MBA 608 Report: Developing Social Responsibility in Fujairah, UAE

This MBA 608 report investigates social responsibility in Fujairah, UAE, with a focus on the role of leadership and NGOs like the UAE Red Crescent. It highlights the importance of CSR for both businesses and NGOs, discussing challenges faced in promoting social responsibility within Fujairah. The report emphasizes transformational leadership as a key element in overcoming these challenges and fostering team collaboration. It also evaluates the current state of CSR activities in the UAE, particularly in comparison to Europe and North America, suggesting improvements in research, innovation, and training. The project concludes by recommending that the UAE Red Crescent expand its research and innovation efforts within Fujairah to better address local needs. The document is available on Desklib, a platform offering study tools and resources for students.

Running head: SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: WHAT CAN BE DONE IN FUJAIRAH
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: WHAT CAN BE DONE IN FUJAIRAH
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: WHAT CAN BE DONE IN FUJAIRAH
Abstract
The main aim of the project was to conduct an extensive research on and analysis of the social
responsibility topic and its importance in Fujairah. The project discussed the importance of social
responsibility in business and its relevance and importance for NGOs was also discussed. The
paper then introduced the company, which was the UAE Red Crescent, an NGO under the
International Humanitarian City. After a brief overview of the company, the paper discussed
about the difficulties faced while undertaking the project and the kind of leadership that helped
overcome those difficulties. The style of leadership followed by the leader to complete the
project was transformational leadership as it allowed the leader to understand each team member
and his or her different capabilities. Apart from that, the project also helped understand the
leadership abilities possessed by the leader. The project concluded with the findings of the study
conducted along with suggestions for future researchers and limitations of the current project.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Background......................................................................................................................................3
Importance of Social Responsibility................................................................................................3
The UAE Red Crescent and social responsibility........................................................................4
Displaying Leadership.................................................................................................................5
Evaluation and Discussion...............................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References:......................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The project aims to develop strategies for establishing a socially responsible business
environment in Fujairah, UAE. In order to understand the essential elements needed for socially
responsible business environment, it is important to analyze the role leaders could play. With this
in mind, the project aims to provide a discussion on the leadership style needed for indulging in
works related to society. The project has been chosen because it would help future researchers in
understanding the social life in Fujairah and the way organizations contribute towards its
development. The project begins with a brief background providing the rationale behind
choosing the topic. Further, the project highlights the challenges experienced while conducting
the analysis of the topic followed by the evaluation and discussion on the impact of the topic in
the society.
Background
The project is on social responsibility and things that can be done in Fujairah to promote
it. The topic has been chosen for the project because it would help the society in Fujairah to
realize the importance of promoting socially responsible business. The topic has great relevance
in the business world as it encourages businesses to take more interest in social issues instead of
focusing only on profits and revenues. Fujairah is a flourishing economy within UAE and it has
been possible due to several policies implemented by the rulers (Government.ae, 2018). Apart
from that, the city’s economy is dependent largely on agriculture and fishing. Despite having
such flourishing economy, focus on the society has been very limited.
Taking up the project was difficult to initiate at first and the team leader had to convince
the team about the importance of the topic. The team members were reluctant to take up the
project because they did not find any social responsibility related issue in Fujairah. The leader
used transformational style of leadership to encourage each member participates equally in the
project.
Importance of Social Responsibility
As Hossain et al. (2015) note, the Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR is important
for organizations to ensure sustainability in terms of business as well. The authors note that

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including social and environmental influences in the strategic decision-making process goes a
long way in strengthening the company overall. In case of Non-governmental Organizations
(NGOs) also, the CSR is very important because the NGOs deal directly with the people. It often
becomes difficult for NGOs to manage the large workforce and ensure complete transparency in
its functioning. Although NGOs work to help secure a better life for the common citizens and
help them during urgent needs thus fulfilling CSR needs, they have to look after their employees
as well. In the views of Park and Ghauri (2015), NGOs help corporations to involve in CSR
activities that help both the NGO and the corporation in terms of promotion and profit. On one
hand, the corporations receives accolades for involving in CSR activities and on the other, the
NGOs receive funds from the corporations. Many corporations collaborate with NGOs to
contribute their bit or the development of the society. However, Ditlev-Simonsen and Wenstøp
(2013) are of the view that the NGOs collaborating with business corporations is a way for them
to promote neo-liberalism in that they “embody the privatization and decentralization of state
functions”. With all being said, it cannot be denied that CSR is very important for maintaining
equilibrium between business needs and societal responsibilities. The next section shall focus on
one such NGO, the UAE Red Crescent.
The UAE Red Crescent and social responsibility
The UAE Red Crescent is an NGO under the International Humanitarian City that aids
and manages cooperative action for a well-organized emergency response to disasters throughout
the world. The NGO also provides selected airlifts without any cost to provide transport
assistance evacuating staff members from risky zones. It was founded in 2003 by His Highness
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (Ihc.ae, 2018). It is UAE’s only free-zone Authority
that hosts members of organizations like the United Nations and other intergovernmental as well
as commercial companies.
In terms of social responsibility, the organization is dedicated towards providing every
possible help to people in distress across the globe. However, it is important that the organization
also focus on the issues faced by the people in Fujairah. To achieve this, the leadership role is
very crucial. As Nasser Al Issa mentioned at a conference in Abu Dhabi on Global CSR, there is
an evident gap in the CSR activities carried out in the UAE and the Europe and North American
countries. “These gaps are in knowledge, innovation, research, training and education and web

