Contextualising diversity management in the Middle East and North Africa: a relational perspective

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12150
• Author: Sophie Hennekam,Loubna Tahssain‐Gay,Jawad Syed
• Published date: 01 July 2017
• Date: 01 July 2017

Contextualising diversity management in the

Middle East and North Africa: a relational

perspective

Sophie Hennekam ,ESC La Rochelle School of Business,IRGO, University of

Bordeaux, France

Loubna Tahssain-Gay,ESCLa Rochelle School of Business, CERGAM IAEAix-

en-Provence,France

Jawad Syed,Suleman Dawood School of Business, Lahore University of Management

Sciences, Pakistan

Human Resource Management Journal, Vol 27,no 3, 2017, pages 459–476

This study examines the clash between diversity policies as designed in the West and the challenges in

implementing these in the Middle East and North Africa region. We contribute to the role of context in

diversitymanagement by studying howHR managers deal with diversitypolicies when the Westernapproach

and the local context are perceived as being incompatible. Twenty HR/diversity managers working for

multinational companies in nine different countries in the Middle East and North Africa region were

interviewed.The findings show that a manager’sunderstanding of the interrelated nature of multilevelfactors

of the local context influences the strategies adopted. Three strategies to deal with the perceived clash are

identified: forcing a Western approach upon the local country, a reframing strategy where existing policies

are reformulated to fit the Western requirements, and a sensitive approach in which the local context is

considered. The study suggests that multinationa.l companies have to adapt diversity policies to local

multilevel factors of the country in which theyoperate.

Contact: Dr Sophie Hennekam, ESC La Rochelle School of Business,IRGO, University of Bordeaux,

102 rue de Coureilles, 35 Avenue Abadie, 17000 La Rochelle, 33072 Bordeaux, France. Email:

hennekamso@esc-larochelle.fr

Keywords: diversity management; Islam; multinational companies; Middle East; North Africa;

relational framework

INTRODUCTION

Diversity management has gained groundand is receiving increasinginterest (Ali et al.,

2015; Nishii and Özbilgin, 2007). When managed effectively, diversity management

has been found to achieve outcomes such as better utilising talent and increasing

creativity leading to better overall performance (Peretz et al., 2015). It is, therefore, not

surprising that organisations worldwide have invested in diversity managementprogrammes

(Jackson and Joshi, 2004).

The bulk of research on diversity management has been situated in North America and

Western Europe. However, it has been argued that a US-centric approach may not hold well

for diversity management in other national contexts due to differences in socio-economic

HUMAN RESOURCEMANAGEMENT JOURNAL, VOL27, NO 3, 2017 459

©2017 John Wiley& Sons Ltd

Pleasecitethis article in pressas: Hennekam,S., Tahssain-Gay,L. and Syed, J. (2017)‘Contextualisingdiversitymanagementin the MiddleEast and North

Africa:a relational perspective’.HumanResou rce Management Journ al 27: 3, 459–476

doi: 10.1111/1748-8583.12150

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conditions,national legislation, culture, demographyand history (Klarsfeld et al., 2012;Sawyer

and Thoroughgood, 2012). More precisely, Hennekam and Tahssain-Gay (2015) studied HR

managers working for multinational companies (MNCs) in Morocco and identified a ‘clash’

that they have to deal with: the perceived incompatibility between the diversity policies

designed in the West and the local realities in a different national culture. The present article

further develops this scholarship by examining how managers deal with diversity policies

when the Western approach and the local context are perceived as being incompatible. Semi-

structured in-depthinterviews with HR/diversity managers working for MNCs in the Middle

East and North Africa (MENA)are analysed to identify the strategies that thesemanagers use

in adapting (or the lack of it) diversity policies in varied national contexts.

The strategyadopted was found todepend on a managers’understandingof the interplay of

factors on individual, organisational and societal levels. This study uses Syed and Özbilgin’s

(2009) relationalframework, underpinned by a contextualand multilevel conceptualisation of

diversity management that has been argued to help the international transfer of diversity

management policies and practices. Syed and Özbilgin (2009) distinguished between macro-

level,meso-level and micro-levelfactors of diversity and highlightedtheir interrelatednature to

develop an integrated and contextual approach to diversity management. The present article

utilises this framework to understand and contextualise diversity management in MENA

countries.On the macro-level, we focusedon the Islamic faith, the patriarchalstructure and the

modernisation process. On the meso-level, we looked at organisational processes and

routinised behaviours, and on the micro-level, issues of individual agency, motivation and

power were examined.

The presentstudy makes two interrelated contributions: Firstof all, researchers havestressed

the need for more diversity management research that is less susceptive to the Anglo-Saxon

cultural bias (Metcalfe, 2008). This study sheds light on the MENA countries, which forms a

stronglyunder-researched area(Mellahi et al., 2011). In line withSchwabenland and Tomlinson

(2015) who stressed the need formore critically informed research into the practice of diversity

management, we present a realistic account on how HR/diversity managers implement

diversitypolicies in different contexts. Secondly, the studyshows how an understandingof the

interrelatednature of factors on macro-level, meso-level and micro-level may influence the way

in which HR/diversity managers implement diversity policies in the MENA region.

CONTEXT

The MENA countries are heterogeneous in terms of their human capital, natural resource

endowments and susceptibility to external cultural influences (OECD, 2013). However, there

are also numerous features like history, culture, religion and language that many of these

countries have in common. The main challenge identified by the OECD (2013) is the

implementation of reforms and transforming macroeconomic achievements into social

progress. In order to better put the findings in perspective, Table 1 provides an overview of

contextual characteristics on which the countries that are included in this study differed.

Previous studieshave identified differentindicators of modernisation,such as women’s labour

force participation (Stockemer and Sundstrom, 2016) and the economic development of a

country, measured by the gross domestic product as provided by the World bank (Inglehart

and Welzel, 2010).Those indicators are providedin the table as a proxy for modernisation. We

can see thatQatar, Kuwait and theUnited Arab Emirates (UAE) aremore modernised based on

their highgross domestic product per capitaand high labour force participation rate of women,

compared with for example Morocco, Egypt or Lebanon.

Contextualising diversitymanagement

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©2017 John Wiley& Sons Ltd.