Women’s career development in an Arab Middle Eastern context

This study examines women’s perspectives on requirements for enabling their access to senior leadership roles in the under-researched context of the Arab Middle East. It draws on an approach that utilizes qualitative, in-depth, semi-structured interviews with academic women working in Saudi Arabia higher education. The findings of this study reveal several culturally responsive strategies for supporting the advancement of women into leading positions within higher education. Also, the study demonstrates how women in Saudi higher education learn to resist patriarchal power structures and gender discrimination, and to develop their own strategies for negotiating those issues. In addition, the results provide evidence of the academy’s importance as an institution that works collaboratively with the government to develop women’s careers. The originality of this paper is its contribution to the limited knowledge that currently exists on women’s career development in the Arab Middle Eastern context. This study also will benefit human resource departments and human resource development practitioners with knowledge regarding the intertwining of social forces with university practices, and gender-related issues, which in turn affect women’s positions in the academy. Additionally, the study suggests that human resource development practitioners should establish policies and practices with respect to gender-related equity issues that could have a positive impact on wider national human resource development systems, and potentially open more opportunities for positive career development for women.     

Gauging the unique developmental strategies towards human resource at Saudi Aramco

Saudi Aramco’s unrivalled upstream oil operations over the years would not have been possible without an unparalleled commitment towards the development of people. The human resource department of Saudi Aramco was successful in creating a healthy and productive environment by shifting the focus from ‘administration’ to being a ‘strategic partner’. The purpose of this paper is to identify and illuminate the human resource developmental strategies that are aligned with core business practices leading to exceptional performance at Saudi Aramco. As an academician, the author believes that this paper will provide an insight into gauging human resource development strategies for any aspiring firm and can be referred for further research.     

Work motivations as antecedents and outcomes of leadership: Integrating self-determination theory and the full range leadership theory

While some research has documented links between supervisors’ leadership style and subordinates’ motivation, little is known about what drives leadership behaviors in the first place. This study aimed to contribute to the scholarly literature on motivational antecedents of leadership by drawing on the self-determination theory (SDT) of motivation and the full range leadership theory. We traced work motivation throughout the leadership process, starting with supervisors’ work motivations as potential antecedents of leadership styles and proceeding to how leadership styles associate with subordinates’ work motivations. A 2-2-1 multilevel mediational model tested on 61 supervisors and their 244 subordinates showed that supervisors’ autonomous work motivation was linked with subordinates’ ratings of supervisors’ transformational leadership which, in turn, was linked with subordinates’ autonomous work motivation. Furthermore, supervisors’ transactional leadership mediated the association between their controlled motivation and their subordinates’ controlled motivation, whereas supervisors’ passive-avoidant leadership mediated the link between their amotivation and their subordinates’ amotivation. Our integration of the full spectrum of SDT’s conceptualization of motivation with the full range of leadership theory provides insights into the motivational processes that naturally direct supervisors toward transformational, transactional, or passive-avoidant leadership styles and their consequent reflection in subordinates’ motivations. The work has both theoretical and practical implications.     

Exploring the Effects of the Privacy‐Handling Management Styles of Social Networking Sites on User Satisfaction: A Conflict Management Perspective

The issue of consumer information privacy, arguably the most substantial and persistent problem confronting e‐commerce companies in general and online social networking service providers in particular, often results in unsatisfied customers. Researchers have investigated privacy from various perspectives and in a multitude of settings, yet there have been few attempts to understand privacy versus satisfaction, particularly from the perspective of conflict management. Because users’ privacy can be negatively affected by social networking sites (SNSs), this study focuses on the privacy conflicts between SNSs and their users. Drawing on conflict management theory, this article investigates the effects of different conflict management styles exhibited by an SNS on users’ satisfaction with its privacy practices, which then affects their intention to disclose personal information. The SNS examined in this study is Facebook, the most popular SNS with the largest number of users. Data were collected using an online survey and were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results suggest that the two cooperative conflict management styles demonstrated by the SNS—accommodating and problem‐solving—positively affect users’ satisfaction with the privacy practices of the SNS both directly and indirectly through perceived privacy risk control. With regard to uncooperative styles, an avoiding style negatively affects user satisfaction directly, whereas an asserting style negatively affects user satisfaction indirectly through perceived privacy risk. The results also support that satisfaction is positively related to intention; users who are satisfied with the privacy practices of SNSs are more willing to disclose personal information than unsatisfied ones.     