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developments amongst others”, the chief sustainable officer of Saudi Generations further added
(Thenational.ae, 2018). Therefore, it is important for the project team to focus on providing
suggestions for the Red Crescent to develop its research and innovation department along with
training and education to reduce these gaps in realizing social responsibility. The focus area must
be Fujairah.
Displaying Leadership
In the process of finding ways to suggest Red Crescent on how to expand its works
within the Fujairah community, some difficulties arose. Following the transformation leadership,
style has helped mitigate the issues. The reason for following this style of leadership involves the
characteristics of this style, which include, passionate, energetic and enthusiastic (Van
Knippenberg & Sitkin, 2013). Further, the transformational leader makes efforts to advance the
followers to progress to a superior level of moral and inspiration.
Thus, when the team members had doubts regarding the project, the leader first asked
them about their potential and areas of interest. After learning about the capabilities of each team
member, the leader assigned those tasks as per the capabilities (Kovjanic, Schuh & Jonas, 2013).
The member with the capability of carrying out extensive research and good knowledge of
internet surfing was given the responsibility to outline the suggestions for research for the chosen
company. Another member with a stronghold on technology was asked to build software and
applications showing innovation. In this way, each member was assigned the tasks that they had
interest in and it produced good results.
Evaluation and Discussion
After going through all the possibilities, the team decided that the company would be
advised on developing its research and innovation section. The reason for choosing this are to
focus on is that research and innovation in the field of CSR for NGOs have not been done on a
large scale. Most studies conducted previously focused solely on NGOs and their contribution to
CSR. Further, the city of Fujairah and its inhabitants, both locals and foreigners have not
received must attention from the NGO. The project would allow the members of the NGO to
devise ways that are less time consuming and effective to meet the needs of the people. The

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project would have a social impact because it would be the first project to devise a systematic
framework for addressing the needs of the people.
Conclusion
The research project conducted by the team revealed that the NGOs in UAE are facing
shortages of innovative techniques to focus on social responsibility. The project chose the UAE
Red Crescent in Fujairah to analyze the best possible ways to tackle this issue. It was found after
the completion of the project that gaps in the field of research and innovation must be reduced in
order to make the NGOs involve in more social responsibility activities within the locality.
While undertaking the project, various issues were faced by the team but following the
transformational style of leadership, it was possible to handle those. The leader made sure that
each team member is given responsibilities based on his or her capability and interest. the project
is sure to provide future researchers a solid ground from where they could delve further in social
responsibility issues associated with NGOs in particular. However, it also needs mentioning that
due to space and time constraints, the project could not include other important areas of social
responsibility. Therefore, further extensive analysis is suggested.

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References:
Ditlev-Simonsen, C. D., & Wenstøp, F. (2013). How stakeholders view stakeholders as CSR
motivators. Social responsibility journal, 9(1), 137-147.
Government.ae. (2018). Fujairah. Retrieved from
https://www.government.ae/en/about-the-uae/the-seven-emirates/fujairah
Hossain, M. M., Alam, M., Islam, M. A., & Hecimovic, A. (2015). Do stakeholders or social
obligations drive corporate social and environmental responsibility reporting? Managerial
views from a developing country. Qualitative Research in Accounting &
Management, 12(3), 287-314.
Ihc.ae. (2018). IHC At a Glance | International Humanitarian City. Retrieved from
http://www.ihc.ae/ihc-at-a-glance/
Kovjanic, S., Schuh, S. C., & Jonas, K. (2013). Transformational leadership and performance:
An experimental investigation of the mediating effects of basic needs satisfaction and
work engagement. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 86(4), 543-
555.
Park, B. I., & Ghauri, P. N. (2015). Determinants influencing CSR practices in small and
medium sized MNE subsidiaries: A stakeholder perspective. Journal of World Business,
50(1), 192-204.
Thenational.ae. (2018). Corporate social responsibility should be UAE goal. Retrieved from
https://www.thenational.ae/uae/corporate-social-responsibility-should-be-uae-goal-
1.566849
Van Knippenberg, D., & Sitkin, S. B. (2013). A critical assessment of charismatic—
transformational leadership research: Back to the drawing board?. The Academy of
Management Annals, 7(1), 1-60.