The asset called employee

There are too many countries in the world that would envy the infrastructure Oman has and is about to have.  But what about the people the soft power of a country so to speak? The hardware which is pretty much there worth only as much as the software that runs on it.  Obviously it can always be running on imported apps and home made programs but better to have a well established own operating system, an open code that is ready to continuously improve and learn from outside inputs.

I have worked in organizations which had as only assets the people at their desks. They did not own the desks though, nor the buildings  or computers, no cars either. Everything was leased. So they had to make sure talent is retained and accounted for as well utilized asset. One can imagine that in these environment there is a lot of effort put in continuous development, retention, personal and carrier development programs, performance management etc. Much like the maintenance work in a factory or in a computer park. I also worked in organizations that lack all of this. Totally. The only thing they had is some sort of rationality regarding the employer-employee relationship, stemmed mainly from a master and servant customary setup. This came though with some degree of fairness but totally random and limited in capacity. Much like a family business with lots of personal involvement, emotion and all. Needless to say both have advantages and disadvantages and both have their own role in an economy.  Problem is when one or the other is missing.

I don't think there is anything new in saying that is key to the sustainability of the Omani economy to  have the institutional practices of being able to continuously maintain, refresh, and at times to rewrite the software. And I am not referring to a checklist to include in quarterly reports to the board, but more to a culture, a belief that my employee is my value, the better he does the better I do. So I better be spending time and effort in making sure he/she is at its best.

Not being an HR professional I can just write from my own experience of working under both styles and leading a team under the former. So I have decided to share some of the low hanging fruits that I think are easy to implement, cheep and have almost an immediate impact with regards to employee satisfaction, commitment and performance. And I hope you'll find them applicable to Oman. So maybe you'll find something of use if you are leading and/or managing (there are two very different things) people in Oman. Stay tuned.

Muscat Festival reloaded

It's already November and in three months time it's Muscat Festival Month. I have been out this year a few times with the family and have to say was above my expectations. Obviously there is a lot of work and resources that goes into this event, so it deserves some feedback on improvement.

Include a beach location / venue that has good accessibility and space for some beach and water related activities. Could have some kids area (slides, floating castles etc.) and a separate water sports, fun area (boat pulled gliding, water ski, rope wake boarding  banana ride etc.) and few beach "bars" for shakes, snacks and various soft beverages.

Get rid of the Omani Food Festival, leave a food village and that's it. Omani food deserves to have a proper festival on it's own. A food court that was set up last event can hardly be called a food festival let alone Omani. The Omani women cooking in the heritage village created more of a festival feel then the Indian food served in plastic bowls at the so called food festival.

Enhance the cultural element, get more music and dance in. Diversify to capture the Omani youth as well. There is no harm in having some bigger mainstream names perform a concert or two if they are the right choice. Get some instruments out that can be tried out by interested people. Include interactive drumming session when visitors can pick up a drum and follow the introductions of a drumming facilitator. Having 20-40 people in such a session is an awesome experience even watching let alone participating.

Create an Apple / Android App for the festival especially with date and time reminder for selected programs and map for location guidance. The program is so rich it makes life easier to have an automated reminder feature on your phone.

Coordinate with OmanSail to include a decent Regatta with state of the art in shore program and race coverage along with the Traditional Boat Racing.

Create a Safety First park and visitor center with fun rides and interactive experiences of low speed collisions etc. Almost certainly one of the large car dealers would be keen to showcase such an attraction. No need to mention the educative benefits which are obvious.

Include a football village in collaboration with OFA. Have the bigger names of the National Team there to meet people once or twice during the festival period. Have a small 5 aside pitch, could even be the inflammable vet pitch which is a lot of fun to play on barefooted.

And last but not least control the flow of vehicles (not just by having amateur traffic agents that do nothing but wave to cars) on the Qurum Beach road to avoid total congestion.

Any further ideas welcome...

Is Sheraton Ruwi recovering?

The long closed old Sheraton in Ruwi is showing signs of life once in a while.  It might be approaching the end of its 6-year coma, as yesterday just blinked, moved one hand and whispered that it might wake up as new in 12 to 16 months.  The doctors and relatives are confident.

As an outsider and not knowing the property well enough, I would speculate that once revived the hotel has good chances in failing to regain its glory, provided it will try to pick up business where it left it 6 years ago.

