Understanding the Employee Perspective in a Multicultural Environment

Understanding the Employee Perspective in a Multicultural Environment: A Case Study into Job Satisfaction and Organisational Commitment in the United Arab Emirates 17 th International Conference for the International Association of Management of Technology (IAMOT) Dubai, 6 - 10 April 2008 Abdul Ghaffar AH Chaudhry Project Engineer, Halcrow International Partnership Alumni of The British University in Dubai a_ghaffar 786@hotmail. com

Outline ¢ ¢ Job Satisfaction, Organisational Commitment, and their inter-relationship. Uniqueness of Dubai Research overview Research Findings l l l ¢ ¢ Factors Influencing Job Satisfaction Factors Influencing Organisational Commitment Cultural Affect on Job Satisfaction & Organisational Commitment Conclusions Basis for Future research

Job Satisfaction, Organisational Commitment, and their inter-relationship Job Satisfaction: “a function of the perceived relationship between what one wants from one’s job and what one perceives it as offering” (Locke, 1969) Organisational Commitment: Porter et al. (1974) and Al-Meer (1989) define organisational commitment as, the relative strength of the identification of the individual and his involvement with his particular organisation

Job Satisfaction, Organisational Commitment, and their inter-relationship (Contd. . ) Inter-relationship between Job Satisfaction and Organisational Commitment: ¢ Several researchers have examined the relationship between job satisfaction and organisational commitment (Agho et al. , 1993; Brooke et al. , 1988; Cramer, 1996; Currivan, 1999; Glisson and Durick, 1988; Lance, 1991; Lok and Crawford, 1999; Mowday et al. , 1979; Vandenberg and Lance, 1992) ¢ A common denominator between the two is a stron desire to remain a member of the particular organisation, given opportunities to change jobs (Hunt, Chonko, & Wood, 1985)

Uniqueness of Dubai

Uniqueness of Dubai (Contd. . ) INFRASTRUCURE Information society infrastructure INCENTIVES Economic and institutional framework INNOVATION Innovation systems INTELLIGENCE Education systems Continuous Improvement

Research Overview Data was analysed in the following contexts: Nationality Gender ¢ ¢ 3 construction companies 600 questionnaires l Age l l Work Groups ¢ 250 Consultant 200 Contractor 150 Client 251 responses = 41. 8%

Research Overview (Contd. . ) Characteristics Nationality Group UAE National Arab National Indian Sub-continent European American Canadian Far East Asian Gender Male Female Age Group 21 -25 26 -30 31 -35 36 -45 46 -55 >55 Marital Status Single Married Divorced Frequency Percentage 17 40 129 44 2 1 18 6. 8% 15. 9% 51. 4% 17. 5% 0. 8% 0. 4% 7. 2% 217 34 86. 5% 13. 5% 29 90 59 62 8 3 11. 6% 35. 9% 23. 5% 24. 7% 3. 2% 1. 2% 70 179 1 27. 9% 71. 3% 0. 4% Characteristics Frequency Educational Status High School 0 Diploma 57 Graduate 158 Post Graduate 34 Ph. D 1 Years of professional experience 0 -3 42 4 -5 61 6 -10 56 10 -15 63 16 -20 19 20 -30 8 >30 2 Number of previous employers 1 98 2 46 3 48 4 25 5 31 6 -8 3 8 -10 0 >10 0 Percentage 0. 0% 22. 7% 62. 9% 13. 5% 0. 4% 16. 7% 24. 3% 22. 3% 25. 1% 7. 6% 3. 2% 0. 8% 39. 0% 18. 3% 19. 1% 10. 0% 12. 4% 1. 2% 0. 0%

Research Findings Factors Affecting Job Satisfaction Very Strong Influence Moderate Influence Very Little Influence

Research Findings (Contd. . ) Factors Affecting Organisational Commitment Very Strong Influence Moderate Influence Very Little Influence

Research Findings (Contd. . ) Cultural effects on Job Satisfaction Very Strong Influence Moderate Influence Very Little Influence

Research Findings (Contd. . ) Cultural effects on Organisational Commitment Very Strong Influence Moderate Influence Very Little Influence

Conclusions ¢ Main factors affecting an employee’s Job Satisfaction are Salary, Nature of work, Job Flexibility, Job security, Line Manager’s Behaviour, and Company Leadership. ¢ More than 50% respondents agree that Company Leadership strongly influences their job satisfaction. ¢ Oragnisational Commitment is very strongly influenced by Line Manager’s Behaviour. ¢ About 40 % respondents confirm that their organisational commitment is strongly affected by same factors as for Job Satisfaction. ¢ European nationals’ organisational commitment is very strongly affected by the company culture and nature of work. However, for South Asian nationals the line manager’s behaviour is more influential.

Further Research This is part of a broader research related to Leadership style, organisational commitment and job satisfaction in the construction sector of UAE. Future work is needed to understand employee’s needs in multicultural environment of Dubai. This can form basis for establishing framework for Workers Market in the UAE. Broader appreciation is needed across sectors