Management in Egypt - Research Paper Example

? 18 February, Management in Egypt: Introduction: Contemporary business practices have exposed the manager to innumerable challenges that he/she needs to meet adequately in order to help the organization gain competitive advantage in the market. Management has never been an easy job, and is too subjective a concept, to measure an individual’s performance in. The extent to which an individual can be good as a manager is influenced by a lot of factors that include but are not limited to age, region, religion, culture, gender, experience and knowledge. One of the most significant and influential among these factors is the culture that a manager belongs to. Culture sets the norms, trends and traditions upon which all business practices in a particular region base. In order to run a successful business, it is imperative that the manager fully understands and complies with the requirements of the culture that prevails in the area in which the business is conducted. There are several cultural factors that enhance an individual’s ability to manage the work. Likewise, there are many factors of cultural significance that decline the individual’s ability to manage. For example, a culture that is receptive towards external influences and elements may make it very easy for a manager to implement innovative and creative ideas in a business setting. On the other hand, such a culture may easily loose the inherent goodness of the business practices as they give room to foreign elements. Therefore, in order to be successful as a manager in a particular culture, it is advisable to carry out a deep analysis of the culture and study its traits that may enhance or decline the eligibility of an individual as a manager. This paper aims at discussing the positive and negative influences of the Egyptian culture upon management. Management in Egyptian culture: Egypt has a very formal set up of business, and there are a lot of requirements of intercultural management. In order to fulfill the requirements of the intercultural management, managers need to be courteous to their maximum capacity all the time. People in power and authority need to be dealt with utmost respect and honor. Normally, the practice involves an Egyptian agent who assumes the role of an intermediary between a manager and another professional, whose basic task is to arrange appointments. For an individual who has business in two different cities in Egypt at one time, it is advisable to keep two different agents for each so that matters can be addressed with full formality. Agents for business can be got from the “commercial attache of the Egyptian Embassy in your country, the commercial section of your country’s embassy in Egypt, or the Egyptian Department of Commerce” (kwintessential). Formality is the key trait of business in Egypt. When people meet one another, tea or coffee is commonly served and is assumed as a symbol of hospitality. The beverage an individual offers in the business in Egypt represents the individual in person. Therefore, if the person who is offered the beverage does not accept it, he/she essentially rejects the offer maker. In order to display hospitality and comply with the requirements of ethics, it is compulsory for the guest to take at least a sip, if not drink the whole cup. Egyptians place a lot of emphasis on an individual’s looks and the way he carries himself. In the Egyptian culture, people are judged by their appearances. Managers are essentially people in power, so they should develop and maintain a high status. Therefore, in order for an individual to be successful and respected as a manager, it is imperative that he presents himself in a highly professional way and makes stay in some international hotel of extreme standard. Also, managers in Egypt do not differentiate between their personal and professional life. Both go side by side and often merge into each other. Managers tend to assist their subordinates in all aspects of the job. Managers listen to the problems of workers, mediate their disputes and provide them with useful advice where required. When people coming from different cultures assume different roles in the context of an organization, their communication with one another becomes fundamental to organizational success. Decision making power fundamentally rests with those that assume higher positions in the managerial hierarchy in the Egyptian culture. People look at their supervisors as people with more expertise and experience as compared to their subordinates. Therefore, the idea of consulting or involving low ranked personnel in the decision making is often considered quite inappropriate and their opinion is not valued enough to make changes in the organizational decisions. There is little to no room for adaptability to change in Egyptian culture. Norms and values are standardized and people do not compromise upon them. People are not at all inviting towards change and any innovative idea is not received with enthusiasm. Every business move needs to be analyzed for all risks and threats it might be exposed to before it can be introduced to the masses and applied in the context of an organization. Intercultural management in the Egyptian culture requires display of utmost patience. Deadlines are quite fluid. Timescales are there but there is little conformity with them. The Egyptian culture places more emphasis on the building up and maintenance of relationship. People are allowed time to grasp the core concept and take the most rational course of action. In doing so, if they cross the deadlines for a meaningful purpose, managers are not expected to mind. Managers in Egypt may try to convince the workers to comply with the stipulated deadlines by making them realize the consequences of crossing the deadline. However, in a vast majority of cases, managers tend not to be too strict with the deadlines so that they may be able to maintain a healthy relationship with the personnel in the organization. Egyptian managerial psychology holds a belief that confrontation of managers disintegrates the team spirit in the workers, and this is not appreciated. Teamwork is considered essential for the success of an organization. Managers in the Egyptian culture should not rush to build the relationships. Instead, they should allow sufficient time for relation building. If they do not let the relationship develop in a natural way, their attitude is likely to put future deals into jeopardize. Conclusion: Negative influences on management: An in-depth analysis of the Egyptian culture and business practices leads one to the conclusion that management in Egypt is very sophisticated. Cultural norms, trends and traditions are just as important as the work and sometimes, even more important than work. This may expose a manager to a lot of challenges because in order for an individual to be successful as a manager, he/she is bound to maintain a certain level of rigidity. Too much flexibility on the part of the manager gives undue leverage to the subordinates and they may take undue advantage of the same. In the contemporary business practices all over the world, innovation and creativity is valued the most. Unfortunately, Egyptian culture is quite repulsive towards change and hence, incorporation of innovative ideas in an Egyptian business setting is very difficult. Thus, a manager looses his ability to compete with the international competitors. Also, successful business requires conformity with the established deadlines. It is extremely important for a business to progress to accomplish its goals in time and deliver the final product to the clients within the agreed upon deadline. However, managers in Egypt can not put too much stress upon their subordinates to make them finish their work in time so that the deadline is not crossed. If they do put the required stress, it shatters the teamwork, and the work is otherwise affected. This essentially handicaps an individual’s ability to become a successful manager. Positive influences on management: Egyptian culture stresses upon building up of the teamwork. The formality it emphasis upon maintains a positive culture in the organization. This generates positive energy and the interpersonal conflicts are significantly reduced in number in such a business environment. Lack of too much stress upon the subordinates from the manager builds a positive relationship between the manager and workers. They discuss their problems more frequently and easily with the manager, so that their issues are resolved in time and they have no inconvenience to hinder their progress. Also, although lower level workers have no participation in the decision making, yet their exchange of ideas and frequent communication with the manager may convey their stance to the manager on matters of organizational significance. In addition to that, managers can dedicate their full time to work as they normally do not draw a sharp line between their personal and professional life. Egyptian culture values relationships a lot. This makes it very convenient for manager to make use of full abilities because people are quite cooperative and helpful. Overall culture in Egypt inculcates optimism in the managerial thinking and the same optimism reflects in the work of the manager. Finally, managers in Egypt remain well dressed and maintain a cultured and civilized attitude in their dealings. This inculcates and promotes professionalism in their work. Works cited: Kwintessential. “Intercultural Management – Egypt.” n.d. web. 18 Feb. 2011. . Read More