ALKHOBAR, 18 April 2007 — Saudi Aramco’s president and CEO yesterday told a crowd of human resource professionals that human capital would determine the prosperity of the nation and challenged them to increase the performance factor of the Saudi work force.
Abdallah S. Jum’ah made the remarks during an address to the Arabian Society for Human Resource Management (ASHRM) at the new SciTech Center on the corniche of this Arabian Gulf city. He noted that the nation’s abundance of natural resources was a blessing but that people were the key to success.
“Human beings are the active agents who bring those resources to bear,” Jum’ah said. In other words, it’s people who accumulate and invest financial capital, put material resources to use, build social and economic structures, and develop new technology through invention and innovation. Ultimately, it’s individuals and their remarkable skills and talents that drive national development to new heights.”
The oil executive spoke of the importance of literacy and education and using 1966 as a baseline compared the progress of South Korea, Thailand, India and Pakistan, all of which had similar per-capita incomes at that time. By the year 2000, he said the subcontinent countries were still below $500 in per capita income, while Thailand had risen to $2,000 and South Korea reached $8,500 per person in income.
He noted that literacy rates for Thailand and South Korea had risen to 95 percent by the 1990s while subcontinent literacy rates remained significantly lower.
“Without a doubt, a more literate population means a more educated human resource base,” Jum’ah said. “That, in turn, means a more enlightened, more disciplined and more innovative workforce.”
He said it was time for all businesses in Saudi Arabia to shift from thinking of human resource issues as transactional and realize that they are indeed transformational.
“Let’s face it: in today’s market, talent is in tremendous demand, it is highly mobile, and it will exercise all of its options in order to fulfill its personal and professional aspirations,” Jum’ah said.
“For that reason, organizations that take their people for granted are doomed to failure. Rather, if we are to sustain our business success and meet our commitments as companies and institutions, we must place human resource strategies at the top of our list of priorities, understanding that how well we nurture and utilize human capital is the most important determinant of prosperity and progress.”
Jum’ah said that one of Saudi Aramco’s great strengths was that it had clear objectives stated in the company’s strategic imperatives, which allowed both managers and employees to align their activities with the company’s long-term goals.
“Our imperatives show us where the company is headed and enable us to identify the gaps between our work force today and our future needs for training, recruiting and retention, leadership development, and every other aspect of the HR function,” Jum’ah said.
“In short, any company must identify its strategic objectives and study their implications before it can align its human resource development strategies and activities with the organization’s needs now and in the future.”
He told the HR professionals that framework has enabled Saudi Aramco to accentuate employee innovation and self-development.
“The first of these initiatives not only harnesses new ideas and innovative thinking from people from all across the company, but more importantly it makes clear the value we place on innovative thinking,” Jum’ah said.
“In other words, the innovation program is more than a repository for new ideas; it actively solicits fresh thinking. That’s important, because our business isn’t just a matter of the horsepower of our pumps and compressors, but also the brainpower of our people.”
Self-development at the oil giant has created a paradigm shift in the company’s human resource activities.
“This initiative encourages employees to assume a more active role in their own development, and is part of a shift away from highly structured, traditional training and development programs, and toward the concept of continuous learning,” Jum’ah said.
The oil executive also emphasized the importance of developing the right skills and having employees who can see the big picture not only for the company, but for the country on the world stage, as well.
“Today, Saudi Aramco is working to develop men and women who are versatile and flexible, and who have both technical knowledge and solid people skills,” Jum’ah said.
“We also want our employees to learn more about the world of global business, and to gain confidence and experience working closely with people from vastly different societies than ours. Ultimately, we need them to recognize the broader context of their individual responsibilities, and to appreciate the role they play in the wider work of our company.”
Saudi Aramco’s president and CEO said that with increasing competition, businesses that didn’t take human resource issues seriously would be left behind.
“Certainly rewards and recognition for performance are important,” Jum’ah said. “We have to ensure that our companies’ compensation packages are competitive, and our performance appraisal systems must recognize individual contributions. But even more important is the total value proposition of a job, which includes not only financial compensation but also opportunities for personal and professional growth, a healthy atmosphere at work, and a corporate culture and ethos aligned with the individual’s own value system.”
Jum’ah said he recently challenged petroleum engineers to increase the recovery factor from Saudi Aramco’s oil and gas fields. He encouraged the human resource professionals to make a difference.
“My challenge to ASHRM and its members tonight is similar: to increase the performance factor of our human capital, which is an even more important determinant of national wealth and prosperity than are natural resources,” Jum’ah said.
“I challenge you to make the most of the human energy with which we have been blessed, to direct the innovation and ingenuity of our people toward our business goals, and to leverage the talent, skills and knowledge of our employees to build a more dynamic and more robust economy for the Kingdom and the region.”