Team Productivity in Saudi Airports: A Diversity Perspective

This report outlines a research project investigating the effects of multicultural diversity on team productivity within Saudi Arabian airports. The study explores the link between cultural diversity and team effectiveness, considering the context of airport privatization and the internationalized workforce. It examines the influence of workplace environment, team composition, work design, and employee understanding of work processes on team dynamics. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews, and is grounded in critical realism and social exchange theory. The report includes a literature review, research questions, objectives, significance, and a conceptual framework, aiming to contribute to the theoretical understanding of team effectiveness in a multicultural setting and provide practical implications for organizations and airports seeking to improve performance.

Effects of Multicultural
Diversity on Team Productivity
at Saudi Airports
Supervisors

Outline
• Background
• Development
• Exploratory Research
• Research Problem
• Research Questions
• Objectives
• Significance of the Research
• Literature Review
• Empirical Focus
• Social Exchange Theory
• Conceptual Framework
• Research Methodology
• Research Process
• Research Contribution
• Timelines

Development and Background
• Saudi seeking to diversify its economic base through private sector.(Kerr, 2016)
• One of the most important sector is aviation industry due to Hajj and Omrah
season (Ramadan is make-or-break for Saudi Arabia's religious tourism sector.
2017).
• By 2030 (the Saudi vision), it expected high growth of passengers (Larson, 2016).
• Saudi workforce utilises a large number of non-Saudis (49%)(Basheer, 2013)
• Due to Airports privatization, it expected to increase the number of foreign
employees.(Ernico, 2012).

Exploratory Research
• The research seeks to explore the link between cultural diversity in
teams and team effectiveness within the organizational framework.
• This is a pioneer research that exploring team effectiveness from a
multicultural perspective in the Saudi Context.

Why Team?
• Ever since Adam Smith’s Wealth of nations has been published, the
importance of team work is identified. The study conceptualizes generation
of wealth by classifying elements of labour, capital and resources. .(Joshi
and Roh, 2009)
• The wealth creation described by Smith laid the basis for theories of
capitalism, including worker and team productivity. (Lopez and Ensari, 2013)
• It is seen that team working has proved to be of high importance in recent
past. (Saxena, 2014)
• Team work is essential in organizational dynamics as it contributes much in
managing team effectiveness and performance (Shuffler, Kramer and Burke,
2016)
• Joshi and Roh (2009), Team is essential because that aids the employees to
develop suitable relationships with each other to contribute in organizational
performance and productivity aspects.
• Jonsen and et.al. (2010) Team work enhances organizational productivity
because it includes involvement of different people who work together to
achieve a common aim and objective.

Why Diversity?
• Diversity is becoming and increasingly important topic for at least 2 reasons:
1. There are more workplaces and teams in workplaces with diverse attributes
around age, gender, nationality, etc. and these teams are increasingly fluid in
nature (the project is becoming the organising principle of lots of work). Earlier
work on diversity, inasmuch as there was some, tended to assume homogeneity
within groups, especially at a national level e.g. Hofstede (Gittell, Seidner and
Wimbush, 2010). This was always perhaps a questionable assumption but it has
become less and less realistic
2. As a consequence the issue of diversity within teams and issues of,
communication, governance and performance of such teams has started to
become important. The example of Saudi Arabia airport has been taken
wherein different people need to work together to depict the importance of
cultural diversity.

Literature Review
Lopez & Ensari (2013), in order to lead a team, it is essential for the organizational members to focus on multi-
disciplinary practices so that all the dimensions related to team work could be managed accordingly
Gittell, Seidner & Wimbush (2010), states that managers must emphasize on relational model of
high- performance work systems so as to enhance the practices of business entity.
Haas (2010), while delegating duties and authorities to team members, it is crucial for the managers to develop
groups so that people can get chance to develop appropriate relations with each other.
Shuffler, Kramer, & Burke (2016), contends that in order to develop the team aspects, organization has to
emphasize on technological dimensions as that changes the team processes suitably.
Becker (1962); Coleman (1988), employers should focus on social capital especially at the time of
creation of human capital.

Literature review
Saxena (2014) claimed that employing diversified workforce is necessary to avail benefits of
distinct set of skills, knowledge and experiences.
In 2007, Horwitz, Irwin and Horwitz argued that ascertaining a clear impact of team diversity on
team performance/outcome is difficult in nature.
Besides, Erhardt, Joshi and Jackson (2003), team dynamics is considered to be one of attributes
that determines success of team and organization in turn.
Cole and et. (2002) al indicates that social exchange inclusions in their workplace studies, noting
that theories of employee engagement (or disengagement) with the team, supervisor, and
organization could be re-oriented due to environmental context.
Jonsen and et. Al. (2009), the cultural diversity is a factor that has direct impact on team
working.

Research Problem
• Employees' views of their workplace environment, work composition,
work design, team interactions, supervision and team dynamics will be
sought to shed lights on organization team effectiveness
• Different nationalities and their background cultures form an environment
of inherited workplace norms, and focus and attention to detail are
extremely important in the high-pressure nature of airport administration.
• This study is timely, due to the confluence of domestic and international
airport privatization.

Research Questions
Primary Research Question:
To investigate how the cultural diversity in team structure and social exchange
within the airport influence and contribute to the team effectiveness.
Secondary questions:
1. How the multicultural work place context influence the team
effectiveness?
2. How the composition of employees effect team effectiveness?
3. How the work design effect team effectiveness?
4. How the employees’ in understanding the work process influence the
team effectiveness?

Aim And Objectives
The aim of this research is to develop a framework on how diversity in
team structures and social exchange within an organization influence
and contribute team effectiveness.
The Objectives of the research .
1. To understand the context of multiculturalism influence the team
effectiveness.
2. To examine the work place composition and its effect on team
effectiveness.
3. To evaluate the roles of work design and its effect on team
effectiveness.
4. To asses the employees’ understanding the work process which
influence the team effectiveness.

Significance of the research
• The multicultural context of team effectiveness has not been widely
investigated in the previous literature
• There is lack of substantial literature on Saudis in the workplace which
explore how the effectiveness of multicultural context in organisational
policies and practices.
• cultural dimensions in airports have never been identified; hence this is the
research need for the previous literature.
• This is the first attempt wherein researcher will be identifying about Saudi
Arabia’s airport which needs to be focused on cultural diversity as that has a
direct contribution on team dynamics, performance and productivity facets.