Career and Gender Discrimination in Bahrain | Case Study

C beer and Gender Discrimination in Bahrain Case StudyEllen Moore (A) sustentation and defecateing in BahrainCase summaryThe crusade describes the weeing manners and rush decision of Ellen Moore, an Ameri plunder expatriate in Bahrain in the 1980s. Ellen is an expectant and capable mortal both in terms of academic and overlord background. Right after graduation with an MBA degree, she fol embarrasseded her husband to work as a financial specialist in Bahrain.Bahrain is a country situated in the Persian Gulf and its modernization and economy are bulletproofly associated with the fossil oil industry. Expatriates score been playing an important role in bringing expertise and dynamics to its under-developed areas. Ellen came to Bahrain to work as knowr because of her vast work pick up, she very like the opportunity to be a teacher and work with separate people, although some working style, professional cap energy, pietism were different from her home country, she beli eved that the ability to handle different situation would be an important international experience for her.After cardinal years hard working, Ellen was bring home the bac championd with two senior trouble options of career promotion, one in accounts control and another in guest assistant. She wanted to choose the accounts control fructify but was faced with an transparent discriminatory practice by her manager for being a cleaning lady. He said that because the correct she chose would involve visiting Saudi Arabia and negotiating with men, as a female she would not be able to fulfill this gear up. So thither are four possible ancestors that Allen could choose 1. Take the customer survey that she does not like 2. Fight back 3. Remain her current position 4. Leave the confederation.1. The Case core sheersa) Gender distinction in the Bahraini society weighed in the organisational cultureAfter two years of self-made work, Ellen was offered two new positions in differ ent areas. After carefully measure the two positions, she decided to allow the accounts Control position. When meeting with the General Manager, she was told that the offer had been reconsidered and this position was not available for her anymore. The reasons wereAs a woman, she would be overcome to discriminatory practices in Saudi Arabia and would experience bother travelling only there as it is one of the billet requirementsShe would alike have difficulty in obtaining entry visasCustomers would not accept to negotiate with a womanIn case of hostile outbreak, she could be in danger.b) International migration of serve work mightIn 1975 offshore banking began in Bahrain. Since the country did not have experts to develop this industry, expatriates from around the world, particularly from Western Europe and North America, were invited to get by business in BahrainExpatriates who lived under residence permits gained on the basis of enlisting for a specialist position that cou ld not be filled by a qualified and available Bahraini citizenBahrain became a multi pagan country. Expatriates would interact not only with Arabic nationals, but likewise with managers from others parts of the world, and with workers from evolution countriesNo formal training, especially in the difference among caution practices, was provided in order to better adapt expatriates to new country/culture.c) Managing in a different cultureSeveral aspects of the Middle Eastern culture had redoubted impact on the way of doing business, especially for the western firms which located in BahrainWhat Western managers considered to be proof of an argument or factual secern could be flatly denied by a Bahraini if something was not believed, it did not exist.It seemed that the concept of time differed between Middle Eastern and Western cultures. Schedules and deadlines, composition sacred to Western managers, commanded little respect from Bahraini employees.Islamic religion praying five t imes a day and Ramadan working hours. There is no separation of church, state and judiciary.Attitude towards women all women could work outside the home, with hours dependent both by convention and by the labour laws. They could only work only after got their husbands, fathers, or brothers permission, and could not take potential art away from men. Work outside the home was additional to duties performed inside the home. roughly women who worked held secretarial or clerk positions very few worked in management.The righteousness to a Bahraini employee was subject to an Arab interpretation, which was formed over hundreds of years of cultural evolution.2. Possible solutions that Ellen faceda) Take the Customer Services position forcefulnessBy judge the Customer Service position, she is taking her career to a new level. With new challenges to face, more responsibilities to meet and huge number of employees to manage which she has proven herself to have the skills and qualificatio ns in this new role. It could be an option to take her career further and even could be a role fashion nonplus for women in this country that want to be in management position. flunkBy accepting this position, she is sending the message that she is accepting the disparity that she experienced. She would be conciliative her values, which is probably painful for her as an educated American woman, because her unfeigned personality has been violated.b) Fight Back StrengthFighting back can help Ellen remain her true personality. By seeking help from of age(p) Vice-president, Ellen may persuade the SVP to stand by her side, get the position that she ideate of. Another way to do it is to try her find outs in the Bahraini advertise Tribunals, if she wins the case in the tribunal, it will help her change the women unequal rights in the company or even to be a role model for women in the Bahraini society. WeaknessStepping over the common manager and ambit the Senior Vice-Presiden t to solve the issue qualification affect her human human relationship with the general manager who trusted her and nominated her for senior management position. This may resolution in serious conflicts with the organization management and risk Ellens pipeline.c) Stay in her current position StrengthThe option of keeping the current position could be a safe choice for Ellen to maintain reliable relationship with her manager, keep her own values and also not unwrap in to the general managers prejudices. Meanwhile, she could start considering other career options. WeaknessGender discrimination in public life and workplace is a noticeable issue in Bahrain (Asian Center for Human Rights 2007), thus the opportunity for promotion could be reduced in the future if Allen bendd this promotion. Also, according to Metcalfe (2007), in Arab nations where women are evaluate to resign from their jobs when they are married the training and professional academic qualifications are prioriti zed for men. Additionally, by not accepting the goodwill from the general manager, Ellen could be risking her relationship with him.d) Leave the company Strength concord to Hofstede cultural dimensions (1993), Ellen is a person with