newsletter - aace-ags. · pdf fileaward for the year 2015-16. ... [email protected]...
TRANSCRIPT
Dear AACEi members, certified individ-
uals and professional stakeholders,
I would like to take this opportunity to
welcome the new board members for
the year 2016-17 and it gives me im-
mense pleasure to inform you that the
AACE-AGS has received the Platinum
Award for the year 2015-16. I highly
appreciate the excellent contributions
of all the board members for achieving
this prestigious award. I also expect
the same spirit from all the board officials to maintain the AGS in the
same rank globally.
I also like to welcome new members and congratulate newly certified pro-
fessionals for their remarkable achievement.
For the 1st time, AACE-AGS conducted a joint Technical Dinner Meeting in
association and sponsored by the Saudi Council of Engineers - Project
Management Chapter, Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, August 24, 2016 in
Park Inn by Radisson Hotel Al-Khobar. We aim to continue this collabora-
tion end enhance it to include courses and other events.
Finally, I wish to announce that the spring 2016 CCP refresher seminars
and exam preparatory workshops will be offered in Al-Khobar & Riyadh
from October 2016 to December 2016. We will be also offering PSP, EVP
and CEP courses as well so please reserve your seats as soon as possible.
Hope for the best.
AACE Arabian Gulf Section
What’s Inside
President's Message
Ahmed K. Al-Mulhim,
PSP, CCP, CEP, EVP
Newsletter
News
Success
Safety & Health
Training Schedule
Board Members
September 30, 2016
AACE-AGS PRESIDENT VISIT TO
KING FAHD UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM AND MINERAL
The AACE-AGS President Mr. Ahmed K. Al-
Mulhim visited the King Fahd University of
Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran on
Wednesday, August 24, 2016. During his
visit he had a meeting with Dr. Adel Sha-
heen Al-Dossary, Dean of College of Envi-
ronmental Design and the Department
Chairmen, i.e. Architecture, Architectural
Engineering, City & Regional Planning and
Construction Engineering and Manage-
ment were also in the meeting. Mr. Mulhim briefed in detail about the AACE Internation-
al and AGS activities, certifications and the research activ-
ities etc. Dr Adel assured that he will extend his dull sup-
port and will work together with the AACE International.
A group photo with the Dean and Chairmen of the College of Environmental Design
TECHNICAL DINNER MEETING
AACE AGS & Saudi Council of Engineers Project Management Chapter jointly
conducted the 1st Technical Dinner Meeting on August 24, 2016, in Park Inn by
Radisson Hotel, Al-Khobar.
The AACE Arabian Gulf Section
was conducted a Technical Din-
ner Meeting in association and
sponsored by the Saudi Council
of Engineers Project Manage-
ment Chapter, on August 24,
2016, Wednesday, from 6 PM to
8:30 PM in Park Inn by Radisson Hotel, Al-Khobar.
The Speaker Mr. Takashi Duke Kiyama, General
Manager Procurement Department and Associate Executive Officer, JGC, was delivered a
technical presentation on Kizuki and Kleppa of Projects.
AACE-ARABIAN GULF SECTION BOARD
The following individuals were elected to be the Board Officers of the AACE International – Arabian Gulf Section (AACE-AGS) for the year June 2016 - May 2017.
Title Name Photo
President
Ahmed K. Al-Mulhim, PSP, CCP, CEP,EVP
Supervisor, QMU — Saudi Aramco
Past President
Husain A. Al-Omani, CCP, CEP,, EVP, , PSP, DRMP,
General Manager,
GTSC, Saudi Arabia & Bahrain
Vice President Memberships
Ghassan Hamad Al-Dossary, CCP
Project Manager
Saudi Aramco
Vice President - Admin-istration
Javed Habib Merchant, CCP, PMP
Saudi Aramco
Vice President Technical
Farrukh K. Siddiqui, CCP, PMP
Senior Project Engineer—Saudi Aramco
[email protected]; [email protected]
Vice President Regional Affairs
Ramesh Kayala, CCP, PMP
Cost Engineer—Saudi Aramco
AACE-ARABIAN GULF SECTION BOARD
Title Name Photo
Director
Al-Hassa Regional Affairs
Dr Abdullah M. Almulhim
Vice Dean of Business school - King Faisal University
Mob# 055 633 1333
Director CET
Larry G. Sapio, CCP
Cost Engineer—Radicon Gulf Consult (RGC)
[email protected]; [email protected]
Treasurer
Abdul-MohsinBin Dawood
Cost Engr, Saudi Aramco
Director Publications
Alaa Ali Al-Dawood, CCP
Treasurer, Tasnee Petrochemical Co, Jubail
Director Marketing & Public Relations
Sarah Awadallah, CCP
Project Controls Specialist, Flour Arabia
Director
Riyadh Regional Affairs
Ayham Daraghmeh, PMP, CCP, PSP, MCP.
