dewa-enhances-knowledge-and-cultural-awareness-of-staff

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has launched several initiatives and workshops, and organised knowledge and cultural-exchange sessions for its staff to educate them and unify their concepts of knowledge management as a means to achieve organisational excellence. These activities are part of DEWA’s strategy to enhance the potential and awareness of its staff and foster their creative skills to achieve its goal to become a self-learning organisation. The workshops discussed knowledge management concepts, their role in helping employees achieve their daily tasks, their impact in the knowledge-sharing process, and their links to the activities and initiatives to manage organisational knowledge. The workshops also included knowledge activities and exercises that motivate thinking and creativity. DEWA launched the ‘Share an hour’ initiative in its libraries, called knowledge centres. During this activity, one of DEWA’s employees chooses a book to read and then discusses it with other colleagues in the session, which lasts for one hour. This initiative promotes knowledge and information sharing and helps to enhance reading among DEWA’s staff. Since its launch in mid-2013, the fortnightly sessions have been very popular among staff. “DEWA’s various knowledge initiatives encourage staff to achieve excellence in the workplace in all aspects. This contributes to self-development and helps DEWA to provide effective and efficient services to its consumers,” said HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA. “The achievements we make, one after the other, all help to achieve the vision of our wise leadership to establish Dubai's position as a global hub for trade, finance, tourism, and green economy, and achieve the sustainable development of the Emirate,” added Al Tayer. “DEWA is keen to continuously develop knowledge programmes and initiatives for its staff that increase their cultural awareness and promote their creative skills. We adopt the best international practices to provide a distinguished knowledge environment. The workshops DEWA organised on organisational excellence achieved a 90% satisfaction rate, and 88% in terms of learning and understanding knowledge-management terms,” said Dr. Yousef Al Akraf, Executive Vice President of Business Support and Human Resources at DEWA. Many DEWA staff participated in the ‘Share an hour’ sessions. A large number of books have been discussed, including Abdullah Abdul Ghani’s ‘Do Something Different’ which was discussed by Seena Zarie from Transmission Power. The book discusses successful human experiences that make positive changes in the lives of the people. Other books that were discussed included: ‘Who Moved My Cheese?’ by Dr. Spencer Johnson, ‘How to Become a Successful Investor’ by Dr. Ahmad Salim Badwelan, and ‘It Is Like That!’ by Dr. Abdul Karim Bakar.