Asma Bahurmoz | King AbdulAziz University (KAU) Jeddah, Saudi Arabia (original) (raw)
Papers by Asma Bahurmoz
Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Analytic Hierarchy Process, 2001
I designed and implemented a multicriteria group decision-making model based on the Analytic Hier... more I designed and implemented a multicriteria group decision-making model based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process to select the best candidates to send overseas for graduate studies, eventually becoming teachers at the newly created Dar Al-Hekma women's college in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The paper highlights the model together with the challenges involved in making a scientific application of an OR method that proves to be robust in a highly political environment. Its application does not require from the user an understanding of the sophisticated albeit transparent theory that underlies the methodology. It is user friendly and involves simple constructions in conformity with what people actually do using logic and discussion to express their opinions in a collective effort to make a decision. Its outcome creates public trust in the management of the college. 1. Dar Al-Hekma College Until 1998, the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) was the only authority in Saudi Arabia that was responsible for higher education. Education is provided free of charge in Saudi Arabia. Enrolled students are paid a monthly allowance until they graduate. However, as demand for higher education exceeds the capacity of public universities and other public colleges, MOHE is now giving permission to the private sector to provide higher education through non-profit organizations.
ISAHP proceedings, Aug 1, 2001
I designed and implemented a multicriteria group decision-making model based on the Analytic Hier... more I designed and implemented a multicriteria group decision-making model based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process to select the best candidates to send overseas for graduate studies, eventually becoming teachers at the newly created Dar Al-Hekma women's college in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The paper highlights the model together with the challenges involved in making a scientific application of an OR method that proves to be robust in a highly political environment. Its application does not require from the user an understanding of the sophisticated albeit transparent theory that underlies the methodology. It is user friendly and involves simple constructions in conformity with what people actually do using logic and discussion to express their opinions in a collective effort to make a decision. Its outcome creates public trust in the management of the college. 1. Dar Al-Hekma College Until 1998, the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) was the only authority in Saudi Arabia that was responsible for higher education. Education is provided free of charge in Saudi Arabia. Enrolled students are paid a monthly allowance until they graduate. However, as demand for higher education exceeds the capacity of public universities and other public colleges, MOHE is now giving permission to the private sector to provide higher education through non-profit organizations.
Interfaces, Aug 1, 2003
I designed and implemented a multicriteria group decision-making model based on the Analytic Hier... more I designed and implemented a multicriteria group decision-making model based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process to select the best candidates to send overseas for graduate studies, eventually becoming teachers at the newly created Dar Al-Hekma women's college in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The paper highlights the model together with the challenges involved in making a scientific application of an OR method that proves to be robust in a highly political environment. Its application does not require from the user an understanding of the sophisticated albeit transparent theory that underlies the methodology. It is user friendly and involves simple constructions in conformity with what people actually do using logic and discussion to express their opinions in a collective effort to make a decision. Its outcome creates public trust in the management of the college. 1. Dar Al-Hekma College Until 1998, the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) was the only authority in Saudi Arabia that was responsible for higher education. Education is provided free of charge in Saudi Arabia. Enrolled students are paid a monthly allowance until they graduate. However, as demand for higher education exceeds the capacity of public universities and other public colleges, MOHE is now giving permission to the private sector to provide higher education through non-profit organizations.
Egyptian Computer Science Journal, 2005
Journal of Systems Science and Systems Engineering, May 1, 2006
Saudi Arabia every year receives more than two million Muslims from all over the world to perform... more Saudi Arabia every year receives more than two million Muslims from all over the world to perform the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Makkah. It must take place during a specific period of the year in a specific and limited space. In spite of the effort government agencies devote to this event, a variety of disasters usually take place each year. As the number of pilgrims is increasing every year the problem is becoming an alarming one. More and more resources are allocated to eliminate the occurrence of such disasters. More than one strategy has been proposed to make the Hajj as safe as possible. Knowing that the problem is very complex as it involves numerous actors, and many entangled criteria and elements, the question is which strategy is best. This paper presents the Analytic Network Process as a sound methodology for structuring the Hajj problem by designing an analytical model to find which strategy to focus on to make the pilgrimage as safe as possible.
