The UAE's cultural dimensions according to Hofstede's model

Global Business Cultural Analysis of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
The Major Elements and Dimension of Culture in the Region
According to the Hofstede model of cultural dimensions, the major elements and dimensions of culture in the UAE are collectivism, hierarchical orders within the power structure of society, a balanced perspective towards focusing work and maintaining a high quality of life, and a tendency to focus on planning for the future (Hofstede Insights, 2018). To better understand the elements of the UAE’s culture, however, it is important to consider what the UAE is: since 1971, it has been a united federal stated made up of the following emirates: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al-Khaimah, Ajman, Umm Al-Qaiwain, and Fujairah. Prior to the rise of the oil economy in the latter half of the 20th century, the Emirati culture was based mainly a desert economy with oasis farming, sea trading, pearling, and sea-culture development. The region’s main cultural elements were part of the common Arab culture in the land. The oil rich region prospered following the demand for oil throughout the rapidly industrializing world. Now, as Khakhar & Rammal (2013) note, the Arab world is “an important economic region due to its natural resources, geographic location and political influence” (p. 578). The UAE is particularly important in the global context because it is situated between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman and thus represents a critical geo-political position, with Iran across the gulf to its north and Saudi Arabia its neighbor to the south and east. The UAE stands between Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq and their access to the Arabian Sea. These factors play a significant part in the development of the state and its culture in the past few years for as an oil rich state with a critical geographical position, its politics, economics and culture are all integrated (Weir, 2003).
While the Arab culture is often associated with Islam and Islamic culture, there is quite a bit of diversity and cultural variability among the various Islamic nations in the Arab world (Hutchings & Weir, 2006). The UAE is a country that has high power distance and collectivism dimension scores on the Hofstede model of cultural dimensions. It is only moderately masculine and it has a very low long-term orientation with an equally low indulgence dimension (Hofstede, Hofstede & Minkov, 2010). Authority is respected and people in the communities primarily enjoy focusing on building relationships with one another. They exercise trust, which plays a significant role in their society and they think and act collectively: individuality is not a big concern for them. Their values are rooted in traditions of the Arab world, yet being a major economic and geo-political power in the gulf, the UAE has embraced some modern aspects that differentiate it from other Arab countries. For example, global finance is a major part of its economy alongside oil (Index Mundi, 2018). To avoid the type of revolution that occurred elsewhere in the Arab world during the Arab Spring, the UAE has sought to invest heavily in the poor northern districts of the state and has engaged in political reform as well in an effort to reduce the risk of domestic turmoil in the future (Index Mundi, 2018). This is one example of the way the state has gone about planning for the future.
Diversity is also important to the UAE, as it hosts a number of different groups and has to in order to function as a financial actor on the global stage. For that reason, while the majority of the population is Muslim, Islam is not the only religion in the UAE. As Soriano (2014) notes, “the official religion is Islam; approximately 76% of the population is Muslim. Of all Muslims, 85 % are Sunni and 15% are Shia. In the UAE some other religions are also practiced though to a lesser extent, 9% of the population is Christian and 15% practiced another religion or are atheists. Dubai is the only emirate in the UAE which has a Hindu temple and there are also Catholic Church buildings” (p. 380). In other words, three out of every four persons in the UAE will be Muslim; roughly 1 in 10 will be Christian. Dubai is the most culturally diverse city in the UAE and it is also one of the most metropolitan centers in the Middle East, so this should not be a surprise.
Being a highly internationalized state in many respects, yet still very traditional in other respects, when it comes to dining and eating food, the UAE has much to offer in terms of both local and international variety. Some of the main local items to be had in the state include (Soriano, 2014):
· Shawarma—similar to the Turkish kebab, prepared with beef, chicken or lamb.
· Tabbule—a salad of cucumbers, peppers, lettuce, tomato, lemon and spices.
· Humus—chickpea paste
· Madroba—dried fish, re-hydrated with butter.
· Falafel feffle—stuffed peppers
· Quebe—meat balls with flour and spices.
· Tagine—lamb stew
· Samosas—an Arabic pastry stuffed with meat or potatoes and spices.
· Baklawa—a common Mediterranean desert.
These food items are unique to the region in which the UAE is situated and so are not found as staples of diets in other parts of the world except where ethnic food is found. Thus, one may be able to buy somasas, for instance, at an Indian or Arabic restaurant in the U.S. because there are many ethnicities in the U.S. However, in the UAE, Arabians are the primarily demographic, and this shows in their food customs.
