Oman Daily Observer - 05 November, 2008
BankMuscat has announced an entire, organisation-wide reassessment by Investors in People Standard (IIP) in 2009 to strengthen its positioning as the first Middle East bank to meet the IIP standard of improving business performance by committing itself to the development of staff.
Salim al Kaabi, AGM-Human Resources at BankMuscat, expressed: "IIP Standard is an internationally recognised framework for organisations to best manage their people and conduct business.
BankMuscat already enjoys the distinction of being the first bank in the Middle East to be successfully assessed against the IIP Standard in 2006. We regard our people as our most precious asset and maintain the highest standards of people management.
We wish to continue investing in our people to improve the performance of the organisation and have, therefore, partnered with IIP to conduct an assessment of the commitment we have towards our people and the strategies we implement to promote equality of opportunity in their development."
David Dale, Operations Director of International Quality Centre Limited, the international development body of IIP, said: "Progressive and forward-looking companies across the world are shifting their focus towards implementing best practices for people development and the IIP Standard assists them in developing and implementing strategies aimed at improving performance."
He added: "BankMuscat exhibits a high level of commitment towards its people, encouraging them to take ownership and responsibility and contribute to the growth of the organisation. IIP will conduct an assessment of the entire organisation to verify BankMuscat's excellence in the development of their people and help develop effective strategies to improve the bank's performance through its people."
The IIP Standard, first developed in the UK in the early 1990s is now being used in over 70 different countries by multinational organisations and is being developed via licences in over 32 different countries across the world.