Journal for global business advancement, 2015
While merits of normative judgements may be questionable when objectivity is the desired criterio... more While merits of normative judgements may be questionable when objectivity is the desired criterion in management decisions, which tend to be inherently unstructured such as personnel selection, evidence suggests that the perspective of traditional personnel selection methods remains relatively restrictive and subjective. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has emerged as a powerful addition to the decision-support tools for providing a systematic approach to solving an inherently unstructured problem. However, despite its relevance to personnel selection, application of the AHP has been surprisingly missing in this decision area. This paper develops the AHP model as an alternative approach to the traditional personnel selection methods that minimises subjective judgements. The model is illustrated by its implementation in the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The paper concludes with implications for managerial decision-making.
The Gulf Cooperation Council Countries are challenged by unprecedented labor problems. These coun... more The Gulf Cooperation Council Countries are challenged by unprecedented labor problems. These countries suffer from unemployment problems in spite of the fact that they offer jobs for millions of immigrants. Non indigenous fill 95% of the private sector jobs in these countries. Saudi Arabia as the largest country in terms of area and population suffers the most from this unemployment problem. In cooperation with the ministry of Labor , executive MBA(EMBA) students from KAU focused on a number of these problems, defined them, explored solutions and prioritized these solutions from the point of view of officials in the ministry, employers and job seekers. The Analytic Hierarchy Process was chosen as the methodology to help the decision makers in the ministry decide on which strategy to take to address these problems. The objective is to promote the use of AHP in the process of governmental decision making by introducing it via the activity of Service Learning
Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Analytic Hierarchy Process: the 15th ISAHP conference. Publication date: July 2018, Jul 15, 2018
Although there is no agreed universal definition of CSR, organizations are often ranked in terms ... more Although there is no agreed universal definition of CSR, organizations are often ranked in terms of their CSR performance. However, two glaring gaps are identified in the CSR literature. First, evaluation methodologies are questionable and often lack a scientific basis and transparency, and second stakeholder representation is not made explicit or is missing altogether. This paper contributes to the CSR literature by constructing a CSR index based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), as well as ensuring that stakeholder judgments are an integral part of the constructed index. An AHP-based CSR Index is developed for the Services Sector in Saudi Arabia to serve as a case study. The developed index is implemented to measure CSR performance in over 40 corporates from the private sector. The paper thus also adds value by providing an insight into how CSR and its dimensions are perceived and practiced by the Saudi corporations.
Creative Decisions Foundation, Jul 1, 2005
Saudi Arabia receives every year more than two million Muslims from all over the world to perform... more Saudi Arabia receives every year more than two million Muslims from all over the world to perform Alhaj (Pilgrimage) during a specific period of the year in a specific and limited space. In spite of the effort the government agencies devote for this event, several and variety of disasters took place. As numbers of pilgrims is increasing by the year the problem becomes an alarming one. More and more resources are allocated to eliminate the occurrences of such disasters. More than one strategy has been proposed in order to achieve Alhaj safely. The question is which alternative is best, knowing that the problem is very complex, it involves many actors, and many entangled criteria and elements. This paper presents The Analytic Network Process as a sound methodology to structure Alhaj problem and disentangle its complexity.
Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Analytic Hierarchy Process
This paper proposes the application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) on female employment ... more This paper proposes the application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) on female employment in the ministry of foreign Affairs (MOFA). To ensure the validity and reliability of the selection process, MOFA officials sought the expertise of distinguished academic team to perform the selections through more sophisticated methods than the traditional approach of recruiting human resources. The selected academic team opted for the implementation of the well known multi-criteria decision approach, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in a group decision making setting. Team members designed a rubric to conduct the interviews; analyze their results; and a short questionnaire to provide another set of criteria which was incorporated in AHP rating model to prioritize the applicants. The results were highly welcomed by MOFA officials, who unanimously supported the superiority of AHP results.
