Living in a global village part 1

About a week ago, I have finished my consulting assignment in Saudi Arabia, although I am still working with them remotely, and I am on the road again on this global village. My trip started on the city of Sharjah in United Arab Emirates, than the city of Dubai and currently I am in India.

Although travelling, at times, can be a daunting task, for global managers, it can be a source of great experience. Travelling will expose you to new cultures, new management styles, new business opportunities and some great sightseeing if you plan your trip well.

As I am a quality conscious, I always look for new management styles that improve quality. It’s very interesting to see how people in various cultures perceive quality. I have heard and read a great deal about India, Saudi Arabia and Dubai before I leave the US. I read how these countries, especially India and the city of Dubai, were adopting ambitious reform plans to transfer their economies and offer more to their citizens and visitors.

In India, the phrase “state of the art” is widely used to describe a building, or an office, or an airport that has, supposedly, excellent facilities, but that not usually the case, the phrase is liberally used and you should expect less. Quality levels vary from culture to culture and what is considered excellent in one culture maybe considered moderate in another culture.

In Saudi Arabia, my reactions were mixed, the country is investing heavily in education, infrastructures and public services but the quality of service in various sectors leave so much to be desired.

Personally and as a manager, I believe strongly in giving “a great customer service”, great customer service by a government or an organization leads to many happy citizens. In Saudi Arabia, heavy spending by the government in various sectors is having little impact in improving the lives of its citizens since the concept of “Great customer service” seems alien to most government agencies and to the majority of private companies.

Although Saudi Arabia has a moderate roads and highways system, the country’s death toll from traffic accidents is the highest in the world. Throughout my stay there I have noticed little police intervention in directing the traffic, the police would turn a blind eye on traffic violations or in many instances the police is even not present at many main road intersections.

I have used the traffic woes in Saudi Arabia as an example to illustrate how business is conducted at government agencies and at many private firms. A citizen may walk into a government agency requesting a service only to be disappointed and confused by various answers to the same questions by various employees who are not well trained to do their jobs.

As I said, my reaction to what I have experienced in Saudi Arabia was mixed, on one hand I felt the need for improvement in customer service in its various forms is urgently needed, but on other hand there are positive factors worth considering when living in Saudi Arabia such as” low cost of living, no taxes of any type, moderate infrastructure and very low crime rate.”

Read more on part 2 of this article