21
■
Placing less emphasis on financial indicators and tools
in reporting, do not introduce an overall cost accounting
function at the outset;
■
Managerial focus is on aggregated or on strategic level,
not on the details, and thus data analysis function is
almost fully delegated to the OSM;
■
Low data availability and reduced automated data gather-
ing; although a BI project is in progress to answer the
main data availability challenges, the regular data collec-
tion process does not start automatically in most of the
cases; a formal trigger has to come from the OSM in each
reporting period.
Although there are several specifics in performance man-
agement practice in this case, the head of OSM (similar
to strategic controller) plays an important role inside the
organisation, especially in regular and ad hoc reporting
regarding strategy towards the top management and to His
Excellency, the Minister. From this aspect, the OSM head’s
main role is to lead and coordinate managerial reporting
as well as strategy execution related information flows and
analysis, rather than operating a full business partner model
of controlling in the Ministry. The latter may be a next step in
OSM development.
Both training modules are built around a case study ap-
proach and concentrate on practice-oriented methods like
games or simulations. The program is accredited by EBS Ex-
ecutive Education and the graduates receive university cer-
tificates from EBS and Alfaisal University at the same time.
OSM VERSUS MANAGEMENT CONTROL –
SPECIFICS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
As described above, the OSM at MoL and its partner enti-
ties is a function to support decision-making with a strong
focus on regular managerial information to support strategy
execution. Thus, it is similar to controlling; yet, there are
several differences considering the cultural specifics of the
Middle East.
According to my analysis and experience
7
as well as a result
of several interviews, the main differences or challenges to
be addressed in the discussed public organisations are as
follows:
■
Main focus on strategic topics; the OSM covers principally
the strategic controlling functions, while the operative
components – excluding monthly or ad hoc reporting –
are less integrated;
■
Placing emphasis on BSC and KPI development and
reporting as of now, so as to support regular performance
monitoring and analysis;
Sources:
1
Human Resources Development Fund,
2
General Organization of Social Insurance,
3
Technical and Vocational Training Corporation,
4
Horváth & Partners Management Consultants,
5
European Business School (Oestrich-Winkel, Germany),
6
Alfaisal University is a private non-profit university in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia with business, engineering and medicine faculties,
established by the King Faisal Foundation,
7
The author has worked in several international performance projects
in his eight-year consulting and research career. He joined the
Performance Management Implementation Program in Riyadh in 2013
and has since then been involved in three different MoLs as well as
other public entities.
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