Leadership and Culture in the Middle East - Case Study Example

Running Header: Leadership and Culture in the Middle East Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code & Name: Date of Submission: Leadership and Culture in the Middle East Introduction Management experts have a saying that ‘the crux of every management job is to ensure that the people who work in the organization get committed to every process geared towards realizing the objectives of the organization’. This statement still holds today. This calls for them to apply effective leadership in their work. The concept of ‘leadership’ is a broad and dynamic concept that may not be limited to just taking responsibility, having the competence, and the ability to do something. It may be looked at as an inner ability of a person to effect authority, and influence people to do what they are expected to do. It calls in for a wise balance of the use of authority and responsibility. This means that leadership is not bestowed upon an office or authority given, but on the person who is to lead others. Leadership is an important aspect in any given organization, for it significantly affects the ability of an organization to reach its goals. In business, we may say that it offers the rod stick that directs other factors of production to be effective. Leadership is not just having the personality that is good and acceptable; it is not based on culture, appointment to office or opportunism. It is instead it is bestowed in the person who exercises through taking the responsibility to influence others in a particular course. In an organization, the course is to realize the objectives of the organization. Therefore a leader should be proactive and wise to employ authority, and responsibility given to influence the members of the organization to work willingly to meet the stipulated objectives. Rationale for writing this Essay Leadership is the pivot point for the success or failure of any economy, organization or venture. I chose to pick on this topic for the leadership issues in the Middle East are not just for the Middle East inhabitants’ but they affect the global fraternity. Essentially the research would help identify the leadership changes that have taken place in a number of countries where the unrests have been witnessed, and the global effects that comes with these changes. Just to mention, petroleum oil which drives many of the economies of the world, including the West and Africa has its origin from the Middle East. These just shows how significant the leadership and security in the Middle East is to the other countries of the globe. I too chose this research topic, for it helps one to understand the historical background of the political regimes of leadership in the Middle East, the political twist of events that occur with respect to the West which supported a number of the regimes; that today they are condemning. This creates an additional understanding of how history repels or at times repeats itself with respect to political power in the Middle East. Dictatorial leadership style applied by leaders of various Middle East countries is a salient spring board for leadership change that is today being realized in the Middle East, after the uprisings that have been witnessed in the region. Leadership and Culture in the Middle East There are different styles of leadership and this is depended on the approach that the leaders employ to lead people or employees who are under their leadership. This may further depend on the kind of leader; for instance if it’s a appointed, situational, traditional, functional, principle centered or charismatic leader. It may be further viewed to be based on the structure of leadership such as royal, democratic and so on. Broadly speaking we have two styles of leadership, and that is democratic and autocratic leadership. They can further be broken to other styles such as royal leadership, dictatorial leadership and so on. Evidently, in many societies it is the cultural, social and political factors that dictate the kind of leadership that is applied. This is because man as a social being is a cultured being, and putting other factors constant, then he/she would maintain the culture that has been kept over time. In the Middle East, the kinds of leadership styles that have been exercised include autocratic, dictatorial, and royal leadership; though a few countries have been liberated to be led through democracy. The dominant style of leadership in the Middle East is dictatorial leadership by the royal authorities, and dictator leaders who have led many of those countries for many years. This is linked to the culture of the people with regard to the institution of leadership with excessive power and control, most of the people in the Middle East are of the Islamic faith, and this made them to bend low to this type of leadership for a long time (Ali-Dastmalchian 2001, p.43-52). However, recently we have had political uprisings and unrests in most of the countries in the Middle East. The political unrest has had the objective to oust the long serving dictatorial leaders who have oppressed people for a long time (Guilain & Denoeux 1993, p.56). In many countries in the Middle East, we have heard the royal family leadership which has been characterized by one leader leading for a long time thus maintaining policies and