Qatargas visits CMU-Q to share workplace insights and experience
Seventeen Qatargas employees recently visited Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q) to share their expertise and insights with students in the business administration program. CMU-Q is a Qatar Foundation partner university.
The Qatargas session was part of a course in organizational behavior taught by Cecile Le Roux, assistant teaching professor of organization and behavior.
“This was a collaborative initiative between Qatargas and the organizational behavior class, where student teams pitched concepts to Qatargas leaders, and then interviewed the leaders about their experiences in the workplace,” said Le Roux. “It was an opportunity for the students to learn first-hand how theory is put into practice.”
This was a great opportunity for Qatargas’ participants to share their hands-on experience in relation to the concepts presented by the students, develop stronger links with the university and students, and give back to the community.
The Qatargas group come from a variety of business units, including Engineering, Finance, Operations, Human Capital, Commercial and Shipping, and Shared Services. The participants have all completed one of Qatargas’ internal leadership development programs.
CMU-Q student Nizar Radi found the session helpful in clarifying concepts covered in the classroom. “In our session, Qatargas explained the organizational structure change that they underwent recently. Understanding how the theory applied through a local company operating in the largest industry in the state gave us a new perspective of how organizational structure is applied in the energy sector.”
For student Mary Effie Oluoch, the session showed how theoretical concepts are applied in the workplace: “This was very eye opening to me because I got to understand that sometimes suggestions sound great on paper, but they do not take into full account factors that would have to be considered when implementing the same suggestions in a real-life workplace.”
Organizational behavior is one area of study in CMU-Q’s business administration program. Students in business administration learn quantitative decision making, an approach pioneered by Carnegie Mellon.