Relationships Matter
Being a collectivist society, the UAE is highly dependent upon people being concerned about respect and honor. A collectivist culture only works so long as relationships matter and people in the society concern themselves with developing strong ties to family and communities. Powerful families and business connections are important parts of the way the UAE is established. In-groups and the management of in-groups is integral to the way of life in businesses in the UAE. Part of the management process is the relationship-building process, and in a collectivist society, the UAE’s culture is rooted in developing relationships in ways that are traditional for collectivist groups. The society is highly centralized and the perfect leader in the UAE is one who is viewed as a “benevolent autocrat” (Soriano, 2014, p. 381).
One way to build trust is to demonstrate respect through the observance of the social customs and practices as well as the expectations that go along with them. Hofstede (1984) notes too that developing relationships “in most collectivist cultures also involves the giving of presents and the rendering of services” (p. 84). In the UAE, gift-giving is simply part of the culture. But as Parsons, Ballantine and Kennedy (2011) point out, gift-giving has another aspect to it, which is that benefits are typically sought by the recipient for some dotage or another. As this is common practice, it is accepted throughout the culture.
Masculinity/Femininity
The UAE is neither very masculine nor very feminine in terms of culture. It appreciates both the necessity of work and the value of focusing on one’s quality of life. Work is associated with masculinity in the Hofstede cultural model and the quality of one’s life—stopping to smell the roses, so to speak, is associated with femininity. In the UAE there is a balanced mix of masculinity and femininity dimensions in the culture. Work is a major part of life in the UAE, but so too is enjoying a high quality of life. To ensure that all people in the state get to observe a high quality of life, the UAE government has invested more than a billion dollars in infrastructure in the past decade—and more funds are on the way: “over 21 percent of this year's public spending of $15.5 billion in Dubai is earmarked for infrastructure projects” (Bridge, 2018). Behind only China in terms of investing in its nation’s infrastructure, the UAE is heavily working to build and develop its state.
This investment has its appeal both for businesses that benefit from increased transportation and communication infrastructure and for communities that also benefit from being linked into the larger network of the state. By allocating funds for this type of development, the UAE shows that its balanced cultural dimension of masculinity/femininity is a genuine element of society. Neither too much emphasis is placed on work to the detriment of quality of life, nor too much emphasis placed on quality of life to the detriment of work. There is also interaction between local and state actors—“a considerable number of local and federal entities are involved in drawing up and implementing plans for logistics and transport development in Dubai”—which shows that integration between local communities and the state government are important for the UAE (Oxford Business Group, 2018)
Avoiding Uncertainty
The UAE’s culture focuses on avoiding uncertainty at all costs. The culture is very rules-based, and rules are desired—even if they do not make sense or do not work practically speaking. The desire for rules is what the culture expresses and leaders feel that they must oblige (Soriano, 2014). As Soriano (2014) notes, “countries exhibiting high uncertainty avoidance maintain rigid codes of belief and behavior and are intolerant of unorthodox behavior and ideas” (p. 382). For this reason, in the UAE, security is important and people generally believe in working hard to stay busy. People in the UAE are typically precise and on time for things: they do not show up for work late and are generally punctual. People want to feel safe and so they do not like to violate the rules or be without the safety and comfort of expected protection.
Respect
The UAE is all about respect—respect for the way of life of people and respect for the ruling families of the emirates. Respect goes hand in hand with security and with building relationships. It is what allows the UAE to have equal parts focus on business and leisure. It is what allows the state to be traditional and mindful of local customs while also being appealing to international communities and offering the types of luxury and refinement, foods and cultures (from a Hindu temple and Catholic churches) to various forms of recreational entertainment. The UAE is committed to being a world player in the finance and oil industries and its geopolitical strategic position ensures that it commands respect from its neighbors but that it also be respectful towards them. Thus, the state does not take criticism lightly, nor does it dish it out. The state aims to be benevolent as far as possible in an autocratic, centralized form of government. The people honor traditional codes and customs that align with moral Islamic beliefs, as the majority of the people are Muslim in the UAE, but it also understands that international values will differ from those of the UAE and so it is not completely intolerant of Western customs, such as smoking or drinking; it simply appreciates it if these are done respectfully with consideration for the local customs.
