Atiyyah (1992, 1993) Parnell and
Hatem (1999) noted that there has so far been relatively little research
undertaken into the management practices employed in Arab countries. Nydell (1996) has
asserted that Arab countries have been subjected
to various pressures from the outside world, which has affected the way people
behave in their work place, for example, the
effects of the Western management practices, which need the adoption of Western values
and social practices. Parnell and Hatem (1999) noted that foreign investment and
joint ventures in Egypt appear to have produced new values in the Egyptian
organizations' approach of management. Hatem
(1994) noted that management practices had become one of the critical issues for
Egyptian organizations over the last few years as
a result of foreign investment and joint ventures.
Although Egypt has several schools of management and many professors
of Human Resource Management (HRM), relatively little HRM and
organizational behavior (OB) research has been
carried out, with even less appearing in the published literature (Atiyyah, 1992,
1993; Kozan, 1993). There are several reasons for this. Organizational research is
a relatively new field in Egypt, with more attention being paid to more
quantitative subjects such as finance, accounting
and marketing. Many academics are not trained to undertake and report research
findings, and are not interested or motivated to
do so. Organizations and their managers are not supportive of organizational
research, making it difficult to gain access to
research sites and participants (Ali, 1999; 2005; Budhwar & Mellahi, 2007). Managers
are sometimes fearful of having subordinates describe their work experiences for fear
that the data might reflect badly on the managers. |
