Mansour Mrabet

In the context of the Arab countries of the Middle East, Wasta informal networks predominate in the business environment. While historically women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had limited access to informal networks, recent socio‐economic changes have had a positive impact on women's participation in the workplace. This research explores the use of Wasta informal networks by women in the context of the new Saudi workplace based on 26 interviews conducted with Saudi professional women. The findings highlight that, due to the changes in the formal institutions, which in turn impact informal institutions, women are generally afforded more direct access to networks, enabling them to attain jobs and progress their careers. The research also contributes to informal network literature by distinguishing between Wasta (negative practice) and other forms of informal networks (positive/beneficial practice). Suggestions are offered to policymakers, managers, and women practitioners to navigate the use of informal networks and Wasta.

Whilst research on Wasta has been improving in quantity and quality, there is still much more to know about the interactions between the different parties in Wasta transactions, the role of power in this process and how it impacts HR functions. As such, this research aims to address this gap by exploring the use of Wasta in human resources (HR) functions, drawing on 17 semi-structured interviews with HR, recruitment and line managers working in the Jordanian banking sector. This paper focuses on the roles of trust and power in the organizational transactions in which Wasta is positioned and identifies recruitment and selection (R&S) as one of the main human resource (HR) practices and procedures that are affected by Wasta. The findings shed light on the impact of Wasta on HRM practice on the micro and macro levels, highlighting the complex socio-economic needs for this practice which, whilst they might be beneficial on the micro level in terms of securing employment for job seekers and benefits for organizations in the Wasta exchange process, can also have some substantive negative outcomes in the forms of social and economic exclusion of others outside the Wasta network. By doing so, it develops the conceptualization beyond the often-simplistic view of Wasta as a negative (and sometimes positive) practice as viewed by previous research extending it to a practice that could have either impact on different stakeholders.

Companies and organizations have learned a hard lesson from the global pandemic of COVID-19, especially those without resiliency. Many of them have collapsed. By reviewing the scientific literature that deals with the problems of resilience in organizations, it becomes clear the importance of scientific research on the effects of quality concepts on the development of the quality management system of resilience (QMSR) model. This is what prompted the researcher to propose a vision for quality in resilience by clarifying the current position of the concept of resilience in the international standards ISO (international organization for standardization) and in the components of total quality management in general. The researcher proceeds from his so-called vision and readings the basic components of the quality management system of resilience (QMSR) model. He also explained the possibility of applying the model in the field of higher education.

هندسة الجودة وتأهيل أعضاء هيئة التدريس للتمکين وتطوير العمليات المرتبطة بالمنتجات التعليمية فى کليات الاقتصاد والعلوم الإدارية