From Engineer to Manager: Making the Transition

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Musa Alharoon, '11, enjoys reflecting on his career journey and learning experiences, sharing insights on LinkedIn under the hashtag #MidCareerReflections.


In 2017, I embraced a new challenge while working as a production engineer at SABIC, a global petrochemical company based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: I was promoted to plant manager.

This required me to change my perspective from an engineer believing in “Conservation of Mass” to a manager with a view that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Two main factors helped me:

Alharoon-Teamwork

Factor 1: Support from my team and management

One of the most important factors contributing to my personal and career growth has been the great team around me. When I became a manager, this team continued to inspire me and push me harder. At the same time, the managers in my company helped prepare me through formal trainings (courses and coaching sessions) and informal trainings (gradually assigning me to leadership challenges and assignments).

Factor 2: MBA

By the time I was promoted to PC manager, I was halfway through my MBA, which turned out to be a key factor in facilitating my transition. 

The three-year journey cannot be summarized in a few lines, but here are some highlights:

  • Human behaviors in the work environment impact how the overall organization performs.
  • Financial statements are the instruments that allow investors, creditors, management to really assess organizations. 
  • Manufacturing processes can be optimized by understanding the supply chains and bottlenecks.
  • Strategic thinking takes you from what you do today to where you want to be. 
  • “Scarcity of resources” is a basic concept from which all economic studies are established but it is fundamental to make good decisions. 
  • Understanding your customers is the first step in creating satisfied customers. 
  • Statistics and estimations are your tool when numbers cannot be measured. 
Alharoon in action
Musa Alharoon

In accepting the role of manager, I was assuming the responsibility to provide leadership and oversight for all operations of the plant. During this time, I focused on elevating my team to achieve more by clearly communicating my priorities to them. 

I cannot judge my performance as a manager, but I was fully satisfied with our performance as an organization (thanks again to my great team). As a team, we successfully developed and executed multiple improvement programs that led to positive changes and improved performance.

Early in 2019, I was recognized by SABIC’s CEO for winning the 2018 Year-end Project Award across all SABIC divisions as part of the Polycarbonate Business Transformation and Plants’ Reliability Improvement Project. 

This achievement was the jewel in the crown, and it coincided with an exciting opportunity which led to my current position as Internal Auditor at Saudi Aramco.

Transitioning to a Management Role: #MidCareerReflections

Be ready and eager to take bigger roles and more challenges. It is a sign of growth.

As you move on to new roles, you need to adjust your skills and attitude based on the new requirements. In most cases, there will be many overlapping skills, but it is possible that some skills will be less relevant.

 Invest in your education to be prepared for tomorrow’s job. You do not know when your next opportunity will come, and when it does, you want to be 100% ready.

Leverage the power of teams. To achieve and deliver your highest potential, team spirit is the essential element to help you. Thus, you need to invest and to show commitment for building and capitalizing on relationships. High-performing teams support each other, and they do not accept mediocracy. As Steve Jobs puts it, “great things in business are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people.”

Alharoon Class of 2011
Class of 2011

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Musa Alharoon graduated in 2011 from The Ohio State University with a BS in Chemical Engineering and obtained his MBA from King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals in 2019. 

He began his career at SABIC in 2011 as a Failure Analyst, moved into the role of Production Engineer in 2013, and was promoted to Operations Manager in 2017. He joined Saudi Aramco in 2019, where he is currently a certified Internal Auditor and Fraud Examiner. 

In 2019, Alharoon worked with The Ohio State Alumni Association to start the Ohio State-Saudi Alumni Chapter, connecting with 50 area Buckeyes. Their kickoff meeting was delayed by the pandemic, but will soon resume activities. Visit LinkedIn’s “Alumni of The Ohio State University In Saudi Arabia” for details.


 

 

Category: Alumni