public universities cannot meet this requirement, i.e., their HRM strategy does not follow the HRM model strictly. The recruitment of faculty members and staffs is usually based on the number of students to guarantee the ratio between the lecture/staff and the student instead of the university’sHR, strategies, objectives, and goals. HR approaches just focus on personnel recruitment, organization of employment contracts, and payment of salaries. Most Vietnamese public universities do give policies in the area of HRM includingthe aspect of recruitment. In addition, theyidentify university online adverts as their preferred recruitment mechanisms. Both referrals from current staff and newspaper adverts arealso their most adopted means. Selection in public universities does emphasize characteristics and abilities required for providing high quality services. Behavioral-based interviews are often to identify applicants’ strategic competencies throughout the selection processes. However, according to the survey carried out by HR4ASIA project [11], 50% of Vietnamese participants did not agree that the academic staff has the skills and knowledge necessity to carry out their job in the best way. The reasons are mainly due to a perceived lack of 447Phần 3: TƯƠNG LAI CỦA GIÁO DỤC VIỆT NAM: NHỮNG VẤN ĐỀ VỀ QUẢN LÝ GIÁO DỤC... incentives as well as to low standards in recruitment criteria. Additionally, low salaries, lack of supervision, and lack of effective management are also the other reasons. Training schemes are as diverse as universities and it appears that there is a growing awareness of the importance of staff training as a crucial part of success. However, according to the HR4ASIA survey output [11], a great majority of the South East Asia (SEA) universities (84%) affirmed that their universities provided or supported employees’ training both in-house and outside of the workplace. Regarding the training options, foreign languages, computer related knowledge, and pedagogy are often offered by Vietnamese public universities. Money spent on training and development of the workforce must be considered as an investment, however, in public universities, its impact is not effective. Pay and reward scheme in public universities can be constrained by national policies or formulae for payment of staff, which is not flexible. Social protection is included in remuneration primarily in the form of maternity leave, pension plans and health insurance. Regarding benefits offered to employees in public universities, tuition assistance is the most common advantage. For instance, 13th-month salary and bonus payments in summer, national holidays and university’s anniversaries complement the reward. Nevertheless, low salaries and lack of reward mechanisms are popular situations in most public universities of Vietnam. Performance evaluations that are based on quantifiable objectives and on multiple sources (supervisors, self-reporting, co-workers, students’ surveys, etc.) are identified as the most common practices in public universities of Vietnam. The purposes of the performance evaluations are developing employees, identifying training needs, validating procedures, and determining compensation. In addition, there are regulations of the standard requirements for key positions in universities, e.g., rector, deans of faculty, lecturers, etc. (specifically, by 2017 lecturers should have obtained MA degree, and PhD in 2025). 3.3. HRM challenges in public universities of Vietnam The evolution of HRM is, however, slow and certainly challenging topublic universities of Vietnam. The first challenge is related to recruiting high-quality staff. While recruiting, HRM faces major obstacles to selecting the best candidate and making the hired candidate familiar with the university’s environment and culture. Low salaries and lack of reward mechanisms are big barriers for public universities to attracting high-quality candidates. The second challenge is the retention. Hiring good employees is not the only challenge that HRM encoounters; retaining them is also abig one. Recently, there has been the movement of human resource from public universities to new private universities that provide better salary and reward as well as working conditions such as Vin University (VinUni), Phenikaa University, and Duy Tan University. Many good employees are leaving public universities for companies due to the same reason. The third challenge is the low motivation.Many academic staffs in public university indicate that this sector is not sufficiently motivated enough to carry out their tasks and improve their performance. 448 KỶ YẾU HỘI THẢO QUỐC TẾ LẦN THỨ NHẤT VỀ ĐỔI MỚI ĐÀO TẠO GIÁO VIÊN Figure 2. Reasons for low motivation of academic staff [11]. Aforementioned challenges, i.e. recruiting new staff, retaining good employees, and low motivation, are originated from many reasons.For example, reasons of low motivation of the academic staff are summarized in Figure 2, which is a part of HR4Asia survey on HRM at SEA universities including University of Danang and Quy Nhon University [11].Low salary is the main reason that causes the said hindrance. Lack of reward mechanisms is the secondcause with the rate 86%.Sharing the same rate of 57% are the reasons of too many hours of work and lack of research opportunities. Finally, 43% refers to lack of career. Consequently, the significant increases of pay and reward as well as theimprovementin working condition for lecturers/professors are also the major challenges. Last but not least, it is necessary to mentionthe challenges inmanaging performance. The policies on effectively evaluating the performance of academic staff are required to provide a base for pay and reward as well as for providing professional development opportunities. 