Things have changed since then, lots of new upscale hotels came on the market and quite a few are just about to knock on the door like the Kempinski at The Wave, the W and the Westin in Shaati, The Intercontinental at the Muscat Hills just to name a few. The city is growing northwards; CBD is not going to stay in Ruwi forever. The Airport Heights are gaining already over Ruwi in offering higher quality office space and better accessibility.  

I am sure the owners have done their homework, but to me it seems that for that location there are two opportunities on the Muscat market that very few really cater for at the moment:

1. the extended stay business guests.  This segment still does not have a decent branded offering in town. If you’d like to stay for more weeks let alone months, you’d either put the big buck on the table or you’ll have to close your eyes and be happy with a locally branded compromise. The short term apartment rental market it also practically nonexistent.

2. the ergonomic, chic economy business hotel. The closest such brand in the Starwood portfolio is Element, however it’s rather unknown outside of North America.  Starwood website quotes an Element to be opened in Muscat in Jan 2016 (while it has no mention of a Sheraton to open any time soon), but that refers to the project replacing the Intercontinental Shaati along with the W and the Westin. A Four Points by Sheraton would also be a better option, allowing for a lower price point and avoid competition with the coastal 5 stars.

In my view, a combination of the above would be a much better bet for the glorious building than just stepping up as a face lifted Sheraton. Let’s see.

Non-existing hotel sold?

I read in Oman Observer last week that Garden Hotel in Dhofar region was sold for an amount that is quite decent in hotel value terms (RO 10 million).

On one hand such transactions are reassuring that there are encouraging prospects on the hotel market on the other hand it left me a bit puzzled as I had no previous knowledge of a Garden Hotel in Oman. I though it's just my lack of knowledge. Quickly searched around but still found nothing.   So it's quite a lot of money for a hotel that is nowhere to be found, I thought.  Then saw some raised eyebrows on twitter from others following Omani press as well, they also had no clue what this could be.

There must be something somewhere for sure, most likely a development project (but the article does not mention this).

I can only think of two scenarios: 1: we are dealing with a PR trick raising peoples interest (like me blogging about it) - very unlikely though.  2. it's just lack of publishing accuracy and journalistic interest putting something out that was not really verified and made sense of - more likely.

Anyways, whenever there will be a Garden Hotel in Dhofar region I hope it will do well.

Tour guide for a day competition

In talking to people who cater for travelers to Oman, and reading some of the few comments I have here in this blog it seems that besides flagship  hotels and natural attractions there is little activity going on in the country focused to provide a whole rounded visitor experience.

I tend to agree, however I think the activities and the animation component of the travel experience has a lot to do with packaging the existing stuff. This is not to say that we would not need new man-made  attractions and services (like a waterpark, or a frankincense house or a dhow museum etc.) but more that we should focus on taking out the maximum from our existing mix.

So I thought to encourage you to turn into tour guides for a few minutes and let's try to draft an ideal travel day for the following type of travelers.

• "Chilling couple":  25-40 years of age couple with no kids (on a week stay in Oman)
• "Fun for the Fam": family with 1-3 dependent kids between 4-13 years (on a one week stay in Oman)
• "Business unusual": 30-55 years old business person on a business trip suddenly finding himself/herself with one spear day to spend for leisure

You can enter the competition for only one type or all three. Please send the brief itinerary, or program only for ONE DAY.

Awards....hmmm, well I don't really have much to offer other than the fun of the exercise and that I am going to talk about the best ideas in future posts obviously with all the credits and references to their authors. So I encourage you to take the challenge and place a succinct comment with your suggestion OR e-mail me to: orielco [at] gmail [dot] com. I will consider anonymous posts as well but I would love to provide proper reference to the authors of the best ideas.

Come on, be creative and courageous! There is no bad idea just lazy reader...:)

Sink Hole to become a resort

I just read the other day that Muscat Municipality partnered up with the private sector to develop a new resort in  Quriyat region, on the site of the well known Sink Hole.  It is quoted by some prestigious publications as the world most beautiful sink hole.

If you've been there, you know that the place is quite simple and apart of this great natural attraction which is a huge rocky hole formation, filled with deep green crystal clear water (well at least until some less respectful travelers don't through diet coke cans in it) there is not much around. So using up the fame of the attraction it only makes sense to put up services around.

Not having seen plans though I would think there are a few issues of concern, and perhaps some great opportunities as well, hopefully to be considered by the concept development team.

Original form: This natural marvel is beautiful as long as it is kept clean and and in its original form. Overcrowding it with stairs (take away the current concrete monster stair please), terraces etc. will kill it's spirit and beauty.