How These Elements and Dimensions are Integrated by Locals Conducting Business in the Nation
Locals integrate the elements and dimensions of the UAE’s culture when conducting business in a variety of ways. As Soriano (2014) shows, these customs include the practice of:
· Always accepting and drinking coffee whenever it is offered during a meeting, as coffee-drinking is viewed as a normal social ritual in the UAE;
· Always being mindful of the culture’s dominant religious and social values regarding respect for the differences between the sexes: for this reason, men will not sit with women when in a meeting but rather the two sexes will sit in their own respective groups;
· Always making it a point when eating at a business luncheon to sample all the entrees that are provided as the providers take satisfaction in providing so many different foods and drinks and want to be respected for their efforts;
· Always when going to or coming from a business meeting taking a cab;
· Always being mindful of holidays and customary days off work so as not to schedule meetings on non-work days such as weekends, including Fridays;
· Always appreciating that English is the universal language of the business world in the modern era and thus using English in a business meeting shows one’s commitment to the international community and the fact that people in the UAE are studied and practiced in the ways of modern business expectations;
· Always maintaining eye contact with one’s business counterpart in any negotiations as this shows respect for the person and also conveys confidence in one’s own business abilities;
· Always speaking without hesitation, as the UAE culture is not one that likes uncertainty, so even if there is some doubt about what is the nature of an issue, the individual in the UAE will not show doubt or hesitation but will rather show confidence and assume that the issue will be worked out in any case;
· Always accepting gifts welcomingly, and likewise always take gifts to colleagues and even for their male relatives and this shows respect for the family; arts and crafts make especially good gifts as these demonstrate an appreciation for culture;
· Always negotiating in a friendly manner and never with hostility or desperation;
· Always be mindful of the respect that comes with age, which is why team leaders will always be over 30 years old, as experience is respected in the UAE and it is part of the tradition for persons who are older to have more knowledge and experience in the business world;
· Always inquiring about colleagues’ families before getting down to business;
· Always greeting other Arab men with a kiss, similar to the way the French do per their custom;
· Always taking into consideration the way in which it is expected that religious observance will be a factor in social and business environments.
Likewise, locals in the UAE will be mindful of not committing the following faux-pas’s as well, as Soriano (2014) shows, when engaging in a business meeting or regular business practice:
· Never criticizing one of the powerful families of any of the seven emirates in the UAE;
· Never scheduling a business meeting or appointment during Ramadan, as this is an especially holy period for Muslims;
· Never demonstrating an attitude or air of disrespect towards the religious practices of others, but especially towards Islam, as this is the dominant religion of the state; to disrespect a religious practice of another, no matter what it is, however, is viewed as very offensive in the UAE, where everyone is expected to respect the beliefs of others with regard to spirituality;
· Never giving an open display of public affection to a person of the opposite sex;
· Never wearing clothing that reveals a great deal of the body and always being mindful of modesty and propriety;
· Never drinking alcohol when engaging in a business meeting even in an informal setting;
· Never offering pork or alcohol to a business colleague of the Islamic faith when having then for an informal dinner;
· Never making a business meeting or appointment on a Friday as this is technically considered the first day of the weekend in the UAE, and they have just as much respect for taking time off from work as they do for getting down to work; in other words, when it is time to work, it is time to work; and when it is time to get away from work, it is time to get away from work; the two times should not be confused;
· Never offering a bottle of alcohol as a gift to a colleague;
· Never including a woman in a business negotiation: all negotiating should be conducted between the men in the office, as the culture of the UAE is focused on segregating men’s and women’s roles in society;
· Never mocking or even questioning an Islamic custom in the workplace;
· Never discussing political issues such as what the state of Israel or Iraq or Iran is doing with respect to the UAE.
These basic workplace customs are how the locals of the UAE implement the elements and cultural dimensions of the state into their business practices.
One can see from the above list of items that the culture of the UAE is very carefully and rigidly integrated into business practices. There is always expected to be a show of respect for the dignity of the ruling families of the state. And there should never be any demonstration of disrespect or distrust of one’s business associate, even when conducting negotiations, as respect and friendliness are two of the powerful drivers of the culture of the UAE. Relationships are of vital importance to the culture and distrust does not facilitate relationship-building.
