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8th International Business Research Conference
27-28 March 2008, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Dubai, UAE
Human Capital Formation within Oil and Gas Based Industry:
Manager’s perspective

Hend A. Jolo*

The paper focus on the analysis of the decision-makers' perspective in terms of

Human Capital Formation within Oil and Gas Bases Industry (OGBI). The
results revealed the absence of links and communication channels between
OGBI and educational institutions, which in turn resulted in inability of those
institutions in providing industry with the required technical skills. However, it
was also revealed that although managers within the industry think of these
institutions as a successful source of creating Qatari workers' general-skills,
developing such skills was the major reason for training Qataris. The research
also shows that the skills most demanded in the daily operations of the industry
are the technical skills which were supplied moderately, quantitatively and
qualitatively, by the education system. The most important finding is the
existence of skill shortages of Qatari workers in the OGBI. In terms of
screening and signalling in the industry, it can be said that the industry while
screening Qatari nationals according to their educational attainment, screens
non-nationals according to their general and specific skills acquired through a
variety of training programs. That is to say, education is used as a screening
device among nationals whereas training is used as similar device among non-
nationals. Within training, it was shown that managers believed that trainees'
motivation towards training and learning is the major influencing factor. Finally,
though it was revealed that the formation process of Qatari human capital had
affected the success of ‘Qatarization’ policy positively within the industry, we
argue that implementation of the latter should not be conceived of as an
obligation to be implemented, rather than being seen as a continuous efficient
tool to develop Qatari workers' skills and, more particularly, their specific-skills.

1. Introduction

The State of Qatar, as an oil/gas-rich country, has benefited from its natural resources’
revenues in implementing different social and economic development projects.
However, future development, particularly industrial development, is increasingly
significant and may require the full utilization of such resources. As challenging the
global economy, Qatar has to benefit from its current natural resources through building
up its indigenous human capital, mainly through education and training.

*Assistant Professor, College of Business and Economics, P.O Box 3244, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar,
[email protected]
Moreover, as a newcomer to industrial development, particularly via oil and gas projects, the
Qatari oil co-operations has to realize that competing in such a global production market, with
changing technologies, is a difficult task without a qualified and highly-skilled workforce. This
study, therefore, seeks to provide in depth understanding of the state of national human
capital formation through training at the micro level of the oil/gas-based industry (OGBI). It
investigates the training process by analyzing the influence of educational attainment of
employees within the OGBI and the related practices on the effectiveness of training within
OGBI from the decision makers’ perspective.

2. Oil And Gas-Based Industries In Qatar

Oil, natural gas and related manufacturing industries form the backbone of the national
economy of the state, and the dominant industrial sector in Qatar, beside the manufacturing
industries that have become important in the recent years as an alternative source of national
income. The oil sector provides about 90-95% of Qatar's total government revenues. It was
and continues to be besides gas, the most important lever for economic development in the
country. The Qatari government launched broad-based development projects in many fields
since 1970s. As a result of the development of the sector, Qatar Petroleum Company (QP)
was established in 1974 by the government to take over the civil service function of
monitoring the oil and gas industry, which was followed by other industries. There are five
prominent industries in Qatar: crude oil and refining, fertilizers, petrochemicals, steel
reinforcing bars and cement. For the purpose of the current study, focus will be on the oil and
gas-based industries (OGBI), which depend on oil and/or gas as feedstock to their
production, and are part of QP - namely the fertilizer, chemical and petrochemical industries,
whose industrial base represents the manufacturing base of the current country’s economy.
The country now boasts four petrochemical companies, Qatar Petrochemical Company
(QAPCO), Qatar Fertilizer Company (QAFAC), Qatar Vinyl Company (QVC), Qatar Chemical
Company (Q-Chem), and one fertilizer company, Qatar Fuel Additive Company (QAFCO), in
most of which QP is a major shareholder. Those companies will be the sample of the current
study.

3. Literature Review

Different studies have examined the impact of education on particular sectors within an
economy. Using industry level data for 61 branches of U.S. manufacturing over the 1960-80
period, Bartel and Lichtenberg (1987) found that the relative demand for educated workers
was greater in sectors where more advanced capital equipment had been installed. In the
same vein, Wolff (1996) found that in U.S. industries in the period 1970-85 the growth of
cognitive skill levels among employees was positively correlated with indicators of recent
technological change, including computer intensity. Furthermore, Griliches (1969) uses
industry-level manufacturing data from the U.S. to determine whether labour "quality" is
correlated with greater output and found out that education has a positive impact on output.
In examining the relationship between education and productivity in the manufacturing sector
in Ghana, Jones finds evidence that workers with tertiary education are more productive than

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those with secondary schooling, workers with secondary schooling more productive than
those with primary education, and workers with primary education more productive than
those with no formal education. In addition, she also found that workers with vocational
training are more productive than those with secondary education (2001: 75). This, in turn,
may reflect the fact that manufacturing industry is shifting towards skilled, well-educated,
labor. In this regard, Berman, et al. found that there was a shift in demand away from
unskilled and towards skilled labor in U.S. manufacturing over the 1980s, which was due to
the increased use of skilled workers within this sector (1994: 367).

As to the empirical literature aiming to directly quantify the contribution of training to workers'
or a company's productivity, several studies do indeed shows a positive impact on
productivity. Generally, the estimates range from very large effects (Bartel, 1994) to minimal
effects (de Koning, 1994). Benefits from training investment in the firms include different
effects for workers, besides higher company productivity, such as a positive influence on
subsequent occupational status (Greenhalgh and Stewart, 1987) and the likelihood of
promotion (Bishop, 1990). In terms of educational attainment for example, it was found that
inappropriate educational background and lack of training were major obstacles contributing
to the limited improvement and development of workers' competence and performance in the
Omani Chemical Industry (Al-Muqbali, 2002.:284). Al-Muqbali also found that the lack of firm-
specific training has not only kept the production workers away from carrying out certain
production tasks but also inhibited them from learning, acquiring and developing new skills
and competencies (ibid.: 290), that may ultimately develop their performance and hence
industry's productivity. Within the petroleum industry, it was found that training may not be
oriented towards enhancing and developing national workers' skills if this was associated
with different problems. In this context, Abdelwahab indicates that lack of incentives,
shortage of training staff, their qualifications and their training and development as well as
the un-preparedness of managers, supervisors, and experienced colleagues to train others
demonstrates how the training of nationals can be affected (1992: 333), and hence their
acquisition of skills and knowledge may not achieved.