political office holders for long periods. Secondly, this leadership in the Middle East has been synonymous with dictatorial rule where the people in office have had all the say, and would oppress people particularly those who are against their rule. This leadership has had no place for the people; instead the leaders controlled everything from the economy to political positions. This kind of leadership is responsible for the political uprisings, and unrests that have sparked the countries in the Middle East region. Political Uprisings & Unrests in the Arab Countries in the Middle East & Its Relation to the Leadership Styles used by the Current Leaders It is beyond doubt that the political strikes and uprisings in the Middle East region is directly influenced by the dictatorial leadership style that has been used by many long serving political leaders in the region. Basically, the fact that the objective of the uprisings that have been witnessed was to oust out the dictatorial and royal leadership that was oppressive to the people, means that the people were fed up with this style of leadership, and thus opted to strike out since democracy in these countries was far from reach (Khater 2009, p.43). One of the key global Issues that have affected the world today is the Middle East Unrest which has caused of worries of the global security, and the need for transformational leadership in many of the Middle East countries, which for a long period have been led by political dictators. Most Middle East and part of the Northern African countries have experienced oppressive rule with the leadership being governed by dictators. The common countries in Middle East that are affected include the countries such as Yemen, Tunisia, and Iran. For quite some time the dictators have managed to rule these countries due to shear igno0rance among the people, in addition to fear. This gave such oppressive regimes the power to misuse authority where those who did not to the line of such rule were dealt with mercilessly, with many of such having to be killed (Berberoglu 1999, p.44). Political opponent were spared neither instead they were imprisoned and at times they would undergo harsh mistreatment in which, no one would save the situation for such dictators were an end to themselves. This situation directly affected the Middle East as a region for the economy would not be established due to infightings and a risky security condition that made economic investment by investors to be far from reach (Ruffinen & Kaynar 2000, p.34-46). The people in these regions suffered, by being succumbed to below poverty lifestyles, with great suffering among women, and children. There was no freedom of expression, as well as the human rights, such as the rights to life were abused through massive killings that were experienced in these countries through the oppressive regimes (Europa Publications Limited 2003, p.54). However, things turned the other way out with the coming in of more information and exposure to information. The world took another step with first the introduction of the internet and its related service that made the people to no longer live in ignorance but instead, they got to be informed of their rights, they got to know how they had bad leadership as compared to other nations across the world (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars 2011, p.48-57). Because of the risk that was posed by the spread of information through the internet and its related service such as the social sites; some of these regimes banned the usage for internet as well as the access to the social sites; but as often said, a change in time can never be stopped, so was in it in most Middle East and North African countries that were affected by the oppressive rule, the young generation in particular were adamant to tore to the line but instead they went to the streets protesting against such dictatorial regimes of leadership, and calling for step down of their oppressive leaders (Pappé 2005, p.30). Social media such as my space and twitter among others facilitated the spread of information among people on the need to stop oppressive rule by such leaders. This has led to the unrests when masses flashed themselves to the streets to demand for justice through bringing to an end a number of such oppressive regimes by such long term dictators (Alexander 2010, p.48). The fight and struggle for liberalization with regard to leadership in Middle East were greatly based on the social, political, economic and environmental Issues that affected the people. For instance, social issues such as lack of freedom for expression and association, political misuse of power through dictatorial ruler ship that caused many people to suffer and loose lives, the economic factors such as massive poverty levels, and poor living lifestyles which are subject to the bad leadership and the environmental issues played a great role in leading to people to be awake and condemn such regimes with a united voice (Anthony 2003, p.53). The social Media sites made individuals particularly the young population to spread the information on the need for proper leaders and leadership style, and particularly the need to oust such leaders from power, as an avenue for change in leadership. This led to the political unrests that have been evidenced across the Middle East countries which