Business Development MGR—Skill Technic Training Center,
Mob # 0534994885 / 0546785500
Email: [email protected]
Administrator
Shaik Alimoddin, MHRM
Admin. Executive, KFUPM, Dhahran
AACE-ARABIAN GULF SECTION BOARD
Title Name Photo
Steering Committee
Majed R. Al Dossary, CCP, PMP
Project Management Office—Saudi Aramco
Kenneth A. Giese, CCP, MBA
Cost Engineer—Saudi Aramco
Mohammed Qudratullah Arif, PMP, CCP
Saudi Electricity Company
[email protected]; [email protected]
Dr. Adel J. Al-Khalifa, CCP
Generation Eng Specialist—Saudi Electricity Company
Tel# +96638585486 [email protected]
Bakr Fahad Al-Hajri, CE-SCE, CCP, PMP, AVS
Senior Project Engineer, Saudi Aramco
Mobile # +966 5424 19000 [email protected]
Ibrahim Bubshait, CCP, PMP
Saudi Aramco
Adel Abdulatif Al-Saleh, MBA
Business Administrator—Saudi Aramco
Mob# +966 5534 54448 [email protected]
Madhu P. Pillai, B Tech, MHRM, MBA, PMP, AVS, CCP
Projects Director—Kentz Engineering International Co Ltd
Mobile # +966500179621—[email protected]
G. Farooq Quadir, CCP, PMP, MS
Aspen Technology
Mohammed Abdul Waris, PMP, CCP, MS
Projects Supervisor, KFUPM, Dhahran
NEW BOARD MEMBERS
Cost Engineer at the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco). Abdulmohsen
worked as an investment banker, a graduate assistant, and joined Offshore Projects
at Saudi Aramco as a Cost Engineer. Currently works in Saudi Aramco Project Man-
agement Planning and Performance Management. Abdulmohsen has been a mem-
ber in the AACE International since 2016. He holds a Bachelor of Science (Honor’s) in
Finance, from King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals.
Cost engineer at a major EPCm contractor in AlKhobar, Saudi Arabia. She has over 8
years of combined experience in Project Management and Project Controls in Oil and
Gas. Her current primary focus is cost control & engineering, supporting change man-
agement and risk management functions. She was first introduced to the AACE inter-
national in 2009 and has been a member since. Sarah holds a BSc in Industrial &
Management Engineering and a CCP (Certified Cost Professional) credential. Sarah
aspires to become one of the first female project controls & business development managers in the re-
Treasurer at a large petrochemical company in Al Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia,
having 13 years of extensive experience in Project Financing, Treasury Management
and cost engineering. He is a key resource in organizing seminars, workshops and de-
livering presentations on cost engineering programs. He holds a BS degree in Ac-
counting and a CCP (Certified Cost Professional) qualification.
ABDULMOHSEN BIN DAWOOD
ALAA AL DAWOOD
SARAH AWADALLAH
Assistant Professor of Financial Accounting and Corporate Governance at School of
Business, King Faisal University. Dr. Abdullah is a Vice Dean of School of Business. He
received his Ph.D. in Accounting (Corporate Governance) without any corrections at
Royal Holloway, University of London in 2014. Before, he had studied at University of
Southampton (MSc. Accounting and Finance) 2009. His main research interests are
corporate governance, balanced scorecard, IFRS and managerial accounting.
DR. ABDULLAH AL-MULHIM
A SNAPSHOT LOOK AT LEADERSHIP AND
CULTURE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
I recently opened my LinkedIn page to see a
posting by one of my connections. It read:
‘Leaders who don’t listen will soon be sur-
rounded by people who have nothing to
say”. I pondered this for a moment absorb-
ing its truthful message and tried to relate it
to my situation as a project leader in the
Middle East.
