Abstract
With more than 200 different national cultures represented across the region, the Arabian Gulf must surely be one of the most diverse working environments in the world. While this diversity presents a captivating experience for those who visit the area, it can also create a considerable communication challenge for managers who work there every day. The three authors of this short but timely book take up that challenge. They bring their 20 years of combined experience of working in the Arabian Gulf to focus on managerial communication in this context. The key issues related to this topic are laid out in a very accessible way, and the book is “targeted at practitioners, managers, and students.”
Chapter 1 considers the nature of the workforce, looking at its historic reliance on imported labor and the various localization policies practiced in the different countries that comprise the Arabian Gulf. The authors also discuss the changing role that women are beginning to play in the Gulf workplace. In chapter 2, the authors examine the culture of the Gulf, using the work of social psychologist, Geert Hofstede, as the framework for their analysis, before continuing on to chapter 3, which explains culturally influenced ways in which communication is enacted in Gulf contexts. It is unsurprising then, given the wide range of nationalities to be found in many Gulf organizations, that English plays a central role in communication. This topic is discussed in chapter 4 alongside a consideration of the role of the Arabic language. This chapter also offers suggestions for managing intercultural communication that might be suited to the complex workplaces found in this region. Chapter 5 considers Gulf Arab negotiation styles, explaining the ways in which these differ from those found in contexts outside the area. An overview of the management styles commonly seen in Gulf work settings fittingly follows in chapter 6.
In these six chapters, the authors paint an illuminating and instructive picture of the culture and practices found in Gulf organizations. They present the information with the kind of clarity that practitioners and managers would hope for in a volume of this kind. At the same time, however, their explanations and suggestions are grounded in the work of eminent researchers in the field of culture and communication, including Geert Hofstede, Edward Hall, Pamela Rogerson-Revell, and Helena Spencer-Oatey. In this way they are also opening up a pathway for readers who are interested in managerial communication from an academic perspective.
A great strength of this book is what follows the six chapters summarized above, namely, a set of case studies for consideration and discussion. As a teacher and researcher with eight years’ experience of working in the Arabian Gulf in a number of organizations, I can attest to the authenticity of the scenarios they present: These cases add substance and reality to the theories and explanations provided by the authors, and are a very valuable feature of this volume. Several of the cases involve what is a fairly typical situation, whereby a manager in a multinational organization is posted to the Gulf from a branch in another country. A potential tension exists between national and organizational cultures in workplace settings, and there is some debate as to the constraints that national culture will place on organizational communication practices (Gerhart, 2009; Hofstede, 2001). Certainly there is always the possibility that the practices of specific organizations and their associated cultures may be the driver of communication, but this does not lessen in any way the need to be alert to the demands and expectations of the local context.
In a book of this nature, there is always a potential risk of essentializing particular groups, in this case Gulf Arabs, but the authors are careful to avoid this treatment and handle sensitive issues that pertain to the region in a very thoughtful manner. Additionally, when it comes to providing advice and suggestions for managing communication, there are of course no prescribed ways of addressing the topic in this geographical context, and wisely they do not suggest any, rather raising our awareness of certain cultural traits and practices, and offering guidance rather than rules.
This work should not be seen as a handbook that will anticipate and solve every problem a manager might encounter, nor a comprehensive account of communication practices in the Gulf. Instead, it serves the authors’ intended audiences very well as a practical entry point into what is a highly complex work scene.