The Middle East's Theory X style of management is highly authoritarian, which is probably why young North American employees avoid multinational assignments there.

Most Middle Eastern managers believe that their employees are lazy by nature. Coercion is often needed to get Middle Eastern workers to perform.

Consequently, Middle Eastern managers take a strong work-centered approach to ensure that subordinates complete their tasks.

Theory X Management

Because of this authoritative philosophy, Middle Eastern countries are often used as examples for Douglas McGregor’s Theory X motivational leadership style.

Theory X management include the following Middle Eastern leadership characteristics.

• Workers have little ambition, try to avoid responsibility and prefer to follow directions from their leaders.
• Above all, the primary need of employees is their job security.
• Managers must exercise control and enforce threats of punishment to persuade people to attain organizational objectives.

Differences with Theory Y and Z Management

Middle Eastern managers contrast with Theory Y managers like those from North America, Europe and China who believe that their workers will work hard and seek increased challenge and responsibility depending on the rewards associated with task achievement. Thus employees learn not only to accept but will seek responsibilities. And since employees are committed to the goals, workers will exercise self-control and self-direction under the Theory Y model. Therefore, no threats of punishment are required.

Theory X managers from the Middle East also differ even more markedly from leaders in Japan who generally follow the more participatory Theory Z approach. Under Theory Z, managers assume that Japanese are motivated by a strong sense of commitment to be part of a greater whole, namely the Japanese organization in which they work.

Communication Flows from Leader to Subordinate

Because Theory X is authoritative, Middle Eastern organizations are characterized by a one-way downward flow of information and influence from authoritarian leader to subordinates.

The dictatorial flow of orders and influence from above in authoritative Middle Eastern organizational cultures is unlike leader and subordinate behaviour in:

• Parental Theory Y where there is a mutual, two-way flow of information and influence between boss and underlings but no exchange among subordinates.
• Participative Theory Z where there is a mutual, two-way flow of information and influence between boss and underlings plus an exchange among subordinates.

Culture Shock for American Expatriates in a Middle Eastern Organization

Not only are leadership attitudes in many Middle Eastern countries highly authoritative, organizational structures there are bureaucratic, over-centralized with authority and power unequally distributed at the top. This results in a slow business environment, with lots of time to make decisions or get approval for projects.

Decisions are made only at the highest levels. Performance evaluation and control is informal, with routine checks on performance. This is due in part to the fact that personnel policies depend on personal relationships. Contacts and social networks are more important than finding the strongest candidate through more formal channels.

The tone of communication used in a Middle Eastern company depends on the speaker’s social position and power. Therefore, a genius-level American software developer might experience culture shock when a senior executive from an Arabian company raises his voice during an interview.

But perhaps a female American executive transferred to a Middle Eastern corporation would experience the greatest culture shock. This is because even today many Middle Eastern firms refuse to hire women or promote them into management positions.

For many American expatriates, this lack of opportunity is unfair and is another major weakness of the Middle East’s overbearing, authoritative management model.

References

This article presents independent insights based on research from International Management, Culture, Strategy and Behavior (6th edition, Hodgetts-Luthans-DOH).