This third in the CEO-seminar series was arranged by the author to examine the priorities, values and world-view of the management profession in Bahrain as it undergoes rapid transition and takes clearer shape. This seminar took place in May, 1986. The seminar
programme comprised two sessions. The first session was chaired by H E the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, and the paper presented entitled 'The Bahraini Management Profession: Problems and Prospects1. Besides the paper presentation by the Head of Business and Management Department at Gulf Polytechnic, there were three panelists all senior Bahrainis with different backgrounds and experience. One of the panelists reflected a business and investment experience, the second was a chief executive of a major
i
national bank, and the third, a general manager of administration and finance of a national oil company. The paper dealt with the concept of 'professionalism* by starting with the distinctive characteristics of a professional association, then addressed implications to
the emerging management practice
in the country. It also touched on the identity crisis that the management profession is facing, the emergent climate in Bahrain emphasising efficiency, rationality, impersonality and an overriding work ethic. The paper also referred to the Western societies and how the 'management role' has evolved in comparison to Bahrain where management is something of a new-comer particularly in the absence of both professional regulation and binding tradition. It also referred to options available and concluded by suggesting the. establishment of a Society or a Management Association to serve as the ultimate qualitycontrol body for this important activity.
The second session was chaired by the Chairman of the Board of Gulf Petrochemicals Industries Company, and the paper presented entitled 'The Management Structure of Bahraini Organisations'. The paper was presented by the author, followed (as in session one) by three panelists with different backgrounds and experience. The first panelist was a very senior executive from the Ministry of Health with medical background; the second
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was a very senior executive from the Ministry of Education with education and planning background and the third a senior executive from a multi-national Ship Repairing Yard (Dry Dock) with an accounting background. The paper presented touched on the habitat of the various professions, then moved into highlighting the Bahrain society by comparing values and traditional norms and their influence on impersonal, efficiency-bound work place. It also addressed the effect of economic growth, and development on more advanced societies in the West. The paper referred to the term 'transitionalism' as the key characteristic of Bahraini organisations which has resulted in a number of problems including: weak management infrastructures; experimentalism; impressionism; manpower development imbalances and a poor research base. The paper concluded by proposing
to consider setting up a joint management research and development unit to operate on a multi-sector basis throughout Bahrain to provide three major types of services to organisations:
* General support information
* Specialised 'functional' information
* Consulting expertise in specific problem areas
The paper also suggested that Gulf Polytechnic will be prepared to house such an important unit.
Some of the comments, concerns and questions raised by the panelists and participants in both sessions were very vital to the development of management, with particular reference to the concepts of leadership, motivation and professionalism in Bahrain. Such key issues point out to statements and questions such as: * The importance of management profession under the
present recessionary conditions
* Is there a direct relation between qualification, professionalism, experience and appointment or promotion?
* Is there a serious participatory approach to management in Bahrain, or is it bound to remain authoritarian and centralised,?
* Has the executive or manager sufficient control in our organisations to be able to perform his duties? * Does Society attach a high premium to productivity
or is it a question of lip-service and tokensim? * What should be the leadership qualities of our
future managers in Bahrain?
* How do we evaluate a successful manager? * What criteria should we apply?
* What is the effect of technology on our management? * The need to establish research in the area of
management and management development
The fact that most of the instruments applied in this research are open-ended with ample room for reflecting on the personal experience of respondents, made it mandatory to emphasise interpretive understanding methodologies particularly in view of the fact that the terrain investigated: is still taking shape and exhibiting very rapid change.
HIGLIGHTS, CONTENTS AND CHAPTER PROFILES
The following pages outline the development of the thesis:
Chapter 1 Background, objectives, scope and methodology of the study.
Chapter 2 The researcher's overview of the Bahrain management culture in transition.
Chapter 3 Widening the Perspective: Bahrain managers surveyed with special reference to the concepts of leadership, motivation and managerial professionalism.
Chapter 4 Management development for Bahrain: scanning the options.