4. Conclusion We have presented HRM matching model and the understanding of the connection between this model and organizational performance at the public universities of Vietnam. Based on this model, we have analyzed the HRM in the public universities in terms of the recruitment, training, pay and reward, and performance evaluation. We have also pointed out the HRM challengesthat the public universities need to overcome in order to keep high- quality human resource and to strengthen university reputation. 5. Discussion and future study Following the HRM practices and challenges mentioned in this study, there are some issues that needmore discussions as follows: Firstly, according to aforementioned information, there are several types of universities (state-controlled universities, autonomy universities, and public universities) as well as HRM 449Phần 3: TƯƠNG LAI CỦA GIÁO DỤC VIỆT NAM: NHỮNG VẤN ĐỀ VỀ QUẢN LÝ GIÁO DỤC... models. Moreover, each type of universities and HRM models has its own characteristics. Therefore, the first issue is that which HRM model should be implemented for a particular type of universities? Secondly, the disadvantage of public universities in competition with private universities is that they are confined by the state-controlled policies, which are less flexible. Thus, preserving and attracting high-quality human resource is a big challenge for public universities. The second issue is that what policiesshouldthe Governmentissueto support public universities in efficiently deploying HRM strategy?Moreover,what should the public universities do to attract high-quality human resource? In order to answer the above-mentioned questions, the further studiesregardingthe HRM models and the autonomy policiesare needed. These models and policies are supposed to make significant changes and create a more open legal corridor and convenientmechanism for public universities to be proactive in recruiting, training, fostering, remuneration, and attracting high-quality human resource. Refernces 1. Armstrong, M. (2006). A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. 10th Edition, Kogan Page Limited (page 3). 2. Johnason, P. (2009). HRM in changing organizational contexts. In D. G.Collings & G. Wood (Eds.), Human resource management: A critical approach (pp. 19-37). London: Routledge. 3. Becker, B E and Gerhart, S (1996) The impact of human resource management on organizational performance: progress and prospects, Academy of Management Journal, 39(4), pp 779–801. 4. Arslan, A., Akdemir, A., Karslı, M. D. (2013). How human resource operations work in higher education institutions, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 99, p.p. 742-751. 5. Shahani, N. K., (2015) Human resource management practices and their impact on organisational citizenship behaviour in the public sector universities of Pakistan. A PhD. thesis Charles, Sturt University. 6. Siekkinen, T., Pekkola, E., and Kivistö, J. (2016). Recruitments in Finnish universities: practicing strategic or pathetic HRM?, Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, pp. 2-3. 7. Allui, A., Sahni, J. (2016). Strategic Human Resource Management in Higher Education Institutions: Empirical Evidence from Saudi, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 235, pp. 361-371. 8. Phạm Trọng Quát, Mai Trọng Nhuận, Trịnh Ngọc Thạch, Hoàng Văn Hải, Đặng Tuyết Anh, Bùi Thị Minh Hồng, Phạm Hùng Hiệp (2009). Tạp chí Khoa học ĐHGHN, Khoa học Xã hội và Nhân văn. số. 25, trang 187-195. 450 KỶ YẾU HỘI THẢO QUỐC TẾ LẦN THỨ NHẤT VỀ ĐỔI MỚI ĐÀO TẠO GIÁO VIÊN 9. Fombrun, C J, Tichy, N M, and Devanna, M A (1984). Strategic Human Resource Management, Wiley, New York. 10. Bộ Giáo dục và Đào tạo, Số liệu thống kê giáo dục đại học năm học 2017 -2018, công bố tháng 3 năm 2019. 11. Available online at (Access date: October 6, 2019). 451Phần 3: TƯƠNG LAI CỦA GIÁO DỤC VIỆT NAM: NHỮNG VẤN ĐỀ VỀ QUẢN LÝ GIÁO DỤC... QUẢN TRỊ NGUỒN NHÂN LỰC Ở CÁC TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC CÔNG LẬP VIỆT NAM: THỰC TRẠNG VÀ THÁCH THỨC Nguyễn Thị Nhài1 Đặng Thế Ngọc2 Dương Thị Hoàng Yến3 Tóm tắt Quản trị nguồn nhân lực (HRM) là một yếu tố chiến lược để phát triển chất lượng của các trường đại học. Tuy nhiên, sự phát triển của HRM còn chậm và là thách thức trong các trường đại học công lập của Việt Nam. Do đó, trong bài viết này, chúng tôi đề xuất nghiên cứu các mô hình HRM và thực tiễn tại các trường đại học công lập Việt Nam. Những thách thức trong HRM mà các trường đại học công lập đang phải đối mặt cũng được chỉ ra trong bài viết này. Cuối cùng, chúng tôi đưa ra một số câu hỏi thảo luận liên quan đến việc lựa chọn mô hình HRM và các chính sách cần thiết để hỗ trợ các trường đại học công. Từ khóa: Quản trị nguồn nhân lực (HRM); Mô hình quản trị nguồn nhân lực; Đại học công lập. 1 Trường Đại học Hà Nội. 2 Học viện Công nghệ Bưu chính Viễn thông. 3 Trường Đại học Giáo dục, Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội; Email: nhaint@hanu.edu.vn.