PETRONAS and Training (Interview from the Training Manager)

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
FACULTY OF BUSINESS & ACCOUNTANCY
UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA

CSGB 6313
TRAINING MANAGEMENT

LECTURER:
DR KAMARUL ZAMAN AHMAD

GROUP ASSIGNMENT 1: INTERVIEW FROM THE

TRAINING MANAGER (PETRONAS)
14 OCTOBER 2008

PREPARED BY:-

CGA070040
MUHAMMAD ZIA ASLAM
HEMALOSHINEE VASUDEVAN CGA070023

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 PETRONAS and Training (Interview from the Training Manager)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, we would like to acknowledge our class Lecturer Dr.

Kamarul Zaman Ahmad, because without his persistent encouragement, guidance and

advice we had not been able to get maximum learning and exposure from this academic

activity of interviewing a Training Manager.

Our special thanks go to Mr. Abdul Aziz, Training Manager of Petronas Malaysia,

for his kind cooperation and giving us useful information about the training activities of

Petronas, which helped us a lot in understanding the real scenario in this regard. By the

way, we also thanks to Pn. Nuraini, secretary to Mr. Abdul Aziz who really gives full

supporting by arranging the interview time and venue to make our work finish faster and

with a proper way.

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 PETRONAS and Training (Interview from the Training Manager)

Introduction:

This report has been written for the fulfillment of an Interview Assignment, from a

Training Manager of a big company, for the course of Training Management, under the

kind guidance of Dr. Kamarul Zaman Ahmad. We choose PETRONAS Malaysia for this

learning activity, keeping in mind the size of the organization and its emphasizes on

training and development activities. After getting a formal permission, we visited the

training manager of the Capacity Development Training Department of PETRONAS and

conducted a structured interview about the training and development activities of the

company (details of the interview will be reported in the later sections of the report).

A brief introduction of the company followed by the organizational chart and the

Education policy of the company is given for the general understanding about the company

and its training related activities. Then the structured interview is reported followed by our

concluding remarks.

PETRONAS (Petroliam Nasional Berhad):

PETRONAS (Petroliam Nasional Berhad) was incorporated on 17 August 1974

under the Companies Act 1965. Over the years, PETRONAS has grown to become a fully-

integrated oil and gas corporation and is ranked among FORTUNE Global 500's largest

corporations in the world. PETRONAS has four subsidiaries listed on the Bursa Malaysia

and has ventured globally into more than 32 countries worldwide in its aspiration to be a

leading oil and gas multinational of choice.

The Employer of Choice:

As an integrated oil and gas multinational with operations across a broad spectrum

of oil and gas operation worldwide, PETRONAS strives to recruit and retain the best and

brightest in a variety of exciting and challenging fields. Each year, PETRONAS discovers

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 PETRONAS and Training (Interview from the Training Manager)

these talents from amongst the local and overseas graduates. At present, PETRONAS has a

workforce of more than 30,000 operating in more than 30 countries the world over. This

number represents 28 nationalities with varying capabilities, knowledge and skills to

undertake various projects in a variety of geographic and business environments. A career

with PETRONAS means unleashing ones truest potential.

Learning at PETRONAS:

The management of PETRONAS recognizes the value of investing in its human

resources through a holistic approach and sees the need to continuously implement

programs to develop and upgrade multi-disciplinary skills and competencies. Emphasis is

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 PETRONAS and Training (Interview from the Training Manager)

given on the concept of “The Total Learning Approach" optimizing the usage of line

trainers and deploying innovative tools and technologies incorporating knowledge-

management techniques, e-learning facilities and multimedia resources which provide it a

critical advantage in meeting the challenges of intellectual capital development.

“Champion for Continuous Learning and Development of Intellectual

Capital” is the Vision of Training Division of PETRONAS.

Some 2005 Milestones of the company:

• Awarded a Service Contract by the Philippines Government to explore for oil and
gas in the offshore Mindoro Block.

• Discovered oil in the Agadem Block 1 Permit, Niger.

• PETRONAS' subsidiary, ASEAN Bintulu Fertilizer Sdn Bhd signed a shareholders

agreement with Namhee Chemical Corporation of Korea to set up a joint venture
melamine production facility in Bintulu, Sarawak. The facility will be the country's
maiden melamine venture.

• Launched its range of premium grade automotive engine oils in Switzerland and
Liechtenstein.

• PETRONAS and its partners BG International Limited and Egyptian General

Petroleum Corporation have successfully delivered their first LNG cargo to
ASEAN LNG Trading Company Ltd, a subsidiary of PETRONAS.

• Commemorated its 10 years of involvement in F1. Ceremony officiated by PM

Dato' Seri Abdullah Haji Ahmad Badawi.

• Commenced gas production from Rehmat Field in Block 2769-4 (Mubarak) in

Pakistan's Sindh Province.

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Petronas Management Training Sdn Bhd (PMTSD)

PETRONAS Management Training Sdn. Bhd. (PMTSB), a wholly-owned

subsidiary of PETRONAS was incorporated on 19 March 1992. Its core business is to

deliver a comprehensive range of functional and technical related oil and gas industry

training to meet the diverse and international needs of the PETRONAS group. PMTSB has

two campuses, PERMATA in Bangi and INSTEP in Batu Rakit in Terengganu. PERMATA

has a 50-acre campus has since 1989 been the focal point for the conduct of management

and leadership development programmes. INSTEP began in 1981 to provide training for

technical apprentices but had expanded to provide not only specialized technical training

but also include health, safety and environment (HSE) training.

