Succeeding in the UAE: Cross-Cultural Management for Expatriates

This report provides an overview of cross-cultural management in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), emphasizing the cultural influences, PESTEL factors, and skills necessary for expatriate success. It highlights the impact of Arabian, Persian, and Islamic cultures on the UAE, along with the country's political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental landscape. The report identifies key skills such as cross-cultural communication, adaptability, and cultural sensitivity as crucial for expatriates to thrive in the UAE's diverse environment. It also addresses the potential for culture shock and offers insights into navigating cultural differences. The report concludes by underscoring the importance of understanding and embracing the host culture for successful integration and business endeavors in the UAE. Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students.

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Cross-cultural management
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Culture of UAE
It is to be mentioned that United Arab Emirates is a country with a diverse society. The
culture of United Arab Emirates has been greatly influenced by Arabian, Persian and Islamic
cultures. The influence of foreign culture is reflected in the Music, attire, cuisine, life styles of
UAE. As it is a Muslim dominated country, Muslims are called to prayer five times a day from
the mosques, scattered all over the country. It is to be mentioned that weekends in UAE begin on
Friday, as it is considered to be the holiest day for the Muslims. Most Muslim countries in the
world have Thursday-Friday or Friday-Saturday weekends. The Emirati culture has been notably
influenced by Persian and Arabian culture. Such influence is visible in the architecture of
Emirates and folk arts (Al Mazrouei, & Pech, 2015). It is to be stated that due massive growth in
trade and remarkable growth of the economy of UAE expatriates from more than two hundred
nationalities have migrated to UAE to seek better lifestyles. However, UAE has been criticized
by many for the reason of perpetuating a class-based society. Most of the migrant workers of
UAE belong in the lower class of the society. Ethnic tensions are rarely reported in UAE despite
having people of diverse ethnicities. The ones that are reported happen primarily between the
expatriates of UAE. The important holidays in Dubai are Ed-ul-Fitr which happens at the end of
Ramadan and the National day(2nd December)which marks the formation of the United Arab
Emirates. UAE’s population has been estimated by the U.S, department to be 9 million.
However, the citizens of the UAE account for 15-20 percent of the total population. The main
religion followed in the United Arab Emirates is Islam. 96% of the population of UAE is
comprised of Muslims. Hindus and Christians are minorities in the country. The official
language of the country is Arabic. English, Hindi, Persian and Urdu are the other languages that
spoken in the country.

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Specific political, economic, social and technological legal and environmental factors of
UAE
It is to be mentioned that UAE is one of the most affluent countries in the middle-east ranking
among the top 25 gross domestic products per capita in 2014. The country earns the most profit
by exporting oil and other fossil fuels. The secondary sources of income of the country include
income from tourism and industry sectors. A Pestel analysis can be done to assess the Specific
political, economic, social and technological legal and environmental factors that contribute
to the country’s success.
Political factors –
The political factors that affect the growth and success of the country are:
 UAE has good trade relations with most of the countries of the world
 Each of the seven emirates has independent governments which ensures flexible
management of the country
 One of the negative political effects includes political conflicts with adjacent countries
about the ownership of oil reserves
Economic factors-
Assessing a country’s economy is of utmost relevance when looking at its standings. Some of the
economic factors affecting the country are:
 Exceptional high GDP per capita of the country (Davies, Kraeh & Froese, 2015).
 Exceptionally low unemployment rate prevailing in the country

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 Highest amounts of direct and foreign investments
Social factors
Some of the social factors that have been observed and known to be existing in UAE include:
 Comfortable and upgraded life styles of the inhabitants of the country due to their high
paying jobs
 Mixture of many different cultures existing in the country as a result of the globalization
 Religion is given very much of importance in the UAE and is known to greatly affect the
society. A specific example of religion’s impact on the society is the clothes worn by the
native women and the men of UAE

Technological factors
It is to be mentioned that in today’s world technological variables are most prominent. It can be
stated that UAE has achieved remarkable technological advancement in the modern time due to
its wealth and its tech-savvy population. The technological factors affecting UAE are:
 Wealth possessed by the country allows the same to purchase new equipments which
contribute to the technological advancement of the country.
 Young tech-savvy population of UAE allows different companies existing in UAE to
leverage technology.

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Legal factors
It is to be mentioned that it is difficult to discuss the legal factors of a country that affect
it as a whole. However, it is to be mentioned that for companies to be operational in the UAE,
they need to be registered at the Sovereign Companies Registration Office. Trademarks of
commodities and products also need to be registered in Sovereign for seeking legal protection. A
bank of a NON EEA country, to be operational in Abu Dhabi needs special permission from
financial supervision authority.
Environmental Factors
It can be noted that in pestel analysis the environmental factors are discussed at last.
Therefore the environmental factors which affect UAE are:
 The country has a hot and dry climate which has an impact of many aspects. For instance
due to the adverse climate of UAE affects productivity of the county. Productivity of a
country tends to suffer and become slower due to the hot and dry climate. Farming is not
possible in most areas of UAE because of the adverse climatic conditions and desert
cover. Air conditions have the potential to sell well in UAE due to the hot and dry
climate.
 The location of UAE facilitates sea trade as it is strategically located near a few coasts.
Skills and abilities that potential expatriates need in order to be successful in UAE
It can be mentioned that the ability of people to work with others and communicate with
people belonging from different cultures is a key skill needed to be possessed by expatriates to
be successful in any country. However, how to acquire such skill and competence is not defined

