179
The notion that “It’s not what you know, it’s
who you know” sometimes taints human-
resource management practices in the West,
but in much of the Arab world it is an under-
lying principle.
The extended family, clan, tribe, village
and Islamic religion play a major role in com-
munity life and interpersonal relationships.
Family ties, sectarianism and ideological
affiliation, rather than practical or academic
qualifications, significantly affect managers’
recruitment and promotion decisions. An
author on Kuwaiti affairs has pointed out that
employees in the country have more loyalty to
their family and tribe than to their organiza-
tions, and getting money to go on a training
program, for example, is usually subject to
personal connections and tribal recommenda-
tions (Abdul-Khalik). Arab managers often
concentrate on seniority, rather than merit.
Moreover, many managers are more con-
cerned about creating social relationships at
the workplace, than the job itself. Employees
spend much of their working time meeting
visitors. Some 41 percent of Iraqi managers
questioned in a recent survey complained of
relatives and friends dropping into their
offices during working hours.
While time pressure is one of the problems
most frequently mentioned by Arab execu-
tives, a study of Libyan managers has shown
that many arrive late in the morning, absent
themselves during the day and leave before
the official end of the working day.
When a program was designed for man-
agers in charge of units responsible for safety
and security, many companies sent a subordi-
nate – sometimes from a completely inappro-
priate section of the firm – because the man-
agers were too busy with their work in the
morning and with their social relationships in
the evening.
The Libyan economy, like that of other
Arab states, was agriculture-based until quite
recently. In the early 1970s, the government
began a drive for economic development. It
Education + Training
Volume 40 · Number 4 · 1998 · pp. 179–180
© MCB University Press · ISSN 0040-0912
Management
development in the
Arab world
Abstract
Discusses the state of management training in Libya,
providing insights into HRD policies in the Arab world.
Provides a brief view of the Libyan economy, and of the
problems faced by companies. Highlights the effect of
culture on attitudes towards management development,
along with the economic climate and foreign affairs.
This is a précis of an article entitled “Management
training and development within its environment:
the case of Libyan industrial companies,” which
was originally published in Journal of European
Industrial Training, Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 117-23. The
author was Almehdl A. Agnala, of the Department
of Business Administration, Faculty of Account-
ing, Gherian, Libya.