Crowd management:  I would even limit the number of people (like at the Al Hoota Caves) to be in at the same time to enable it to better impress visitors. The fact that the resort to be built has a relative low room count (67 rooms and 20 suites) is reassuring that the large crowds will be kept at bay.

Edutaimnent factor: When I was there with my family, I kind of missed some informative element from the experience which would explain the natural formation of the lake, and perhaps show some similar ones elsewhere. (in Tawi Attir-Oman, in US, along the dead Sea etc.) Having the resort there an people staying for few days, it's a unique opportunity to create a geological visitor center for them to show a short story of Oman's geo formations and related things to know. Introducing the edutainment factor would give a valuable and unique ad on to the resort at reasonable extra cost.

Can't wait to see the place ready!

Travel check to boost local tourism

The other day I attended a hotel investment event at Al Bustan. Nice turnout of Omani and Middle Eastern hoteliers partially due to the fact that it was at the same time as the Omani Investment Forum. The stats presented by STR Global and JLL Hotels indicated how Oman's hotel sector is going through a demand supply mismatch with demand lagging behind. This results in drop of room rates especially in the more expensive segment.
Another piece of takeaway was that the only market segment where occupancy, rate and RevPAR were still growing was the lower mid-scale and mid-scale market (3 star and weaker 4 star).

Yet another prof that domestic tourism has a lot of unexplored potential and that the sector is overly exposed to the international  corporate and leisure demand.

Without a major push in demand it will be very difficult to justify new projects, although Omran is currently developing a hotel (Khasab Hotel) primarily focused on the Omani families.  Obviously there are several ways to encourage domestic demand, but one idea could be to introduce a travel voucher for public sector employees. This is practically a check offered  as part of the employment package (as a perk) could only be used up in hotels in Oman and it would not be  convertible to to cash in any other way.  Later this could be extended to usage in other hospitality facilities like spa's and/or health clubs.

I would expect this to give a nice boost to the local demand and it would be a smart way to use up funds to generate further spending and economic benefit associated with the travel to the destination and perhaps other local expenditure. Again there are countries where the system works quite nicely, such as the Cheques Vacances in France,  Hungary or China for that matter. To be fair, in those places the check is further insensitive by a favorable tax regime.

The other existing segment that could be significantly strengthened  is the regional GCC demand but that is a separate topic for discussion.

Affordable variety for local travelers

With just under 3 million people Oman qualifies as a small country. As a comparison it has just a bit more inhabitants than Paris and bit less than Berlin.  In spite of its small size the domestic and regional tourism  is vital for Oman for a number of reasons: a) its remote location relative to Europe, b). it's highly seasonal foreign demand (due to weather) and c) it's niche character as a destination.

What is the best way to engage the Omanis and expat residents to travel more around the country? My call would be: the affordable variety. Now what the heck is that?  For instance a network of 8-15 interesting historic hotels, inns and guest houses located in historic and culturally interesting locations.

I am thinking about renovated and converted forts,  converted fishing villages with beach clubs, mountain vacation villages, desert camps (there are a few already). Destinations hotels in themselves around the country offering a critical mass of nice places to go for long week-end and short holidays (Dar Al Dhiyafa's). And most importantly they should all be different with a separate story to tell.  Hotels and guesthouses of 15-40 units (rooms) with limited service but still up to the standards of 3 star hotels with breakfast and all you can eat buffet dinner (an attraction on its own).

An example of a converted Pousada

In order to make such an initiate viable the rates should be affordable for an average Omani family. Therefore conversion budgets should be low, using existing structures. Staff should be not more than 8-15 for a location. Most of the operational overhead costs should be shared, so a common operator should be established that creates a joint reservation platform (online and call center), with shared sales & marketing function,  and other corporate services (accounting, legal, finance etc.)

There is nothing new in this though, other countries like Portugal have done this long time ago and their experience can serve as a good example. This chain of historic hotels, guest houses and mansions is called Pousadas de Portugal and can be checked out here. (Pousada means Inn in Portugese)

New trends in tourism?

Soul searching

It is kind of a known way of travelling, typically associated to backpacker travelling in South East Asia.  I have an increasing number of friends who are trying to escape from their everyday life (typically in tough periods) for 3 to 6 months or more, just to have some time away with themselves and figure out what is really important for them in life.  Bali, India, Thailand, Nepal, Vietnam are typical preferred by these travelers, who’s age range from 25 to 60.  There is a good chance that such lads are coming back home with a fisherman look (suntanned &  bearded) practicing yoga and being vegetarians. Well at least that’s the modal character of a soul searcher trying to adapt back to big city life or just kissing good bye to it forever.