The relationship between burnout and risk-taking in workplace decision-making and decision-making style

This study aimed to investigate what decision-making styles might be exhibited by employees who experience burnout. Using a Work Risk Inventory (WRI), developed for this study, which included generic workplace scenarios, it was also explored whether such employees take relatively more risky decisions. Risk was conceptualised as the adoption of decisions that threaten one’s reputation at work, job performance and job security. The mediating effect of the likelihood and seriousness of the consequences of the worst that could happen in each given scenario on the relationships between dimensions of burnout and risk-taking was also tested. A total of 262 employees in various occupations completed an online survey, including measures on burnout, decision-making styles and the WRI. As predicted, dimensions of burnout – exhaustion, cynicism and professional inefficacy – correlated significantly with avoidant decision-making and negatively with rational decision-making. The seriousness of the consequences of the worst-case scenario occurring mediated the relationship between professional inefficacy and risk-taking. In the context of identifying mechanisms by which burnout leads to risky decision-making, the findings suggest that employees’ sense of professional inefficacy determines their risky decision-making. The contribution to theory and implications for practice are discussed.     

Open innovation and quality management: the moderating role of interorganisational IT infrastructure and complementary learning styles

This study seeks to explain the influence of quality management on the relationship between open innovation and performance. We propose that, to contribute to open innovation performance, an organisation’s commitment to quality improvement must rely on the combination of its own resources and capabilities and its open innovation partners’ resources and capabilities. Specifically, we examine the moderating role of an interorganisational IT infrastructure and the complementarity of learning styles among an organisation committed to quality improvement and its supply network. Using data from 270 managers of European firms, our results show that the negative effects of quality management on open innovation performance can be overcome by complementing the organisation’s learning style with that of its open innovation partner, particularly, its supply network, and, most importantly, obtaining information technologies compatible with those of its supply network members.     

Decisions,judgement and style

This paper, one of a series which have already appeared in previous issues, focuses on the role of people, their judgments and their styles in the process of making and taking decisions concerning the future; that future and the decisions which will shape it being part of the complex strategic planning process. The author does not deal with decision analysis but concentrates his analysis upon the delicate balance which is maintained between what Sir Geoffrey Vickers calls ‘the art of judgement’ and the quantifiable elements of decision. The author rightly makes a distinction between decision-making: and decision-taking: this distinction accurately mirrors the long and often complex consultation process which occurs in almost all organizations before a decision is actually taken. The author's analysis concentrates upon the important effect which ‘judgement styles’ can have upon an organization and its planning process. Indeed, this paper suggests quite positively that judgment styles have an important and indeed crucial effect upon the view of the future which an organization will regard as preferable as well as influencing the manner in which the planning process will operate.     

Coaching at the heart of managerial effectiveness: A cross-cultural study of managerial behaviours

This article considers the assessed performances of non-commissioned officers in aprogramme perceived as an important career enhancing activity for British military personnel. We introduce the idea of cognitive style as an important individual difference affecting performance on programmes of training and development and the implications for career progression. The research methodology adopted involved mixed methods as an alternative way of ‘seeing’, ‘researching’ and ‘theorising’ human resources development in this context. The research drew upon a mix of data from course participants and organizers, and it comprised cognitive style testing, within course assessment data and notes recorded during field observation. The results revealed relationships between the factors associated with ‘styles’, ‘assessed learning performance’ and ‘course experience’. Key perspectives on the experiences of training in terms of success and strategic direction were also identified. The study provides a deeper understanding of career-development processes in the military organization, considers the implications in which knowledge of an individual's style may have for the individual and course organizers and imports new theoretical frameworks into the study of human resource development.     

Glück in der Arbeit durch eine beglückende Beratung in Muße

After a review of four new books, which address the matter of happiness from sociological, economic, psychological and philosophical point of view, the importance of leisure in today’s working society for being happy is pointed out, especially for professionals. This has a consequence for consulting: Id needs to integrate both styles of life so that its addressees can fully use their opportunities to their happiness.     

Leadership styles,Machiavellianism, and needs of Saudi Arabian managers

The findings indicated that the economic environment and the cultural and religious orientations of managers in Saudi Arabia significantly influenced their scores on Machiavellianism and the relationships between their needs and leadership styles. In comparison to the U.S. norms the Saudi Arabian managers were found to be lower on Machiavellianism. Need for achievement was found to be positively related to need for power and structure dimension of leadership. The findings also showed Machiavellianism to be positively related to need for power and negatively related to consideration dimension of leadership. The findings are discussed in the context of a fast-growing economy and a highly religious and a traditional society.     