4. Significance Of Training In The Industry

Attention has been drawn to the importance of human capital to economic development.
Both microeconomic analysis (Becker 1975) and macroeconomic studies (Romer 1986,
Lucas, 1988) have stressed the importance of human resources' education and training for
increasing productivity and economic growth. The value of education and training is
confirmed by studies which point to the high returns on investment in this field. The
concluding observation of these studies is that there is a close relationship between formal
education and training in developing workforce skills. It is generally agreed that formal pre-
employment education is the main institutional body for supplying the basic general skills
needed in the workplace. Indeed, basic skills are considered a prerequisite and basis for
acquiring and accumulating additional specific-skills in the future. However, though formal
education may teach basic or sometimes simple skills that maybe relevant to industry, such

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skills may only serve the activities of small-scale industries (Lall, 1991: 136). For higher
levels of industrialization, both technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and
on-the-job training are essential to meet the requirement for constantly changing skills.

The challenges industrial corporations and organizations, such as those within the OGBI in
Qatar, face in the knowledge-based economy are increasing profitability and competing
globally. Apart from the normal means of achieving financial and productivity goals through
advanced technology, these corporations must expand beyond their current boundaries to
meet these challenges. Education, as invested by government, and training, as invested by
corporations, should enable corporations to create the opportunities to meet the demands of
the new economy. If, therefore, the industry's workforce lacks employees equipped with the
skills necessary to perform their tasks efficiently, corporations will not be able to operate in
such a competitive sector. This means greater training efforts are needed to meet the job
requirements of a variety of industries. The workforce is not generally equipped with the
required competitive skills through the formal education system. This suggests a possible
option for developing workers' skills in the production sector, which is generally capital
intensive and requires a qualified workforce to carry out its complex tasks. The available
option is to fill such a gap by increasing the coverage of the school system through intensive
compensatory training programs especially of young people (i.e. high-school graduates). The
global tendency within manufacturing industry today is to assign companies all kinds of
responsibilities, including that of skills training, which had traditionally been provided by the
formal/public education system. Thus, training is crucial in any attempt to improve
productivity levels within the production sector.

5. Research Methodology

5.1 The main Questions of the Study

The current paper investigates the following questions:

1) How do OGBI managers classify the current Qatari educational outcomes and are there
any type of co-ordination between the OGBI and the government educational institutions
in Qatar?
2) What are the skills most in demand within the industry and how does the OGBI manage
the provision of such skills and had they experienced any skill-shortages recently?
3) To what extent do decision makers within the OGBI screen and signal the educational
attainment of Qatari workers as a device for recruitment decisions?

5.2 The Significance of the Study

The current research is investigating the effect of education at OGBI on training. It endeavors
to analyze the influence of such a relationship on the effectiveness of national workers'
training within the investigated industry from the decision maker’s perspective. This study will
attempt to analyze the effectiveness of training according to the manager' perspective. In
addition it will contribute to the general literature in this field, because it is the first study to
examine this issue, particularly with regard to the OGBI. It is also the first study to link

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educational attainment, as a prime factor, to training in a very significant industry in Qatar.
Thus, the most significant aspects of this study pertain to the state of human capital in the
OGBI in Qatar.

5.3 Sample of the Study

The population for this study is comprised of decision makers, manager, working at the OGBI
in different positions. More particularly, the survey included managers, as well as other
related positions in recruitment, human resources, training, operation and production within
the six investigated firms. All the managers were male since such positions are rarely
occupied by a female, whether Qatari or non-Qatari. However, this sample is heterogeneous
in terms of different personal characteristics such as age, gender, educational level, and
length of service within their position. Accordingly, stratified sampling was used in this study
to provide a greater accuracy in comparison to a simple random sample. In addition, this
type of sampling is used in order to ensure that different types of respondents are correctly
and adequately represented in the sample. A total of (300) questionnaire, were circulated to
potential respondents chosen from the investigated industries. A total of 157 usable
questionnaires were returned, giving a response rate of (52%).

5.4 Questionnaire

The research methodology used both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collecting
on a complementary base of each other. In order to gather information relating to the context
of the present study and also to provide an assessment of the general background of the
study, a range of related primary and secondary sources were used as well. However,
related literature review was used as a major source in supporting the background of the
study. Following a review of the literature in the field of training, a questionnaire was
developed and included directs questions relating to training. A five-point Likert scale is used
to represent the degree of a respondent's agreement and disagreement with statements
ranging from “strongly disagree’ to “strongly agree”. Pre-testing is very important stage in the
questionnaire reinforcement process, prior to finalizing questionnaire. The completion of the
pre-test provided some valuable comments on related aspects, which in turn ensured that
the questionnaire was directed towards the data needed to accomplish the objectives and
questions of the study. As a result, the questionnaire’s questions were revised and
readjusted before their final distribution amongst population within the investigated sector.
Each participant was asked to complete one self-administered questionnaire presented in
both languages: Arabic and English.

5.5 Statistical Methods

In order to analyze the results and findings of the study, descriptive statistics and cross-
tabulation is applied to determine the presence and degree of association, or absence, of a
relationship between any pair of variables chosen to be analyzed. It is also used to explore

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how demographic variables are related to various attitudes and behaviours, and to analyze
how one behavioural attribute is related to another. It also allows examining frequencies of
observations that belong to specific categories or more than one variable. For the sake of
expressing the relationship between any two variables, the correlation coefficient is usually
computed. Nonparametric equivalents to the standard correlation coefficient are Pearson chi-
square and Spearman correlation test. In addition, Mann-Whitney U test was also used to
examine the attitudes of the trainees towards related issues as promotion.

6. Analysis and Discussion

6.1 Respondent's Background

The result (Table 1) shows that 24.8% of manager respondents were from QP and that they
were Qatari (58.6%). Regarding age distribution, it was found that 40.1% of managers
belonged to the 31- 40 year age group, followed by those between 41 and 50 years old
(31.2%), and those aged between 21 and 30 years old (15.9%). Indeed, such a finding is not
surprising since reaching managerial occupations usually entails more working years as, for
instance, 7.6% of departmental managers were found in the age-group 41-50, whereas 8.9%
of assistant managers and 10.8% of section heads and 14% of senior supervisors were
found in the age group 31 - 40. It was indicated that 63.3% of respondents hold university
degrees followed by 25.9% of those holding post-university degrees, while lesser educational
categories such as general and technical secondary constituted only 10.8%. The results
showed that 40% of managers within OGBI have been appointed in the last five years.

Respondents were asked to classify the nature of the work within their department and
section on two scales: technical and non-technical. The majority of respondents (66%)
indicated that the nature of work within their departments/sections was technical such as
production, operation, etc. Within different occupational classifications, the technical nature
of a department/section accounted for 16.6% among departmental managers, 12.1% among
assistant managers, 17.2% among section heads and 19.7% among supervisors. This may
suggest the technical nature of the industry.

