The oil and gas sector has a significant impact on sustainable development, making it important for the sector to implement serious changes in the way it does business. Oil and gas operations involve both upstream activities, and downstream activities. Due to the nature of these activities which cause high risks, companies work continuously to reduce the significance of their adverse impacts on the environment and people. Thus, evaluating the sustainable production in this sector is become a necessity. This paper proposes a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for evaluating the sustainable production believed to be appropriate to the oil and gas sector based on the triple bottom line of sustainability. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is applied to prioritize the performance indicators by summarizing the opinions of experts. It is hoped that the proposed KPIs enables and assists this sector to achieve the higher performance in sustainable production and so as to ensures business sustainability.

The critical key success factors, which have to be targeted with appropriate change management, are the user acceptance and support of a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system at the early implementation stages. This becomes even more important in Arab context where national and organisational culture with a different value and belief system, resulting in different management styles, might not complement with Western business culture embedded in the predefined standard business processes of existing ERP packages. This study explains and critically evaluates research into national and organizational culture and the influence of different national cultures on the implementation and reengineering process of ERP packages in an Arab context. Using a case study, realized through a quantitative survey testing five of Martinsons’s and Davison’s propositions in a Libyan sample company, confirmed the expected results from the literature review that culture has an impact on the implementation process and that employee empowerment is an unavoidable consequence of an ERP implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to find out the impact of Quality Management System (QMS) ISO/IEC 17025: 2005 certification audit on company’s Performance. Libyan petroleum Institute has been certified ISO/IEC 17025: 2005 for 8 years. Therefore, it is necessary to study and analyze the impact of that certification on its performance. Survey study has been done by distributing a questionnaire by handing it personally to qualified staff in the 15 accredited laboratories in the institute. The response rate was 66.6%. The statistical operations with the results of analytical study have been done to achieve the goal and objectives of the research. Finally, ISO/IEC 17025: 2005 certification audit is found to have a positive effect on the institute’s performance.

This paper presents the findings of the investigation of ERP implementation. It highlights the challenges and experiences of Libyan Companies in ERP implementation. The success factors, failures are analyzed and have proposed recommendations to improve ERP implementation. The adopted research approach covers both quantitative and qualitative methods. The data collection methods used were questionnaires, 75 out of 100 questionnaires were returned sufficiently completed. The paper contributes to discussion based on literature review and ERP implementation in developing economics. The results of the study revealed that the majority of the respondents are aware of what ERP is all about, and they are also aware about critical issues in the implementation of ERP. The findings revealed that: failure to select committees needed for the successful implementation of ERP, an inadequate financial budget and resources, and failure to make knowledgeable input at the planning stage can be problems to successful implementation of ERP. The conclusions suggest for addressing challenges and problems in the ERP implementation. Enough time should be provided to project team, show leadership in change management and sufficient resources should be allocated for the proper implementation of ERP.

This paper presents an analysis of the essential characteristics of the TQM philosophy by comparing the work of five notable authors in the field. A framework is produced which gather the identified TQM enablers under the well-known operations management dimensions of process, business and people. These enablers are linked with sustainable development via balance scorecard type economic and non-economic measures. In order to capture a picture of Libyan Company’s efforts to implement the TQM, a questionnaire survey is designed and implemented. Results of the survey are presented showing the main differentiating factors between the sample companies, and a way of assessing the difference between the theoretical underpinning and the practitioners’ undertakings. Survey results indicate that companies are experiencing much difficulty in translating TQM theory into practice. Only a few companies have successfully adopted a holistic approach to TQM philosophy, and most of these put relatively high emphasis on hard elements compared with soft issues of TQM. However, where companies can realise the economic outputs, non-economic benefits such as workflow management, skills development and team learning are not realised. In addition, overall, non-economic measures have secured low weightings compared with the economic measures. We believe that the framework presented in this paper can help a company to concentrate its TQM implementation efforts in terms of process, system and people management dimensions. 

