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Business, management.

This case is suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate students studying topics related to human resources, decision making, managing in multinational companies and crisis management. In addition, the case is useful study for practitioners in non-governmental organizations (NGO).

Dr Manal Taryam, the Chief Executive Officer, was discussing with Ms Shurooq Al Banna, Marketing Specialist, the achievements and challenges faced at Noor Dubai over the past three years. Noor Dubai is an international charity for the prevention and treatment of blindness. The problem facing these decision makers is the prioritization of their resources to support logistics management, operations, human resources, funding and educational issues. In addition, to meet the needs of the visually impaired, a long-term mission is to establish permanent eye centers in areas of most need.

Students will be able to:

• Describe the problems facing Noor Dubai in relation to logistics management, operations, human resources, funding and educational issues.

• Explain how the management strategies of Noor Dubai prioritize logistics management, operations, human resources, funding and education.

Describe the problems facing Noor Dubai in relation to logistics management, operations, human resources, funding and educational issues.

Explain how the management strategies of Noor Dubai prioritize logistics management, operations, human resources, funding and education.

Teaching notes.

The study aims to discover influences on the career intentions of millennials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Qualitative data about career intentions were collected from a sample group (#50) of students at an international university in the UAE. Participant's responses were recorded in five groups, composed of undergraduates, males and females, expatriates and citizens. Transcripts were formed of these data, which were thematically analysed to identify influences on career intentions.

Four emergent themes were identified of influences on career intentions: (1) influenced by societal obligations, (2) influenced by a traditional approach to career plans; (3) influenced by own aspirations; (4) influenced by country considerations. Findings recognised career intentions for this sample group resulted from cultural orientation and millennial's characteristics.

The study was limited by the one country/one university context and a direction is to replicate for an expanded sample group and/or to extend this research scope to other countries.

These findings have implications for university career advising, and the recruitment and retention of millennials in the UAE by international companies.

This is an original study in its exploration of influences on millennial's career intentions in the UAE. Research value lies in the addition of academic knowledge about those millennials' future career intentions.

The purpose of this conceptual paper was to investigate the contribution of the “Pipeline”, as a metaphor for building theory about Women-on-Boards (WoB) in the Arab world.

Narratives about women's progress in Arab countries were collected from a range of sources and content was analysed to identify emergent themes about pipeline.

Themes were identified of the pipeline metaphor that explained phenomena and generated solutions to employ, retain and advance women to board directorships; from higher education (“bulging”/“bursting” pipeline) through employment (“leaking” pipeline) to boardroom (“blocked” pipeline).

Generalisation of these study results is limited by geographical context of this research. An implication is for further international studies on metaphor identification for women's progress.

Relevant metaphor-in-use required to generate company policy and praxis towards WoB in the Arab world.

The first academic study to investigate the value of metaphor for effect on women's progress in Arab countries. Novel metaphor identification is proposed to think and see women's experiences in cultural context.

Leadership, international business, financial reporting, entrepreneurship

The case study is aimed at undergraduate students at a 300 level.

Mr Badr Jafar, co-founder of the Pearl Initiative (PI), is the chief protagonist in this case study set in the Gulf Arab states. He launched this company at the United Nations in September 2010, and the launch was timely, as business leaders were looking to rebuild the global economy following the economic downturn. The Initiative was originally the idea of a number of leading company owners in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The company vision is to improve business practices for the benefit of business and society in the future, but the context is one of a highly competitive and secretive business environment. The mission of the PI is to improve private sector corporate culture to one of transparency and accountability. The PI approaches that mission through building a network of business leaders in the GCC, particularly those from the family-owned companies in the private sector. A biography of the founder and the background to the founding of the PI is given, followed by a rationale of the company structure. The potential influence of the network of companies and leaders on the socio-business climate is considered. The specific activities are outlined within the strategy of the PI to address four key business areas: anti-bribery and corruption; corporate governance; corporate reporting; and women in leadership The PI focuses on raising awareness about the potential benefits of social entrepreneurship for business and society. To what extent this relatively new model of business can be successful in the context of the GCC is a case dilemma. Key issues: There are two main issues raised in the case study: the rationale for the relatively new business model of social entrepreneurship and the extent to which PI can modify the past and current GCC business environment by addressing the four business areas.

Students will be able to: analyze the business case for social entrepreneurship and explain the contribution of PI activities for changing the business environment.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

The purpose of this study is to investigate career choices by female graduates from science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to determine factors that influenced their entry, abandonment or persistence of STEM careers.

Life history narratives were collected from a sample group of employed citizens and expatriate women (all STEM graduates) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Content of interview transcripts was analyzed for emergent themes of influence on these participants career decisions.

