QATARIZATION PRACTICES AT QATAR GENERAL ELECTRICITY AND WATER CORPORATION (KAHRAMAA): CHALLENGES AND FUTURE CONSIDERATIONS

Abstract

This study explores the current practices and challenges for Qatarization at Kahramaa, the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation. This is a government entity in the energy sector and the study asks about the impact of important national strategic policy on Kahramaa in effectively engaging with it, as well as offering some future considerations and recommendations. It is a qualitative study that relies on primary and secondary sources. The former include semi-structured interviews and the latter includes both articles in journals, books, websites, newspapers and Kahramaa’s website and internal documentation of procedures and policies related to Qatarization. The purpose of this study necessitated an exploratory study design. Triangulation using multiple data sources and thematic analysis were both used for the data analysis. The results show that Kahramaa faces six major challenges in adopting Qatarization: a limited control of the implementation of this policy; the multiple standards that Kahramaa was obliged to meet; the lack of governmental and internal policies; the cost of training and development programs and the consequent inefficient investment in them; its work ethic; and its reward system, involving benefits and salaries. The major limitations of the study were the deficiency of information and difficulty in obtaining reliable data from official sources related to Qatarization, the limited number of literature, researches in Qatar especially in its energy sector, the lack of local and regional-based case studies on Qatarization. In addition, the Corona pandemic and the many precautionary measures that accompanied it like the inability to conduct face-to-face interviews. The importance of this study lies in focusing on the Qatarization practices, the main factors, and challenges that affect the progress and success of achieving Qatarization. It tries to be one of the first studies exploring Qatarization in Kahramaa. There is a lack of local case studies, which provide an appropriate content of Qatarization for researchers, practitioners, decision makers, and students. So, this study is introducing the case of Qatarization in Kahramma as crucial governmental entity in the energy sector, which is an addition to this direction.