Leadership Development Programs: Investigating the Impact of Contextual and Cultural Factors on LDP Effectiveness in the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

Abstract:The interest in leadership continues to grow over the past few decades. Leadership Development Programs (LDPs) have become a priority for all sectors, especially for the public sector. However, LDPs tend to be based on Western leadership theories, and predominantly utilize Western leadership development approaches, and do not consider the influence of national culture in their utilization, namely high-context cultures, as exists in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This exploratory study focuses on elucidating leadership conceptualizations among Emirati leaders identifying their perceptions of the factors that impact on LDPs and leadership outcomes in the UAE public sector. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 leaders from three Dubai government organisations and data were analyzed using NVivo 10. The significance of the findings of the study are: (1) leadership conceptualizations were based on the common themes of inspiring others and communication, (2) mentoring and coaching were noted to be among the best mechanisms utilized in LDPs, (3) leadership challenges included access to financial resources, adapting to 'smart' government, and building and retention of leaders-hence the need for effective LDPs. The study provides a unique and significant contextual contribution highlighting improvement in opportunities for leadership development programs in the UAE public sector.

Transformational Leadership in the Organizational Development and Industrial Sector in the United Arab Emirates

“…Programs in the UAE Leadership Development Programs (LDPs) are significantly being practiced by various companies around the world, including machinery, manufacturing, and industrial firms in the UAE. As per Kamali et al [14], the development of managers and leaders is the ultimate goal in most companies. Such firms attach importance to the training of future leaders, and they acknowledge the value of constant management development frameworks that assist skilled leaders in becoming real managers.…”

“…These methods should be implied according to worker maturity and skill level. Kamali et al [14] stated that the theory and model of transformational leadership, which are subsequently modified as per the needs of companies and people, underline a leadership approach and process that could transform companies and people.…”

Leadership development in governments of the United Arab Emirates

“…The content of government leadership development programmes has also been censured for uncritically drawing on Western resources: programmes "tend to be based on Western leadership theories, and predominantly utilize Western leadership development approaches" (Kamali et al, 2015: para.1), and are often outsourced to Western training providers (Al-Dabbagh and Assaad, 2010) despite the fact that that cultural congruence is known to influence the effectiveness of leadership development (Mameli, 2013). Finally, the prominence of formal leadership development programmes can also be questioned.…”