The 11th Arabian Society for HR Management (ASHRM) conference and exhibition opened at Fairmont Bab Al Bahr Hotel in Abu Dhabi on Sunday night. A number of top executives from the region have been attending the three-day program that features a host of regional and international experts in the field.
The conference, aimed to promote the human resource profession throughout the region, is running under the theme: "Economic growth through HR" and the speakers will share their wealth of knowledge with a focus on securing business goals through efficient HR practices.
"The focus on economic growth in the theme for this conference extends the macro emphasis of our last conference, to include more pressing concerns surrounding national and regional opportunities and constraints, said Fouzi A. Bubshait, president and chair of the conference. How to achieve full utilization of each nation's human capital is a major challenge for the region, he added.
According to organizers, this year's conference will deal with, among others, sub-themes such as economic growth through HR, the business environment, HR service delivery and talent management.
Amin H. Nasser, senior vice president, Upstream, Saudi Aramco; Dr. Issa Al-Ansari, Rector, PMU; Sheikh Faisal F.J. Al Thani; chairman, Maersk Oil, Qatar; Farouq Al-Zanki, CEO and president, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation; Bobby Yazdani, chairman, CEO and founder, SABA; Saud Sabban, executive vice president, head of Human Resources, National Commercial Bank, Dr. Amer bin Awadh Al-Rawas, CEO, Oman Telecom Comp. (Omantel) are some of the top speakers attending the conference.
Three panel discussions - The role of business in the full utilization of a nation's human capital"; "The role of academia in supplying a highly skilled work force" and the role of government in balancing the human capital supply/demand equation, were held yesterday.
Today Nada Aswad and Mohammed Al-Khalfan of Saudi Aramco will discuss on the empowerment of women from home to work. The topic will focus on the historical women move and roles in the region, GCC in particular. It will cover the trends and phenomena of women dilemma in the business, society and the literature providing facts and date from government, academic and private sectors.
Tomorrow, Jay Doherty of Mercer Partner, will discuss on recent research from Mercer's 2011 World Economic Forum survey on Talent Mobility. The discussion will focus on how work force planning delivers value, understanding the complexities of labor markets and how organizations evaluate these markets and lessons from early innovations in HR.
The sponsors and partners of the event include: Saudi Research and Marketing Group, Saudi Aramco, Satorp, Saba, Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, Vela, and Falak etc.
