Finally I am back ! Meanwhile, I have moved to Dubai from
Copenhagen with a new job. I have started to work with different countries like India, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bangladesh in this
job. Totally new geography and totally new cultures for me. I am very excited
!
At my first day in new office in Dubai, I have found this
book on my desk. ‘Don’t they know it's Friday?’
Yes, Fridays are off in UAE and some other Arabic countries, because it is a holy day based on Islam religion. Weekend is Friday-Saturday. It takes some time to adapt your mind and body, but
nothing changes.. You continue to love Fridays J
I really liked this book, there are good practical tips on
how to deal with the Gulf Arabs in business. It addresses in particular the
cross-cultural aspects of life affecting westerners and other nationalities in
business with nationals in or from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the
UAE and Oman.
When I
searched on internet about book and author who is Jeremy Williams Obe, I found that his
company, Handshaikh Ltd, conducts seminars, briefing programmes and negotiation
training for organisations with Gulf business connections. (www.handshaikh.com)
In this web site, you can see some useful information and a
cross cultural test to measure your knowledge and experience about Gulf Arabic
culture especially in business life. I immediately did the test after my first 1 month cultural
experience in Dubai, I got 50 score out of 100. Good progress for me, but I still
need to observe and interact a lot ! It is indeed a rich culture with religion, behaviours, dresses, way of doing
business, language, climate (For me there are 2 types of weather here : hot and very hot)…
If you are interested in this culture or moving to this area
to live or work, I strongly recommend you to read this book and then try
cross cultural test.
Enjoy life..
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