Expatriates in the UAE: advance training eases cultural adjustments

Abstract

Purpose

Sending staff to international locations can be costly for employers as well as employees if the expatriate staff members fail in their ability to assimilate themselves or are unable to work within the construct of the foreign culture. From a strategic perspective, failed overseas deployments can have serious implications in both the firm’s reputation and unnecessary costs. We examine this issue within the context of deployments to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Design/methodology/approach

Questionnaires are used to examine the factors relating to expatriate leader adjustment in the UAE. The experiences of expatriate managers in the UAE are discussed.

Findings

Our study found that well-structured pre-departure training had a positive effect on expatriate managers’ adjustment to working in the UAE. Mentoring was also considered to be highly effective as a means of preparing employees for an overseas deployment. A number of useful guidelines have been developed from the experiences of the expatriate managers surveyed in our research.

Research limitations/implications

Practical implications The results provide notable implications for organizational leaders facing a posting to the UAE and human resource management specialists preparing people for work in the UAE. It also provides a practical model to be used by expatriate leaders to facilitate their adjustment to the UAE culture.

Originality/value

Although there has been much research on cross-cultural adaptation, relatively little has been written on practical managerial adaptation, specifically in the UAE. This article helps address this imbalance.

Citation

AlMazrouei, H. and J. Pech, R. (2014), "Expatriates in the UAE: advance training eases cultural adjustments", Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 47-54. https://doi.org/10.1108/JBS-08-2013-0064