Islamic Work Ethic and Its Implications on Employee Productivity - Thesis Example

The paper "Islamic Work Ethic and Its Implications on Employee Productivity" is a perfect example of a management thesis. The proposed study will discuss the Islamic Work Ethic (IWE) and its implications on employee productivity. The relationship between religious beliefs and work outcomes has received increasing attention since Max Weber’s work on the Protestant Work Ethic (PWE) (Ali, 1988). The majority of the studies have been conducted in the West on the basis of PWE and have had little applicability in the Middle East (Rokhman, 2010; Whiteoak, Crawford, & Mapstone, 2006).

Unlike the perception Western scholars hold, IWE creates an environment conducive to organizational development (Ali & Al-Owaihan, 2008). Ali (1988) stated that IWE is an orientation toward work. IWE originated from the Qur’an and the sayings and practices of Prophet Mohammed who preached that “no one eats better food than that which he eats out of his work” (Ali, 1992, p. 507). This ethnographic qualitative study will be conducted in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The influence of IWE on employees’ productivity in a Saudi Arabian petroleum products distribution facility will be explored in the study.

This survey design will be used to explore employees’ IWE and its impact on their productivity. KSA has a population of close to 27 million of which about 5.6 million are non-Saudis, according to the July 2013 estimates (Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 2013). The economy of KSA is oil-based with oil accounting for about 80% of the revenues, 45% of GDP, and 90% of earnings through export (CIA, 2013). The kingdom focuses on growing the private sector and the employment of more Saudi youths (CIA, 2013).

Although 5 million workers in KSA are non-Saudis (CIA, 2013), the majority of the employees in the oil companies in Saudi Arabia are Saudi Muslims. In the kingdom, Islam is the official religion of all Saudis. It has been reported that “All Saudis are Muslims, with a vast majority as true believers or practitioners” (Pharaon, 2004). Religious people generally desire to follow God’s laws and value virtue, morality, and justice (Lowery, 2009).BackgroundThe Saudi Arabian way of life is guided by the sayings of the Islamic Holy Book (Qur’an).