The High Performers….

I was going through the latest ‘Y’ magazine (they dont have a website) Issue number 30 dated 22nd of July. All seemed to be the same … the usual stuff that you just go through in a brain dead manner to take a break from whatever you are doing… there is hardly anything interesting to read … this week its start with statements from a bunch of “prominent” Omanis talking about what renaissance day means to them… they all say the same things …… then they report on a building in Ruwi that caught fire … they also feature a young woman fashion designer… after that come a few filler pages, these are pages that have a collection of some random stuff that is not relevant to anything ….the comes the personality of the week feature … at this point i just started to flip the pages faster to reach the picture section … that is the most interesting section of the whole magazine (if you can all this a magazine)

Side note: The picture section was pioneered by The Week and copied by every one else. Of course, the week did not invent this section. I dont know where they copied it from but i am sure they got it from somewhere. In kuwait, they realized that its the picture section that is the most interesting and they launched a whole magazine of picture sections called Layalina. There is a bahraini Layalina also, but the website doesnt work ?! They throw in a few sections that have some editorial stuff but nothing worth mentioning. Its really about the pictures. We should probably get some one to do an Omani Layalina …

So i finally reach the picture section of “Y”. The usual stuff right ? art Exhibitions and corporate events… but this time two things really hit me in the face … one of them made me laugh … the other made me wonder …

I’ll start with the funny stuff… The heading says : “Saj Restaurant Celebrates 16 yeas of existence” How is that for a heading !!! the body test says : “… this four in one restaurant in wadi kabir has been a haunt of many an epicure … ” I have no idea what that means … and ive never even heard of the Saj restaurant … and its been in existence for SIXTEEEN YEARS !! Its a two page spread with one full page of a bunch middle aged Indian men hand feeding each other cake while the crowd claps !! Please explain to me why is this in the picture section ? and why does it deserve a double spread ? is this such BIG news? …

the picture says it all..

Chek out the guy in the top left hand corner in red… he really has his mouth open !!

The other thing that made me wonder is the picture feature of the AATCO group of companies that recently hosted a Harvard Business School speaker event to train their high performers … they actually brought in this guy to conduct a training for the group’s “top executives” and had ‘Y’ cover the event and give them a double spread in the picture section…. I hope i am getting all the facts right … i’ll update the post later with the name of the guest speaker as i dont have the magazine with me at the moment… Now for the pictures….

Notice how they are all Asian Expats? arnt there any high performing Omanis? Its a shame that the knowledge that the Harvard Professor is giving to this Omani Group is not being transmitted to any of the Omanis. Not even the owners of the group are pictured … so i am assuming none of them attended the event … In my view this is a real shame…. it made me wonder how many Omanis could have benefited but didnt …

So i guess … the real question is ‘Y’

‘Y’ are Saj’s cake eating middle aged Indian mustached glasses wearing dudes a featurable event in Oman …

and

‘Y’ are local trading groups not training up any local talent to take care of their business and keep the knowledge within Oman ….

sorry about the image quality …

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You’re currently reading “The High Performers….,” an entry on Omanymous says

Published:: July 27, 2008 / 10:22 pm

Category:: Oman Local Issues

Tags:: AATCO, Layalina, Muscat, Muscat Events, Oman, Oman events, Saj, The Week, Y magazine, Y Oman

About

I am an Omani Male living in Oman. I currently work in Oman and have studied in Oman!

I decided to start this blog after I was introduced to Oman’s blogging society thru google web alerts. I set up alerts for Oman and Muscat and the most interesting alerts I got were from the bloggers of Oman. So after reading and following these blogs for a year or so I started to post comments as anonymous and people started to call me anon. I am not claiming that I am the only anon out there, but I decided to own the name and so Omanymous was born …

I don’t know what this blog is going to be about yet … but the idea is that I am just going to share my thoughts ..

Oman Food 7.28.08 / 2pm

The Saj Restaurant is in the back streets of Wadi Kabir (actually near the Wadi) near to all the car repair facilities. I suspect that if you look at the States where the attendees at the epicurean (meaning food lovers – though it might also, less frequently, be used to mean lover of small pleasures) event; you will find that they originate not a million miles away from the State of the writers at “ Y Magazine” .
AATCO is one of those reasonably old established food wholesalers who expanded into food manufacture (Ketchup etc) . Of course, Omanis own it and many readers of “Y Magazine” should be astounded that with well over 25 years in business AATCO haven’t been able to recruit or train an Omani to be one of their ‘high flyers’ despite all the previous training that those high flyers must have had in staff training and staff motivation. What could the reason be?

