Bahrain's Ministry of Works (MOW) has realigned its strategy to the new Bahrain Vision 2030, by rolling out a long-term approach to strategic management, which is based on the latest Balanced Scorecard principles. The ministry's strategy reflects its vital role in providing public works in the kingdom, and highlights its contribution to the goal of achieving sustainable economic and social development. In 2004 the kingdom was moving along a path towards democracy. Government departments and agencies were instructed to adopt strong supporting organizational structures, operating systems and strategies. This provided the impetus in 2004 for a new strategy, but even more importantly, development of a complete framework for formulating, managing and executing strategy in the ministry. The MOW strategy is built on four pillars that align with the Bahrain 2030 vision and position the Ministry of Works as a leading professional organization embracing the principles of fairness, competitiveness and sustainability. MOW acts as a key planning player to provide quality services through partnership with the private sector. This facilitates greater investment to the kingdom and enhances the quality of life for all Bahrainis. Fahmi Bin Ali Al-Jowder, minister of Works credited the success in the development and execution of the ministry's strategy to a “strong and effective strategy management framework, processes and great collaborative teamwork.” He added that “the difficulty in strategic planning and execution is not in articulating the strategy, but in actually executing it. This cannot be achieved without gaining real buy-in and commitment of staff and corporate management.” The ministry's strategy is a result of participation and efforts of almost 200 staff including the entire ministry's top management. The first step in implementing the ministry's original strategy was winning support from the ministry's professional staff. Once that was accomplished, the implementation phase began. A key factor in the success of implementation has been the ministry's adoption of the globally recognized Balanced Scorecard methodology, a strategic management system that incorporates a balanced view of organizational objectives required to support the overall vision and strategy. The methodology also required the formation of an office of strategy management, which was established as the Ministry of Work's Strategic Planning Section, a regional first. The ministry also established a Project Management Office (PMO) and a Project Management System (PMS) based on best practices according to the Project Management Institute. In order to help execute upon its strategy the Ministry integrated strategy management with performance and project management. “Strategy and Performance Management go hand in hand, and we continue to link core business and management initiatives with operational projects and this will ensure improved performance at technical, managerial and individual levels,” said Al-Jowder. “The Ministry's approach to strategy management has led to some significant achievements, including massive increases in delivery of quality projects worth BD250 million ($660 million) in 2007 compared to just BD35 million ($ 92, 5 million) worth of projects in 2002, all the while achieved with little change in the number of ministry staff. Finally, Strategy Management has also facilitated effective management of the split between Works and Housing, and will enable the Ministry of Works to more easily maintain the integrity of the organization and adept to upcoming challenges and future changes.” Al-Jowder said “the ministry's approach to strategy management and execution, based on principles of the latest generation of balanced score card practices has enabled the Ministry of Works to be a key planning player in all national strategies, and a leader in public-private partnership and project management practices. It has placed us among the most recognized professional organizations in Bahrain and the Gulf region.” Meanwhile, Minister of Oil and Gas and Chairman of the National Oil and Gas Authority (Noga) Dr. Abdulhossein Bin Ali Mirza met in Manama on Wednesday with European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner and discussed issues related to oil and gas industry. __
