Western Organizational Theories: Middle Eastern Style: How much do you Know about the Culture?

Abstract

The strategic vision of minimizing oil dependence in the Middle East has triggered a flurry of innovations, investments, and management initiatives in many public and private organizations (Goyal and Rishi 2003). The Middle East has Western experts working diligently to bring Western theories and practices into the region, promising a better future with tangible improvements. While this can be considered a very noble cause, in many instances, it is assumed that the people who are at the center of all these theories ought to be Western-minded for these principles to work. Adopting Western management concepts in Middle Eastern organizations has always been a challenge for many experts, especially during the implementation phase. The Middle Eastern culture, organizational dynamics, value systems, as well as learning styles are just some of the challenges in the region. Preserving and understanding the local culture and adjusting organizational and management theories to fit the culture should be the way to go – not the other way around. As the first stage of the research, this paper presents a literature review to understand the challenges of adopting Western-style organizational theories and management, and elucidate how these need to be adapted to be culturally sensitive for the Middle East. It discusses the eligibility of Western-style organizational theories in the realities of the Middle East through a number of aspects. The findings of this paper form the basis of an interview instrument that will be used to gather the opinions of experienced Middle Eastern organizational leaders working with Western experts.