INTERNATIONAL

ORGANIZATIONAL

BEHAVIOR- MANAGING

DIVERSIFIED WORKFORCE

Deepa Chandrashekar

2

Table of Contents

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 3

Literature review on Motivational Theories ................................................................................... 5

Employee Motivation factorsin Gulf Council of Countries (GCC) .............................................. 11

Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 13

References ..................................................................................................................................... 15

3

Introduction

Managing and motivating employees from different cultures may seem an exciting opportunity for

a manager but it imposes great challenges unless the manager understands how cultural differences

inspire organizational excellence. Managers should have the ability to identify and work with

people from many type of cultures and be able accurately interpret and strategize a situation in a

manner that suits an individual’s values and needs. This is especially challenging when working

with people whose values and backgrounds are different from one’s own.

In the era of globalization, it has long been recognized that multiple cultures exist within larger

organizations. Organizations are becoming heterogeneous and pluralistic systems. Hence, while

employees of an organization may share a set of unique assumptions that are inherent to the

organization, that which becomes the organization’s culture, they also bring with them other

assumptions that they have acquired from outside the organization and these are not necessarily

limited to national cultures. An organization with global presence will have employees that come

from different geographic regions of a country, economic regions, industries and ideologies, such

as religious or political groups. Thus, it can be seen that multi-cultural groupings may exist within

an organization. For a manager, identifying the existence of cultural grouping becomes an

empirical issue and not just an assumption. Managers certainly cannot impose national culture on

the individuals assuming that it is the most relevant culture. Different cultural identities and values

have an impact on the way in which individuals within an organization perceive, value and react

in a work environment and how much they invest in their jobs.

The challenge for managers then becomes employee motivation and retention of highly competent

employees who come from different cultures. How can managers motivate employees? There is

4

no single or universal method that exists for motivating an individual. Although human resource

issues are similar at the core level in all firms, the task for culturally, heterogeneous organizations

are far more complex and challenging when it is comes to employee motivation. Needless to say,

this is a mammoth of a challenge to managers and a crucial responsibility in identifying the

motivational factors that would have an impact on the culturally diversified workforce to integrate

them into the corporate culture. Andrew Carnegie, the famous industrialist of 19th century,

commented: “Take away my factories, my plants; take away my railroads, my ships, my

transportation, take away my money; strip me of all of these, but leave my key employees, and in

two years I will have them all again” (Aguenza & Som, Nov - Dec 2012). Retaining key employees

is an important source of competitive advantage for any organization especially, those that have a

global presence.

Several motivational factor scan be implemented into a corporate culture in order to motivate

employees. These were identified through the various research studies that have been conducted

in this area. The main objective of this paper is to identify the most important motivation factors

in a diversified workforce and to analyze the relevance of early and modern theories of motivation

so that one can ensure proper application of them in a practical environment.

The objective of this paper is limited to the study of the various motivational theories along with

an analysis of the motivational factors that affect employees in a cross-cultural environment such

as Middle East. The paper starts with a detailed literature review of the various motivational

theories and then proceeds to identify the factors that affect employees’ motivation in the Middle

East region and, subsequently, concludes with the factors that managers in the Middle East should

consider in order to manage a diversified workforce successfully.

5

Literature review on Motivational Theories

There are numerous theories of motivation; however, the author has identified and explained the

most relevant theories in light of how motivation may influence employee commitment to an

organization. To be specific, this section will elaborate on the following theories:

1. Abraham Maslow’s theory of needs

2. Herzberg’s two factor theory

3. David McClellan’s theory of three-needs

4. Stacy Adams equity theory

5. Expectancy theory

The section will also touch upon Geert Hofstede’s dimension of culture.

Need Based Theory: One of the best known motivation theories in the world is that of Abraham

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. This is a good starting point to examine the different motivation

theories. The essence of the theory is that people are motivated by their quest to satisfy their needs.

Maslow suggested that there are five different levels of needs that people seek to have to satisfy

their basic needs. The first or the lowest level of need being physiological needs followed by next

level of needs such as security, love and belonging, egotistical or esteem and finally, need of Self-

actualization.

6

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Haque, Haque, & Islam, January - June 2014)

According to Maslow, “gratification of one basic need opens consciousness to domination by

another”. In other words, when on need is satisfied, its strength diminishes and the strength of the

next level increases. There is little empirical evidence produced to support Maslow’s theory.

Alderfer’s Existence-Relatedness-Growth theory extends Maslow’s theory to state that needs do

not occur in hierarchy but rather on a continuum and may in fact be experienced simultaneously.

(Roos, June 2005) Despite its limitation, Maslow’s theory has had a positive impact on

organization by focusing the attention of manager’s on the importance of addressing employees’

motivation at work. The Self-actualization concept has especially intrigued managers who now

understand that this high-level need is an important motivational factor.

