THE ARAB EXECUTIVE. Farid A. Muna. Palgrave Macmillan. Kenneth Simmonds. Foreword by

Transcription

1 THE ARAB EXECUTIVE

2 THE ARAB EXECUTIVE Farid A. Muna Foreword by Kenneth Simmonds Palgrave Macmillan

3 ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / Farid A. Muna 1980 Foreword Kenneth Simmonds 1980 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 1980 All rights reserved. For information write: St. Martin's Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY First published in the United States of America in 1980 ISBN Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Muna, Farid A. The Arab executive Originally presented as the author's thesis, University of London. Bibliography:.p. Includes index. 1. Executives - Arab countries. I. Title. HF A65M '00917' ISBN

4 To Simon Siksek

5 Contents List of Tables and Figures Foreword by Kenneth Simmonds A Note on Transliteration Acknowledgements Page ix xi xii xiii 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 THE ARAB EXECUTIVE AND HIS ENVIRONMENT 5 On Being an Arab 6 The Arab as a Businessman 8 The Arab as an Executive 9 Social Structure: a Mosaic 10 Recent Political and Economic Developments 13 Emphasis on Nationalism and Tradition 14 The Creation of the State of Israel 16 The Discovery and Exploitation of Petroleum 18 The Arab Trade Union Movement 22 3 SOCIAL PRESSURES AND THE EXECUTIVE ROLE 26 Social Pressures 26 Socio-cultural Pressures 29 Pressures from the Business and Social Community 30 The Executive Role 34 Role in Community 35 Role in Organization 39 4 THE ARAB APPROACH TO DECISION MAKING 44 Decision-making Styles 44 A Decision-making Profile 47 Variables Affecting Decision Styles Consultation 53 58

6 viii CONTENTS 5 CONFLICT MANAGEMENT 63 6 INTERPERSONAL STYLE 71 Rituals and Customs in Conducting Business 71 Personal Ties and Connections The Importance of Loyalty An Open-Door Tradition 80 A Preference for 'Informality' 83 7 A TTITUDES TOW ARDS TIME AND CHANGE Time Orientation The Value of Time 89 Time Horizons 91 The Myth of Fatalism 93 Attitudes Towards Change 98 The Context of Change The Executive's Attitudes Ambivalence CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 113 The Importance of Environmental Factors 113 The Executive as a Change Agent 114 Modernization without Sacrificing Traditions 115 Implications 116 I Management Training and Development 117 II Expatriate Employees and Foreign Businessmen 120 III Future Research 121 Appendix 1: Methodology and Data Analysis 125 Appendix 2: The Interview Schedule 131 Bibliography 142 Index 149

7 List of Tables and Figures TABLES Page 3.1 Social pressures as reported by Arab executives (a) Executive role and organizational size 40 (b) Executive role and organizational ownership Comparison between decisional styles employed in this study and those of previous investigators Distribution of decision styles for each decision by all Arab executives Distribution of decision styles by executives from each of the six Arab countries Mean score of executives from each country for all decisions Mean score of executives for three categories of decisions Independent variables accounting for the variance in decision-making styles Distribution of responses by style for three decision categories Rituals and customs in conducting business Executives' preference for loyalty and efficiency: (a) employee; (b) immediate subordinate The open-door tradition Bypassing the hierarchy Proverbs on the value of time Time horizons: investment, planning, training Events and factors beyond the executive's control Preventive measures Attitudes towards technological and social changes Attitudes towards social changes, by country Likelihood of occurrence: technological and social changes The image of expatriates/foreign businessmen as perceived by Arab executives 121

8 x LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Appendix Tables A.I A statistical profile of Arab executives and their organizations 126 A.2 Analysis of variance (organizational decision 6) 129 FIGURES 3.1 The executive and his environment The power-sharing continuum Proportion of responses for all decisions by all Arab executives 49 A.l Pearson correlation matrix (7 decisions) 128

9 Foreword Western managerial awareness of the Arab world jumped sharply with the oil boom of the early 1970s. Up to that time few international businessmen had had direct dealings with Arab executives, and the demand for more background by those anxious to capitalize on the new opportunities brought forth a torrent of writings. At the worst extreme, some texts depicted a caricature of Arab managerial behaviour as an unbounded fatalism apparently unconcerned with rational economic considerations. These alarming generalizations seemed to rest on no more substantial evidence than that Arabic speakers make frequent recourse to 'insha' Allah '(God willing orif God wills). Such caricatures are not only wrong but also quite unbelievable to those from English-speaking cultures with their own common supplications of 'Goodbye' and 'GodspeeQ', and bold but forgotten proclamations on their coinage of 'Defender of the Faith', and 'In God We Trust'. Dr Muna guides us away from these trite levels of observation. He has made a determined effort to describe what leading Arab executives think, feel and do within the current environment and given the social pressures placed upon them. Himself an Arab, yet equally at home in the United States and England, Dr M una has depicted the variety and depth of differences that can exist. It is this sort of picture that the international manager needs if he is to adjust his business practices in ways that really work. Professor of International Business, London Business School, University of London Kenneth Simmonds

10 A Note on Transliteration The system of transliteration of Arabic words used in most scholarly literature has been followed in this book. Familiar names, however, were not transliterated in this way; instead, they were kept in their simplified form of transliteration. Thus, for example, we have used Ouran instead of Our'an; King Faisal instead of Faysal; and, of course, the simple transliterations chosen by authors and executives for their names were retained.