As business is of equal parts importance to the people along with time off from work, the people understand the role that appreciation and friendliness plays, even in business activities. That is why gift-giving is a big part of the custom: it shows that one is mindful of the other person and appreciates what they are doing for them. It also shows in the negotiation process: locals in the UAE never act with hostility or distrust of the other person or his position, because this indicates a weak relationship. Instead, the two negotiate amicably at all times.
How Both of above Items Compare with U.S. Culture and Business
Compared to the UAE, the U.S. has very different cultural dimensions and elements that locals integrate into their business practices. While the UAE is very aware of inequality in terms of power distribution, the U.S. is only moderately aware of this. One of the tenets of American philosophy is the idea of equality, yet this is displayed in different ways among Americans. The American culture was for most of its existence very unequal. Blacks and women were not allowed basic rights, such as the right to vote until the 20th century (freed slaves were ostensibly given this right in the 19th century, but Jim Crow laws in the South made it nearly impossible for them to exercise this right unless they were well-educated, as many states implemented a literacy test that blacks had to pass in order to be able to vote) (A&E, 2018). Blacks were treated unfairly throughout half the 20th century, too, and it was not until the Civil Rights Movement that they began to receive equal treatment as a result of federal law. However, both blacks and women still often complain of inequality (Kluegel & Smith, 2017).
Marriage and the family is another issue for many Americans with half of marriages ending in divorce in the U.S. and the family unit size shrinking as fewer and fewer Americans are having births. Small families are now the norm in America, with the media family size being 2.6 people (ArcGIS, 2018). As many families in America are single-parent families, this only makes the family situation that much more problematic; by extension, the society and culture suffer as well. By contrast, the UAE encourages big families and many households have 5+ people in them (EveryCulture, 2018). Thus, the U.S. is shrinking and the UAE is growing. The culture is impacted as a result. But individualism as a cultural dimension also plays a part in that. Individualism is much higher as a dimension in the U.S. than it is in the UAE, where collectivism is higher dimension.
This individualism in the U.S. means that different groups form their own identities. White Americans tend to adhered to White Anglo Saxon Protestant principles and to liberal ideologies. Black Americans tend to focus more on their past and their ancestors’ past in defining their identity. This too creates tension in the culture of the U.S., which impacts the way businesses approach their workers. That is why the concept of affirmative action came about in the U.S., as employers felt they needed to focus more on diversity and making sure all races were represented in the workplace. There is a great deal of white guilt in the U.S. This stems from the fact that slavery was a negative experience for blacks in America, but it was an accepted business practice for centuries and only ended because of the Civil War and the fact that Lincoln wanted to destroy the morale of the South by overthrowing its social and economic order. Nonetheless, blacks in the U.S. had to deal with a lot of suffering prior to emancipation and even after the end of slavery they had to deal with Jim Crow laws, segregation and many other problems that the ruling class in America kept alive. From beginning till now, African Americans have had mainly a culture of suffering but it has made their community closer in many ways and there are still a lot of traditional concepts and values that African Americans retain. White Americans are more fractured, as their Christian culture has been undermined in the 20th century by the influx of revolutionary Jewish ideas regarding family, gender, sexuality, and identity.
Issues that divide Americans tend to be associated with identity politics. Some members of various groups think that everything has to be politicized and that, for instance, in order for the African American to truly become authentic he has to get back to his African roots. But others don’t have any sense of any roots in Africa, no more than the descendents of a German American immigrant have any sense of roots in Germany after so many generations of passed. Alice Walker (1973) gave the best description of this division in her short story “Everyday Use,” in which the eldest daughter of an African American family returns to her home in the South after leaving college and says that she has changed her given name to an African-sounding name, even though it is made up and has no more to do with real Africa than the trees growing in the front yard of the house (Hoel, 1999).