Chapter 5 Moving towards a management development strategy.
Chapter 6 Continuing Management Education Programme (COMEP) evaluation against the strategy. Chapter 7 The COMEP knowledge base: transferability
and adaptation.
Chapter 8 Reflections on the Bahrain management development experience: some general observations.
Postscript: The way forward.
Chapter 2
The Researcher's Overview of the Bahrain Management Culture in Transition
This opening chapter reflects the author's interpretation of the Bahraini socio-cultural context which constitutes the broad management culture within which managers have to operate and define their role.
Bahraini cultural norms, values, leadership patterns, primary and secondary group loyalties, concept of time, change efficiency, interpersonal ties, etc, are explored in the light of the researcher's experience as an active member of and senior manager within this
culture.
The management profession emerges as anincipient development viewed with increasing confidence as a necessary response to the changing economic environment and struggling for acceptance on equal footing with more established professions.
Thus the purpose of this chapter is to highlight key features and several major influences that affect Bahrain management culture's receptivity to planned change. It is, nevertheless, an observer's account of a management force field undergoing rapid transition and has yet to be brought under careful research scrutiny.
Chapter 3
Widening the Perspective: Bahrain Managers Surveyed with Special Reference to the Concepts of Leadership, - Motivation and Managerial Professionalism.
Following the author's account of the Bahraini management culture, an attempt is made in this chapter to view the situation from within as directly experienced by a large group of managers. The themes, tensions, and problems explored in the second chapter from the vantage point of an observer are narrowed down and investigated more specifically in this chapter. Also the experiences of management practitioners in Bahrain are systematically tapped through a series of interviews, questionnaires and CEO seminars. The aim is to develop an integral profile of the Bahraini manager comprising both a self-image and a "significant others" image.
An important outcome of this chapter is establishing in the light of research evidence, the three concepts of Leadership, Motivation and Managerial Professionalism as the main variables around which to structure the discourse at three closely interrelated levels of analysis, namely: macro, intermediate and micro.
Chapter 4
Management Development for Bahrain: Scanning the Options.
Examining the inner tensions of the management culture from within reveals in depth the wide differences, and conflicts among managers as to available management
development options. Again
in the light ofresearch,
evidence presented and expressed by different groups of Bahraini managers, four such options are explored and explained, namely: Westernisation, Japanisation, Bahrainisation and Pragmatisation. The discussion that follows points clearly in favour of Pragmatisation the one option preferred by a majority of managers. It is argued that this option is based on dynamic need-assessment and long-range strategic planning offering a degree of problem-solving relevance and flexibility unmatched by any of the other options.
Chapter 5
Moving Towards a Management Development Strategy.
Having sketched out the broad features of the Bahrain management culture and developed an inside view of its major tensions and critical choices during the period of transition it is undergoing, and for the diagnosis attempted in chapter three and four to be carried to
its logical conclusion within the selected pragmatic option, there is a need for an integrative strategy to be formulated. Such is the task attempted in the fifth chapter which builds on the fourth and presents a blueprint for q management development strategy in Bahrain. The goal of this .strategy would be a methodical implementation of the pragmatic option through fitting a continuing management education model within a management development frame of reference for Bahrain.
In a nutshell, this chapter addresses the need for a long-range strategic plan in the area of continuing management education. It begins by outlining a general format for strategic planning covering such components as goals, action plans, resourses, implementation mechanism, feedback and evaluation. It then moves to apply this format to continuing management education as a vehicle for serving the long-term requirements of management development and upgrading of managerial professionalism in Bahrain. For such objectives to be served, continuing management education should aim at producing a manager with leadership qualities and a motivational make-up which allows him to work effectively within . the Bahrain culture while simultaneously fulfilling his role as a change agent. Continuing management education should be at once
anticipatory, remedial, developmental and integrated. It also has to be comprehensive, ie, multi-sectoral and multi-level and delivered through a flexible programme resting on a constantly updated data base.
Chapter 6
COMEP Evaluation Against the Strategy.
In its first five