Renowned Prof Enrico Diecidue leads Kuwait

KUWAIT: Zain Group, a leading mobile telecom innovator in eight markets across the Middle East and Africa, announces the successful hosting of a one-day Decision Making workshop, which was held in Kuwait under the patronage of Zain Group Vice-Chairman Bader Nasser Al-Kharafi and Group CEO Scott Gegenheimer, and attended by CEOs and executive management and directors from Zain Group and its eight operations.

The invited guest lecturer who directed the workshop is world-renowned Professor of Decision Sciences, Enrico Diecidue, who is a resident faculty member at INSEAD and who has also served at Wharton University. His main research interests are in individual decision making under uncertainty, health decisions, and experimental economics.

The main objective of Professor Diecidue's seminar was to help the decision processes of senior executives at Zain Group, focusing on providing a common background in judgment, risk management and uncertainty, and decision making and processes, to support how they reach high-level decisions. The workshop shed light on typical traps in judgment, and exposed executives to effective ways to manage, mitigate, or avoid such incidents.

Commenting on the successful completion of the workshop, Al-Kharafi said, "Our passion for knowledge encompasses every area of our business at all levels of management. More than ever we must aim to be ahead of the curve across the various activities in our operations. In these modern times it is agility and speed that best contribute to sustainable growth, the root of which is determined by our ability to make fast, effective decisions."

Critical thinking

The decision-making and processes workshop undertaken by Zain's senior management extended to topics including developing critical thinking; improving decision processes; and learning more efficiently. Ultimately, the decision-making process within Zain Group's senior management is set to be boosted through their participation in the workshop, especially given the turbulent, complex, and fast changing environment that characterizes the modern telco sector.

Zain Group CEO, Scott Gegenheimer commented, "Zain Group is a leading mobile telecom innovator in the region because we employ some of the best people in the business. Better informed managers are able to make better decisions, which have a positive impact on the organization and all its stakeholders - so we continue to support such activities. It is also important from a personal development perspective for managers, as people, to be aware of the triggers, motivations, and dynamics to situations around them and to better understand their reactions to such stimulus."

Professor Enrico Diecidue teaches Uncertainty, Data & Judgment (MBA, EMBA), Management Decision Making (MBA), Risk Management (MBA), Executive modules on decision-making and risk management (EDP), and Decision Sciences (Ph.D.). He has won teaching awards at INSEAD and Wharton.