For many Americans, religion is very important. Some are Protestant and some are Catholic. Some are Muslim. Some are Jewish. Some are Hindu. Some are atheist. It really depends upon the ethnicity of the groups, as there are many different people in the U.S. The primary religion in the U.S. is Protestant Christianity, with 50% of the population counting themselves among this group. Catholics make up about 20% of the population. Jews make up 2% of the population. Muslims make up 1% of the population. Agnostics and atheists make 7% and individuals who have no opinion one way or another on religion make up roughly 16% of the population (Pew Research Center, 2018). So one can see that religious elements and cultural dimensions in the U.S. are vastly different from what they are in the UAE. This all plays a part in Americans’ approach to business in a complex way and has throughout history. Catholics for example have been more religious traditionally when it comes to observing holy days in the Church and closing businesses on Sundays, which they view as the Lord’s Day, as did most Protestants prior to the second half of the 20th century when a deep trend of secularization took hold in society as revolutionary politics led first and foremost by Jewish thinkers and activists like Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem, Judith Butler and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Moreover, America is a much older country than the UAE, which really only formed in the latter half of the 20th century and before then was a very poor region as it had no oil or finance economy to sustain it. America has always been a rich nation with its agriculture and industry, and these elements have fueled the sense of Americans that they are the greatest nation in the world, which also contrasts with their sense of equality, which they tend to believe in as a principle yet fail to show both domestically and abroad (Elster, 2006).
At the end of the day, religion is important to those people who practice it and those white Americans and African American families who do not practice any type of religion tend to be disconnected from positive cultural inputs. In these cases, they tend to rely on popular music such as hip hop and rap, or social media and TMZ for their dosage of cultural inputs. Thus, there is really a night-and-day difference between Americans who are grounded by religious inputs and live their religious values in their lives, and Americans who latch onto the superficial aspects of modern culture and live their lives according to these often glib and pretentious values. In the UAE, the traditions of the Arab world are much more embedded in the culture. In the U.S., traditions have been displaced by movements like the women’s movement, the black lives matter movement, and so on.
Gender roles and expectations among men and women Americans are less traditional for the most part for white Americans, but still more traditional for black Ameericans; however, in recent decades, the family dynamic has broken up and many families are single-parent families. In black families where both parents are still together, there is usually a strong religious element to the family and women are more focused on domestic aspects of the family and men with the work aspect. In single-parent families, women have no choice but to leave the house and work to support what is left of the family. The mother is mainly the most important voice in the family as a result. The fathers may not be well known or in the picture at all. In the UAE, families are very much whole and integral to the success of society, so the culture in the UAE is not as destabilized in the U.S. as it is in the UAE, which is why in the latter trust is so important and why trust can be demonstrated and why people can negotiate with friendliness in the workplace. In the U.S., everyone mistrusts everyone because the culture and the Christian principles have been bred out of the families, so everyone is very suspicious of everyone else in general.
Age is important for some groups in the U.S., such as African Americans, but less so for white Americans. Like the population in the UAE, where respect is shown to the elderly and age is equated with experience and knowledge, blacks in America also show respect to their elders. Whites do less so, and old folks homes are common in the U.S. because families are not close and children do not want to be burdened with caring for their elders. Growing up and aging is related to informal rites of passage—and parenthood is a big part of that. When one becomes a mother or a father for the first time, it is a huge moment that means one has transitioned from adolescence into adulthood. However, because crime is a problem among this community as a result of the disintegration of the family unit and of poverty, there is a negative rite of passage associated with getting arrested or going to jail among men. This is very problematic and needs to be addressed because it is something that perpetuates negative stereotypes about blacks—namely that they are all “hoods” and criminals.
Prejudices and stereotypes that whites have about blacks are really just that—that blacks cannot be trusted. In the old days, blacks were depicted in the movies as lazy and non-threatening. Then after WWII and the Civil Rights Movement when African Americans began to be more respected in society, the prejudices and stereotypes began to be based on blacks being aggressive and hostile and threatening. So there has been a significant change in how whites perceive us and it has everything to do with preserving a power structure of the ruling class. However, it is hard to argue against some prejudices—like all blacks are potential rapists—especially when role models like Bill Cosby turn out to be exactly that. Still, it has to be reminded that this is still an ugly and hateful stereotype because rape is not something that is determined by race.
Americans as a whole are diverse so it is not easy to say that they all have prejudices or stereotypes about other groups. Some view whites as all power hungry and fearful of blacks. Some view Hispanics as criminals. Some view Asians as very intelligent. A lot of American comedians have made careers out of emphasizing racial stereotypes to comedic effect, but this is nothing unique, as comedians have done the same in the past.
