Leadership issues at Petroleum Development Oman (PDO)   Contents Dr. Clare Graves’ value model: 3 Different kinds of leadership styles that are observed in the present industry: 5 The Leadership Issues That Are Presently Faced By the Petroleum Industry In Oman. 7 My perspectives on ‘leadership’ before and after the course and what has changed 9 References: 12   Dr. Clare Graves’ value model: While understanding the concept of Dr. Clare Graves value theory first it is needed to be understood what is criteria regarding the values. Criteria are basically values. They are the words that are used to indicate what people finds important in a particular context. Meta programs are the ways through which they handle the criteria. Graves constrains are basically a typology of criteria, that could assign the criteria to a particular group (Muscat and Whitty, , 2012.). Categorizing criteria: The American psychologist Graves basically made a theory that there are mainly eight kinds of value systems which progressed over the course of human history. He proposed that each of the value systems tend to flow from the previous one as a response to even more complex life situations & to the struggles with the preceding set of values. MindSonar is now capable of measuring to which extent the criteria of someone are associated with seven of the eight Graves drives. Normally this is called as ‘Graves Categorization’. If the already formulated criteria of someone are put in the graves category then it will be called a graves drive. Categorizing the criteria of someone in this manner makes it likely to evaluate criteria between people or position. Purple drive: people having high purple drive, their criteria in that specific context have to deal with security as well as safety primarily. Other major words for this kind of drive can be termed as: togetherness, seniority, belonging, homely feeling and tradition. Red drive: people belonging to strong red drive category, their criteria mainly are related to power as well as respect for getting respect specifically but also to giving respect. They tend to act fast, forcefully and impulsively without even thinking about the consequences. Other major words used to represent the criteria are power, honor, reputation, strength and courage. Blue drive: people having strong blue drive primarily are concerned with the order as well as security. Other major words use to describe the criteria are: reliability, control, discipline and duty. Orange drive: people having strong orange drive mainly deal with competition and winning. Other words used for these criteria are a success, progress, influence, results, and achievement. Green criteria: people belonging to this category are more concerned with keeping ideal and loyalty in their respective groups. Some other features of these criteria are harmony, connectedness, social contact, community, love, and consensus. Yellow drive: these people primarily go for learning as well as independence. Other major words for them can be named as: personal growth, analysis, and creativity. Turquoise drive these people primarily deal with the bigger picture and holistic vision. Other major words for this drive at=re termed as spirituality, integration, responsibility for the earth as a whole and balance. Fig: Dr. Clare Graves value theory Leadership in various fields in current society: In business: leadership can be considered as the ability of motivating people towards a general goal. It is very necessary for the business field of the 21st century. But the main principle of leadership in business cannot change thoroughly anyway. Leaders are always responsible for making the total group motivated, inspired and encouraged and simultaneously they should also fulfill their responsibility of adjusting with the dramatically changing business condition. They are needed to be up-to-date with the enhancing technology. They should also utilize the opportunities of globalization, understand the demand of the customers and know the way of motivating them. At the same time they should also provide choices for the employees also to develop a better working situation (Chapman, 2013). In finance: nowadays financial leaders are getting a lot of challenges while making sure that their activities adapt to the revolving requirements of the business. With the rising interest of the stakeholders in the bigger performance of the organization apart from a pure economical course, there a rising focus on the requirement to push better business performance is present which is sustainable for a longer duration. Finance leaders are supposed to play a significant role while impacting the abilities of the finance function to provide insight as well as business support to maintain a stable resolution and promote a wider center of the external market to hold the business strategy but most importantly it should advance for being counter balanced. While leadership basically stands as a behavioral process in sports and is responsible for impacting the persons as well as groups towards the pre-decided goals. The leader must perform dual performance in terms of ensuring the satisfaction of the players and steering the success. Petroleum development Oman is the key exploration as well as Production Company in Sultanate. It accounts for around 70% of the country’s crude oil production and nearly all of its natural gas supply. Now the company also faces a dreadful set of challenges. But with the help of its leadership features PDO is supposed to remain in the front position in the oil & gas industry of the region. Different kinds of leadership styles that are observed in the present industry: A leader is free to choose any of the different leadership approaches for leading as well as managing the organization. The personality, experience and values of the leader are responsible for providing the direction of setting the policies of motivating the people. There are five basic kinds of leadership styles namely: engaging, authoritative, transformational, Laissez-faire, and also participative styles. Engaging leadership: this style of leadership tends to make the leader reach out to its employees and understand their working situation as well as their concerns. Researchers state that engaging style of leadership is important in terms of communicating relevant information to employees and including them while taking important business decisions. This style of leadership is helpful while making the employees sustained for the longer duration. Autocratic leadership: under this kind of relationship only the leader will be responsible for making the decisions. Leaders are not supposed to put attention to any of the suggestions or initiatives from the subordinates. This kind of leadership is effective while making quick decisions but usually it is not that successful while enhancing the employee engagement or maintaining