Women,empowerment and development in Arab Gulf States: a critical appraisal of governance,culture and national human resource development (HRD) frameworks

This phenomenological study focuses on Western expatriates working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and their experiences and perceptions of their cross-cultural adjustment. To this end, eight Western expatriates working and living in Saudi Arabia were interviewed face-to-face in an effort to explore and document their lived experiences of adjusting to life in Saudi Arabia, thus extending the current knowledge of this phenomenon. These in-depth face-to-face interviews and the subsequently employed rigorous methods of abstracting data led to the discovery of four critical themes that were viewed by all participants as having the greatest impact on their adjustment to working and living in Saudi Arabia. These themes were Adjustment of Spouses, Life on the Company Compounds, Lack of Activities Between Saudis and Westerners, and Relationship Between the Westerners and Saudis.     

Administrators and technologists: A study of the role and career aspirations of Saudi engineers

This paper presents a study of the job responsibilities, the career aspirations, and continuing education needs of Saudi engineers. A sample survey of 217 Saudi engineers was conducted in 1985. Results indicate that the majority switch to a management career within six years of graduation. The majority of engineers are content with their career. However a significant number would like to make a switch in their career. A typology is suggested which categorizes 12% of Saudi engineers as “disillusioned administrators”, 22% as “ambitious technologists”, 18% as “contented administrators”, and 33% as “loyal technologists”. In general, Saudi engineers realize the necessity of their playing a dual role and wish to develop both their technical and managerial skills through continuing education.     

Corporate governance and social norms during financial crisis: evidence from France and Saudi Arabia

The resistance to financial crisis and compliance with social norms and effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms is considered recently as a good matter of concern. Focusing on differences between French and Saudi firms, we examine the effect of (1) board of directors, (2) audit committee, (3) compliance with Corporate Social Responsibility activities, (4) compliance with Shariah principles on financial volatility during subprime crisis of 2007. We find that larger boards, larger audit committees, independent members on boards and audit committees are related negatively to financial volatility. The result supports corporate governance theory which suggests that corporate governance variables outlined provide effective of monitoring of the management thereby enhancing firm’s resistance to financial crisis. In addition, we find that compliance with CSR alone does not explain the financial volatility. Its concert with corporate governance variables is necessary. This result supports stakeholder theory which argues that companies compliant with CSR activities in their business strategy and have larger boards and audit committees, and independent directors on boards and audit committees resist more financial downturns and any economic shock. Furthermore, we find that compliance with Shariah norms plays a significant role in protecting shareholder interests, improving functioning of corporate governance mechanisms and affect positively the resistance of Saudi firms to financial crisis.     

冲突处理风格量表ROCI-Ⅱ在中国背景下的有效性研究

ROCI-Ⅱ(Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory-Ⅱ)量表是在西方国家应用最广、最为流行的人际冲突处理风格测量问卷。本文以中国企业员工为样本,对该量表在中国文化环境下的有效性进行了实证研究,结果显示该问卷的信度和效度均不理想。探索性和验证性因子分析结果表明,在剔除四个条目后,三因子结构更符合中国企业员工人际冲突处理风格的基本特征。经检验,修订后的问卷有较好的信度和效度,可用于测量中国企业员工的人际冲突处理风格。     

Supervisory coaching and performance feedback as mediators of the relationships between leadership styles,work engagement,and turnover intention

Human resource development (HRD) is key to organizational success. With some HRD roles devolving to leaders in recent years, a gap in understanding is now evident in how leaders’ leadership styles shape development-oriented behaviours that may effectively assist them in fulfilling their HRD roles, and the corresponding effects that this has on employee work engagement and turnover intention. This study compared the effects of transformational and transactional leadership styles on employee attitudes (i.e. work engagement and turnover intention) through leaders’ behaviours (i.e. supervisory coaching and performance feedback). This study used a multilevel approach (i.e. matching leaders to multiple subordinates) with 500 employees, nested in 65 workgroups from private organizations in Malaysia. As hypothesized, we found a link between transformational (but not transactional) leadership and higher levels of supervisory coaching and performance feedback, and that these job resources mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and work engagement. Furthermore, we found that work engagement mediates the relationships of both supervisory coaching and performance feedback to turnover intention. Overall, the study results reveal one way in which Asian leaders can effectively facilitate some aspects of HRD through development-focused behaviours which serve as job resources to boost work engagement and reduce turnover intention.     

