Leadership Adapted: Towards an Understanding of How Western- Developed Leadership Theories Are Translated and Practiced in the Modern Arab Middle East
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University of San Diego Digital USD Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2020-05-20 Leadership Adapted: Towards an Understanding of How Western- Developed Leadership Theories are Translated and Practiced in the Modern Arab Middle East Derek R. Olson University of San Diego Follow this and additional works at: https://digital.sandiego.edu/dissertations Part of the Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons, Leadership Studies Commons, Near and Middle Eastern Studies Commons, and the Other International and Area Studies Commons Digital USD Citation Olson, Derek R., "Leadership Adapted: Towards an Understanding of How Western-Developed Leadership Theories are Translated and Practiced in the Modern Arab Middle East" (2020). Dissertations. 182. https://digital.sandiego.edu/dissertations/182 This Dissertation: Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Digital USD. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital USD. For more information, please contact [email protected]. University of San Diego Digital USD Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2020-05-20 Leadership Adapted: Towards an Understanding of How Western- Developed Leadership Theories are Translated and Practiced in the Modern Arab Middle East Derek R. Olson Follow this and additional works at: https://digital.sandiego.edu/dissertations Part of the Business Administration, Management, and Operations Commons, Leadership Studies Commons, Near and Middle Eastern Studies Commons, and the Other International and Area Studies Commons Leadership Adapted: Towards an Understanding of How Western-Developed Leadership Theories are Translated and Practiced in the Modern Arab Middle East by Derek R. Olson A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2020 Dissertation Committee Afsaneh Nahavandi, Ph.D., Chair Hans Schmitz, Ph.D., Member Juan Roche, Ph.D., Member University of San Diego © Copyright by Derek R. Olson All Rights Reserved 2020 University of San Diego School of Leadership and Education Sciences CANDIDATE’S NAME: Derek Olson TITLE OF DISSERTATION: LEADERSHIP ADAPTED: TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF HOW WESTERN-DEVELOPED LEADERSHIP THEORIES ARE TRANSLATED AND PRACTICED IN THE ARAB MIDDLE EAST APPROVAL: _____________________________________, Chair Afsaneh Nahavandi, PhD - _____________________________________, Member Hans Peter Schmitz, PhD- _____________________________________, Member Juan F. Roche, PhD DATE: May 20, 2020 Abstract The purpose of this study is to understand how western-developed leadership theories are translated and practiced in the Modern Arab Middle East (MAME). Over the past century the notion of leadership has progressed through phases of understanding, definition, and practice. This evolution continues today and is no longer contained to the academic and practice-oriented institutions of North America and Europe. Through western-styled educational institutions and professional industries, western-developed leadership theories have stretched around the globe, including the MAME. While this is known, what is much less understood is how these theories are adopted and adapted. This study’s objective is to understand what theories of leadership are taught at Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs in the Modern Arab Middle East and how are they applied in local contexts. The research design was qualitative, interpretivist, and exploratory in nature. Data was collected from the MBA programs, their faculty alumni, and by the observations of the researcher. Publicly available documents were gathered by from online sources and during visits to the programs. Interviewed with respondents were conducted both in-person and through phone and digital conversations. Documents and transcripts were catalogued and thematically analyzed with the resulting themes constituting the findings of the study. The first set of findings centers around the question of how leadership is situated as well as what leadership theories are taught and how. It was found that leadership is professed to be highly valued, is broadly defined, and that is taught through traditional educational methods. The second set of findings pertain to what practitioners do with this education. It was found that leadership was spoken of in nine ways: local, regional, and internationally; a changing environment; entrepreneurship; family business; management preferred over leadership, and professional or personal development. Additionally, respondents reported that they experience the concept of leadership to be enigmatic, for a few, and future oriented. This study is hoped to be one of a series to come that considers