Leadership and culture are integral and es-
sential aspects of a project execution strate-
gy. The culture of the Middle East, which is
anchored in the religion of Islam, heightens
the tendency for leadership to be more lead-
er-centric in a project due to a cultural ori-
entation to, and reification of patriarchy.
This will tend to influence and shape the es-
sence of a project execution and leadership
strategy. It is argued that multi-national
western leaders must be wary of the as-
sumption that their way is the best way to
lead effectively in the Middle East. Making
assumptions based on a certain cultural
identity will dilute effective leadership
through loss of respect, narrowing its cultur-
al acceptability. Foremost in the project
leader’s mind should be to consider the em-
ployees’ unique backgrounds, their thinking
patterns, native societal structure and domi-
nant religion and adapt their behaviour to
local and virtual settings. The leaders should
be sensitive and demonstrate adequate per-
sonal concern, as disregarded cultural differ-
ences can foster hostility manifesting in ten-
sion and unhappiness . The project leaders,
therefore, need to adapt to, and adopt new
skills and discover the elements that will
shape the project teams for success. This
holds no matter wherever members are lo-
cated and nowhere more so than in the Mid-
dle East. One such element is that some gov-
ernments of the MENA region are insisting
that multi-national companies operating in
their region employ the host country nation-
als and comply with the legal imperatives of
(respectively) Saudization, Kuwaitization and
Emiratisation programs. Their enforced quo-
tas will influence the cultural diversity of the
execution team located in the Middle East
and set the foundation for a chosen leader-
ship style.
10 years of operation (Royal Commission,
2015). Multinational companies operating in
the Middle East MENA region are also facing
the dilemma of having to reduce their de-
pendence on skilled expatriates in the wake
of the nationalization challenges. The real
risk of skill
shortages results in head hunting and
poaching of staff to meet the quotas while
also competing for projects. The question is,
will the current influx of young workers into
oil and gas production lower the overall
quality of the required technical skill and
hence productivity?
The dilemma of skill shortage, however, ex-
ists for not only the project leaders but the
regional governments. Only 6% of GCC stu-
dents graduated in 2012, majoring predomi-
nantly in Science and Engineering
(Arabianoilandgas, 2014). High technical and
operational skills are needed to fill the ma-
jority of these mandatory quota employ-
ment positions. This problem of hiring is
worsened by developments at the other end
of the labour force age profile. The Society
of Petroleum Engineers estimate that up to
50% of the technically skilled resources in
the Oil and Gas industry will retire in 5 to 7
years (from 2013). This presents the project
leadership with a shrinking skilled talent
pool. With this decreasing talent pool in the
Middle East region, the need therefore to
attract global talent operating in the virtual
environment and/or that are mobilized to
the Middle East becomes of paramount im-
portance for success. Yet, the nationalization
programs continue to constrain this option.
Meeting these labour force nationalization
program targets or not, firms will face incen-
tives or penalties depending on their level of
compliance with the program goals (Abu
Dhabi Portal, 2016. Central Statistical Bu-
reau, 2016. Royal Commission, 2015). These
programs often stipulate goal percentages
for employing young nationals and these
could be as high as 60% after
The multinational project leader or e-Leader
must plan for the complexities of a young,
energetic and ambitious workforce whilst
A SNAPSHOT LOOK AT LEADERSHIP AND
CULTURE IN THE MIDDLE EAST CONT...
being aware of the religious and cultural influ-
ences that could affect the leadership strate-
gy. It is claimed that these cultural differences
can be the project leader’s greatest asset if
harnessed correctly and also by ensuring
young team members are not promoted or
utilized beyond their current capability. There
are a number of
factors that inform what ideal leadership ap-
proach will deliver the best performance. To
further understand the role of the leader the
following section explores the idea that lead-
ership styles need to adapt to the region to
strive for better team performance.
The mind-set of the western project leader
needs to change and he/she needs to be
aware of the barriers that exist in leading, lis-
tening and communicating effectively in a di-
verse, environment to achieve the goals of the
project. Leaders argue that, if a Middle East-
ern employee is to identify with the imported
western organizational culture and truly be-
come part of the execution team, a bridge
needs to be created between the two cul-
tures. In order to build that bridge, leadership
must understand the putative team member’s
depth of capability and confidence, as well as
the development of the societal background.
With different life experiences, the skill of lis-
tening and demonstration of empathy is im-
portant to motivate the teams and to achieve
a climate of trust.