Two Factor Theory: Fredrick Herzberg’s reputed and controversial two factor theory was

postulated in 1954. It was originally intended to address employees’ job satisfaction but over time

Self

Actualization

Esteem

Social

Security

Physiological

Higher order

needs

Lower order

needs

7

his attention expanded to motivational aspects. He realized the connection between job satisfaction

and motivation. The basic assumption of Herzberg’s theory is that motivation originates from

how people feel about what they do or the way they are utilized or treated. Herzberg noticed that

things that make people satisfied at work are different from those that cause dissatisfaction. Based

on his findings he created his theory of “Motivators” and “Hygiene” factors. (Qin, 2010)

Hygiene factors Motivation Factors

Quality of supervision Promotion Opportunities

Pay Opportunities for growth

Company policies Recognition

Physical working conditions Respect

Relations with others Responsibility

Job security Achievement

The stated hygiene factors are similar to Maslow’s lower order needs and are features of work

environment rather than the work itself. These factors do not lead to job satisfaction, but may

prevent dissatisfaction, if managed well. Motivational factors, on the other hand, have a direct

positive effect on employees’ performance and productivity. These can be related to Maslow’s

higher order needs. They may not cause dissatisfaction as long as hygiene factors are adequately

managed. The independence between Motivators and Hygiene is subject to controversy but,

nevertheless this theory has been very successful and has hi-lighted the importance of providing

employees with work that is meaningful to them.

8

Theory of Three Needs: David McClelland’s theory of the “Three-Needs” was introduced in

1967. The basic assumption of this theory is that three important factors motivate people-the needs

for achievement, power and affiliation. McClelland assigned a specific code to each of the three

needs as stated below. (Qin, 2010)

- the need for Power (n/PWR), which refers to the need to control others; people who have

the desire to be a ruler or an administrator and would like to influence others. People with

a high n/PWR work harder to reach a higher position of authority

- the need for Achievement (n/ACH), which denotes a persons’ strong desire to do a job

which is difficult, challenging and demanding. It assumes that people pursue success and

their behavior is directed towards competition with standards of excellence.

- the need for Affiliation (n/AFF), which is viewed as the desire to establish and maintain

close and friendly interpersonal relationships with other people. It is considered that people

with high n/AFF prefer cooperation over competition.

McClelland’s theory was challenged by Greet Hofstede who questioned the universal applicability

of the three needs. (Adler & Gundersonq, 2008)

Hofstede pointed out that countries which had a high need for achievement also had a high need

to produce and a strong desire to take risks. He states that “Culture is the collective programming

of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another”. Based on

his research on dimensions of culture, Hofstede developed a 4-D model which includes: power

distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism and masculinity and he later on added 2 more

dimensions to it which were time perspective and indulgence/restraint. According to Hofstede,

when people who come from a culture that ranges high on any of these dimensions interact with

9

people from culture that have a opposite range of these dimensions, there is bound to be

expectations mismatch as to which is the “right” way. (Anonymous, US DK Expats, 2015). If

organizations and managers can analyze the cultural dimensions of an employee, then they will be

able to design motivating incentives that align with these dimensions. Let us take the cultural

dimensions of Arabs as identified by Hofstede, for instance. Arabs had a high score on power

distance, masculinity and uncertainty avoidance and a low score on individualism compared to

Americans. (Al Soufi, ND)

Equity Theory: John Stacy Adams formulated the equity theory. According to Adams, the

relative rather than the absolute level of outcomes a person receives and the inputs contributed

determines motivation. (Valencia, 1998) The theory believes that people value fair treatment,

which causes them to be motivated. If people feel that inputs are fairly and adequately rewarded

by outputs then people are happy at work and motivated to continue inputting at the same level.

Contrary to this, if inputs out-weigh the outputs then people become demotivated in relation to the

job. (Anonymous, Mind tools, 2015)

Expectancy Theory: Whilst Maslow and Herzberg’s theories of motivation look at the

relationship between internal needs and the resulting effort expended to fulfil them, Vroom's

expectancy theory separates efforts that arise from motivation, performance, and outcomes. He

stated that effort, performance, and motivation is linked to a person's overall motivation.