With regard to the number of workers within the respondents' department/section, it was
revealed that 38.2% of managers are managing more than 200 workers. A large number of
workers were found under the first three occupational classifications (28.6%). In contrast,
managing 'fewer than 50 workers' accounted for 33.1% and was found among section heads
and senior supervisory categories. Indeed, such a result seems to be reasonable since
higher occupational classifications are usually managing a higher number of workers and
vice-versa.

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 Table 1 Respondent’s Background

Number %
Nationality
Qatari 92 58.6
Non-Qatari 65 41.4
Company
QP 39 24.8
QAPCO 25 15.9
QAFCO 24 15.3
QAFAC 14 8.9
QVC 22 14
Q-CHEM 33 21
Age
Less than 20 years 1 .6
21-30 years 25 15.9
31-40 years 63 40
41-50 years 49 31.2
51-60 years 18 11.5
60 + 1 .6
Occupational Classification
Department/Division Manager 36 22.9
Assistant Manager 33 21
Section Head 44 28
Senior Supervisor 44 28
Working years within the Company
Less than 5 years 63 40.1
5 – 10 years 19 12.1
11-15 years 27 17.2
16-20 years 23 14.6
More than 20 years 25 15.9
Educational Level
General Secondary 7 5
Technical Secondary 8 5.8
University 88 63.3
Post-University 36 25.9
Department/Section Nature of Work
Technical 103 66
Non-Technical 54 34
Number of Department’s Workers
Fewer than 50 workers 52 33.1
51-100 workers 24 15.3
101-150 workers 15 9.6
151-200 workers 6 3.8
More than 200 workers 60 38.2

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6.2 Linkages with Educational Institutions and Classification of
Educational Outcomes

6.2.1 Contact with Educational Institutions

Rrespondents were asked to indicate whether they had any direct contact with any
government educational institutions in Qatar during the last three years. Surprisingly, 46.5%
indicated positive contact. However, among managers indicating positive contact, they were
further requested to identify the educational institutions they had had contact with during the
last three years in order to provide them with Qatari graduates. It was shown that 35% of
respondents had indicated a positive contact with both technical schools/colleges and Qatar
University, whereas 29.9% had indicated similar contact with general-secondary schools. In
turn, this may suggest that managers within OGBI are more interested in recruiting Qatari
nationals with higher educational attainment, i.e. university. However, it may also suggest
that they are also recruiting Qatari graduates with technical education, which is also
supported by the direct involvement of OGBI in both Industrial Technology Secondary School
and College of North Atlantic CNA.

On the other hand, “no-contact” was further investigated among those managers by asking
them to identify the main reason for such no-contact. It was revealed that 69.4% of
respondents had indicated that such negative contact was mainly due to the lack of
communication channels between the two actors, whereas 19.7% had put such a negative
relationship down to the unwillingness of educational institutions to cooperate with the OGBI
and 7% associated such no-contact with the unwillingness of their firms to cooperate with the
educational institutions. In addition, 3.8% conceived that such a relationship is for other
reasons - such as cooperation between the two actors being perceived as neither useful nor
significant.

From the above results, it maybe argued that such negative contact between the two actors,
due to lack of communication channels, is responsible for the low participation of nationals in
the industrial sector in general. It is true that such phenomena are also affected by the small
size of the indigenous population which, in turn, increases reliance on non-nationals in the
industry. However, lack of communication and negative contact seems to widen such a gap
and hence reduce the representation of nationals in the industry. Indeed, such an obstacle
was confirmed by many writers in the Gulf countries investigating the relationship between
education and industry (Nama, 1983: 153, Al-Saud, 1998: 21, Al-Omran, 1999: 5, Al-Nufisi,
1999:17), who had all strongly had recommended activating such communications between
the two actors in order to improve economic and social development within Gulf countries. So
far, it seems that such a gap is being bridged since recent attention has been given in Qatar
to both greater coordination between the two actors and increased emphasis on technical
education. However, since the education process is a long-term policy that requires time to
produce desirable outcomes, training within the industry remains a priority in forming and
developing Qatari workers in those skills required by the industry.

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6.2.2 Classification of Current Educational Outcomes in Qatar

The results revealed that 57.3% of respondents classified university degree holders as
'highly-skilled graduates who do not need further training' whereas general-secondary
graduates were classified by a majority of respondents (60.5%) as semi-skilled workers who
do need further training' when employed in the industry. Surprisingly, 46.5% of respondents
had classified technical-secondary graduates as 'skilled graduates that need some further
training' whereas 29.3% had classified such an educational category as 'highly-skilled who
do not need further training'. Simultaneously, technical-diplomas graduates were also
classified by 52.9% of respondents as 'skilled graduates who do need some training', while
21% had classified such a category as 'highly skilled graduates that do not need further
training'. The only educational category which was classified as 'unskilled and in need of very
intensive training' if employed within the industry were those with less than secondary
education. For ease of analysis and in order to determine the relative classification of these
educational categories, the 'highly-skilled' and 'skilled' responses were combined. As shown
in Table 2, all five educational categories had a computed mean score that ranged from 1.8
to 4.4, which gives these categories different classifications. The most highly-skilled
outcomes by respondents were university (M= 4.45) followed by technical-secondary (M=
4.04) and technical-diplomas (M = 3.91).

Table 2 Managers' Classification of Current Educational Outcomes

Educational category Frequency % Mean Rank* St. Deviation

Less than secondary 0 0 1.87 .600

General-secondary 52 33.1 3.27 .584
Technical-secondary 119 75.8 4.04 .759
Technical-diploma 116 73.9 3.91 .763
University 138 87.9 4.45 .702
* Key: 5= highly-skilled, 4 = skilled, 3 = semi-skilled, 2 = unskilled, 1 = unskilled at all

In addition to the above mean test, Friedman's test was also used to test whether the above
rank totals of each educational category differ more than would be expected by chance and
whether there are differences in the mean ranks of classified educational categories.
Accordingly, it was shown that there is a significant difference between the scores of these
educational categories as the significant value (p) is 0.000. Furthermore, it was also indicated
by comparing the mean ranks for the five educational categories that the university graduates
were the highly-skilled outcomes, which in turn confirms the argument of the screening and
signalling hypothesis which indicates that educational attainment is valued by employers
primarily because it acts as a signal of innate ability (Spence, 1973). It is quite clear,
therefore, that firms within OGBI screen educational credentials and signal the high-levels.
Thus, it is true that educational attainments act as a kind of implicit "guarantee of labour
quality" (Hirshleifer, 1973) and that its effects are very important in the labour markets
(Taubman and Wales, 1973: 49) especially in terms of wages’ differentials among workers.
However, it may be argued that even though firms within OGBI screen and signal educational
credentials, such signalling maybe more significant with some occupations than others, such
as supervisory positions.