Martin has more than 30 years experience (10+
in Middle East) in project management, project
engineering and engineering. Industries in which
he was involved included refineries, onshore oil
and gas process plants, petro chemical plants,
mines (gold and platinum), electrical utility, and
power plants. Currently Martin is the Fluor Pro-
ject Manager in Saudi Arabia executing small to
medium projects which form part of the S-Chem
Infrastructure improvement program.
MARTIN MCLAREN
Fluor Project Manager PrCertEng. MSc.
M: +966539300261 | [email protected]
A SNAPSHOT LOOK AT LEADERSHIP AND
CULTURE IN THE MIDDLE EAST CONT...
BEHAVIORAL SAFETY
Behavior - An observable action. Either directly observed or observed indirectly.
At-risk Behavior - Any behavior that if continued over a period of time will lead to an injury.
Behavioral Safety - A process which supports safe behaviors and reduces at-risk behaviors.
Why Workers are not com-
plying with PPE?
Hazard recognition? Why
workers placing their hands in
line of fire?
Why Workers are not Taking
Rest in Rest Shelters?
ANY OBSTACLE THAT MOTIVATES A PERSON TO WORK AT-RISK
Do people know about the hazards in their work area as well as the personal behaviors that place them at
risk?
Are the supports groups and depart-
ments that are in place efficient, reliable
and encourage safe behavior?
Do verbal or physical rewards & recogni-
tion reinforce Safe Behaviors?
Does the environment & equipment al-
low Safe Behavior or obstruct it?
Are there factors in a person’s life that
are causing them to work At-Risk?
Do the past experiences and beliefs of
the work force reinforce Safe Behavior? Does the assumptions and values of a group influence behavior?
AACEI - ARABIAN GULF SECTION FACTS
Credential/Certification AGS Total Active holders - Sep 2016
CCP CCT CEP CFCC CST DRMP EVP PSP
Bahrain 5 1 1 0 0 1 1 1
Saudi 114 1 26 2 0 1 10 46
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
AACEi - Arabian Gulf Section Membership June 2016 - May 2017
171
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
Mohammed Omar Hajeer is a
newly AACEi-Arabian Gulf Sec-
tion certified during the month
of June 2016 up to September
2016.
AACEI - ARABIAN GULF SECTION NEWLY CERTIFIED
171
CALENDAR OF CERTIFICATION
AACEI-AGS is pleased to announce the schedule for the upcoming Certification Refresher
Seminars and Exam preparatory Workshops which are to be conducted on every Fridays,
02:00 PM to 7:00 PM in Saudi Arabia
Certification Seminars for June 2016 to May 2017
In-house Training Programs
AGS also provides in-house training programs for companies / organizations on their premises
during the 5-day work week.
The AACE International certification program has been designed to provide the industry with Certified Professionals to
perform as cost engineers, estimators, planners & schedulers. Additionally, the workshops enhance abilities of Cost
Engineering Professionals by gaining special recognition of their peers and highlighting those who meet prescribed
standards of performance and conduct and have demonstrated their excellence by maintaining a high level of compe-
tence.
For registration https://goo.gl/forms/u8tBFmadsaEOKmU32
OR contact at [email protected] / [email protected]
For more updates please log on our website: www.aace-ags.org / www.aacei.org
Month Venue Certification Name
Oct-Nov 2016 Al-Khobar, Riyadh CCP - Cost Certified Professional Exam Preparatory Workshops
Oct-Nov 2016 Al-Khobar, Riyadh CEP - Cost Estimation Professional Exam Prep Workshops
Nov-Dec 2016 Al-Khobar, Riyadh PSP - Planning & Scheduling Professional Exam Prep Workshops
Dec-Jan 2017 Al-Khobar, Riyadh EVP – Earned Value Professional Exam Prep Workshops
Feb-Apr 2017 Al-Khobar, Riyadh CCP - Cost Certified Professional Exam Preparatory Workshops
Mar-Apr 2017 Al-Khobar, Riyadh PSP - Planning & Scheduling Professional Exam Prep Workshops
Apr-May 2017 Al-Khobar, Riyadh CEP - Cost Estimation Professional Exam Prep Workshops
Apr-May 2017 Al-Khobar, Riyadh EVP – Earned Value Professional Exam Prep Workshops