Travel to a new skill

Have you heard of the muay thai boot camps in Thailand, where they make you suffer few hours a day for 2-3 month with the reward of coming back to your real life ripped like a kung fu warrior and never being scared again by the big guy in the pub? Well that’s just one of the options you have if you want to spend few months of your life away from home, returning with a totally new skill.  Visiting certain monasteries for an intense language course is another such formula. I am sure traveler creativity has all figured it out already and one can become a sushi chef, coastal lifeguard, or sailing instructor in few weeks or month of intensive training in exotic locations.

Movie locations catcher

Probably Paris did not need the DaVinci Code to promote itself, unwillingly however several locations within the French capital that featured in the movie (like the Saint-Sulpice chapel) became known and visited  by hundreds of thousands of DaVinci Code enthusiast. Same goes for the clay houses where a few shots of the Star Wars were taken back in the 80's in Tunis (today The Sidi Driss Hotel, in Matmata), the locations of the Jaws in Massachusetts or even the Nothing Hill in London.

This is still a very niche kind of segment but I recon it is growing in volume and importance as the Asian travel market is becoming increasingly significant. Somewhat similar is the sport fan travel. Football games or even stadiums within the English Premier League and the Serie A of Italy are becoming pilgrimage sites for thousands of traveling fans annually.

Time travel

Let’s be honest, probably you thought about how’d be like to live a few centuries back for some days? Waking up as a knight in the age of Arthur the Lion Heart, or as Robin Hood? Eventually Maryann or another princess in the royal court? Well if not than you must have had a very different childhood than most of the people I know. Or, the only thing you thought about is how’d be like to live 50 or 100 years from now in the future. Well, not too bad either.  I am actually not aware of places who offer the full experience of living like centuries ago or decades ahead, but I bet there would be a demand for it.  Obviously the future one would rely on the known master pieces of sci-fi literature and the creativity of attraction designers.  So I expect that not too long from now there will be castles and the villages that specialize in taking you back or forward in time not only for the hour (as museums do) but for a few days with no cheating.

Eco neutral travel

Have you ever wondered how much environmental damage you do when climbing your SUV on top of a mountain or taking your family to ski? Probably not and that’s almost all right.  But think for a second what it would take to go for a weekend holiday and plan everything such as your ecological footprint would be neutral. I.e. the net environmentally impact of your visit is nil. Think about what you do during a trip and you’ll see that it pretty much take a Homo Sapiens to stay almost neutral.  Probably there would be very few travelers interested for such type of recreation, but anyways, it was worth the thought.

Strongest Omani brand abroad...

Following up on my earlier thinking on the brand promise of Oman, I was trying to figure out which Omani brand is possibly the strongest abroad. When I mean the strongest I refer to the most known, and when I mean brand I not only refer to a product, but rather a name that one can associate with.   Most probably the best know Omani name internationally is the one of HM Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said  for all the right reasons.  My thinking here though is related more to commercial names and brands, their current awareness and future potential.

One of the most obvious calls would be Oman Tourism (i.e. Sultanate of Oman), especially considering the recent efforts put into the promotion of Oman as a tourism destination. Another possible candidate could be Amouage with a bespoke strategy of becoming a major player on the international luxury fragrances market.  Perhaps Oman Air with a best in class business class seat award, a growing fleet and regional presence?  I was also thinking of Oman Sail given the recent successes and huge exposure on the sports channels around the world. Let's face it, the brands that have a strong local call like Bank Muscat, Omantel, Nawras, The Royal Opera House Muscat  etc...have little to no traction to an international audience yet.

So let's have a closer look to the ones before:

• Oman Tourism - strong presence at international tourism fairs, adverts on international media, a strong  offering for active and spa tourism, a smart complementary choice to a Dubai mainstream experience (@OmanTourism)
• Amouage - strong story, good product,  potential for a strong frankincense association, exotic apeal (@AmouagePerfumes)
• Oman Air - young fleet, best in class BC seat, strong regional routes (@omanair)
• Oman Sail - world class team, several recent successes on the world tour, solid local roots and case for existence, mix of sports, heritage, lifestyle story (@OmanSail)

All in all I think probably Oman Sail is currently the best positioned to take a lead on internationally most known Omani brand. However a bit more coordination (I am not assuming there is none) between the strategies of all three could result in benefits for all of them. E.g. why not see a Frankincense or Amouage boat in the Oman Sail fleet? Why not create an Oman Sail line of Amuage fragrances for a sporty, fresh feel.