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 Table 3 Friedman Test (Tested variable: Classification of educational outcomes)
Educational category Mean Rank
Less than secondary 1.17
General-secondary 2.53
Technical-secondary 3.64
Technical-diploma 3.47
University 4.19

Chi-square = 425.817 df = 4 P = 0.000

6.2.3 Extent of Provision of Technical-Skills by Educational Institutions in

Qatar

Qatari educational institutions are considered a major source of national recruits for the OGBI
within the local labour market. Furthermore, technical-skills are of great value in the operation
and management of any industrial sector. Thus, respondents were requested to determine
the extent they expect that educational institutions in Qatar provide their department/section
with Qatari recruits with technical and vocational skills. The results reveal that the first scale
was never recorded at all amongst respondents and that 47.1% of respondents had indicated
that Qatari educational institutions are 'never at all' providing them with such skills in
comparison to 40.1% indicating that such institutions 'sometimes' provide them with these
skills.

Such finding was statistically tested in order to indicate any relationship between such a
result and respondents' personal variables. Spearman's correlation test revealed only one
significant relationship between this variable and managers' nationality as r = 0.255 with a
significant value of 0.001, which was also confirmed by the chi-square value of 13.264, with 2
degrees of freedom, and a very significant value of 0.001 which is less than the alpha value
of 0.01. The significant correlation between this variable and respondents' nationality was
further statistically tested by the Mann-Whitney test, which showed statistically-significant
differences in identifying such a correlation among Qatari and non-Qatari managers. As
shown in Table 4, the p = 0.001 is less than the 0.01 which indicates significant differences.
The lower mean value for Qatari managers suggests that they are more likely to classify
Qatari educational institutions as 'never at all' providing them with technical-skills. Indeed,
such finding is supported by the following two contradicted statements of two recruiting
managers, Qatari and non-Qatari respectively:

1. National technical-skills required by the industry usually formed and developed

through OJT in the industry rather than formal education. Former education is the
major source of national recruits required by the industry but not technical-skills.
Thus, major emphasis of training new Qatari recruits is the technical industrial
training.

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 2. It is unrealistic to suggest that formal education in Qatar never or even rarely provide
the industry with required technical-skills. Even such argument is true to some extent
among general-secondary graduates, it is difficult to generalize such argument
among other types of educational outcomes as technical education and university.
Indeed, it can be said that formal education never provide the industry with specific
technical-skills, not general technical-skills, in the essence that such skills are mostly
formed and developed through OJT within industry rather than formal education.

Table 4 Mann-Whitney Test (Tested variable: extent to which Qatari educational

institutions provide OGBI with technical-skills
Nationality N Mean Rank
Qatari 92 70.17
Non-Qatari 65 91.49
Grouping Variable: Nationality
U = 2178.000 P = 0.001

On the other hand, the challenges which the industrial sector, including the OGBI, faces in
the current knowledge-based economy are not only increasing profitability and production
but, more significantly, increasing global competition which forces such a sector to expand
beyond its current boundaries to meet these constantly changing challenges. As one Qatari
general manager indicates: "besides our major interest in achieving financial and productivity
goals, international competition is forcing us to be up-dated technologically and hence
supported by a qualified workforce". Educational institutions are, therefore, expected to
enable the industry to create the opportunities to meet the demands of the new economy.
According to the above finding indicating that Qatari educational institutions had 'never'
(59.8%) provided the industry with the required technical-skills, one may argue that the
industry will not be able to operate in such a competitive sector.

So far, it maybe believed that the problem of a mismatch between education and industry is
expected to increase in the future if not challenged soon. Struggling to adapt the education
system to meet employment goals and opportunities is becoming an acute problem (ILO,
1985: 90) especially in the industrial sector. In his study investigating coordination between
higher educational institutions in Kuwait, Al-Bustan (1997: 40) concluded that coordination
between educational institutions, particularly vocational ones, should coincide with human
resources’ requirements within society's economic and social development. In this context, it
was also recommended that, in order to overcome such a challenge in the Gulf countries,
which share similar problems, educational and labour market policies, i.e. developing
technical education, readjusting work ethics and culture, and restructuring local labour
markets, should be readjusted (Abdulrahim, 2000:38). However, since readjusting such
policies may take a long time, greater training efforts are needed to meet the industry’s
requirements. However the Qatari education system can hardly be described as failing the
needs of industry, at least not on the basis of the data presented above where 40.1% of
respondents indicated that such education 'sometimes' provides them with technical-skills.

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To some extent, it can be said that formal education was able to form Qatari workers'
general-skills as discussed in the following analysis.

6.2.4 Success of Educational Institutions in Forming Qatari Workers'

General-skills

It was revealed that 25.5% of respondents had indicated the 'very successful' scale of
education in forming Qatari workers' general-skills, followed by 51% indicating 'successful' on
the scale. However, if the two records were combined, then a relatively high percentage of
respondents (76.5%) seems to indicate the success of education in forming Qatari workers'
general-skills. Statistically, it was revealed through the Spearman's correlation test that a
significant degree of education is not significantly correlated with respondents' independent
variables. Thus, such a result may stress the argument that education in Qatar was a
success, at least as the current findings suggest, in forming Qatari workers' general-skills.

6.3 Skills

6.3.1 Skills Most Demanded in Daily Operations

The results showed that a majority of managers (63.7%) had indicated that technical-skills
were a high priority among the skills demanded by the industry, whereas general-skills
constituted only 28.7% of total demanded skills. The Statistical test revealed a non significant
association between demanded skills and demographic variables as p > 0.05, which implies
that such skills are demanded within the OGBI regardless of any factors other than those
stated above. However, informal investigation by the researcher has revealed that some
firms demand more technical-skills whereas others require more production workers, as the
following comments of a production manager of one of the companies stress:

In our company, technical-skills are skills most in demand. In particular, we need

production-workers to be engaged in fabricating, processing, assembling, and other
related tasks, which are considered the driving force in operating our industry since
such workers are seen as the main means of production.

However, as confirmed by the managers within the OGBI who were interviewed, it should be
stressed that technical-skills demanded by the industry include production and non-
production workers such as professionals (white-collar), operatives and labourers (Blue-
collar), which may explain the high-demand of such skills by the industry. The shift in
demand from non-technical to technical-skills in the OGBI is mostly due to the increased use
of the latter within the investigated industries, due to expansion or increased production
capacity as one general manager emphasized:

It is widely recognized within the industry that there is a shift in demand away from
non-technical skills towards technical-skills. Indeed, the latter seem to be in increasing
demand over time because we are establishing new projects, expanding within current

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 projects and increasing production capacity. In addition, globally, a proportion of
added-value is created in the knowledge-economy not from the management of
financial capital or natural resources, but from the management of such skills as a
significant type of human capital.