are adversely affected by such oppressive political leadership regimes (Maddy & Mekhon 1999, p.48). The Middle East Unrests have involved the civilian protests as well as revolts which have erupted as people’s frustrations due to the oppressive rule and the pain of the poor living conditions they were exposed to appearing to have boiled over. Experiences such as the one in Tunisia, where a 26 year old young man who worked as a fruit vendor, who is referred to as Mohamed Bouazizi; got to set himself on fire to protest of his mistreatment by the local authorities, sparked off public outrage on the matter. This formed a basis by which public outrage began, which ultimately brought to an end a dictatorship regime that had lasted for about 23 years. This event was not just in Tunisia, but instead it sparked off the need for liberalization in all the Middle East countries where the people began to fight for freedom from such regimes (Britannica Educational Publishing 2011, p.43). The regimes applied dictatorial style of leadership, which didn’t recognize any aspect of diplomacy, and this led to people matching on the streets through protests that have caused a number of such leaders to step down, with others being anticipated to leave power soon Jacqueline & Mitchelson 2003, p. 729–768). Such events such as the experience in Tunisia, was aired in the public media and information was greatly spread in the social media, and thus has unleashed the uprisings in Middle East. The social sites helped the people to understand that they can do something to get rid of the political leadership which was oppressive (Clark & James 2003, p.44). The women played a big role in the leadership of the Middle East countries, though the number of women who have actively participated in the political leadership has been low. This was because of the cultural reasons that suppressed the women not to come out, and contest for political jobs. First, in most Arab countries, the Islamic rules are held dear to the people, and it is this rules that subject women to be subordinates to men. The women who come out to contest for political offices are seen to be disrespectful. To avoid this perception, and the troubles that befell those who come out, many women dared not to venture into such ventures, but instead remained to do their domestic responsibilities. In a number of Arab countries, women who contested for political offices were tortured, discriminated against, and to the extreme killed (Cordesman & Khalid 2007, p.57). This cultural background did not present a good base for the women to take active leadership roles. All in all, there is a new dispensation of political leadership where more women are assertively coming up to take more roles in leadership. In addition, the political unrests have led to a change of guard in many of the Arab countries in the Middle East. Thus more moderate leaders are taking the leadership positions of the ousted long term dictators in the Middle East (Karim & Sabbagh, 2001, p.35-40). Conclusion The political unrests witnessed in the Middle East have had a spontaneous spread from one country to the other. A number of dictatorial leadership regimes which have been in power for long were swept off from power. In a number of countries, the struggle is still on. As commonly said, change that has come in its time can never be stopped; this is what has been experienced in these countries (Berberoglu 1999, p.45). The tool that has made the change not to be stopped is the people’s awareness that they can get rid of the bad leadership. This awareness was spearheaded through the social sites where all the processes from planning, to organizing to the real step of matching on the streets were shared. The social networking sites also amerced the concern of the international community, who voiced their concern for the need for the countries in the Middle East, and the leaders particularly to embrace democratic style of leadership, which respects observance of human rights and freedom of expression (James & Posner 2004, p. 34-41). It is evident that the dictatorial leadership that has governed many Arab countries in the Middle East has been a salient spring board for the leadership changes being realized today in Middle East. It is important for the people in leadership positions in the Arab countries to realize the need to embrace proper leadership styles that would not only boost harmony in their countries, but also promote growth of business and investment, due to increased leadership stability (Michael-Fullan 1998, p. 46-59). References Alexander, C. 2010, Tunisia & Contemporary Middle East. Taylor & Francis, New York, NY. Anthony H. 2003, Saudi Arabia Enters the Twenty-first Century: The political, foreign policy, economic, and energy dimensions. Greenwood Publishing Group, New York, NY. Ali Dastmalchian, 2001, Introduction to the Special Issue on Leadership and Culture in the Middle East. Journal on Introduction to the Special Issue on Leadership and Culture in the Middle East. Vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 43-52. Britannica Educational Publishing 2011, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The Rosen Publishing Group, Sydney. Berberoglu, B. 1999, Turmoil in the Middle East: imperialism, war, and political instability. 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