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by any academic literature. Expatriates need to be adept communicators to be successful in every
field of business (Al Mazrouei, & Pech, 2015). Learning the language spoken in UAE, Arabic
can be of significant help to expatriates in improving their intercommunication skills. However,
it can be stated that learning a local language is not always relevant and beneficial if the
expatriate is on short term contract. However, language barrier is not a major problem in the
UAE as English is widely spoken in the country. Most of the business deals in the UAE are
conducted in English (AlMazrouei & J. Pech, 2014). It can be stated that showing interest and
willingness to learn a language by the expatriates is more important than learning the local
language of any country.
Picking up non verbal cues effectively is also essential for understanding how subtle
messages are conveyed in other cultures. It is to be stated that gestures mean different things in
different countries of the world. Cross cultural competence also impacts management styles
(Bealer & Bhanugopan, 2014). Expatriates can discover that participative management may not be
the best method of management in a country like UAE. The difference in management styles is
particularly profound in hierarchical societies. It can be mentioned that in hierarchical societies
asking for input from colleagues is viewed with suspicion.
Upon arrival in a new country expatriates are likely to go through different stages of
culture shocks. It is expected for every person to be excited to be in a new environment and
fascinated with the host culture. Immediately after arrival expatriates are likely to make
disapproving remarks about the features of the host culture, compare it with their home culture or
sometimes even go overboard in appreciating the host culture in order to adapt to it quickly.
However, after this initial phase expatriates tend to feel increased antagonism towards the host
culture and tend to assess such culture in their own terms of morality (Holden, Michailova &

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Tietze, 2015). This can lead to aggression towards the natives of the country while the expatriate
tries to reconnect with the people. Therefore it can be stated that successful expatriates are those
who embrace the host culture and tend to overlook the cultural differences existing. It can be said
that successful expatriates become comfortable while dealing with unfamiliar situations. They
become more tolerant of cultural habits which were probably disturbing to them previously. In
UAE western expatriates should be familiar with the practice of light slapping of the other’s
hand instead of insisting on the typical western handshake while greeting any person. Expatriates
must be skilled at predicting when cross cultural conflict may arise and how to avoid such
conflict while addressing any topic (Michailova & Tietze, 2015).
It can be stated that the path to attain intercultural competence is not clearly defined.
Therefore, it is better to measure a person’s technical skills and achievements in academic
discipline than to discuss how competent he is working with people of different cultural
backgrounds. Expatriates need to be adventurous and have the desire to have new and exciting
experiences in the new country. They should be able to understand the culture they are living in
and try to fit in such culture. This characteristic of expatriates is defined as cultural sensitivity.
Expatriates should also have curiosity to learn about the features of the host culture and adapt to
the new environment. Being curious and inquisitive is generally listed as a factor which
contributes to the success of an individual. An expatriate must also be open minded and must try
to perceive the new environment differently. They need to be willing to try new methods accept
failure as a means to improve themselves and learn new things.

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Interesting and specific details that provide a good understanding of “how things work” in
UAE
It can be mentioned that UAE has witnessed enormous growth rate in the past two
decades and has been a hotspot for many entrepreneurs to explore different business ideas
(Elkelish & Hassan, 2014). The growing economy and the thriving tourism industry have
positively impacted the real estate sector. Developments in the real estate sector can be visible in
the form of stylish and luxurious hotels and flashy sky scrapers. It can be mentioned that demand
for media services in the UAE has witnessed an all time high due to the growth rate of the
diverse industrial sectors. Therefore any expatriate will have the opportunity to explore different
business opportunities in UAE and make effective use of the media services. However,
expatriates need to be tolerant to UAE’s culture and adapt to the different lifestyle.

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Bibliography
Al Mazrouei, H., & Pech, R. J. (2015). The expatriate as company leader in the UAE: cultural
adaptation. Journal of Business Strategy, 36(1), 33-40.
AlMazrouei, H., & Pech, R. J. (2015). Working in the UAE: expatriate management
experiences. Journal of Islamic Accounting and Business Research, 6(1), 73-93.
AlMazrouei, H., & J. Pech, R. (2014). Expatriates in the UAE: advance training eases cultural
adjustments. Journal of Business Strategy, 35(3), 47-54.
Elkelish, W. W., & Hassan, M. K. (2014). Organizational culture and corporate risk disclosure:
an empirical investigation for UAE listed companies.
Holden, N., Michailova, S., & Tietze, S. (Eds.). (2015). The Routledge companion to cross-cultural
management. Routledge.
Bealer, D., & Bhanugopan, R. (2014). Transactional and transformational leadership behaviour of
expatriate and national managers in the UAE: a cross-cultural comparative analysis. The International
Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(2), 293-316.
Michailova, S., & Tietze, S. (2015). The Routledge Companion to Cross-Cultural Management.
Davies, S., Kraeh, A., & Froese, F. (2015). Burden or support? The influence of partner
nationality on expatriate cross-cultural adjustment. Journal of Global Mobility, 3(2), 169-182.