6.3.2 Significance of Demanded Skills in Daily Operations

The results show that 61.8% of respondents had indicated the 'very significant' degree of the
above skills demanded for the daily operations within their department/section. Within the
above three types of demanded skills, it was revealed that 37.6% of those indicating
technical-skills as the most in demand had indicated the 'very significant' degree of these
skills in the daily operations of their department/section, whereas such a result accounted for
19.7% among those indicating general-skills as the skills most in demand and 4.5% among
those indicating firm-specific skills as most in demand in their departments/section.
Spearman's rank correlation and Kruskal-Wallis tests resulted in a probability higher than
0.05, which implies that there was no significant relationship between the significance of
these skills and the above independent variables.

6.3.3 Provision of Demanded Skills

The skills demanded within the industry were further investigated by asking respondents to
state how they manage the provision of these demanded skills. According to informal
interviews with recruitment managers, it was agreed that the provision of any skills usually
managed through one of theses sources: internal recruitment, Qatari graduates of local
educational institutions, recruiting non-Qatari (locally and internationally), pre-employment
training, on-the-job training of current workers, abroad training, and scholarship. The results
shows that 32.9% of managers usually manage the provision of demanded skills through
scholarship schemes followed by 14.8% and 14.2% indicating such provision through pre-
employment training and internal recruitment respectively. It seems that sources for the
provision of demanded skills differed among investigated companies. For example, QP's
respondents (37.3%) indicated such provision via scholarships, while other companies
indicated different sources such as pre-employment training within QAPCO (30.4%) and Q-
CHEM (43.5%), training abroad within QAFCO (40%), on-the-job training within QAFAC
(21.4%), and internal recruitment within QVC (31.8%). Within these results, it seems that
recruitment of non-Qataris is not a major source in the provision of skills sought by these
companies, though they provide the overwhelming percentage of their current workforce
within OGBI.

Nevertheless, such a source was indicated as a major source among non-Qatari

respondents, 43.5%, in comparison to their counterpart respondents, indicating that internal
recruitment is the major source (81.8%) for the provision of demanded skills. Although it is
hard to speculate about the major sources for the provision of demanded skills among OGBI,
according to the above findings, it might be reasonable to speculate that training, whether
pre-employment, OJT or training abroad, is considered a major source for such provision.
However, the Kruskal-Wallis test indicated a strongly significant statistical relationship
between this variable and the managers' occupational classification.

13
 Table 5 Kruskal-Wallis H Test (Tested variable: Provision of demanded skills)
Occupational classification N Mean
Department Manager 36 97.94
Assistant Manager 33 83.05
Section Head 44 63.98
Senior Supervisor 42 71.63
Grouping Variable: Occupational classification
Chi-square = 13.296 Df= 3 P =0.004

The above result shows statistically significant differences in the provision of demanded skills
across the four classifications. The Chi-square value was 13.296 with 3 degrees of freedom
and significant value of 0.004, which suggests that there is a difference in such provision
among different managerial levels. The lower mean value for section heads may indicate that
such a category is the link between the two higher classifications and the supervisory level,
as stressed by one recruitment manager:

Usually, such decisions are passed from supervisors through section heads to top
management. Supervisors specify the demanded skills, whereas section heads study
the provision mechanism of these skills, either by training or recruitment, and then ask
the top management for agreement.

6.3.4 Skill-Shortages Experienced in the last 5 Years

Skill-shortage is a controversial concept which is open to different interpretations, as it has

been used to describe different situations in different circumstances (Green, Machin and
Wilkinson, 1998: 165, Bosworth, Dutton and Lewis, 1992: 3). However, in order to be more
limited within a particular concept, the current study adopts Veneri's definition, where such
phenomena occur when the "demand for workers is greater than the supply of workers who
are qualified, available and willing to do the job" (1999: 15). More particularly, in order to
avoid any misunderstanding of this concept, respondents were asked to determine whether
they had experienced any such problem during the last five years; when demand for Qatari
workers is greater than the supply of people leaving educational institutions. It was shown
that an overwhelming response (74.5%) indicated that they had experienced skill-shortages
during the last five years. It should be stressed here that the problem of skill-shortage among
nationals has been one of the main factors leading to the heavy reliance on non-nationals,
not only within the industrial sector but also within the government sector. Thus, it was the
researcher’s initiative to investigate the existence of such a problem within OGBI and identify
the type of skills in which there was a shortage over the last five years.

Statistically, Spearman's correlation test indicated an insignificant relationship between this

variable and other personal-independent variables such as company, nationality,
occupational classification, number of workers, nature of department/section and working
years. Nevertheless, within the same test it was also indicated that such a variable is
influenced by other independent variables, specifically respondents' age (r = 0.157, p =
0.049) and educational attainment (r = 0.301, p = 0.000). This implies a significant

14
relationship between this variable and age, with a greater association with the younger age
group confirming their experience of such a problem, and a very significant relationship with
educational attainment, with greater associations with university certificate holders. In terms
of the latter, such significant correlation was also stressed by a Chi-square test whose value
accounted for 13.083, with 3 degrees of freedom, and a very significant level of 0.004.

The type of skills which were in short supply over the last five years were mostly technical-
skills (70.7%) with general-skills (18.5%) and firm-specific skills (10.8) shown to be in less
demand. In order to identify the main reasons contributing to the high demand of such skills
within the OGBI over the last five years, respondents were requested to choose the most
important reason from six options as stated in question 20 of the managers' questionnaire.
Results revealed that 26.1% of respondents had indicated that implementation of a new
production/technology process is the main reason for demanding such skills, which in turn
emphasises the technical nature of the industry as noted above. Additionally, 21.7% of
respondents indicated that reinforcing their department/firms' human resources structure was
the main reason. Other reasons ranged from expanding current projects (15.3%) to
competition with national and international companies (10.2%). Indeed, the OGBI had made
great strides in development either in terms of establishing new projects or expanding current
ones, which may explain the high demand for technical-skills over the last five years and
hence experiencing skill-shortage problem during the same period.

Though this research is the first study that indicates the existence of such a problem in the
OGBI, earlier research highlighted this issue in other areas. Al-Misnad stressed that there
were serious shortages of the national workforce in the manufacturing sector and in a variety
of different fields such as management, engineering, information technology, production
workers and technicians, and support staff. (1999: 33). For example, Qatari workers, for
instance within QAPCO, constituted only 22.4% of the total workforce in September 2006.
Out of these 14% were technicians, supervisors, operators and engineering (QAPCO,
Human Resources Department, 2006). In addition, it was recently stressed that the OGBI
faces a skills problem among nationals (Al-Atiya, Al-Watan Newspaper, 15 June 2003).
However, such problem not only exists in the Qatari context. In a recent study investigating
this issue in the Omani Chemical Industry, it was found that 19 companies (57.6%) out of a
total of the 30 chemical companies investigated had indicated the existence of such a
problem (Al-Muqbali, 2002: 224).