Any other candidates you'd ad?

The brand promise of Oman. Delivered?

What comes to your mind first when you think of Oman?  What colors, feelings, scents do you associate with Oman? How would Oman look like had it been a person? What are you most proud of as an Omani when you think of your country? These are all important question from tourism and country brand perspective.

Most likely the Brand Oman Management Unit has done its homework before coming up with the country branding strategy and collateral.

According to them the brand has the following core elements:

• turtle, ocean wave and life - navy blue color wave (in the logo)
• mountains - light blue siluette of the mountain 
• dhow - dark blue shape reflecting the tip of the dhow boat
• frankincense - light green shape

Not a bad call at all. These are pretty much the unique features the country has to offer.  Like with any brand the promise has to be kept. Any tourist visiting the country should find it difficult to leave without unwillingly meet most of these features. Is that really the case today?

We have so many museums, but we don't have (or I am not aware of) a House of Frankincense where the whole story of this great natural product is presented in a creative and interactive way. Visitors could experience and understand that importance of frankincense in the history of Omanis. 

Same could be said with the Dhow. There are some initiatives in Sur and maybe elsewhere, but an interesting and creative Dhow heritage center is yet to be done. This should be by the sea and include several interactive features for visitors. Would be a very nice and challenging work for any museum and visitor attraction planner.

The mountains and wadis do most of job themselves, however some visitors centers in the most popular mountain destinations (Jebel Ahkdar, Jebel Shams, Wadi Bhani Khalid, Wadi Sham etc.) could do a lot of justice for these marvelous places and help protect their environment. And offer jobs for locals.

There is an  Ocean and sea life museum (Aquarium and Marine Science & Fisheries Centre) at the  Marina Bandar Al Rowdha in Sidab but it's somewhat outdated, could really  take a nice revamp and some new features that would worth the trip from Muscat for any visitor.

Red balloon over the stadium

I have had the fortune of wining a ticket to the Oman - Australia match before the holidays, through Mr.Sythe's blog. For my first time seeing Oman play live I had great fun and enjoyed the atmosphere.  For a country where football is so popular and with so much potential for change, there is a whole lot more that could be done to improve the experience and the show.  (I noted that the Omani Football Association OFA has launched a few new initiatives like the Super Fan Program or the Support the Shirt Program. These are all good initiatives and merit attention, but they mainly focus on the online sphere less on the show itself. I also noted that the FunZone section of OFA website is still empty).  I thought to put down a few ideas myself, perhaps they will be useful for the OFA and whomever else has a say in the Omani Football.

1. Improvements of the fan experience:

• Place more, much more (temporary) signage around the stadium to direct to parking areas and different stands (VIP, Media etc.)
• A half time raffle or anything similar with perhaps a short half time show will do a lot of good for the overall experience and spice up the idle time   
• Install giant LCD screen capable of the live showing TV footage
• Besides vending table/points, engage walking vendors on the stands, it increases the sales and make experience more comfortable especially if you need a bottle of water every 20 minutes
• Instead of one-sip small water cups, better use water in 300ml plastic bags with a straw that is equal safe and no need to buy 6 or 10 to temper your thirst.

2. Commercial ideas:

• Design an OFA polyester or artificial silk shals/masars, much better in this climate than the knitted scarfs which are hot, heavy and less appealing. Adding on OFA designed funky hand fans for cooling can also be a practical merchandise gadget.
• Create larger merchandise points, not just for shirts but also other items (hats, fans, full gear with name printing on etc.)
• Consider creating a large red hot air balloon with OFA sign on (or any other head sponsor if not FIFA rules apply) that can be lifted over the stadium on each match day. It would be seen from many areas of Muscat (including Expressway and SQ HW traffic) informing that its a match-day. In case of Oman victory 11 smaller red hot air baloon can be released at the end of the match so everybody in Boshar, Khuwair and Ansab Seeb would know about the triumph without even being there. It also can be done in a bit of a ceremonial way (player of the match releasing the balloons etc.)

The idea of charging for the entry to most matches (tickets from RO 2) will probably justify more the case for an improved fan experience.  These are relatively low cost ideas (with the exception of the LCD screen) and can have a nice impact.

Next time you can see the Reds will the their match against Ireland on the 11th of September in London (Fulham stadium).