11 Acknowledgements This book was originally written as a Ph.D. thesis at the London Business School, University of London. The valuable advice, guidance, and assistance of a great number of people made the book possible. To them all I am deeply grateful. Two persons deserve special acknowledgements: Professor Kenneth Simmonds of the London Business School, and Mr Simon Siksek of the Middle East Industrial Relations Counselors (MEIRC). Professor Simmonds' wealth of knowledge and experience proved invaluable throughout this study. I am indebted to him for his continuous encouragement and support, and above all, for his efforts at directing my work towards the investigation of pragmatic problems. Mr Siksek, to whom the book is dedicated, encouraged me to enter this field and was always willing to take the time needed to discuss my approach and findings. I was also able to draw on his personal experiences as an Arab executive and as a leader in his field. A number of my colleagues at the London Business School were particularly generous in extending to me needed advice and assistance. They include Drs Dennis Bumstead, Tom Poynter, and Eric Walton. Mr Michael Jefferson of Shell International, London, took a personal interest in my work and offered valuable comments. In the field, I am indebted to the fifty-two top Arab executives whose patient and in-depth answers to a long list of questions made this study possible. To the thirteen executives who preferred to remain anonymous and to those who allowed me to mention their names herein, I offer my deepest gratitude. I sincerely hope that I will be permitted the opportunity in the future to reciprocate their exceptionally valuable help and cooperation. Egypt: Mr Mohamed G. Abdel-Hamid Dr Adel T. Gazarin Mr Mohamed EI-Haddad MrW. H. Hegazy Mr Yehia Omar

12 xiv Jordan: Kuwait: Lebanon: Saudi Arabia: UAE: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Mr Hussein Reda Mr Youssef M. Youssef Mr Raouf S. Abujaber Mr Tawfiq Kawar Mr Bassam R. Mufleh Mr Elia C. Nuqul Mr Farid Sa'd MrS. K. Tell Dr Sobhy A. Tieby Mr Kutayba AIghanim Mr Abdulmalek M. Gharabally Mr K. A. Khalaf Mr Yousuf M. AI-Nisf Mr Fawzi Musaad Ai-Saleh Mr Abdul Aziz M. AI-Shaya Mr Abdul Rahman AI-Sultan Mr Samir Hamzah Mr Said T. Khoury Mr Omar A. Aggad Mr Faysal AI-Bassam Mr Adnan M. Khashoggi Sheikh Hassan Mishari Mr Ali I. Naimi Mr Khaled A. AI-Rabiah Mr Nasser M. AI-Saleh Mr Abdul Aziz Bin Ahmad AI-Sudairy Sheikh Abdul Majid Zahid Mr Abdulaziz AI-Zamil Mr Hussain Abdul-Rehman (Khan Saheb) Mr Edward Elias Mr Rashed M. Fakhro Mr Saif Ahmed AI-Ghurair Mr Amal Hourani Mr Fadhel M. Khan Interviewing top executives in six Arab countries required the help of many friends and relatives. I am grateful to Mr Ibrahim Aghabi in Jordan; Mr Saba Abdo and his staff at Dar Al

13 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Handasah, and Mr Adel Shoeib in Egypt; Messrs Faysal AI Bassam, Paul J. Nance, Ibrahim and Abdullah Yunis in Saudi Arabia; and Mr Mitri AI-Muna in Kuwait. Also my thanks go to all the expatriates as well as to the persons who participated in the pilot study. Special appreciation for the time and helpful comments kindly given by Dr Hamed Ammar, Messrs Albert Hazbun, Nayef AI-Jaabari, and Mahmud Takieddine. My colleagues at MEIRC extended to me every help and support throughout the study. In particular, thanks are due to Mr Samih Baalbaki for his help in checking the Arabic translation of the Interview Schedule; and Mrs Leila Abiad whose typing excellence transformed my handwriting into a legible manuscript. Finally, words simply cannot express my deep feelings of gratitude to my wife Doris and daughters Rima and Nadia. They shared with me the trials and tribulations of the return to student life. xv London November 1979 FaridA.Muna