Basyouni 1

Name: Mohammed S. Basyouni

Class / Section: ENGW 3301
Due Date: 12
th
of August 2014


Project 4: Interview Report


My name is Mohammed Basyouni and I am a Chemical Engineering student
with a minor in Mathematics at Northeastern University. Although I am not a
professional writer, my job still requires me to write reports, business plans, formal
letters, emails and many other forms of communication and writings on a daily basis.
This essay focuses on grasping how useful our acquired writing skills will be for our
future. Regarding this, I interviewed my father, a general manager in SABIC, the
company I will work for after finishing my bachelor degree at Northeastern
University. I asked him mainly, how much and in what ways he needs his academic
writing and reading skills.
My father works in YANSAB in Yanbu, Saudi-Arabia, the soon to be the
largest petrochemical factory of SABIC in Saudi-Arabia (Al Bawaba Middle East).
My father received his high school certificate from Al Fatih high school in Jeddah in
1979; he was granted a full scholarship and a job for SABIC in 1980, which also gave
him the opportunity to study abroad in the United States. He finished his Diploma in
Petro chemistry / Chemistry in 1982 at the University of Albuquerque and went back
to Saudi-Arabia to work. After working for SABIC for a couple of years, he returned
to the U.S. to pursue his Bachelor degree.
After asking him what types of writing are important in his field, he answered
that technical reports dominate his daily work. These reports are written on a daily
basis in every department about the daily performance, equipment and machines
efficiency analysis, budget analysis, etc. Also, every department in the factory has to
write a daily plan prior to starting the work. Engineers usually write technical reports,
and the committee of supervisors and superintendents of each department write daily
plans. My father writes formal emails on a daily basis. Emails are either verifications
or a reply to an inquiry, sometimes requests from other SABIC factories or sometimes
foreign factories. Generally, his job is to do a weekly update for the president of the
Basyouni 2
factory. He, as a manager, writes mostly instructions, announcements, weekly reports,
which are of short and concise nature.
My next question asked to whom he usually writes and in what kind of style
and tone he chooses his words. He answered that he writes to all kinds of employees,
whether in higher or lower positions but also to his boss, other managers of the
factory or department supervisors. Additionally, he writes to external clients
answering their requests. He points out specifically that all writings are always
professional but the tone usually depends on the writing he is doing. If it is an
instruction, then he changes his tone so it is obvious for the receiver that he has to
accurately follow everything step-by-step.
Related to the previous question, I wanted to know when he writes documents,
if he writes as an individual or as a representation of the company, or department, etc.
My father answered that depending on the subject he is talking about, he changes that.
For example, when he writes instructions to the team or the superintendents, he
represents himself because he is the manager and they have to follow him. On the
other hand, when he writes about achievements and announcements that include
teamwork, he talks in plural to give everyone credit.
Furthermore, I was intrigued to know if his writings require prior research and
how often he uses writings in his job. His answer was that he writes everyday, mostly
in English, but sometimes also in Arabic with an average of at least twenty emails a
day. Regarding research, if he needs precise information, he asks the engineers in the
department, for dates the secretaries and sometimes he needs to make a research when
he is looking for specifications of machines or an event in the past that had an impact
on YANSAB, which he reflects on in the reports.
When I asked, where he acquired his writing skills, he answered that in
general newly hired engineers get intensive writing courses. These courses are
concerned more about the technical and professional writing. So, for example the
grammar is not an important issue in these technical writings, but generally their
writings have to be understandable and focused on the technical material. For my
father, he took many English courses during his studies in the United States that were
essential in the improvement and development of his writing skills.
As I questioned him about any challenges he encounters while filing reports
and other writings, he replied that he sometimes encounters a lack of information, so
that he cannot file the reports. For instance, before he starts writing the weekly
Basyouni 3
updates to his boss, the RCA department, which stands for Root Cause Analysis, has
to send him a full analytic report that is concerned about the efficiency of the
equipment, failures in the machines and other information. Then, he has to harness his
ability of critical thinking and critical assessment to find the gist of these long reports
and write a concise feedback to his boss. There are days, where these reports might be
delayed, so he has to adapt to that situation while writing the reports, which is not
always easy.
Out of interest, I wanted to know whether he has to show his writings to
someone before sending them in. My father said that emails are absolutely
confidential, such as emails from him to his boss or emails regarding hiring or firing
someone. He said, it is also against SABICs policy to show them to anyone. Other
types of writings such as technical reports are written in a team of a couple of
engineers and are checked over by the team members. Moreover, when he does not
find the time to write, he requests one of the personal secretaries to write him a draft
and then he approves it, if it fulfills the requirements. These are not the kind of
valuable and important writings that he has to do himself; these are more secondary
writings such as the administrative work.
In the end of our interview, my father said about writing skills and
communication that they are important skills every engineer has to learn and be
versed in. Skillful communication grants better relationships and connection with
employees and clients, higher recognition and job opportunities. He suggested that in
order to be prominent in your job and make firm relationships and connections, you
must know how to be a good and also, a persuasive writer.