how western- leadership theory is used in the MAME with an aim that theory may be useful and congruent within local and regional contexts. Keywords: leadership, western leadership, Middle East, Egypt, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, cross cultural, MBA, management, family business, entrepreneurship, professional development, personal development, context, environment ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you to the faculty and staff of both the University of San Diego as well as the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, and specifically to Dr. Afsaneh Nahavandi, Dr. Hans Peter Schmitz, Dr. Juan Roche, Dr. Robert Donmoyer, Dr. Fred Galloway, Dr. Zacary Green, Sister Terri Monroe, Professor René Molenkamp, Dr. Mariko Peshon, Dr. Lea Hubbard, Dr. Linda Dews, Dr. Laura Deitrick, Dr. Cheryl Getz, Dr. Marcus Lam, and Emma Mackey. Thank you to my peers Ebtesam, Carmeline, Daniel, Joe, Ish, Phillip, Sanket, Taylor, Khaled, Justin, and Ankit. Thank you to all the past and current educational institutions, including Greenfield Unified School District, King City High School, the University of California San Diego, Semester At Sea, the American University in Cairo, the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, the University of San Diego’s School of Business, the American University of Beirut, and the American University of Sharjah. Thank you to my beautiful and beloved wife Alair. Thank you to the life-long support of my parents Phoebe, Tim, and Leon. Thank you to my siblings Loni, Leland, Paula, and Megan. Thank you to the best friends with whom I’ve shared life: Brandon, Jeff, Skyler, Jacques, Travis, and Steven. Thank you to the spiritual companions of David, Eric, as well as the whole Theodyssey community and Flood Church. Thank you to the encouragers, including Jim Galvin, Dr. Jeff Bourgeois the Jernigan family, the Shaheen family, Suzanne Krause, Mr. Masters, Mr. Cavanagh, Mr. Graham. Thank you Father. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vi TABLE OF CONTENTS vii LIST OF FIGURES xiii LIST OF TABLES xiv CHAPTER 1: Introduction and Background 1 The Modern Arab Middle East 4 Country Similarities and Differences 6 Universities and MBA Programs 10 Dissertation Outline 12 CHAPTER 2: Literature Review 13 Western Leadership Theories 13 Great Man and Trait Theories 14 Behavioral Theory 15 Ohio State Leadership Studies 15 University of Michigan Leadership Studies 16 Scandinavian Leadership Studies 16 Role Theory 17 Contingency/Situational Theory 19 Fiedler's Contingency Theory 19 Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory 21 Goleman’s Situational Leadership 22 House’s Path-Goal Theory 23 vii Vroom-Yetton-Jago’s Decision-Making Model of Leadership 24 Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) 25 Charismatic Leadership 27 Transactional & Transformational Leadership 31 Transactional Leadership 31 Transformational Leadership 32 Kouzes and Posner's The Leadership Challenge 33 Values-Based Leadership Theory 34 Servant Leadership 34 Authentic Leadership 36 Positive Leadership Theory 37 New Directions in Theory 38 Cross-Cultural Values and Leadership Models 38 Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions 39 Hofstede in the Middle East 41 Critique and Contributions 41 The GLOBE Project 43 GLOBE and the Middle East 45 GLOBE Critique 49 Leadership in the MAME 52 Tribal-Islamic Leadership 52 Tribal Foundations 52 Desert 53 viii Trading and Wealth 54 Conflict 54 In-Group, Out-Group 55 Authoritarian and Consultation 56 Muhammad as the Archetypal Leader 56 Broad Characteristics 57 Specific Characteristics 58 Critique 60 Islamic Work Ethic 61 From the Prophet 62 Dimensions 63 Critique 63 Western Management and Leadership Theory in the MAME 65 Western Theory “Translated” 65 Management 66 Leadership 67 The Competing Commitments within Bioecology 68 Bioecology 68 Competing Commitments 74 The Inherent Competing Commitments in Bioecology Theory 76 Conclusion 77 Chapter 3: Research Design and Methodology 81 Research Design 81 ix Methods 86 Site Selection 86 Data Collection 88 Phase 1 – Document Collection and Review 88 Phase 2 – Campus Visits 91 Phase 3 – Alumni Interviews 99 Data Analysis 106 Chapter 4: Findings 108 Research Question Set 1 108 Positioning of Leadership Education 109 What Leadership is Taught 118 How Leadership is Taught 122 Research Question Set 2 123 Local, Regional, and International Perspective and Aim of Impact 124 A Changing Environment 130 Entrepreneurship and Innovation 136 Family Business 139 Management > Leadership 142 Professional and Personal Development 146 Leadership Is 149 Leadership is Enigmatic 149 Leadership is for the Few 150 Leadership is in the Future 151 x Conclusion 152 Chapter 5: Discussion 153 Summary 153 Discussion 154 Findings vis-à-vis What We Already Know 155 Great Man, Great Traits 155 Transactional 156 The GLOBE