(Anonymous, Vroom expectation theory, 2015) The theory postulates that employees will be

motivated when they believe that high levels of effort input will lead to high performance which

in-turn will lead to the attainment of a desired outcome. (Valencia, 1998)

10

Vroom’s original theory posits that the level of motivation can be identified through a

mathematical function of three types of cognitions: (Roos, June 2005)

Force= Expectancy x ∑ (Valences x Instrumentalities)

Expectancy is the perceived probability concerning the extent to which their ability to perform

will lead to a desired outcome

Valence refers to emotional orientations. How desirable is each of the outcome from a job is to a

person

Instrumentality refers to a person’s perception of whether they will actually receive what they

desire

The motivational force of an employee is created when these 3 factors interact. High motivation

results when the levels of expectancy, instrumentality and valence are all equally high. Low

motivation will result if any one of the factors is low. Hence, the onus is on the managers to ensure

that all 3 factors remain high so that employees can be kept highly motivated.

Vroom’s expectancy theory is shown in the diagram below:

Source: (Roos, June 2005)

11

As one can see each of the theories stated above has contributed substantially towards the concept

of motivation in the workplace. There are several other theories, which the author has not

elaborated here, such as, Clayton P. Alderfer's ERG theory (Existence, Relatedness and Growth),

the job characteristics model, designed by Hackman and Oldham, Douglas McGegor’s Theory X

and Theory Y etc. The author believes that the various research studies being conducted on

employee motivation has had a major impact on the thought process within organizations, and

helped them to practically address a highly complicated aspect of any organizations human

psychology i.e. motivation of human behavior at work.

Employee Motivation factors in Gulf Council of Countries (GCC)

One of the biggest challenges faced by managers in the GCC is the cultural differences that exists

between GCC locals and the immigrant workforce. As one may be aware, the GCC region

comprising of Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Saudi Arabia are

dominated by expat culture given that the majority of the workforce is comprise of individuals

from varied countries and cultures. The gulf region is an attractive destination for expatriate

workforce. Presently the ratio of national and expatriates in the gulf is heavily in favour of the

latter. The GCC countries are trying to rectify this demographic imbalance caused by high

proportion of expatriates by pursuing the advent of the so-called “Arabization”, as a means to

replace foreign workers with nationals. In the meantime, the expat workforce, although being the

major contributors to the development of these countries, are being subjected to discrimination in

several ways. Many expat workers are forced to take a “grin and bear it” attitude and do not

actively engage themselves at work since they are heavily dependent on their local sponsors,

12

employers or government officials and hence, prefer to remain silent. This affects the level of

motivation of the expat work force.

There is very little empirical research into the key motivational drivers of expat workers in the

Gulf and other Middle East countries. One research study conducted by Bayt, a Middle East job

site in 2009, revealed that one of the key motivation drivers for employees in Middle East was

“Long term growth opportunities” and “company’s reputation”. The survey covered countries of

GCC, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia, and Syria. (Bayt, 2009)

As one can see from the above graph, only a minor group of people considered pay as their key

motivating factor to work. Similar findings were also reported by a study conducted by the

American Psychological Association demonstrated that people desired more from their work place

than just monetary rewards. (Heathfield, 2009)

A report published in Trade Arabia magazine that was published on November 10, 2014, reported

that a majority of both GCC nationals and expatriates in the region ranked ‘family’ as the most

13

influential motivator and that ‘status’ and ‘easy life’ were among the least influential factors that

motivate them in life. In the same report, Professor William Scott-Jackson, Chairman of the Oxford

Strategic Consulting was quoted as saying that “the importance of family to both nationals and

expats reflects the fact that most expats in the GCC are from similar ‘collective cultures of South

East Asia and the other Arab countries – this supports our view that models of leadership and

human resources coming from Western ‘individualistic’ societies may become less and less useful

in the new world economy,” (Anonymous, 2015) The survey also found that “finances, striving to

achieve and religious beliefs were important motivating factors for both national and expat

employees and a strong demotivating factor was their own negative feelings. (Anonymous, 2015)

Scott-Jackson also commented that the finding sends an important message to GCC based

companies that are seeking to increase employee engagement and organizational effectiveness. He

also stressed that GCC business leaders should work to develop individual positivism among

national employees. (Anonymous, 2015)

Conclusion

Numerous research articles on leadership, organizational behavior and motivation on cultural

diversity management are available; however, there are very few publications based on empirical

research that discuss these issues in the context of Gulf region. Managers in the Gulf region find

it difficult to deal with such vast culture diversity in the workplace especially when both managers

and employees bring their respective values and beliefs to a workplace.

In order to develop a motivated cross culturally represented workforce, having a good

understanding of just basic motivation factors such as monetary rewards is not enough. It is highly

important to explore how employees from different cultural backgrounds react to such

14

motivational factors. It is well known factor that culture has a profound impact on human belief

and behavior. (Qin, 2010) As a manager working with diverse workforce, one cannot assume that

everyone will value work in the same manner. By being sensitive to these differences, managers

can effectively address motivational issues and problems. Values vary across different categories

of employees, especially in the Gulf where there is a dominance of local culture that is imposed

by nationals, but, at the same time the job market is dominated by expatriates who span different

cultures. So the rule of thumb for any manager is to understand and appreciate that a particular

type of incentive strategy that works well with some employees or group of employees might not

necessarily work with others and hence, managers need to be flexible in their approach.

