Bridging Cultures ebook
Every day, people around the world go to work whether in offices, schools, shops, or even online from home. In all these places, there are “managers” and “employees,” or teams working together to get things done. Management psychology is the study of how people in these roles think and behave, and how they motivate each other to achieve goals. It is like looking at the “people side” of running a business or organization. Now, why is culture part of this discussion? Because our culture the values, beliefs, and habits we learn growing up greatly influences how we interact at work.
Imagine two managers: one grew up in an Arab country, the other in a Western country. Suppose both are very good people and studied in good universities. When they start leading a team, you might see differences in how they give instructions, how they reward or discipline employees, how they deal with problems, and even how they chat with their staff day to day. These differences often stem from cultural background. Culture is like a lens through which we view the world; it affects whether we see a manager’s role as a strict boss or a friendly guide, whether we feel comfortable speaking up to our boss or prefer to quietly do as asked, and so on.
Who do we mean by “Arab” and “Western”? In this book, “Arab societies” generally refers to countries in the Middle East and North Africa where Arabic is a main language and Islamic culture has a strong influence (such as Arab Countries, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and others). These countries have differences among them, but they also share many cultural similarities like the importance of family, hospitality, and certain communication styles. “Western societies” refers to places like Western Europe (for example, UK, Germany, France) and North America (the United States, Canada), and others like Australia essentially countries with European heritage or influence, often characterized by more individualistic and secular cultures. Again, Western countries are not identical to each other, but as a group they contrast in some ways with Arab societies. We use “Western” as a broad term to compare with “Arab,” knowing there’s variety on both sides.
Hello, dear reader! Before we dive into the exciting topic of management psychology across cultures, I want to share why this book was written. Imagine you are a teenager who has friends from different parts of the world. Maybe you play online games with someone from another country or have classmates with family origins in the Middle East or the West. Have you ever noticed how people might act differently or value different things? As you grow up, these differences become even more important when people work together in jobs and organizations.