high Uncertainty Avoidance (UA) who aspires for professionalism and punctuality. Bahrain Society, on the other hand, has a low UA featured in greater tolerance in timing. The big differences in Uncertainty Avoidance and exponent Distance traits between Ellens and Bahrain society might hinder Ellens ability to develop her career in the country. Moreover, the reasons for Ellen to prefer the Account Control position are to gain international experience, better present and challenging opportunities and these can be found in other job positions. WeaknessIn Bahrain, it is required to obtain a permission garner from current employer in order to seek or move to work for another employer. If the relationship between the employee and the employer is not in goo d terms, because there is a high possibility that the current employer will go down to release the employee. If Ellen cannot find another job and leaves the country, her husband might also need to leave his current job and find an alternative solution for both of them.3. Proposed solutionWe recommend that Ellen remain in her current position until other work opportunities arise for her. According to Hofstede (1993), Ellen possess low Power Distance (PD) trait that influences her desire for reaching the equality for both men and women in work and life. Staying in the same position and not accepting the Customer Service position will work better for her by keeping her values and refusing to accept the gender discrimination. Moreover, this option allows Ellen to express her self-coloured interest in sharpening her financial expertise while possibly retaining good relationship with the supervisor. As Ellen came to Bahrain with the aim to train Bahrainis to take over her job this opti on would still facilitate her aspiration. Thus, staying in the company can give her more time to think and search for other alternatives and career prospects.According to Al-Lamky (2007), unequal policies, structures and programs in the organization that may obstruct womens employment and career growth, he mentioned that the best way to solve gender issues should involved insurance policy and structure change in the organization. By remaining in her current position, Ellen could lobby some policy evaluation in the organization, continue inspire equal gender rights for women, some examples that she may like to lobby implementing programs to extend sensitivity towards women through work recognition and promotion to make pass by women visible in the organization creating an organizational culture that is open and radiosensitive to differing styles in the workplace (San Dico Kleiner, 1999). Child care could also be an kindle program to be developed as it would be an auxiliary in helping women to perform the cultural responsibilities attributed to them (Al-Lamky 2007). With the power that she already had in the company and the help of her current female employees, there is a great chance that she could win in this lobby battle.4. Emic-concept and its influence in the decision fashioningAiming to investigate elements of the Bahrain culture that are relevant to the management field, we considered the Emic Concept in this case study is the gender discrimination. Throughout the case, the gender discrimination was super observed in the workplace, Bahrain had difficulties accepting and acknowledging the contributions of women to management. In Ellens story, she suffered discrimination for being a woman in many situations.One of them that we have mentioned above was the career decision that Ellen had to choose, her general manager told her that the offer had been reconsidered because she was a woman and as such, would face difficulties executing the job. Such dif ficulties included women face discriminatory practices in Saudi Arabia and customers refusing to negotiate with her. Although she had the ability and qualification for the customer service position, she refused it because it was establish on gender rather than competence. Another situation of gender discrimination in the workplace was in managing male employees. In the case, an employee named Fahad, would always refuse to listen to whatever Ellen had presented to him and he always disregarded Ellens ideas. However, with her continue suit she managed to resolve the problem and was able to perform with Fahad many successful projects.Because this case happened in 1980s, in your mind the gender discrimination situation would be better in this country in nowadays however, if we looking at some statistics in recent years, you will realize that your judgment is in any case hasty. In 2006, women in Bahrain held only 9% of senior civil service posts although they constituted 11% of the pri vate sector workforce and 42% of the authorities workforce (Asian Centre for Human Rights, 2007). It demonstrates that gender bias is still strong in the workplace, and women receive significantly low remuneration than their male counterparts, one of the reasons is the Arab societies are reluctant to abandon their traditional viewpoint of women, they thought that their in the main role should be in house and rise children (Mostafa 2005).However, things are not set in stone forever, some Arabic nations have seen vast changes for women situation nowadays, According to Mostafa (2005), research on attitudes towards women roles showed over the last two decades or so a universal trend of increasing liberalism and sufferance of more egalitarian role definitions, especially among women. Women can be also found in positions such as ministerial and parliamentary positions, test businesses and siting as presidents in national universities, with increasingly figures in the work force and r ising to managerial positions (Omair 2008).Given the facts learned from the case and recent researches unspoilt presented, the emic concept has influenced the process of decision making as the group understood that decision choosing to continue working in her current job would reflect less discriminatory practices. She would accept a position as customer service which was offered based on gender and, also, Ellen Moore would not be compromising her job and legal rights to remain Bahrain.5. ReferencesOmair, K. (2008). Women in management in the Arab context. Education, bank line and Society Contemporary Middle Eastern have intercourses. Vol. 1 No. 2. pp. 107-123.Al-Lamky, A. (2007) Feminizing leading in Arab societies the perspectives of Omani female leaders. Women in Management Review. Volume 22. Issue1Asian Centre for Human Rights. (2007). Bahrain Stakeholders Report, India.Hofsted, G. (1993). Cultural constraints in management theories. Academy of Management Executive. 7(1), 8 1-94.Metcalfe, B. D. (2007). Gender and human resource management in the Middle East. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 181,54 -74, p.12,13Mostafa , M. (2005). Attitudes towards women managers in the United Arab Emirates, Journal of Managerial Psychology. Vol. 20 No. 6, pp. 522-540.Sandico, C. and Kleiner, B. H. (1999). New instruction concerning gender discrimination in the work place. Equal Opportunities International. Volume 18 Number 2/3/4 .