15

References

Adler, N. J., & Gundersonq, A. (2008). International dimensions of organizational behaviour

(5th ed.). Mason, Ohio: South Western College Publishing.

Aguenza, B. B., & Som, A. P. (Nov - Dec 2012). Motivational factors of employee retention and

engagement in organizations. International Journal of Advances in Management and Economics

, 88-95.

Al Soufi, A. H. (ND). Cultural differences between Arabs and Danes - The Intracultural

Diversity’s Effect on Intercultural negotiations. Retrieved from

http://pure.au.dk/portal/files/1841/000140603-140603.pdf

Anonymous. (2015). Family top influential factor for GCC residents. Retrieved from Trade

Arabia Business News Information: http://www.tradearabia.com/news/REAL_269256.html

Anonymous. (2015, April 5). Mind tools. Retrieved from

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_96.htm

Anonymous. (ND). Organizational behaviour and effective management. Retrieved from

highered.mheducation.com/sites/dl/free/.../swe59088_ch01web.pdf

Anonymous. (2015, April). US DK Expats. Retrieved from Hofstede's cultural dimensions:

http://usdkexpats.org/theory/hofstedes-cultural-dimensions

Anonymous. (2015). Vroom expectation theory. Retrieved from YourCoach:

http://www.yourcoach.be/en/employee-motivation-theories/vroom-expectancy-motivation-

theory.php

Baytt. (2009, September). Retrieved from

http://img.b8cdn.com/images/uploads/article_docs/employee_motivation_0909.pdf_2009090409

4202.pdf

Bhadoriya, S., & Chauhan, S. (July - Sept 2013). A clinical analysis of intrinsic & extrinsic

factors of motivation. International Journal of Management and Business Studies , 20-26.

CertoLester.RDalton.C2006 Top management teams, strategy and financial performance: A

meta‐analytic examination Journal of Management studies 813-839.

Distinguishing the effects of functional and dysfunctional conflict on strategic decision making:

Resolving a paradox for top management teams1996Academy of management journal 123-148.

Haque, M. F., Haque, M. A., & Islam, M. S. (January - June 2014). Motivational theories - A

critical analysis. ASA University Review , 61-68.

16

Heathfield, S. (2009). What people want from work - Motivation. Retrieved from about Money:

http://humanresources.about.com/od/rewardrecognition/a/needs_work.htm

Hess, D. (2007). Heterogeneous and homogeneous gropus in the innovation process.

Oldenburger Studien zur Europisierund und zur transationalen Regulierung , 1-26.

Hong.HDoz.Y2013L’Oreal masters multiculturalism Harvard Business Review 114-118.

IvancevichGilbert2000Diversity management time for a new approach Public personnel

management 75-92.

Landsberg, M., & Pfau, M. (2005). Top level team diversity: Lessons from top teams.

www.strategy-business.com , 1-2.

Marimuthu, M., & Kolandaisamy, I. (2009). Demographic diversity in top level management and

its impact on firm financial performance: An empirical discussion. International Journal of

Business and Management , 176-188.

Neilson, B. B., & Neilson, S. (2009). The impact of top management team nationality diversity

and international experience on foreign entry mode. SMG Working Paper, Center for Strategic

Managmement and Globalization , 1-48.

Palmer, T., & Varner, I. L. (ND). International diversity on top management teams of

multinational firms based in the USA and Europe: status and implications. 1-10.

Qin, L. (2010). Employee motivation in a cross-cultural organization., (pp. 1-66).

Richard.O2000 Racial diversity, business strategy, and firm performance: A resource-based view

Academy of management journa 164-177.

Roos, W. (June 2005). THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION, JOB

SATISFACTION AND CORPORATE CULTURE. submitted in part fulfilment of the

requirements the Master of Science in Psychology (pp. 20 - 41). University of South Africa.

Steen, E. V. (2004). The costs and benefits of homogeneity, with an application to culture clash.

Working Paper, MIT Sloan , 1-18.

StevensPlautSanchez-Burks2008 Unlocking the benefits of diversity all-inclusive

multiculturalism and positive organizational change.The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science

116-133.

Tacheva, S. (2007). Top level team diversity: A multilevel exploration of antecedents and

consequences (Doctoral Dissertation, University of St. Gallen).

17

Valencia, C. (1998, April 5). Motivation and productivity in the workplace. Retrieved from

Westminster College:

https://www.westminstercollege.edu/myriad/?parent=2514&detail=4475&content=4798