Abundance of oil in the GCC has provided countries within the region with large amount of wealth. This has enabled countries in the GCC to achieve economic progress, especially in the 21st century. As one of the oil rich countries in the GCC, Oman has been economically dependent on oil and gas as a major source of its revenues for a long time. The Omani government has recognized how dependent the economy has been on the oil sector and is implementing a number of programs to help diversify development. The implementation of the In-Country Value (ICV), together with the country’s Local Workforce Development Programme has defined a curriculum that sets the required skills and standards not only within the oil and gas industry but also within other sectors. Thus, within the local content framework, the research finds it necessary to evaluate how the oil & gas value chain and local content play a vital role in job creation for the future. Through the descriptive and exploratory research carried out in gathering primary data and compiling the secondary sources to gain support of the analysis the study has presented the following findings:  Gained a comprehensive understanding of job creation and added value within the context of Oman’s economy and determine how human resource development can impact the oil and gas sector.  Brought forth the gaps that are present in the development of human resources and how government initiatives can bridge the gap to the advantage of the aggregate economy. And,  Evaluated the extent to which the local content policies of the government have been achieved. This includes an evaluation of the incorporation of such policies and programs within the value chains within the various spheres of the Omani economy in terms of creating and adding human resource values in different economic domains. Based on the findings the study has furthermore recommended certain necessary factors which aims to bridge the gaps identified in implementing the policies and in practicing the Human Resource Development within organizations. Human resource development should be structured by private and public sector organizations in such a way which will produce welltrained professionals who will have the knowledge to strengthen cost-effectiveness in production. The government as well as the public enterprises should develop means to thrive innovation and creativity within its workforce, besides providing financial and security benefits. The private enterprises need to provide job security to the nationals which will encourage them to prefer the sector just as they are interested in working for the government. In order to utilize the potential of its nationals to the fullest thereby adding value to the economic domain, it is important for the government to formulate policies for diversification of workforces providing women and people with disabilities equal opportunities to project their potential and skills.

Collective action involving public and private actors (e.g. public institutions, foreign and domestic investors) faces difficulties even in developed economies, let alone in economies that are still developing their institutions. Especially for the latter this lack of collective action in bringing public and private actors together in order to enhance policy making processes for viable and better policymaking performance is paramount. Oman is one such economy which, like many other economies endowed with natural resources, is trying to grow its non-hydrocarbon (non-oil-gas) sectors. Although there is a growing literature concerning the use of systems approaches in enhancing public and private sector governance there is a gap concerning the availability of such approaches in their simultaneous policymaking process; especially in developing economies and Oman in particular. Accordingly, the aim and objectives for this thesis were laid down to develop a methodological framework, based on a systems approach (viz. the viable system model-VSM) that could aid policymaking processes in Oman, respective institutional developments (ID), and ultimately growth in the non-hydrocarbon sectors. Developing in particular the kind of institutions required to foster collective action between the relevant public institution representatives (PIRs), foreign, and domestic investors. To investigate the above empirically 30 face-to-face interviews were held with foreign and domestic investors; whereas two focus groups were held with a 14 government institutional representatives. Their results are used to demonstrate the operation of the aforementioned methodological framework. This thesis is thus making an original and substantial contribution to the body of knowledge concerned with ID, collective public-private action, through the successful use of VSM. Filling thus the aforementioned gap identified in the literature, within the Omani context.

Rapid economic development in Oman and other Gulf States has attracted foreign workers who now constitute 87% of the workforce in the Omani private sector. Unemployment rates among Omanis are now a serious socioeconomic problem that impacts the stability of Omani society and which has compelled the government to introduce a policy of job-localisation. However, recent statistics revealed that only about 14.6% of jobs have been omanised (Ministry of Manpower, 2014) indicating limited policy success. This study examines the challenges to the implementation and success of Omanisation in the private sector by exploring the views of officials and managers and, importantly, the often neglected views of employees. It employs a theoretical framework based on three aspects of capital theory: human capital elements, that is, education, T&D, skills, and experience; social capital factors, such as gender inequality, Wasta/nepotism and trust; and organisational capital variables, such as organisational culture, English fluency and HRM policies. A total of 496 questionnaires were completed by employees in three sectors; banking, tourism and auto retailing. Statistical analysis showed that the greatest differences emerged in the areas of gender inequality, training and development and working conditions. Overall, women employees, unmarried employees, lower-income employees, junior employees with little in-company training, and employees with lower educational levels perceived the highest barriers. More specifically, the level of in-company training was the most influential factor showing differences in twelve out of the fourteen human, social and organisational factors included in this study as barriers to the policy. The findings replicate previous research on job-localisation in the Gulf States regarding the impact of the private sector’s stereotypical perceptions of local workers concerning lack of trust in Omanis and views that they are less productive. However, this study contradicts most previous studies as it found no evidence that the educational system or English language skills were barriers to the employment of locals. This reflects the effectiveness of recent government measures to improve the quality of education. In addition, this study found no significant impact from wasta and nepotism, unlike previous studies. This is attributed to the satisfaction of nationals with the measures taken by the government in response to the 2011 uprising. The primary contribution of the study, however, comes from interviews with officials and managers who deal directly with Omanisation. Interviews revealed factors that perpetuate the domination of expatriates in managerial roles and unveiled some sensitive issues that people usually avoid disclosing for fear of upsetting policy makers. These include inter-faith conflict, social distance barriers, organisational silence barriers and institutional structure barriers. Participants also reported suppression of Omani employees’ rights to promotion and career-development. Barriers to Omanisation were found to be higher in the automotive sector indicating that policy implementation is sector-dependent. Policy makers are therefore advised to take this into consideration when designing Omanisation programmes to catalyse Omanisation in some sectors.

Research is increasingly acknowledging the pivotal role of national human resource development (NHRD) in economic development. There is a growing call to conduct research in country-specific contexts to further explore this concept and the factors that influence its outcomes. The concept differs from one country to another; therefore, many HRD studies focus on one country. However, few have focused on the Middle East region, and there has been even less research on Oman. The aim here is to fill this research gap by analysing Oman’s HRD practices. Specifically, the intent is to identify the gap in skillsets in Oman and to develop an NHRD model that is appropriate for the country’s economic requirements for national skills development.