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate quality factors that are absolutely essential for successful implementation of total quality management (TQM) in Libyan oil and gas companies (LOGCs). Design/methodology/approach – In all, 11 quality factors with 42 elements were identified to develop a questionnaire to carry out the survey in order to identify the quality factors that are seen by LOGCs to be critical to the success of TQM implementation. In total, 45 questionnaires were provided by hand to quality-related managers from the Libyan oil and gas sector. A total of 42 were returned sufficiently completed, that gave us a response rate of approximately 93.33 per cent. Findings – The empirical analysis demonstrates several key findings: the analysis indicated that 24 quality factors are found to be critical and absolutely essential for successful TQM implementation. These factors classify into three levels of criticality. All of the factors were found to be supported by similar studies and cited literatures. Research limitations/implications – The research is subject to the normal limitations of survey research. The study is using perceptual data provided by quality managers and engineers which may not provide clear picture. It may be suitable to consider gathering information from various stakeholders such as employees, customers, suppliers and even competitors. However, this can be overcome using multiple methods to collect data in future studies. Interestingly, the findings here may be generalisable outside Libya, i.e. South Mediterranean countries. Practical implications – LOGCs should consider TQM as an innovative tool for improving business performance in today’s competitive environment. The findings suggest that the TQM critical success factors should be implemented completely as a whole package rather than on a fragmented basis to get the full potential of the TQM. Originality/value – The study investigate the critical quality factors for successful TQM implementation which will direct an organisation towards business excellence and enhancing success of TQM practices in the oil and gas sector. Very few studies have been performed to investigate and understand this issue. Therefore, the research can make a useful contribution

The main purpose of this research is to construct a generic model for successful implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) in Oil sector, and to find out the effects of this model on the organizational sustainability development (OSD) performance of Libyan oil and gas companies using the structured equation modeling (SEM) approach. The research approach covers both quantitative and qualitative methods. A questionnaire was developed in order to identify the quality factors that are seen by Libyan oil and gas companies to be critical to the success of TQM implementation. Hypotheses were developed to evaluate the impact of TQM implementation on O SD. Data analysis reveals that there is a significant positive effect of the TQM implementation on OSD. 24 quality factors are found to be critical and absolutely essential for successful TQM implementation. The results generated a structure of the TQMSD implementation framework based on the four major road map constructs (Top management commitment, employee involvement and participation, customer-driven processes, and continuous improvement culture).

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the quality management dimensions, based on Deming Management Model, in Oil industry in Libya. Questionnaire, semi structured interview and open interview were used to collect data from random sample of 42 qualityrelated managers from the Libyan Oil industry. Forty-five questionnaires were provided by hand to quality-related managers from the Libyan Oil companies. A total of 42 were returned sufficiently completed, that gave us a response rate of approximately 93.33%. The regression analysis indicated that these organizations implement total quality management practices. The findings suggest that an integrated approach is required to implement the total quality management practices in order to realize strategic quality objectives. This research is subject to the normal limitations of survey research. The data is based on individual opinion of quality related managers, which may bring in some bias. Further research needs to be done to advance our knowledge and to further support the findings. For instance, a larger sample size and more items per Deming principle may be used in future studies to duplicate these results and to increase the internal consistency of the scales. Deming Management Model is applied to one industry in this study. Therefore, to establish the generalization of the Model within the context of Libya, it needs to be tested in other industries setting, both in public and private sectors. The study extends the applicability of the Deming Management Model to a new industry and country. Collectively, the results of the research provide more understanding of issues relating to quality management in developing countries and a framework for enhancing organizational effectiveness. Therefore, the research can make a useful contribution.

Purpose–The purpose of this paper is to presents a methodology to assist in the performance improvement of the process. The purpose is to assist operation processes to control and reduce cost of operations.

Methodology/approach–The paper is based on literature studies, research and experience which can be applied by an organisation in order to identify the potential benefits.

Findings–This paper provides a methodology used in this paper suggested that there will be a significant opportunity to improve the performance of the majority of the existing assets. Through benchmarking, gaps are identified and an outline of a procedure to quantify existing gaps was provided. All the tools provided by the methodology of benchmarking within the process focus on quantifying a financial gap; this sets out the priorities and justifies the case for continuous improvement. The improvement in the time of the process will lead to an increase in the value of the production, thus creating financial savings.

Originality/value–This is the first attempt framework, measures and industry world class targets, to benchmark best manufacturing practices in a company at the oil sector in North Africa. The paper provides some useful insights and can help companies to implement best practices and benchmarking to improve their practices.