Cerimagic, S and Smith, J (2011) Project managers: The importance of cross-cultural preparation. In: Egbu, C and Lou, E C W (eds.) Proceedings of 27th Annual ARCOM Conference, 5-7 September 2011, Bristol, UK.
Abstract
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has a large expatriate population of about 80 %. This research focused mainly on Australian (western) expatriates who are working in the UAE. Most of those expatriates neither received any type of cross-cultural training before departure nor after arriving in the UAE. Australian project managers have undertaken a 49 question survey to identify and evaluate key factors relevant to the UAE environment. However, for the purpose of this online survey questions which specifically deal with cross-cultural training and its impact have been discussed in detail. Preliminary findings in the paper indicate that understanding the factors that improve expatriate performance in international environments has become a vital human resource issue. This survey confirms that improving the cross-cultural training and knowledge of expatriates in the Arab culture could provide substantial internal and external benefits to the expatriates and the companies they work for. The success of expatriate project managers is greatly influenced by appropriate preparation before their departure and on site cross-cultural training.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Australian expatriates; cross-cultural training; project managers; United Arab Emirates |
| Index terms: | United Arab Emirates, population, human resource, survey, project manager |
| Subjects: | demography, management, Geography, data collection methods, profession |
| Topics: | Urban Studies, Human Resources, Roles and Professions, Geographical Context, Research Practice |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here