International Journal of the Analytic Hierarchy Process
In October 2015, The Saudi Council for Economic and Development Affairs unveiled an austerity pla... more In October 2015, The Saudi Council for Economic and Development Affairs unveiled an austerity plan in response to a drop in the price of oil to around US 26,whichthrewthecountryintoanunexpecteddeficitofabout26, which threw the country into an unexpected deficit of about 26,whichthrewthecountryintoanunexpecteddeficitofabout100 billion. Later on, an austerity plan evolved into the National Transformation Plan (NTP) 2020. The NTP focused on the key drivers for economic growth. Although only an outline of the NTP was released at the time, we speculate on what will be the best implementation policy. Knowing that the government is taking a developmental approach that is inclusive, transparent and accountable to all stakeholders in society, we opted to address this question as a multi criteria decision problem formulated in an Analytic Network Process (ANP) model. The ANP is a sound methodology for structuring the problem to find which policy to focus on to make the transformation as effective as possible, taking into account social and political factors in addition to economic ones. The ANP...
Corporate Social Responsibility [Working Title]
Although there is no agreed upon universal definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR), o... more Although there is no agreed upon universal definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR), organizations are often ranked in terms of their CSR performance. However, two glaring gaps have been identified in the CSR literature. First, evaluation methodologies are questionable and often lack a scientific basis and second, stakeholder representation is not made explicit or is missing altogether. This paper contributes to the CSR literature by constructing a CSR index based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), as well as ensuring that stakeholder judgments are an integral part of the constructed index. The developed index is implemented to measure CSR performance in a business setting. An AHP-based CSR Index is developed for the Services Sector in Saudi Arabia to serve as a case study. The developed index is used to measure CSR performance in over forty corporations. The paper adds to the existing literature by providing insight into how the Saudi corporations perceive and prac...
International Journal of the Analytic Hierarchy Process
Although there is no agreed upon universal definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR), o... more Although there is no agreed upon universal definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR), organizations are often ranked in terms of their CSR performance. However, two glaring gaps have been identified in the CSR literature. First, evaluation methodologies are questionable and often lack a scientific basis and second, stakeholder representation is not made explicit or is missing altogether. This paper contributes to the CSR literature by constructing a CSR index based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), as well as ensuring that stakeholder judgments are an integral part of the constructed index. Furthermore, the developed index is implemented to measure CSR performance in a business setting. An AHP-based CSR index is developed for the services sector in Saudi Arabia to serve as a case study. The developed index is used to measure CSR performance in over forty corporations. The paper adds to the existing literature by providing insight into how the Saudi corporations perc...
Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Analytic Hierarchy Process, 2001
I designed and implemented a multicriteria group decision-making model based on the Analytic Hier... more I designed and implemented a multicriteria group decision-making model based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process to select the best candidates to send overseas for graduate studies, eventually becoming teachers at the newly created Dar Al-Hekma women's college in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The paper highlights the model together with the challenges involved in making a scientific application of an OR method that proves to be robust in a highly political environment. Its application does not require from the user an understanding of the sophisticated albeit transparent theory that underlies the methodology. It is user friendly and involves simple constructions in conformity with what people actually do using logic and discussion to express their opinions in a collective effort to make a decision. Its outcome creates public trust in the management of the college. 1. Dar Al-Hekma College Until 1998, the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) was the only authority in Saudi Arabia that was responsible for higher education. Education is provided free of charge in Saudi Arabia. Enrolled students are paid a monthly allowance until they graduate. However, as demand for higher education exceeds the capacity of public universities and other public colleges, MOHE is now giving permission to the private sector to provide higher education through non-profit organizations.
ISAHP proceedings, Aug 1, 2001
I designed and implemented a multicriteria group decision-making model based on the Analytic Hier... more I designed and implemented a multicriteria group decision-making model based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process to select the best candidates to send overseas for graduate studies, eventually becoming teachers at the newly created Dar Al-Hekma women's college in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The paper highlights the model together with the challenges involved in making a scientific application of an OR method that proves to be robust in a highly political environment. Its application does not require from the user an understanding of the sophisticated albeit transparent theory that underlies the methodology. It is user friendly and involves simple constructions in conformity with what people actually do using logic and discussion to express their opinions in a collective effort to make a decision. Its outcome creates public trust in the management of the college. 1. Dar Al-Hekma College Until 1998, the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) was the only authority in Saudi Arabia that was responsible for higher education. Education is provided free of charge in Saudi Arabia. Enrolled students are paid a monthly allowance until they graduate. However, as demand for higher education exceeds the capacity of public universities and other public colleges, MOHE is now giving permission to the private sector to provide higher education through non-profit organizations.