the satisfaction of the workers. Transformational leadership: this kind of leadership focuses on motivation and morale for inspiring the followers in terms of changing their behavior in service of a greater good. Laissez-faire: here though a person gets the position of the leader, the subordinates are free to choose to choose their own strategies as well as methods. This style is mostly effective while the workers are independently skilled to be self motivated and be accountable for the results Democratic leadership: in this kind of leadership the leader is supposed to share the decision making authority with the other group members while contributing to the team consistency. This kind of leadership helps the employees feel more participative in decision outcomes and more committed to the choices as they have their say in that. In the present organization i.e. Petroleum Development Oman, the managing director’ s committee is hold responsible for the overall performance and business direction of the company. It is mainly headed by the managing director who takes the assistance from 14 more directors who are given the responsibility maintaining the standard of techniques by allocating the staffs and their training and development. The managing director’s committee is accountable to the board of directors which is liable for providing the objective as well as guideline to the managing directors. The board consists of twelve members. Among them seven are representatives of the government that include the chairman who is considered as the minister of oil & gas, his Excellency Dr. Mohammed bin Hamad bin Saif Al Rumhy and other five do represent the private shareholders of PDO. Different studies have proven that effective leadership is connected with the person, team as well as organizational performance. Nevertheless it has been assessed, that all the respective leaders tend to follow different variety of styles that depends concerning the situation, and the important factor is that the respective leader should show diligence as well as motivation most consistently so as to behave in a particular manner representing the styles of transformations. Apart from this, cementing as well as further developing new skills, consistency makes the leader build trust and as well as rapport with the group members (Khan, 2013). PDO generally follows the following tips to develop a more effective leadership style: Personal consideration: the leaders of PDO know their group members. They actively listen to the team for enabling themselves assign work more effectively depending on the strengths as well as weaknesses. It will also help to make the followers feel more important and valued. Intellectual stimulation: PDO let the group members think about the objectives and ways, rather than just ordering them or directing them straight way. This way they not only engage the employees intellectually but also provide professional development which benefits both the individual as well as the team. Inspirational motivation: PDO ensures that the information presented is easy as well as understandable, optimistic and attainable. This helps in providing direction & motivation. Idealized influence: leaders who are acting as a role model can influence the team members in a better way. The leaders of PDO act in such a way that is consistent with the personal morals as well as values of the leader. Followers are more potential to look up to the leader who is honest, driven and trustworthy. The Leadership Issues That Are Presently Faced By the Petroleum Industry in Oman It is true that transformational leadership is helpful while inspiring the employees for organizational growth. But organizations of 21st century tend to place various demands on the leaders, they are required to put their vision, bring change as well as make tough decisions. In order to handle these particular requirements, leaders are supposed to be very much flexible as well as adaptable. The business world of the 21st century has become highly competitive. The only way by which organizations can survive is through restructuring the policies for meeting the requirements of the fast economy of the world. The resistance for changing is nothing but a hindering aspect for the employees in addition to the respective organization as well. Leaders have to emphasize all the action to bring the suitable changes through the process that are fast and smoothly whichever is duly possible. All the respective organizations have to pass the respective life cycle that are consisted of four stages. Regarding different kind of organizations these four stages concerning the growth come as well as pass very fast but for the other entity which will also reveal the process which can be fortified through an enormous number of years. Even it can stand as the end for an organization if they fail to go with the required changes in any of the four stages. The general leadership issues faced by the organizations are mainly because of increasing expenses of the materials and reduced requirement because of the competitiveness of the whole world. But these issues can also smother the creativity level, decrease the production range and bring a company is such a position from where it can never stand back (Jawadi, 2016). The common challenges that the petroleum companies face are: Dealing with “3D effect”: it is evident that the existing wells are drying up rapidly and thus it is considered as one of the biggest problems that are faced by the oil corporations. Businesses are trying to search for fresh resources and the access of this is extremely high. In most of the cases they are deep underground, quite hard to drill & distant from organizations active sites. This can be called 3D effect and this is necessarily three kinds of challenges wrapped into one. For extracting oil from these fresh wells organizations need to apply cut-edge technology and highly talented engineers and both of them should not be too expensive to adapt. Some organizations like PDO are trying to resolve the problem by generating joint ventures with the competitive firms. This means that they will be able to share their technology as well as expertise. At the same time they are also trying to reduce the financial pressure while launching the projects. But, it has been observed that joint ventures tend to be burdened with troubles as companies from different countries as well as cultures frequently find it tough to exist cooperatively. If the organizations be failed to resolve this kind of conflicts can result in damaging consequences and thus the organizations need to think long-term for ensuring their vision, mission and working procedures are aligned. Handling the pressure from the government: the government throughout the world is launching determined carbon reduction missions and this will put businesses under the increasing pressure to