Application of a Risk Analysis Tool to Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) Outbreak in Saudi Arabia

The Grunow–Finke assessment tool (GFT) is an accepted scoring system for determining likelihood of an outbreak being unnatural in origin. Considering its high specificity but low sensitivity, a modified Grunow–Finke tool (mGFT) has been developed with improved sensitivity. The mGFT has been validated against some past disease outbreaks, but it has not been applied to ongoing outbreaks. This study is aimed to score the outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia using both the original GFT and mGFT. The publicly available data on human cases of MERS-CoV infections reported in Saudi Arabia (2012–2018) were sourced from the FluTrackers, World Health Organization, Saudi Ministry of Health, and published literature associated with MERS outbreaks investigations. The risk assessment of MERS-CoV in Saudi Arabia was analyzed using the original GFT and mGFT criteria, algorithms, and thresholds. The scoring points for each criterion were determined by three researchers to minimize the subjectivity. The results showed 40 points of total possible 54 points using the original GFT (likelihood: 74%), and 40 points of a total possible 60 points (likelihood: 67%) using the mGFT, both tools indicating a high likelihood that human MERS-CoV in Saudi Arabia is unnatural in origin. The findings simply flag unusual patterns in this outbreak, but do not prove unnatural etiology. Proof of bioattacks can only be obtained by law enforcement and intelligence agencies. This study demonstrated the value and flexibility of the mGFT in assessing and predicting the risk for an ongoing outbreak with simple criteria.     

Out of sight and out of mind? A literature review of occupational safety and health leadership and management of distributed workers

Distributed workers – those who work autonomously and remotely from their organisation’s main locations for at least some of their work-time – are an important and growing proportion of the workforce that share common characteristics of temporal and spatial distance. Yet, many leadership styles and management practices assume face-to-face interaction, potentially rendering them less helpful in trying to ensure good occupational safety and health (OSH) outcomes for distributed workers. We conducted a systematic literature review to examine the leadership and management of OSH for distributed workers. Twenty-three papers were identified. Eleven papers identified established leadership styles, including leader-member exchange, (safety specific) transformational and considerate leadership. Twenty papers examined management. Findings from these 20 papers were interpreted as representing resources, deployed through management and utilised by managers to ensure OSH for distributed workers, including communication technologies, social support and a good safety climate. Despite limited research in this area, findings indicate the importance of both leadership and management in ensuring OSH for distributed workers. Findings suggest a fertile area for future enquiry.     

Leadership and Six Sigma project success: the role of member cohesiveness and resource management

The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether the effect of leadership on Six Sigma project success (PS) may be mediated by member cohesiveness (MC). The second objective was to examine whether the impact of MC on PS was moderated by resource management. The effects of the project manager's leadership styles and MC on PS were also investigated in this research. To address the primary aims, a survey was used to measure the project manager's leadership styles, MC and the overall success of Six Sigma projects. The analyses suggest that MC may serve as a mediator between leadership and PS. The results also indicate that resource allocation has a moderating effect on the relationship between MC and PS.     

Reviewing Leadership Styles: Overlaps and the Need for a New ‘Full‐Range’ Theory

A central topic in leadership research concerns the impact of leadership style – the pattern of attitudes that leaders hold and behaviors they exhibit. Since the year 2000, several new leadership styles have been proposed to capture important missing aspects beyond the dominant charismatic/transformational and transactional framework. The authors review the emerging literature on these new styles – ideological leadership, pragmatic leadership, authentic leadership, ethical leadership, spiritual leadership, distributed leadership, and integrative public leadership – as well as the recent work on servant leadership. They also comment on the Ohio State studies on leadership, and then discuss the ways in which these many styles overlap with transformational leadership and each other, and issue a call to leadership researchers to collectively develop a new ‘full‐range’ model of leadership that encompasses and distills what is unique about these various styles. The authors argue that such an integrated full‐range model is necessary for research on leadership style to progress.     

Challenges facing women leaders in Saudi Arabia

As a result of increasing enrolment of women in all levels of education and various fields of employment and aspects of public life in Saudi Arabia, the last 10 years witnessed a growing participation of women in senior management positions and in the decision-making process in public and private sectors. Recent developments indicate a clear strategic direction of policy makers and development plans in Saudi Arabia towards an even greater role for women in public life and into top leadership positions in public domains. In spite of the considerable role of women in Saudi society, evidence suggests that women in leadership positions are facing a different reality from their male counterparts due to organizational, personal and cultural challenges that impede their effectiveness as leaders. Through a survey of 160 women leaders, this article attempts to identify the challenges that women leaders face in government sectors in Saudi Arabia. Findings indicate that the main challenges are: structural challenges, lack of resources and lack of empowerment, while cultural and personal challenges ranked last, contrary to common perception. The study ultimately provides a set of recommendations with implications for leadership development in general, in order to address challenges that women leaders face and enhance their leadership role.