Interfaces, Aug 1, 2003
I designed and implemented a multicriteria group decision-making model based on the Analytic Hier... more I designed and implemented a multicriteria group decision-making model based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process to select the best candidates to send overseas for graduate studies, eventually becoming teachers at the newly created Dar Al-Hekma women's college in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The paper highlights the model together with the challenges involved in making a scientific application of an OR method that proves to be robust in a highly political environment. Its application does not require from the user an understanding of the sophisticated albeit transparent theory that underlies the methodology. It is user friendly and involves simple constructions in conformity with what people actually do using logic and discussion to express their opinions in a collective effort to make a decision. Its outcome creates public trust in the management of the college. 1. Dar Al-Hekma College Until 1998, the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) was the only authority in Saudi Arabia that was responsible for higher education. Education is provided free of charge in Saudi Arabia. Enrolled students are paid a monthly allowance until they graduate. However, as demand for higher education exceeds the capacity of public universities and other public colleges, MOHE is now giving permission to the private sector to provide higher education through non-profit organizations.
Egyptian Computer Science Journal, 2005
Journal of Systems Science and Systems Engineering, May 1, 2006
Saudi Arabia every year receives more than two million Muslims from all over the world to perform... more Saudi Arabia every year receives more than two million Muslims from all over the world to perform the Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Makkah. It must take place during a specific period of the year in a specific and limited space. In spite of the effort government agencies devote to this event, a variety of disasters usually take place each year. As the number of pilgrims is increasing every year the problem is becoming an alarming one. More and more resources are allocated to eliminate the occurrence of such disasters. More than one strategy has been proposed to make the Hajj as safe as possible. Knowing that the problem is very complex as it involves numerous actors, and many entangled criteria and elements, the question is which strategy is best. This paper presents the Analytic Network Process as a sound methodology for structuring the Hajj problem by designing an analytical model to find which strategy to focus on to make the pilgrimage as safe as possible.
Journal for global business advancement, 2015
While merits of normative judgements may be questionable when objectivity is the desired criterio... more While merits of normative judgements may be questionable when objectivity is the desired criterion in management decisions, which tend to be inherently unstructured such as personnel selection, evidence suggests that the perspective of traditional personnel selection methods remains relatively restrictive and subjective. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has emerged as a powerful addition to the decision-support tools for providing a systematic approach to solving an inherently unstructured problem. However, despite its relevance to personnel selection, application of the AHP has been surprisingly missing in this decision area. This paper develops the AHP model as an alternative approach to the traditional personnel selection methods that minimises subjective judgements. The model is illustrated by its implementation in the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The paper concludes with implications for managerial decision-making.
The Gulf Cooperation Council Countries are challenged by unprecedented labor problems. These coun... more The Gulf Cooperation Council Countries are challenged by unprecedented labor problems. These countries suffer from unemployment problems in spite of the fact that they offer jobs for millions of immigrants. Non indigenous fill 95% of the private sector jobs in these countries. Saudi Arabia as the largest country in terms of area and population suffers the most from this unemployment problem. In cooperation with the ministry of Labor , executive MBA(EMBA) students from KAU focused on a number of these problems, defined them, explored solutions and prioritized these solutions from the point of view of officials in the ministry, employers and job seekers. The Analytic Hierarchy Process was chosen as the methodology to help the decision makers in the ministry decide on which strategy to take to address these problems. The objective is to promote the use of AHP in the process of governmental decision making by introducing it via the activity of Service Learning
Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Analytic Hierarchy Process: the 15th ISAHP conference. Publication date: July 2018, Jul 15, 2018
Although there is no agreed universal definition of CSR, organizations are often ranked in terms ... more Although there is no agreed universal definition of CSR, organizations are often ranked in terms of their CSR performance. However, two glaring gaps are identified in the CSR literature. First, evaluation methodologies are questionable and often lack a scientific basis and transparency, and second stakeholder representation is not made explicit or is missing altogether. This paper contributes to the CSR literature by constructing a CSR index based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), as well as ensuring that stakeholder judgments are an integral part of the constructed index. An AHP-based CSR Index is developed for the Services Sector in Saudi Arabia to serve as a case study. The developed index is implemented to measure CSR performance in over 40 corporates from the private sector. The paper thus also adds value by providing an insight into how CSR and its dimensions are perceived and practiced by the Saudi corporations.