Omanymous 7.28.08 / 2pm

OF – Thanks for your comment.
So, if i understood you correctly … the people that cover ‘Y’ picture section come from the same place in India as the guys feeding each other cake … and that is why they have covered the event thinking that the rest of us will find this to be news worthy and will enjoy looking at pictured from that event…
On AATCO, i am as disappointed as i assume you are with this. I didnt know that AATCO were that old. Just to clirfy the facts. The person that came to lecture these high performers is Professor (Dr) Srikant Datar. He is Arthur Lowes Dickinson professor of Accounting, senior associate dean, and director of research from Harvard Business School. What could be the reasons you ask? I’ve heard many reasons. Omanis are lazy, Omanis are not loyal, Omanis cant speak english, Omanis want to spend time with their families and not at work, Omanis are not committed, Omanis are not serious, and may favorite one: Omanis only care about money, if they get more money else where they leave.

curiously cheezy 8.9.08 / 9pm

excellent post. that is one of the reasons why i dont even look at those magazines. all the Omani’s they feature are idiots and all the media they have, is designed to be presented in a manner that attracts pple who are culturally similar. i think if u look into all our magazine’s operations, they are all run by indian expats. and the bitch of it is, they want to turn our media scene into something similar like theirs.. because ‘we’ are doing it all wrong. This was the perspective of an indian sales executive that i knew and worked for UMS, 7 years alter, he is marketing manager. shame on us.

Omanymous 8.9.08 / 10pm

Welcome Back CC … where have you been?
our english media is run by indians … and our advertising companies are also run by indians… the lebs are trying to penetrate without any major success yet… its time for change, dont you think ?

Oman Food 8.12.08 / 12pm

yes, the writers and people they focus on are from a similar region.
I am not inferring any of the treasons you mention . According to you, the company has just completed a course for their high flyers conducted by a graduate of the University of Bombay – Dr Srikant Datar.
Presumably, the staff must have had previous courses by less august people than a Harvard Business School Professor – and I would assume that the courses would have included staff training and staff motivation . I was wondering why the staff in the photo who have had such extraordinary training have not trained and motivated Omanis to be included within their numbers; are the staff motivated to do so ?

George 9.10.08 / 9pm

Omanimous..Interesting post..if you were not aware that a particular restaurant was there since 16 years it doesn’t mean it did not exist.If you see only expatriates in pictures it is because they are needed to run the show.Inspite of the omanisation if they are still managing to be here it means that omanis are not ready as yet to replace them.And about middle aged Indians…ha.. aging is a physiological process..If you are 16 now you will be 46 after 30 years..Did you know that the Indian English teachers who were terminated were taken back in service because the ministry found that the ones to replace them were not competent enough?There are Omanis who are extremely good at doing what they do but they are few.I wonder how many Omanis would come up (rather dare ) to run an English news daily all by themselves.And how many Omanis do you think will be reading the “Y” magazine? This is food for thought.All the best dear friend.No offense meant.

Omanymous 9.11.08 / 1pm

George – Thanks for your comment.

The Restaurant:
It exists. We saw pictures.Are you their customer?
from what i understand, its more of a bar than a restaurant.
most of its income is from selling alcohol. is that true?

The Expats:
You generalized here. I’ll help you be more specific. The Indian or Asian expats should be the point of discussion as they are more dominantly featured in the photos. You make it sound like they are here against their will and they cannot wait till Omanis replace them.

The Aging:
Thanks for sharing your knowledge on this one.

The English Teachers:
Are you saying that the Omanis that came to teach English after the Indians were not competent because their Indian teachers did not teach and train them properly to do the job?

The English News Daily:
I wonder how many Indians (non Arabic speaking expats) would come up (rather dare ) to run an Arabic news daily all by themselves. At least i think Omanis are closer to doing that.

The Few:
the people that are really good at what they are few everywhere.

The “Y” Magazine:
I dont anyone really reads it… There is nothing in there to read anyway … its a joke … put together to harvest advertising money… and its mostly pictures anyway… I think Omanis can look at pictures… dont you?