In the light of the above findings, it is argued here that if the initial aim of Qatarization
strategy is to focus on quantity and quality implementation, with the ultimate aim of a
reduction of dependence on non-nationals in the industry, then this strategy should focus
mainly on full and efficient coordination with educational institutions in the country. There
should be particular emphasis on technical education, which seems to be of great value in
fulfilling the industry's requirements as it was not only classified as a 'skilled' outcome but
was also the skill most in demand (63.7%) and that in which most shortages were being
experienced (70.7%). The industry should also develop its rewards’ mechanism by which a
higher percentage of Qatari graduates may be attracted to the industry since an earlier result
had indicated that Qatari workers are not satisfied with their current promotion and financial
rewards system in the industry at present.

15
6.4 Classification of Current Workers according to their Educational
Attainments

It was revealed that 'less than secondary education' were classified by a majority of
respondents (87.9%) as unskilled workers while workers with general secondary (50.3%),
technical secondary (52.2%) and diploma education (72%) were classified as semi-skilled
workers. As expected, university graduates were classified as highly-skilled workers (68.25).
Two interesting findings also appeared within these responses. The first result is represented
by the fact that 42.7% of respondents had indicated that technical-school certificate holders
are considered highly-skilled workers, ranked second after the university graduates. Such a
result may confirm the earlier finding in section one regarding the indication of the 'high value'
of such educational outcomes. The second interesting finding is the consideration of workers
with firm-specific training as highly-skilled workers (58%), which in turn may lead us to argue
the significance of specific-skills as a screening and signalling device within the industrial
sector, which was also used as one of the major recruitment criteria among non-Qatari
workers.

These two results were further statistically investigated in order to identify any relationship
with the tested variable and managers' other independent variables. According to
Spearman's correlation test, it was found that while the former result, classification of
technical-school holders as highly-skilled workers, is statistically correlated to the
respondent’s' nationality (r = .198 and p = 0.013) the latter, classification of workers with firm-
specific training as highly-skilled workers, was significantly correlated to the manager’s
educational level as r = .242 and p = 0.008.

Table 6 Mann-Whitney U Test (Test variable: Classification of workers with technical-

secondary education)
Nationality N Mean Rank
Qatari 92 81.64
Non-Qatari 65 75.26
Grouping variable: Nationality
U = 2376.000 P = 0.013

The first relationship indicates the significance of technical education in the non-Qatari
manager’s perspective as noted above, which is statistically supported by the Mann-Whitney
test which indicates significant differences in classifying workers with such an education and
the grouping variable 'nationality'. As it shown in Table 6, the p = 0.013 is less than 0.05
which indicates a significant difference in such a classification between Qatari and non-Qatari
managers. The lower mean value for non-Qatari managers suggests that those managers
are classifying such education with higher degree of competence, highly-skilled, than Qatari
managers. On the other hand, the second relationship implies that the more highly-educated
the managers, the more likely they are to classify workers with firm-specific training/skills as
highly skilled. For example, it was revealed that 54% of managers with university education
had classified such a category as highly-skilled workers in comparison to only 2.9% of
managers with a lower educational level indicating a similar classification.

16
6.5 Training

6.5.1 Reason for Training Qatari Workers

The results revealed that 32.5% of managers indicated that they train Qatari workers within
their department/section to form and develop their general skills followed by 24.2% indicating
that such a process is mainly due to participation in the Qatarization strategy adopted by the
industry. The human capital theory suggests, that knowledge has two components: specific
human capital, which is knowledge that is non-transferable between firms, occupation, or
situations and general human capital, which is transferable (Becker, 1975). General human
capital has traditionally been understood as knowledge that increases a worker's productivity
in a wide variety of circumstances. Thus, it was not surprising to discover that developing the
general skills of Qatari workers is a major reason for training them is of great value since
such skills are a basic element in training within the industry. Though this may recall Lall's
(1991: 136) argument that formal education may create basic, or sometimes simple, skills
that may be relevant to industry, continuous investment in Qatari workers' general skills
within the OGBI seems to be more relevant to the changeable nature of the industry that
emphasizes the constant updating of skills. Again, this may suggest the significance of
technical education in providing the industry with technical skills, which ultimately encourage
the training of Qatari workers in developing specific skills rather than general ones. It maybe
argued, however, that there is great need to develop education-training linkages within the
industrial sector, particularly in terms of technical education. This can be done by developing
a mechanism that will enable both actors participating in the formation of Qatari nationals'
skills - educational institutions and the industry- to cooperate positively and effectively in the
generation of a high level of general skills, especially as indicated in the first part of this
section, that lack of communication channels between the two actors is the main obstacle to
activate such cooperation.

However, it seems that lack of important generic, general, skills, such as problem solving,
learning efficiency, flexibility and communication skills as reported above by the Qatari
production manager, are not found solely in the Qatari context. Indeed, a lack of such skills
among graduates was also found to be a major problem in European countries (EC, 1991:
4). Nevertheless, investing in Qatari workers' general-skills contradicts the human capital
theory in terms of bearing its cost. Baker's analysis regarding financing general training
indicates that the cost of such training is borne by the workers themselves, whereas
financing specific training is shared between the worker and the employer, reducing the risk
of worker turnover. According to the above findings, it seems that such an argument is not
applicable within the current study context for different reasons.

First of all, it is evident that the industry invests in both general and specific training and
maybe, as the findings suggest, more heavily in the former. This is not only due to Lall's
argument that formal education provides only basic skills that may or may not be relevant to
the industry, or Baker's prediction that an imperfect market, as within the Qatari context, may
prevent workers from making such an investment but, more significantly, because such an
investment is one of the main priorities in the industry's investment decisions. Rather, it is the

17
prime goal of the industry's human resources policies to keep Qatari workers within the
industry, with required standards of competence as stressed by many of the managers
interviewed. Secondly, instead of bearing the cost of such worker training, the industry
attracts them to such training by providing them with training incentives, regardless its
inefficiency from the workers' perspective. Indeed, most of the trainees and developees
interviewed stressed that their main reason for joining the OGBI is their relatively high wages
and related incentives. Finally, labour turnover does not appear to be a significant problem,
among decision-makers where they stress that investment in training Qatari workers is
ultimately helping to create Qatar's human capital. If they quit the industry they may benefit
other sectors of the Qatari economy. Baker's argument regarding financing both types of
training is not, therefore, applicable within the current study contexts.

