National HRD in Oman: a Stakeholder Perspective on the Implementation of the National Training Programme

This paper is set within the context of Oman, where National Human Resource Development (NHRD) has been utilized to develop the knowledge and skills of the indigenous population, create job opportunities for a greater number of job seekers and reduce the nation’s dependency on expatriate labour (Omanization). The National Training Programme (NTP) is the key initiative that aims to achieve Omanization and which provides the context for this paper. The NTP is overseen by the Ministry of Manpower (MoM) and involves a tripartite agreement between Trainees, Training Providers, and Employers. This “training mingled with employment” commenced in 2003 and has provided training for more than 36,000 individuals, in areas as diverse as commerce, industry, and craftwork. However, despite these encouraging figures, produced by the Ministry, there is a lack of empirical research that surfaces the voices of the other stakeholders involved in the NTP policy implementation. This paper addresses this void and illustrates how the key stakeholder groups: the Ministry of Manpower, Training Providers, Employers, and Trainees viewed the implementation of the NTP policy. In doing so, we highlight the complexities of the relationships involved and illuminate an emerging ‘blame culture’, which, if left unacknowledged, will hinder the implementation of the NTP, and impact negatively on Omanization. We conclude with implications for practice and argue that, in order to enhance the future implementation and success of the NTP, on-going participatory action research is required that includes all stakeholder groups, if the challenges of this emerging ‘blame culture’ are to be understood fully

The Role of Real Estate in Sustainable Development in Developing Countries: The Case of the Kingdom of Bahrain

The construction of real estate has the potential to advance sustainability in terms of meeting economic and social criteria—the Business Case and the Societal Case. This is a crucial aspect in the stated visions and plans in many developing countries. Hence, it is important to understand how real estate can best contribute. Semi-structured interviews with a number of decision-makers involved in the real estate sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain were undertaken to explore perceptions of how the sector could best contribute to sustainable development. The decision-makers came from government bodies, investment banks, real estate developers, investors, constructors, project consultants and auditors. The interviews highlight the importance of having a stated vision and strategy which is highly visible and shared by all stakeholders. In the case of Bahrain this is Vision 2030 and the National Economic Strategy. It is important to ensure that any plans that are put in place to achieve the vision/strategy are adaptable to reflect changes in the external environment. The decision-makers identified three areas of focus in terms of the content of policy in order to meet the economic and social-related sustainability criteria as set out in Vision 2030 and the National Economic Strategy. These are: infrastructure, affordable housing and tourism/leisure. Within these three areas, that of infrastructure is also the key enabler for developments in the other two areas to be realized. In terms of a method of governance, the use of public-private-partnerships (PPPs) was identified as being highly appropriate. Such partnerships are not only useful to leverage private sector investment into specific development projects but also to ensure that such development harnesses innovative and efficient methods

Covid-19 transition, could Twitter support UK Universities?

This paper seeks to conceptually explore the use of social media platforms such as Twitter as a microblog to share Covid-19 prescribed knowledge through developing a conceptual framework of university ecosystem knowledge regime. The framework outlines three ecosystem artefacts; teaching, assessment, and student experience and what knowledge sharing strategies that may help representing these artefacts to the wider community of the ecosystem. The paper provides valuable practical insight to UK Universities practitioners, students and concerned stakeholders on the use of Twitter microblogs to share or retrieve knowledge required to cope with the current Covid-19 transition. The paper sheds light on the unique characteristics of knowledge sharing by UK Universities through Twitter in relation to the current Covid-19 pandemic. The paper also highlights the unconventional use of Twitter by UK Universities to share Covid-19 prescribed knowledge with its stakeholders

Sustainable Real Estate in the Middle East: Challenges and Future Trends

Buildings account for 40-odd percent of energy use, 25% of water consumption and one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. With such a staggering impact, real estate holds tremendous economic, social and environmental potentialities for the global development agenda. This chapter intends to provide an overview of sustainable real estate in the Middle East by focusing on the state of the industry and identifying the challenges faced by the region. Finally, the trends shaping the future of sustainable real estate are discussed. In conclusion, the initiatives put forth so far have been on an ad hoc rather than systematic basis and the Middle East sustainable real estate industry is still in an incipient state

Introduction: Managing Knowledge in the Twenty-First Century

The twentieth century was a period of great social, economic and political transformation. One of the most significant economic changes related to the growing importance and role of knowledge as a source of value for organizations. These developments have been such that the current century is arguably epitomized by a knowledge-based economy, where knowledge, information and ideas are the main source of economic growth. Due to this and other social and technological changes, such as advances and developments in computer and communication technologies, ongoing globalization, increased deregulation and so on, new patterns of work and business practices are being developed. Meanwhile, we are also dealing with new kinds of workers, with new and different skills and preferences. For example, owing to the rise of artificial intelligence, many traditional jobs, including those of managerial and professional workers, as well as manual workers, if they are not being eliminated, are being transformed into ones that require vastly different knowledge and experience