Some Management Learning's from the Arab World

Management training in qualitative subjects like Marketing Management, Organizational Behaviour, Entrepreneurship, Management of Diversity to name a few, in the Arab World has given many new insights about the subjects in particular and imparting of training in general.Training in marketing management enables one to understand the importance of ethics while indulging in marketing, as the stakeholders are always willing to know whether the offering being presented were part of an ethical process or not starting from its manufacturing till the time it is delivered at their door step.The slightest doubt in the mind of the customer and even other stakeholders may lead to the reduction of their confidence level, culminating in direct and indirect losses for the concerned company.A glimpse across organizations like Oman Air, PDO, Sohar Aluminium, Bank Muscat to name a few from the Sultanate of Oman would show that ethics is strongly incorporated into the cultural fabric of the organization. This definitely has to do with the strong and rich Omani Culture which also emphasizes on ethics as a prime factor, even if that means taking a backseat in the profit related aspect momentarily. As far as Entrepreneurship is concerned, yours truly was completely moved by the backup and support provided by the administrators in bodies like Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry,when he was privy to a seminar where experts from Knowledge Oasis Muscat and Shell sponsored Intilaaqah Oman, which nurtures entrepreneurship all across the globe as part of the Shell funded Live WIRE program dwelt on aspects of starting an enterprise and managing it ethically with a profit motive.Even while training the budding professionals the details of business management,from engineering, business studies and information technology, coupled with the opportunities created by the leadership of the countries, one can strongly feel that there are plethora of opportunities to be grabbed.Organizational Behaviour gave important perspectives pertaining to the cosmopolitan yet strongly embedded local Arabian culture led organizations, where integrity and honesty is given the prime importance.The cosmopolitan aspect of these companies would make one understand how employees from different background which entails ethnicity,language,dress sense, food habits, joins hands in shaping up the organizational culture commensurate with the vision and mission of the company.This aspect also provides valuable lessons for the management of diversity, which is a very big challenge for organizations globally as they are into cross border deals, establishing relationships with stakeholders from all over the world.The other factors which are crucial are the importance of maintaining the cultural sensitivity of people working in the organizations which is observed in abundance across the organizations present in the Arab World.

The learning from other countries like the UAE would follow subsequently in another post.