In the U.S. the separation of church and state ensures that there is no real integration of religious communities in the political system. However, religious communities do tend to vote conservative, and the evangelical community voted almost unanimously for Trump in the 2016 election (Smidt, 2017). The Jewish community may be the one exception in the U.S. The Jewish lobby AIPAC is highly influential in American government and the extent to which American political figures are beholden to Jewish interests is evident in the fact that when the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu visits the U.S. Congress, he receives dozens of standing ovations as though he were Stalin and they were the Politburo. Trump himself is beholden to the Zionist interests in government and the Christian-Zionist community is strong, too, with leaders like Cruz and Pence constantly talking about the special relationship that exists between Israel and the U.S. as though the former were the 51st state. In both the U.S. and the UAE, however, it is common to avoid politics in business.
Because there is so much emphasis on equality, tension surrounds the issue of equality in the U.S. culture, and so a great deal of time is spent by researchers in the U.S. trying to figure out how to motivate workers. This is not really a problem in the UAE because the culture is much more coherent and consistent. People in the UAE understand clearly the power structure and what is expected of them within their roles. In the U.S., this is simply not the case as most people believe they are equal or should be equal yet know at the same time that in fact they are not equal and cannot ever be. This produces profound psychological impacts on the business workplace environment, and thus, as Norsworthy and Zabala (1990) have shown, businesses have to invest in ways to incentivize workers because they simply do not know their place or how to be motivated to do anything for others. Thus U.S. researchers have taken time to show that when worker attitudes are positive the company benefits in terms of cost and production. In other words, they must do research to show that there is a direct link between keeping workers happy and maintaining high levels of performance (Norworthy & Zabala, 1990), which is just something that would be taken for granted as common sense in the UAE.
Leadership is one of the most important aspects of any organizational culture in the U.S. as well. Because equality is such a key element, at least idealistically speaking, there is a great deal of apprehension and discussion about how businesses should conduct themselves with respect to workers. Leadership is a big issue in the U.S. In the UAE, leadership is firmly established by the ruling families in each of the emirates and the autocratic system of government is firmly embedded in the culture and accepted by the people. There is no need for dilly-dallying about who will lead or who will make the decisions or how to make sure workers are motivated. Workers know they better be motivated because if they are not they will be dealt with systematically by the people who are in charge. In the U.S. leaders are sometimes quite fearful and apprehensive about taking charge in such a way because modern Americans are hyper-sensitive of their feelings (Ellsworth, 1994).
Nonetheless, leaders in the U.S. help to define what a company is and what it aims to be. They set the tone, set the model behavior, set the standard, and communicate the vision. Bad leaders, good leaders, ineffectual leaders—it makes no difference: each one will have an impact on the organization’s employees and that impact will reflect the type of leader at the top. As Schyns and Schilling (2013) show, bad leaders make organizations worse: they kill morale, make workers feel isolated and unsupported, and can even inspire outright malice in some. Good leaders, on the other hand, can move an organization that needs to change its pace to new heights by boosting performance, motivating workers, strengthening the workplace culture and providing the support that people need to become self-actualizing (Maslow, 1943). A good leader will tend to have a good leadership style or theory in mind whenever he is trying to oversee an organizational change.
In America, one style of leadership that is popular is transformational leadership. This is a style of leadership that Americans use to try to get their workers to “buy into” the vision of the company and unite their energy to what the company is trying to do. The underlying assumption in transformational leadership theory is that a leader is capable of inspiring workers to follow him. The more enthusiastic, passionate and capable of communicating a vision to employees, the more likely the transformational leader is to have a positive impact on the American worker (Warrick, 2011), or at least that is the idea of this leadership theory. According to transformational leadership theory, the leader has to first focus on developing the vision, then communicate the vision, and finally motivate and inspire the workers to embrace the vision. In the UAE, no such focus is required for leaders. Respect is shown via the culture dimensions. In America, the cultural dimensions are confused, so leaders have to “create” a workplace culture, which is problematic as they differ from one business to the next. In the U.S., transformational leaders have to know what change in their workers is needed and why—and then they have to be able to explain this to employees using vivid, motivational language that gets the workers to buy into the ideas presented. A leader who lacks this type of ability to harness the energy in the workplace and point it towards the vision of the workplace that is to come is a leader who will have a difficult time leading. Employees want a reason to buy into the change, as Kotter (2007) explains.