Leisure to do list for 2012-2013

I decided to do a selective leisure to do lists for the 2012-2013 winter seasons in Oman. I am not sure me and my family will be able to tick all of these but we will try our best. I also plan to come back with some short blogs on the travel ones. Let's see how it goes...

Travel:

• sniff the air above 3000 meters on Jebel Shams - details
• stay overnight at a local family at a traditional home in the interior - no details yet
• visit the lost village of  As Sab in Wadi An Nakhur - details
• dive at the Daymaniat Island - details
• go fishing with a local fishermen in Al Jerry Village, Musandam - no details yet
• drive up Wadi Ghul and climb to the top of the "Grand Canyon of Arabia" - details
• get some pampering in Zighi Bay Six Senses hotel - details

Sports:

• complete my first (sprint) triathlon (750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run) - details
• bike up the Col of Al Amirat serpentine - details
• tennis once a week - in JAS
• soccer once a week (provided my colleges are not too lazy to join) - in Bowsher at the lamp round about
• some yoga and stretching once a week - details

I could go on, but better to commit for something that is achievable. What would your list be? 

Qatar2022: The utopia of sharing

You don't have to be a football fan to know by now that Qatar has won the right to organize the FIFA World Cup in 2022.   Just before the UEFA EURO 2012 Championship (hosted by Poland and Ukraine) Michel Platini the president of UEFA proposed that the following EURO championships should be hosted by cities across European countries as opposed to one country.   He gave as a bad  example Qatar, a country of 1.7 million set to host the FIFA World Cup, an event that needs at least 10-12 stadia with capacity of 45.000 and above each (700.000+ football stadia seets in total) and close to 60-90.000 new hotel rooms.

He claims that spreading the right of organizing across more GCC countries would have a much larger ripple effect and result in sustainable developments.

Personally I think it is a fantastic idea, which huge international and regional potential, but with a probability of being implemented close to if not spot on zero.  But if we were to be just a bit critical a huge amount of doubt arises with respect to the opportunity and legacy of a World Cup event in Qatar.

The country has 12 registered A level football clubs with an average attendance on a "Stars League" match of 4,150 spectators. Yes four thousand, one tenth of the smallest stadium to be built.  So, no matter how positive we try to be, it hardly makes any sense what the small state with unlimited resources is about to engage for: building 12 air conditioned stadiums, an additional mega airport of 24 million pax p.a. (remember population is 1.7 million), launch above 200 infrastructure projects and practically "spend" 100 billion USD to put the country to lead the world rankings of highest stadium seats per capita, per square kilometer and etc.

With the short travel distances between GCC capitals, engaging other capitals in the region seems a no-brainer. Doha + one other Qatari location could take on opening, 2 groups, quarter final, semifinals and the final, while Dubai/AD, Kuwait City, Manama, Muscat and perhaps Riyadh could take group each and some quarterfinals and one of them a semi.

This would result in a much more balanced event, culturally more interesting experience and above all totally sustainable legacy and impact for the whole region, a region where the most popular sport is by far football.

The Just-do-it factor

During my not so long stay and work here in Oman I often observe a symptom that keeps provoking me especially in work context, and that is the general lack of striving to achieve things, the lack of appeal for a sense of achievement or success.  It might be because of the predominance of inherited wealth and shortage of created wealth, because competitiveness is not (yet) in the DNA of the economy, or just because culturally compromise is preferred over confrontation. Or a blend of the above.

It is far from me to generalize but the effects are so negative that it well worth trying to change this slightly apathetic work culture. I am sure the topic has been overly worn out  by HR professionals and loads of expensive training programs have been developed to improve work morale and motivation in many places.

My humble suggestion is very simple, albeit it requires a bold policy commitment and leadership rather then micro level HR work.

In my view there is one thing that could naturally change this on the long term, and that is not the fear of running out of oil or the ex-pat labor leaving.  It would be sports! Sports as form of play for kids, sports as  entertainment and education for youngsters and sports as a profession for grown ups. I am not saying Oman should be a sports nation only but there should be several times more done to infect Omanis with this wonderful drug of competitive physical activity.  There is not one training program that can achieve a level of personality formation than competitive sports can.  Hard work, practice, concentration, patience, talent, ability, perseverance, self awareness, self knowledge, knowing your limits, team work and above all FUN, lots of FUN. 

So all in all it provides all the ingredients for a striving personality.  Besides education and shier knowledge, I think using sports as a formation tool would be the key to achieve lasting change on this front. It's never to late.