Power and Priorities

Being in Doha this week I was reminded of just how much patience and resilience the Westerner must have in order to advance business in the Gulf. The culture is such that everything takes place in the present and there is little opportunity to plan and organize in advance: the Westerner can try, but it may be to little avail when everything constantly changes at the “last minute”. There are various different analyses to explain the different cultural approaches to time: namely “monochronic” where tasks are approached “one by one” (which lends itself well to planning); and “polychronic” where the sense of time is fluid (which lends itself well to the concept of “multitasking”).

Here in the Gulf, a polychronic approach to time might be a good description of the cultural behavior but it does not seem to be a sufficient explanation of that cultural behavior. Searching for possible reasons Ied me to a book by Williams entitled “Don’t They Know it’s Friday: a cross cultural guide for business and life in the Gulf” (2010, 2^nd ed., Motivate Publishing). Therein the author proposes a number of theories as to why the approach to time (and timing) is distinct in the Gulf. A synthesis of these theories tends toward a sense of power and the associated priorities as the root cause of this behavior.

Here’s a summary followed by further implications (“et alors?”).

Power and Priorities

William’s study of Gulf cultural behavior regarding time can be synthesized as follows:  

Power: the Gulf societies are constructed in terms of power which fall into eight broad groups or classes: 1/ the ruler; 2/ the ruling family; 3/ an “inner circle” of close advisors; 4/ the “top” local families; 5/ nationals; 6/ Other Gulf nationals; 7/ “white collar” expatriates; 8/ laborer expatriates.

… and priorities: all Gulf Arabs are permanently on call to attend at once to the wishes and instructions of important Gulf people – if someone more powerful wants your attention, personal and professional obligations must be set aside: the “diary” is therefore almost irrelevant.

Power: with the strong sense of hierarchy, a “centralist” organization is standard and the power of decision making remains with a very limited number of individuals.

… and priorities: if everyone is only operating in the absolute present this means that a decision and/or an approval might only be obtained “at the last minute”.

Power: there is a strong concept of absolute duty that Gulf Arabs have to their families, their ruling families and religion.

… and priorities: only a few Gulf Arabs apologize for failing to attend meetings – usually they will simply fail to appear when expected because they have been drawn away by a duty.

Et alors?

There are a number of immediate practical considerations for the Gulf visitor to take into account, not least the need for patience! Planning is probably best achieved only at a high level with plenty of “leeway” for adapting to constant changes. The difficulty for the visitor is compounded by the fact that foreigners are expected to be on time, so the visitor cannot really fully adapt! It is also important to be seen to have made the effort even though (for example) a meeting might have had a low chance of taking place. Finally, the “investment” required in order to advance with business will not only take time but money – to conduct business in this manner costs relatively more than what Western organizations might be used to elsewhere.

Whilst this cultural behavior is significant and noticeable in the Gulf, might it be equally applicable elsewhere? Certainly in any culture where there is a strong sense of hierarchy, it might be difficult to keep to “monochronic” time management. Such an approach to time might only be possible in more egalitarian cultures! Whenever there is a centralized decision making process, decisions and approvals are going to take a while and a more “polychronic” approach to time might be beneficial. So even in cultures which do not have highly visible hierarchies, it might be wise for the visitor to nevertheless assess where the power lies and then anticipate a possible change in the host’s priorities accordingly…