cut their production. The oil as well as gas industry is being reviewed closely and the companies are desired to work out in new ways to get the natural resources while reducing the pollution. Attracting investment: one of the most significant problems faced by the companies is to maintain a high level of performance for attracting the investors. So they need to work across the huge variety of sectors to increase the performance enhancement in the fields of organizational change, group-work and leadership directed towards achieving the most out of the employees. Improvement of the safety standards: oil rigs are certainly found as dangerous places to work and organizations like PDO do always try to fight an ascending battle in terms of offering the maximum guard to their workers. The new rigid framework has been made to guard marine life as well as coastal environments against pollution and Omani businesses are desired to have a vivid contingency plan if an accident occurs. Adaptation to change: This is a wide challenge that can be separated into various sections. The main challenges that are recently faced by the organizations can be termed as shortages of skills, changing drilling methods, unpredictable behaviors of the reservoirs and different kinds of hydrocarbon. My perspectives on ‘leadership’ before and after the course and what has changed After analyzing the present report the perception on the concept of leadership is to be changed. It is understandable that leadership is totally based on the qualities of the leader. The interesting fact about the previous concept of leadership confers believing upon the circumstances that leadership shouldn’t be essentially consisted the significant monopoly encapsulated by the managers that is highly experience and older. The middle sections as well as the higher tiered managers showing the diligence recently are brought up beneath the protection following the behaviors of the managers that are from the old school which are classically based with higher experience. The real measurement concerning the success are quantified through various short term results perceived in recent competitive environment, the first beating, order making styles of management tends to achieve quicker in addition to returns that are immediate enough. These manners are generally accepted gladly that have been considered encircling the hierarchical members for the reason that this is the variation considering the management that they practice themselves. The aspects of mentioning before in terms of describing, it can be called driven. In other words it can also be named as monstrous obsession. Competition is a common phenomenon in any sort of industry. The new forms of leadership have started taking control over the industry and emerging in it. The companies tend to search for new ways through which they can easily grow in the international market. Workers tend to be more involved in the organizational activities as this makes them feel a part of the company. New leadership skills are nowadays capable of resolving the problems arising both at the industrial as well as personal level. The places where the new leaders mainly responsible for working are quite clear with the concept. They are responsible for keeping a good relationship between the leader and the followers; structure the job and keeping the proper sense of authority. New way of leadership: This can be regarded as one of the foremost issues entailing the hierarchical team of the respective entity is not showing any response to the pressure made by the shareholders but also managing their personal career. Thus, these bivalent forces that are opposite to each other put a lodge among the respective human environment as well as the performance driver. Although, regarding the circumstances there are chances through which the management can maintain the way of being successful while towing the border between short durational performance and what could be called human leadership. They way the new school leadership can be characterized is consisted of a combination of the following attitudes (Morton, 2016): • Power of listening intently. • Being genuine even when they are upset. • Setting clear, measurable as well as reasonable objectives for the organization. • Taking time in terms of explaining their actions. • Optimistic situations are emphasized in addition to it the circumstances are more constructive concerning the negativities. • Hiring as well as grooming the skilled persons for enhancing themselves. • Behavior will be perceived in a process that the mothers will be going to feel very proud enough. Firstly it is believed to follow such a way can be stood healthier for oneself. Next, this will definitely bring a better working environment and more dedicated employees. Frequently this kind of hostility is observed as making massive pain and hidden destruction in the organization. Finally if this process is implemented the results will definitely be observed. The mindset of new and innovative leadership situations: Generally, three situations are there for making mindset work regarding new leadership. These are: • The mission as well as values of the company will be clearly expressed as well as lived by the workers. • The manager or director or the leader exemplifies the mission and the values if not modeled. • The organizations like PDO tend to keep a bendable mindset that continues evolving organically with time as well as size. It is believed that the leaders who are well equipped in terms of being adjustable in the chaotic business environment must be both left as well as right brained. Following this way of leadership they will be able to gladly point the extreme success of the vile leadership skills. Sometimes it could be felt that they might try to create another kind of leadership style which might result in a losing battle. Maybe over-tuning the management style of old days is only able to fight against the symptom while the original problem is not having a brand with the greater assignment as well as purposes. If the leader does not subscribe genuinely then it is not usual regarding the remaining team which will get pleasure from the ride (Agha, Muscat). So according to my opinion, bringing change in the ongoing procedure will not be that easy, but if some combined methods are incorporated which could be creative, beneficial as well as pioneering no doubt a clear industry conclusion will pay bonus for the extended hall.   References: Muscat, E. and Whitty, M., 2012. Social entrepreneurship: Values-based leadership to transform business education and society. Business Renaissance Quarterly, 4(1), p.31. Chapman, T.G., 2013. Two-dimensional ground-water flow through a bank with vertical faces. Geotechnique, 7(1), pp.35-40. Khan, G.M., Amine, L.S., Uddin, S.J. and Zaman, M., 2011. 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