Creative Decisions Foundation, Jul 1, 2005
Saudi Arabia receives every year more than two million Muslims from all over the world to perform... more Saudi Arabia receives every year more than two million Muslims from all over the world to perform Alhaj (Pilgrimage) during a specific period of the year in a specific and limited space. In spite of the effort the government agencies devote for this event, several and variety of disasters took place. As numbers of pilgrims is increasing by the year the problem becomes an alarming one. More and more resources are allocated to eliminate the occurrences of such disasters. More than one strategy has been proposed in order to achieve Alhaj safely. The question is which alternative is best, knowing that the problem is very complex, it involves many actors, and many entangled criteria and elements. This paper presents The Analytic Network Process as a sound methodology to structure Alhaj problem and disentangle its complexity.
Proceedings of the International Symposium on the Analytic Hierarchy Process
This paper proposes the application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) on female employment ... more This paper proposes the application of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) on female employment in the ministry of foreign Affairs (MOFA). To ensure the validity and reliability of the selection process, MOFA officials sought the expertise of distinguished academic team to perform the selections through more sophisticated methods than the traditional approach of recruiting human resources. The selected academic team opted for the implementation of the well known multi-criteria decision approach, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) in a group decision making setting. Team members designed a rubric to conduct the interviews; analyze their results; and a short questionnaire to provide another set of criteria which was incorporated in AHP rating model to prioritize the applicants. The results were highly welcomed by MOFA officials, who unanimously supported the superiority of AHP results.
International Journal of the Analytic Hierarchy Process
In October 2015, The Saudi Council for Economic and Development Affairs unveiled an austerity pla... more In October 2015, The Saudi Council for Economic and Development Affairs unveiled an austerity plan in response to a drop in the price of oil to around US 26,whichthrewthecountryintoanunexpecteddeficitofabout26, which threw the country into an unexpected deficit of about 26,whichthrewthecountryintoanunexpecteddeficitofabout100 billion. Later on, an austerity plan evolved into the National Transformation Plan (NTP) 2020. The NTP focused on the key drivers for economic growth. Although only an outline of the NTP was released at the time, we speculate on what will be the best implementation policy. Knowing that the government is taking a developmental approach that is inclusive, transparent and accountable to all stakeholders in society, we opted to address this question as a multi criteria decision problem formulated in an Analytic Network Process (ANP) model. The ANP is a sound methodology for structuring the problem to find which policy to focus on to make the transformation as effective as possible, taking into account social and political factors in addition to economic ones. The ANP...
Corporate Social Responsibility [Working Title]
Although there is no agreed upon universal definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR), o... more Although there is no agreed upon universal definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR), organizations are often ranked in terms of their CSR performance. However, two glaring gaps have been identified in the CSR literature. First, evaluation methodologies are questionable and often lack a scientific basis and second, stakeholder representation is not made explicit or is missing altogether. This paper contributes to the CSR literature by constructing a CSR index based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), as well as ensuring that stakeholder judgments are an integral part of the constructed index. The developed index is implemented to measure CSR performance in a business setting. An AHP-based CSR Index is developed for the Services Sector in Saudi Arabia to serve as a case study. The developed index is used to measure CSR performance in over forty corporations. The paper adds to the existing literature by providing insight into how the Saudi corporations perceive and prac...
International Journal of the Analytic Hierarchy Process
Although there is no agreed upon universal definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR), o... more Although there is no agreed upon universal definition of corporate social responsibility (CSR), organizations are often ranked in terms of their CSR performance. However, two glaring gaps have been identified in the CSR literature. First, evaluation methodologies are questionable and often lack a scientific basis and second, stakeholder representation is not made explicit or is missing altogether. This paper contributes to the CSR literature by constructing a CSR index based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), as well as ensuring that stakeholder judgments are an integral part of the constructed index. Furthermore, the developed index is implemented to measure CSR performance in a business setting. An AHP-based CSR index is developed for the services sector in Saudi Arabia to serve as a case study. The developed index is used to measure CSR performance in over forty corporations. The paper adds to the existing literature by providing insight into how the Saudi corporations perc...