There are few departments that provided training which has their own function:-

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Training Department Function

Department of Environment Malaysia To conduct training courses for the
(DOE), under the Ministry of Natural staff of DOE as well as the private
Resources and Environment. sector in the areas of environmental
management and pollution control.
Department of Capability and Development To provide training to increase the
PETRONAS, under Human Resource employee capability and knowledge to
Management. develop their career.

Department of Standard Malaysia Provide ‘Training Programme on

Halal Standards Conformance
Infrastructure for OIC Countries’
from 7-18 August 2006 under the
MTCP. To strengthen solidarity and
cooperation among Islamic States with
respect to halal industries as well as
to seek new opportunities for trade
and cooperation between Malaysia and
fellow OIC member countries.
Japan Malaysia Technical Institute (JMTI), To produce well-trained industrial
Technology Training Centre, under Human technologists with engineering
Resource Department. knowledge and high technical skills,
especially to prepare them to adapt
and face the challenges of rapidly
changing technology.

Interview Report:
Capacity Development and Training Department, under the umbrella of Human

Resource Management department, of Petronas is responsible for all training and

development activities of the company. Where, a vice president is the head of Human

Resource department. As mentioned above in the education policy, training and

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development is a major concern of upper management to sustain the competitive advantage

of highly skilled workforce in the industry. Petronas provides a comprehensive employee

development plan to all its existing employees and to the potential employees as well to

attract talented individuals in the field.

Employee training and development, as told by the training manager, is a very

important tool for organizations to improve the capacity and performance of their

employees and thus, consequently, optimizing the output of material resources of the firms,

which is the ultimate reason of any firm’s existence in business. Petronas uses a blend of

internal and external training activities for its employees that are the part of a yearly

development plan of every employee according to his personal requirements.

Once a year the Training Needs Assessment activity is conducted to know the

performance GAPS of the respective employees. These performance gaps are measured in

terms of employees’ current level of Knowledge, Skills and Attitude and the future needs

of the organization. Analysis of available data (reports, results, performance etc),

presentations, and the level of analytical skills are some important tools to find

performance gaps during the TNA activity. It is a comprehensive activity in which heads of

departments and supervisory staff discuss in detail about the future requirements of the

employee’ SKA and, based on this analysis, training plans have been structured for the next

year because all training activities are based on a comprehensive training needs

assessment, all the employees going through any training activity (internal or external)

know very well the purpose of the training in terms of organizational and personal

requirement, thus making clear to the trainees the required level of training effectiveness.

Selection of training methods (on the job or off the job) is based on a Training

Master Plan for each employee, which guides management to choose appropriate method

for an employee or a group of employees. PERMATA is a training division of Petronas

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responsible for all internal training activities like performance management system (PMS),

personal development plan (POP), skill group development program (SGDP) etc. There are

19 skill groups in Petronas based on functions like finance, HRM, procurement,

administration, petroleum engineering, operations etc.

No training is useful if it is not transferred to the workplace. Therefore, to check

the training effectiveness of the training activities, Petronas uses a Petronas Performance

Management System (PMSP) to know the difference made by any program through the

performance evaluation form and try to match it with the master training plan and Key

Performance Indicators set by the organization. Normally the activity is done twice a year

to find out whether performance gaps are filled with the respective training provided to the

employees or not.

Kirkpatrick’s model of four levels of training effectiveness has been considered

a useful tool in training effectiveness theory and practice. Let’s have a look at the model:

According to this model, evaluation should always begin with level one, and then, as time

and budget allows, should move sequentially through levels two, three and four.

Information from each prior level serves as a base for the next level’s evaluation. Thus,

each successive level represents a more precise measure of the effectiveness of the training

program, but at the same time requires a more rigorous and time consuming analysis. The

model explains its levels as follows:

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Level 1: Evaluation – Reactions

How participants reacted to the training program in terms of perception, material

and delivery, atmosphere etc

Level 2: Evaluation – Learning

To assess the extent trainees have advanced their skills, knowledge, or attitude

Level 3: Evaluation – Transfer

Evaluation of the transfer of newly acquired skills, knowledge, or attitude on the

job place but is always very difficult to evaluate

Level 4: Evaluation – Results

Measuring the success of the training programs in terms of increased production,

improved quality, decreased costs, reduced frequency of accidents, high profits,

return on investment etc

Level four or return on investment is the ultimate goal of any training program, which is

the most difficult part of evaluation process no doubt, but we could not be able to get

enough information from our interviewer about the results evaluation in terms of “return

on investment” of training programs in Petronas.

Concluding Remarks:

Training of employees no doubt to play an important role in company’s

performance to improve and its competitive advantage in terms of knowledge and skills of

its workforce because it is only human knowledge and skills that are unique in nature and

cannot be imitated easily as compare to material resources.

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Therefore, PETRONAS considers training and development of its employees an

essential activity to sustain its competitive advantage in the industry. Its training and

development plans are well aligned with the personal and organizational needs and the

evaluation process is effective except the clear evaluation of level four of Kirkpatrick’s

evaluation model i.e. return on investment.

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 PETRONAS and Training (Interview from the Training Manager)

References:

(1) Mr. Abdul Aziz (Training Manager - Petronas) & Pn. Nuraini (Secretary of
Training Manager)

(2) PETRONAS website (www.petronas.com)

(3) Encyclopedia of Educational Technology (EET)

Appendix:

(1) Formal Letter from GSB to the company for the permission of interview

(2) Audio Cassette Recording of the Interview

(3) Course Evaluation Form

(4) Staff Learning Nomination (L1/Form)

(5) Justification to Attend Program Form

(6) Trainer Evaluation Form

(7) Interview Questions

(8) MTCP short term courses sheet

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