In the face of organizational change, transformational leadership is especially effective because the whole idea behind this theory is that it should be utilized to achieve change. The transformational leadership style is applied precisely because the status quo is deemed insufficient for accomplishing the organization’s goals and a transformation is needed in the workers, whether it is in their attitude to work, the processes they use to accomplish their tasks, their tasks in general, or the workplace culture. The transformational leadership style brings a new vision, energy and focus to the American workplace to enable workers to overcome whatever resistance they may have. This type of leadership is not really necessary in the UAE as respect for the power structure is already embedded in the culture.
For the American culture, there is a great deal of emphasis on getting workers to feel like they are part of the decision-making process at times, because of the ideals of equality and individuality that are embedded in the culture. Participative leaders focus on involving others in the decision-making process. Participative leaders focus on getting stakeholders involved for all decision-making sequences. The underlying reason for an emphasis on participation is that people tend to be more committed to an action when they feel they have been involved in the deciding. Participative leadership theory also posits that when people are working together to solve issues within an organization they focus more on collaboration and less on themselves or on competition. The collaborative spirit can boost morale and give everyone an intrinsic incentive to reach the organization’s goals. This theory also posits that the more minds working together, the better.
Some participative leaders will give workers more decision-making power than other participative leaders will. There is no exact definition for how much delegating should be done. The main expectation, however, is that individual workers and other stakeholders will be invited to participate in the change planning, implementation and execution. By bringing everyone together as a team, the participator leader helps to eliminate distractions and root out negativity and resistance. In the UAE, leaders do this by building relationships and because of the collective culture of the UAE, this works. America does not have a collectivist culture, so when leaders in the workplace attempt to use collectivist approaches like participatory leadership, they end up stalling and not really inspiring the right outcome for the most part. The problem in the American culture is that it is too focused on diametrically opposed aims—like equality and individuality; the two simply do not go together.
The U.S. has a high masculinity score, which means most people in the U.S. focus on work instead of on quality of life—so they are less balanced than people in the UAE in this respect. Americans also have a greater tolerance for uncertainty, which is why they are more willing to embrace innovation than the people in the UAE are. This is also why a lot of creative ideas come from the U.S.—new ideas are welcomed there. Like the UAE, the U.S. has a low score in the long-term orientation dimension: Americans do not plan for the future very well. They are practical but not long-term oriented. Americans also have a high indulgence score in this dimension, which means they lack good impulse control. They do not harness their desires. The UAE has a low indulgence score, indicating that the culture is much more regulated in the UAE than it is in the U.S., which is not surprising given Americans’ penchants for engaging in things that are not healthy or good for them.
For instance, in the U.S., Americans consider fast food a staple of their diet even though they all know it is not good for them. Likewise, alcohol is welcome and many people use drugs, even though drugs are mostly illegal. However, there is an entire industry that is accepted and all it does is manufacture drugs—this is the pharmaceutical industry and many people in the U.S. die from addiction to opioids in the U.S. So the indulgence element in the U.S. is much higher than it is in the UAE, and this impacts the way Americans approach the business world, too. Americans go to work not thinking about what they can do for their company but rather what their company can do for them. Turnover rates are high just about everywhere, whether in health care, education or IT. Few workers are really very satisfied with their jobs, which is why leaders in the business world in the U.S. spend so much time trying to figure out ways to motivate workers, measure performance, be inclusive, and reconcile the tensions among the different groups and races, as everyone has their own identity and values. The business world is much more diverse in the U.S. than in the UAE, which makes it more complicated and complex in the U.S. but which also allows innovation and new ideas to flourish.
The Implications for U.S. Businesses That Wish to Conduct Business in the Region
As Hofstede (1980) noted, culture has a tremendous consequence when it comes to establishing work-related values. Managers have to demonstrate cultural intelligence when planning teams and interacting with team members of a variety of different cultures (Hofstede, 1984). Cultural intelligence allows a manager to “commit to increasing [his] knowledge of facts about different people and places, their political and economic systems, their traditions, diet, fashion and the like”—which ultimately enables the manager to build rapport, trust, confidence, and good faith. For these reasons, a U.S. business that wishes to conduct business in the UAE has to be aware of the cultural dimensions and how they differ from America’s own cultural dimensions.
U.S. businesses that wish to conduct business in the UAE must be cognizant of the many differences between them. The American leader is unlikely to have to apply any specific leadership style when doing business in the UAE, as the workers in the UAE will already be committed to the vision of the organization as a result of their respect for the power structure there.