One more thing George.. you took the time to read an reply to my post … but you failed to address any of the questions i really had..

i will copy paste them for you again if you ever come back and read this:

‘Y’ are local trading groups not training up any local talent to take care of their business and keep the knowledge within Oman …

i’ll rephrase:

Q1) why should people care about the Saj and its 16 years? its not even a real restaurant…
Q2) why arnt Omanis being trained by local businesses? because Omanis dont want to be trained?

George 9.11.08 / 8pm

Hi Omanimous,
Restaurant:
I have heard of Saj restaurant..Have never been there.
Expats:
They are here coz they earn more than what they can earn in their own countries and they will like to remain here unless they have a better opportunity else where.I meant to say that they are needed here that is why they are here in spite of omanisation.I am of the opinion that they should be sent off if Omanis can replace them.
Teaching:
Teaching is one thing and learning is another.How come the women in Oman are speaking good English (and they are being thought by Indian teachers) and doing well in studies while the men are not as good?Most of the university seats are won by the girls if I am not mistaken.A bad carpenter blames the tools.:-)
English News daily:
Let me quote you “our english media is run by indians”
I was just answering that..and Engish is not our mother tongue.
The few:
I agree with you about it.
And regarding question 1 & 2 I am with you.
but Y is a free magazine..There is a saying that one should not count the teeth of a cow that is gifted to him..:-)

Omanymous 9.11.08 / 9pm

George – good to see that you are back ! I think we agree on most things. isnt dialog great ?

The Expats:
I think its unrealistic for Omanis to replace all expats in the next 5 years. But it should be a long term goal. Nationalization is a very difficult process to put in place and no one can tell you that its not being done properly, because now one has done it before. No body has had to deal with this issue, not the east and not the west. Its a pure GCC phenomenon. I think our banking sector is fantastic example of successful nationalization. It is case study material. The banking sector now is over 90% nationalized.

The Teachers:
I dont know about the boys and girls thing. I think girls are smarter than boys generally speaking. I also dont think you can separate teaching from learning. A teacher is only successful if his students are successful. If the Omani teachers have graduated as teachers but they cannot teach, who can we blame? the rain?

The English News Daily:
Yes i did say that. Is it not true? but why do they have to just write for the Indians? all of us read English. Cant we have a mix of English speaking people doing it ? diversity yields great results all the time.

The “Y” Magazine:
just because something is free it doesnt have to be junk.
look at The Week … its free too …

i have one more question … why on earth are those guys at the saj feeding each other cake ?

George 9.13.08 / 8pm

Hi Omanimous..I am curious about the cake feeding too..Shall we ask “Y”
🙂

Kawthar 4.17.09 / 3pm

Firstly, people generalize too much. Omanis are not being given a fair chance! I am not Omani but my husband is. I am American.

There are lazy people in every nationalities. I have seen lazy Indians, Lazy Americans, and everything inbetween.

As far as the English teachers are concerned- I can not beleive this. I know alot of Omani English teachers, 2 of them coming from my own family. They are very capable. Maybe it was due to a LACK of English teachers, I do not think it had anything to do with their capabilities.

I have had alot of Omani working for me and i find some are hard workers and some are lazy, it depends of the individual. So we should not generalize about people.

I think that Omanis are capable of running the media and it is already being done at Oman news agency where my husband works. So don’t think they are not capable, they are more than capable. One day soon the Omanis will take back their country and run everything themselves like it should be.

Eddy Tor 8.18.09 / 3pm

There is a new Y now. It was launched today, 18th August. A new team. A worldly team. Not scared to portray things in any light, be it negative or positive. Not scared to write about things in a manner that does not patronise ANYONE. The new Y, has a new Y reader. The reader that is smart and has opinions. No fluff. It will still be fun, but it will not dumb down to talk to anyone. There is an army of intelligent people in Oman, (both Omani AND Expat) and they will undoubtedly love the new Y.

Nadia 10.3.09 / 11am

Help! Do you know if Y have a website now? Someone told me they can download articles from Y online. The person who told me is in Australia now and out of reach, and I’m trying to find Y online. I’m looking for specific articles and when I googled Y magazine, your post is one of the first things that shows up.

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