6.5.2 Main Factor of Successful Training

Informal discussion with managers, especially production managers and supervisors, within
the OGBI revealed the significance of investigating factors that may affect the success of
Qatari workers' training programs. On this basis, respondents were asked to determine the
major factor, from their perspective, to ensure the success of Qatari workers' training
program in forming their skills and hence improving their performance. It was revealed,
unexpectedly, that 43.3% of respondents had indicated that trainees' motivation to learn new
skills is the major factor in their succeeding in their training programs, followed by 19.7%
indicating that related training context with trainees' educational attainment as the second
major factor affecting the training process. Though the above listed factors seem,
theoretically, to be of great influence on the success of training in forming Qatari workers'
skills and improving their performance, it is believed, from the managers' perspective, that
trainees' motivation to learn new skills is a very important personal factor as confirmed by
Qatari training supervisor: "training Qatari workers without wills is of little use and a waste of
time and effort". Within this context, it was also stressed that values and ethics of work
should be valued in both education and training systems as noted by one production
manager: "technical-skills required by the industry can easily be challenged, but behavioural
skills, especially motivation and attitudes to work and learning, are difficult to tackle". Indeed,
most of the managers interviewed emphasized the significance of Qatari workers' motivation
to be trained and hence learn and acquire new skills.

6.5.3 Training Evaluation

For ease of analysis and in order to reach better statistical value that determines the relative
degree of success of training programs, the 'highly-success' and 'success' responses were
combined as shown in Table 7. As the results show, all areas of training had a computed
mean score that ranged between 3.72 and 4.06 on a five-point Likert-type scale ('not success
at all' was coded as 1 and 'high success' was coded as 5). The recorded means, which were
almost near to 4, indicate that these areas were by the training programs and hence implies
the success of training. As perceived by managers within OGBI, the area in which training
was ‘high-success’ was developing Qatari workers' general skills as the mean (M) = 4.06,
followed by improving the department/section performance (M = 3.94). The area in which
training was the least ‘high success’ was in motivating Qatari workers to train and hence

18
 learn new skills and knowledge (M = 3.72) followed by targeting those workers in need of
training. (M = 2.73).

Table 7 Managers' Evaluation of Training programs

quency % ean* deviation
eloping workers' general-skills 130 2.8 4.06 795
eloping workers' specific-skills 118 5.2 3.83 861
roving workers' performance 127 0.8 3.90 830
roving department/section performance 130 2.8 3.94 814
ivating workers to train and learn new skills 109 9.5 3.72 905
geting right workers who are in need of training 111 0.7 3.73 015
*Key: 1= Not success at all, 2= Not success, 3= Neutral, 4= Success, 5= Highly success

Additionally, Friedman's test was also conducted in order to determine whether such rank
totals of each area differ more than would be expected by chance (Foster, 2001: 222). The
result as shown in Table 8 revealed that the significant value (p) is = 0.001, which is less
than the alpha value of 0.05, indicating that there is a significant difference between the
scores of the above areas. It is clear by comparing the mean ranks of the six areas that
motivating workers to train and learn new skills is the least successful area of training within
the industry.

Table 8 Friedman's Test result (Tested variable: Success of training)

Mean Rank
eloping workers' general-skills 3.82
eloping workers' specific-skills 3.39
roving workers' performance 3.54
roving department/section performance 3.61
ivating workers to train and learn new skills 3.26
geting workers who are in need ofr training 3.36

square = 20.523 Df = 5 = 0.001

Indeed, such findings confirming the close relationship between training incentives as
revealed in section one of this chapter, and low motivation to train and learn new skills. The
lower the training incentives, the lower the motivation towards training and learning and vice-
versa. Accordingly, it may be argued, at least from the human capital perspective, that Qatari
workers' low motivation to train and learn is due to the lack of future value which they see for
their newly acquired skills.

6.6 'Qatarization' Success

Since the main theme of this research is to investigate the process of human capital
formation of indigenous nationals, it was necessary to investigate the effect of such a
process on Qatarization within the industry since such a policy may be considered part of the

19
broader concept of human capital formation. It was shown that the most notable responses
among participants 54.8% had indicated that such a process was successful in implementing
the ‘Qatarization’ strategy quantitatively and qualitatively. Statistically, Spearman's
correlation test indicated an insignificant relationship between this variable and the
respondents' nationality which was also confirmed by the Mann-Whitney test. Thus, it seems
that while human capital formation through education and training has affected the success
of implementing ‘Qatarization’ policy positively, the latter is generally considered one of the
industry's priorities, as one non-Qatari manager stressed: "such a policy is a national aim
especially as it is based on a deliberate indigenization policy to promote the development of
national skills in the industry, in cooperation with the country’s educational institutions."

First of all, it may be argued that implementing ‘Qatarization’ in the OGBI, particularly within
technical streams such as production, is more difficult than in other sectors of the economy
such as the service sector. Such a policy, in the government sector, as noted by many
officials interviewed within this sector, means gradual replacement of expatriates by Qatari
nationals in different positions, mostly managerial, financial, clerical, etc., who can easily be
replaced by those with specific educational qualifications and a considerable amount of
training. Within the OGBI it is the opposite situation. Indeed, there are many constraints to
the success of this policy. First, the sector is almost entirely managed and operated by
expatriates, who currently constitute 62% of the total workforce. Thus gradual replacement,
particularly when focusing on quality replacement may take longer than the announced 5-7
year plan. Additionally, quality replacement may also need more time to examine skills and
knowledge of the workers to be replaced, especially those in technical positions. It can,
therefore, be said that "knowledge cannot be transferred overnight" (Patel and Pavitt, 1996:
19) from one expatriate to his Qatari counterpart. Such a transformation requires a great deal
of learning and day-to-day interaction between workers within the same company,
particularly when knowledge is considered to be firm-specific, which may require further time.

Since nationals are mostly trained by expatriates, this may create another time constraint,
especially if the expatriate trainer is not Arab. Indeed, training in the sector is usually
transferred in English, since it is the operational language in the sector. Thus, a non-English-
speaking trainee may need further time to enhance his/her English language skills, which
may take at least six months. If the operational language constraint is not overcome,
therefore, the transfer and diffusion of the skills and knowledge of the expatriate trainer to the
national trainee may be limited, if not precluded. Even for trainees who have language skills,
the learning process is constrained by the limited and modest positions given to nationals.
Interviews with recently recruited Qatari workers, who had completed their industrial technical
training program, indicated that the majority of them were not assigned to operation and
production positions which would have given them the opportunity to practice their new skills
and knowledge. Instead, they were assigned trivial jobs, non-production tasks such as
security guards. Even when some of them were assigned to production jobs, most of the
tasks were done by their peer expatriates, which may have prevented them from direct
interaction with machinery and plant. This is perhaps due to the lack of job security for the
expatriate, partly the result of the announced ‘Qatarization’ policy in the sector. It is,
therefore, difficult to expect expatriates to be self-motivated to train Qatari workers and

20
encourage them to develop their skills, though their employment agreements emphasise
such task.

