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For some time it had seemed to me that there was a need for a
booklet we could give an employee embarking on foreign service as-
signment that he would be able to use as his Bible. This booklet would
explain all the aspects of the foreign service compensation plan, vaca-
tion and travel treatment, assistance the company would provide on the
education of children, tax treatment, etc. This booklet would be general
for all foreign service and would be supplemented by a second booklet
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ously described. I wrote most of the new booklet myself, but each chap-
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The American Relocation Council consists of about 800 Ameri-
can companies. The Council instituted a contest with two parts, one
for data provided to employees transferred domestically and another
for employees being transferred into foreign service. My booklet was
entered into the contest for foreign service booklets. I’m told there were
several hundred entries from companies having foreign service opera-
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prize.

By the time I attended the Aramco HR conference in March of
1981, the Saudi Arabian government had taken over full ownership of
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four owner companies simply became preferred buyers. Saudi Arabs
now held most of the top management positions. These men were typi-
cally college graduates from a U.S. university. They had been developed
through a series of rotational assignments to progressively higher-level
jobs in Aramco. The vice president of industrial relations (who later
became executive vice president of Aramco) was a highly competent
man. He could have been a successful HR manager in any oil company
in the world. I feel a deep sense of pride in Aramco’s development of
its Saudi Arabs. In addition, these men are wonderful examples of the
tremendous adaptability of Arabs. At that time, the Petroleum Minister
in the Saudi Arabian government had earned a Ph.D in an American

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