Editorial - Special Issue - Leading for Organizational Excellence in the Middle East

The Middle Eastern region of the world is considered as one of the fastest emerging economies of the world and has been of continuous interest to management practitioners, consultants and academics. The economic structures of the countries in this region are diverse, wherein some of the nations are dependent on the export of oil and oil-related products, while many others have alternative and diverse economic bases, encompassing, for example, hydrocarbon-exporting economies; socialist economies; and free market economies. The countries which have traditionally been dependent on the export of oil and oil-related products have consciously commenced working on the theme of sustainability of natural resources, and, as a result, they have been developing additional sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, services and renewable energy. To achieve these objectives of sustainable growth in their economies, the business leaders across industry in the Middle Eastern region need to acquire, develop, retain and leverage human resources (HR) so that organizations can effectively compete through talented HR. At the same time, the non-oil-producing countries and emirates have already focused on developing efficient HR to sustain economic growth, and, indeed, a central challenge for these types of economy is to continue to motivate, innovate and heighten performance from HR.

The employee demographics across industry in the Middle Eastern world comprise both nationals and expatriates. At the same time, this region has witnessed a strong social drive to engage the local population and employees rather than expatriates wherever possible across the length and breadth of the organizations. In one way, this is to be seen as a positive development – nationals will be at the helm of organizations and holding the mandate to create organizational strategies, design organizational processes and leading HR at workplace; however, this equally necessitates that they are prepared for such substantive responsibilities. As a result, top management in national organizations have been confronted with many exciting challenges while leading and leveraging the capabilities of a very diverse workforce with the aim of creating excellence in the workplace. These forms of dynamic environment and realities demand sound organizational processes and practices to ensure the effective leveraging of knowledge, skills, abilities and other organizationally relevant attributes of the culturally diverse workforce. However, the challenges facing decision-makers in these organizations have been increased because there is currently a dearth of management research by both practitioners and academics which target this part of the globe and provide “local” solutions to “local” challenges. As a result, managers and consultants working in Middle Eastern contexts have invariably had to rely on, and apply, academic research findings from other parts of the world.

Therefore, this special issue on Middle Eastern region of the world is consciously designed for academics, practicing managers and business leaders to contribute empirical as well as conceptual research papers aimed at enlarging extant knowledge and to support effective leadership of organizations in the Middle East. The special issue on “Leading for organizational excellence in the Middle East” has nine research papers which explore the relevant drivers of workplace excellence in organizations across the industry in the Middle Eastern world.