Moreover, the declared ‘Qatarization’ policy did not indicate the technical positions that are
supposed to be "Qatarized". Being a high-tech industry, which emphasises the significance
of technology in operating and managing the industry, such an indigenization policy, did not
unfortunately, address the issue of technology transfer. Though most training programs
within ‘Qatarization’ policy focus on technical aspects of nationals' skills formation, such
contexts were only covering maintenance and production operation aspects, but were
nothing to do with technology transfer, which is mostly implemented by vendor-training.
Access to modern technology alone does not guarantee the sustained long-term industrial
growth. Focus should also be on absorbing the acquired technology and operating it
efficiently. Accordingly, Qatarization policy-makers may need to make additional efforts to
raise the technical skill levels of national workers in order to link such a policy and "quality"
accumulation of nationals' technical skills and knowledge. In other words, this policy should
identify the size and type of skills needed in each company. It should not be designed as a
current solution to correct the imbalance of the labour structure, but should also be aimed
directly towards developing the national workforce skills.

Indeed, much of the current ‘Qatarization' debate in the sector revolves around the question
of whether and how the sector is meeting the policy targets. Instead such a policy should
focus on mechanisms by which nationals' technical skills and capabilities are developed,
especially in an industry which is characterized by increasingly rapid technological change,
international competition, new working systems and a high dependence on foreign skills and
knowledge. In terms of technological change, it is recognized that most of the investigated
companies are undergoing rapid technological change, since they are either producing
technology in the form of chemical and petrochemical products or utilizing modern
technology in the form of plant and machinery or both. In this regard, Leonard found
empirical evidence that the level of technology used in the production process, together with
the skill intensity of the workforce, represented an important factor for the growth of
manufacturing firms in US. He stressed that investment in building a skilled workforce could
be a competitive advantage for firms during a period of fast technological change (1994:310).

However, joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) means that, as noted by some
general managers, the Qatari OGBI may gradually lose its previous protection programs and
incentives given by the government and thus may also be fully exposed to international
competition. In order to eliminate the effects of such challenges, ‘Qatarization’ policy needs
to have a greater capacity to produce highly technically skilled and qualified national workers
who are able to produce high quality products in more efficient technical mechanisms, if the
investigated companies are to keep ahead of their competitors. Thus, despite the recently
announced success of ‘Qatarizing’ the workforce in the industry, these constraints may
discourage national workers in the industry from developing the qualitative knowledge, skills
and competence required for their jobs. However, greater emphasis on quality ‘Qatarization’
in the sector will have a greater effect on the level of nationals' skills, particularly when such
a process is accompanied with step-by-step upgrading and accumulation of national skills.

21
8.7 Conclusion

The main purpose of the above analysis was to investigate the formation process of Qatari
human capital within the OGBI from the managers' perspective. This analysis included
different areas that may affect such processes. The results indicated that links with
educational institutions are lacking because of the absence of communication channels
between the two actors though such institutions are considered major sources of recruiting
Qatari nationals in the industry. Indeed, such negative links are expected to influence the
continuous formation process, not only in terms of provision of demanded skills but also in
terms of reinvestment in recruited nationals, particularly if they were not at the required
standards. Thus, it was not surprising to find that these institutions were not able to provide
industry with the required technical skills. However, it was also revealed that although
managers within the industry think of these institutions as a successful source of creating
Qatari workers' general-skills, developing such skills was the major reason for training
Qataris

The research also shows that the skills most demanded in the daily operations of the industry
are the technical skills which were supplied moderately, quantitatively and qualitatively, by
the education system. In turn, this resulted in a shift in the demand towards such skills, since
technical graduates were one of the most sought after groups over the last five years in
comparison to general secondary graduates. In line with the negative link between the
education system and industry, it was indicated that recruiting national graduates was not,
practically, the major source in the provision of the required technical skills, which was mostly
supplied through a scholarship scheme within the industry. The most important finding within
the above analysis is the existence of skill shortages of Qatari workers in the OGBI, though in
the absence of strong empirical evidence that such a shortage is acute in the industry.
However, though there is a shortfall in the supply of technical-skills via the education system,
such problems may refer to other factors such as a low enrolment rate in secondary
education and a moderate stock of national scientific skills (23.2%) in university education,
which can be ascribed to the small indigenous population. In terms of screening and
signalling in the industry, it can be said according to the findings within the above analysis
that the industry while screening Qatari nationals according to their educational attainment,
screens non-nationals according to their general and specific skills acquired through a variety
of training programs.

That is to say, education is used as a screening device among nationals whereas training is
used as similar device among non-nationals. Furthermore, it can also be said that there is
'too much' screening of Qatari workers and more specifically with jobs such as supervisory
posts with the majority of respondents' supervisors holding university and higher degrees. In
turn, this suggests that university graduates are more frequently recruited to skilled jobs,
since such education was classified as highly-skilled, while workers at lower educational
levels are more often recruited to semi-skilled jobs, since this educational category is
classified as semi-skilled. Within training, it was shown that managers believed that trainees'
motivation towards training and learning is the major influencing factor. Finally, though it was
revealed that the formation process of Qatari human capital, basically through education and
OJT within the industry, had affected the success of ‘Qatarization’ policy positively within the

22
industry, we argue that implementation of the latter should not be conceived of as an
obligation to be implemented, rather than being seen as a continuous efficient tool to develop
Qatari workers' skills and, more particularly, their specific-skills.

Policy Implications

First, according to the findings of the study, continuing investment in training Qatari workers
process has proved its effectiveness in generating and developing Qatari workers' general
and specific-skills. Secondly, the ’Qatarization’ strategy adopted in the industry as a national
aim entails developing nationals' skills in obtaining job-related knowledge at all occupational
levels and in all areas of the OGBI activities. Thirdly, it is argued through this research that
even with efficient and correlated education and training programmes to form general and
specific skills, such systems do not ensure that highly qualified workers will perform
competently without any on-the-job training. This is mainly because credentials, educational
qualifications alone, are not an adequate measure of skills, especially within the industrial
sector.

Finally, since the study results revealed the significance of technical-skills in operating the
industry, then training remains a major source in forming and developing such skills either
among new entrants or existing workers. Moreover, specific-technical skills cannot be
generated and formed by the education system. The Industrial sector has a major
responsibility in developing such skills through training because the industry is more able to
identify and hence develop such skills according to their particular requirements. The
longstanding argument regarding the mismatch between education and industry in terms of
the provision of specific-technical skills is controversial and open to question by decision-
makers in the industry. All of these reasons demonstrate that training activities are an
important part of the industry's successful operations and future growth. As stated by one
general manager "training within the industry is the driving force in forming and developing
workers’ skills". Thus, training is an indispensable process within the industrial sector.

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