Differences in Values among Managers in the Middle East
Liesl Riddle, PhD, Assistant Professor of International Business and International Affairs, School of Business, The George Washington University

Since 9/11, the Middle East(i) has become increasingly important to Western economies. In May 2003, the United States (US) began the Middle East Free Trade Initiative, (MEFTI), a plan of graduated policy steps designed to lay the foundation for a US-Middle East free trade agreement by 2013. As part of this initiative, free-trade agreements have been established between the US and Bahrain, Morocco, and Jordan.

The European Union (EU) also is working toward a free-trade agreement with the Middle East; the Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area (EMFTA) is planned to launch in 2010. Turkey currently is an EU customs union member and an applicant for full-union membership. Free-trade agreements have been established between the EU and Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia; negotiations are underway to establish free-trade agreements with Algeria, Lebanon, and Syria.

Many Middle Eastern nations are taking steps to liberalize trade policies, privatize local businesses, and make their economies more attractive to foreign investment. In February 2006, sixteen Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries participating in the MENA-Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Investment Program outlined a set of common principles and good practices for encouraging investment, including increasing "transparency and predictability of national policies, laws, regulations, administrative practices and statistics affecting foreign and domestic difference" (http://www.oecd.org).

Despite its growing importance, the Middle East region remains understudied in business research. Traditionally, researchers have characterized the Middle East as a homogenous cultural region (e.g., Badawy 1980, Hofstede 1991, 2001). Many popular "doing business in" books and websites also treat the Middle East as a singular cultural entity. Value differences within the region have been largely ignored. Yet, the greater Middle East region-stretching from Morocco to Pakistan-includes a vast array of countries with substantial political, economic, social, and technological heterogeneity.

Cultural values function as lenses through which an individual interprets and interacts with the world. In business research, values have been identified as the cause behind a wide range of issues that affect international trade, including consumer preferences, firm strategy, and managerial behavior.

Much of the work on managerial values examines the difference between collectivistic and individualistic values. Collectivistic individuals value the subordination of personal goals to the goals of an "in-group," which often is a family, neighborhood, and/or ethnic group. Asians, Latin Americans, and Middle Easterners are often associated with collectivistic values. Individualistic individuals value personal needs and self-reliance; social behavior is largely determined by personal goals. Americans are frequently profiled with individualistic values.

Research has linked these values to a wide range of managerial practices and outcomes. For example, individualism has been associated with hiring and promotion activities that are structured by specific written rules, where candidates are selected based on the applicant's skills or experience. When individualistic values are dominant, business tasks prevail over interpersonal relationships. Private opinion is expected, and open conflict is common and encouraged in the workplace. In collectivistic value contexts, managers more often make hiring and promotion decisions based on a candidate's in-group membership rather than his/her qualifications. Interpersonal relationships typically prevail over specific business tasks. Group membership often determines an individual's opinion. Open conflict of disagreement is discouraged in the workplace as the preservation of group harmony is valued.

Traditional business research argued that as societies developed economically, individuals within less-developed, collectivistic settings would become more individualistic, causing a convergence in values across the globe. Others have argued that development and increased cultural contact between individualistic and collectivistic societies may lead to a cross-vergence of values, where individuals profess a blend of collectivistic and individualistic values.

A recent study I conducted along with co-authors from four other countries(ii) associated with the University Fellows International Research Consortium (http://ufirc.ou.edu/) suggests that there may be dissimilarities in managerial values in the Middle East region. Differences may not only exist between nations in the region but also within countries as well.

Our research team administered surveys to over 600 managers in five Middle Eastern countries: Algeria, Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). These countries are quite different along several dimensions. Their different political legacies engendered different degrees of Western cultural contact: Algeria was a former colony of the French until its independence in 1961, and Egypt and Pakistan were former British colonies until their respective independence in 1952 (iii) and 1947. Turkey and the UAE were never colonized. The five study countries also are quite different economically. The UAE is the world's fifth largest oil exporter with a high standard of living (GDP per capita $29,100). The lesser oil exporting nation, Algeria, is a middle-income country (GDP per capita $7,300) as is Turkey (GDP per capita $7,900). Egypt and Pakistan are poorer countries (GDP per capita are $4,400 and $2,400 respectively). The five countries also represent a wide range of ethnicities found in the region, such as Arabs, Berbers, Jews, Kurds, Pashtuns, Punjabis, and Turks.

Our study findings confirm what previous research had identified: managers from Middle Eastern nations are strongly collectivistic. The study revealed statistically significant difference in the degree of collectivism among the managers from the different study countries.

However, interesting country differences were observed in the degree of individualism expressed by managers. Pakistani managers are much more individualistic than Turkish managers and managers from the UAE. Managers from Algeria and Egypt are significantly less individualistic than managers in the other countries.

No evidence was found of a generation gap across the Middle East. Younger managers are more likely to be individualistic than their older counterparts throughout the region. The generational gap is particularly strong within particular countries (the UAE, Egypt, and Algeria).

These findings suggest that homogeneous business approaches in the Middle East may not be appropriate. Collectivist values still exist among Middle East managers, but in many countries, managers also associate with individualistic values-but their degree of individualism depends on what country they are working in and how old they are. It appears possible that a cultural shift is taking place in the Middle East. Future research should further explore these cultural differences and their impact on successful management practice in the region.

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i. The geographic boundaries of the "Middle East are highly debatable. Here, "Middle East" refers to what is referred to by the G8 as the "Greater Middle East," the Arab World (Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, Yemen) together with Turkey, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
ii. David Ralston, Oklahoma University; Carolyn Egri, Simon Fraser University, Canada; Kamel Mellahi, Nottingham University, UK; Arif Butt, Lahore University, Pakistan; and Tevfik Dalgic, University of Dallas.
ii. Although granted de facto independence in 1922, British troops remained in Egypt and true self-rule did not occur until the rise of Gamal Adu-Nasser in 1952.
iii. Although not a colony, in 1853 the Perpetual Treaty of Maritime Truce allowed the British to look after the foreign affairs and external defense of the Trucial States of the UAE without interfering in the internal affairs of the emirates.

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