Four significant themes of calling were found: gift of intellect, belief in a faith, shared community and meaning of work. A typology of calling was constructed to reflect these themes influences on the entry, abandonment or persistence of women in a STEM career.

The results of this study were from a small sample of women in a particular country. The implication is to extend this study to a larger number of participants and to other countries to generalize the results.

Insight into career decisions of female STEM graduates impacts on employee recruitment and retention policies within those professions.

Research originality is evident, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, as this is the first study to explore the influence of calling for careers of STEM women working in the Middle East North Africa region.

The purpose of this paper is to apply the lens of representative bureaucracy (RB) to women’s representation at management level in governments and government-owned companies in Arab Gulf states (AGS), and to consider the implications for government stability, legitimacy and performance.

Data were analysed of the numbers of men and women in management positions (8,936), of government and government-owned companies (846), for the six countries of the AGS. Analyses were conducted on the presence/absence of women in management for ten industry types.

Governments and government-owned companies in the AGS were identified as hybrid (public/private) institutions. Women were found to be underrepresented at management levels in public sector bureaucracy; women clustered in a narrow range of industries; all countries returned a high result of zero female managers in these industries.

This research is limited by data collected from a single source, “Eikon”, which is a commercial database. The implication of these results is a benchmark for future studies on women’s representation at management level in governments and government-owned companies of Arab Gulf countries.

The practical implication of this study is for concerted government intervention to address gender inequality in management of governments and government-owned companies across the AGS.

This is the first study of RB in AGS and extends the theory of RB to a new geographical and cultural context. There is value in application of RB to government and government-owned companies as a regional form of hybrid public–private organisation.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the aims, objectives and structure of a two-day Think Tank, “Gender in Organisations in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region”, held at the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates on 18–19 March 2019.

The paper will explain the design decisions made to achieve the objectives of the event, which will be of interest to equality, diversity and inclusion readers who may wish to hold such events themselves. It will then explain each of the Think Tank sessions and provide an overview of the keynote speakers’ presentations and the ensuing plenary discussions.

The Think Tank was an extremely useful vehicle for facilitating discussion on the development of a research agenda to advance knowledge in respect of gender in organisations in the MENA region. The design of the Think Tank enabled collaborative discussion amongst academics drawn from across the globe, who shared their knowledge and experience to develop a coordinated research agenda, to guide action and attention on key issues identified by the group.

The Think Tank is believed to be the first of its type in the MENA region. The authors believe this collaborative and time-efficient approach advances research agendas in respect of key issues of interest to equality, diversity and inclusion scholars. The Think Tank format is a valuable addition to the processes currently utilised to achieve such outcomes, e.g. conferences and symposia.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how cultural orientations influence Emirati women’s career development. Drawing on the cultural theories of Hofstede (1980, 2001) and House et al. (2004), the authors investigated the cultural orientations of a sample of 19 women in the United Arab Emirates.

In-depth interviews were conducted to collect life history data about women’s early lives, education and employment.

The findings identify three themes that influenced the participant’s careers: family influence on careers, individual-level attitudes toward education for careers, and workplace career development.

Limited by the small sample of 19 female national participants that implies further international study is required to extend this research.

The business application is that social values, beliefs and norms can be leveraged for women’s career success.

Policymakers are guided on key factors that influence Emirati women’s careers from a cultural perspective.

The study makes a unique theoretical contribution in a model that shows: cultural dimensions are interrelated, cultural values and practices are interdependent, and cultural orientations vary between women and men.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the progress in the United Arab Emirates towards achievement of Millennium Development Goal (3), “gender equality”, by the target date of 2015.

Demographic, social, and labor force statistics are collected from United Arab Emirates' government reports, the World Economic Forum, and UNESCO. Analysis is conducted to investigate current trends of gender equality in education and employment.

Results for the education of women have been at a consistently high level for some years. Two themes are found for such progress: a government strategy to increase women's access to education; societal acceptance of educated women. Gender equality in employment is slow due to three themes: study choice dictates employment potential; recruitment within a narrow range of occupations; employment more likely within public sector employment. The future of gender equality in the United Arab Emirates will continue to be more positive for women in education than for employment.

A limitation is the paucity of academic study about gender equality in education and employment in the United Arab Emirates. Reliability and validity of the study is somewhat limited by unverified, non‐specific, and older data on education and employment.

Improved strategies to increase study choice are required to enlarge the scope of women's careers. Management of the talent pool of educated females can increase women's share of paid employment in the future.

A faster rate of change is required towards societal acceptance of women in employment to match female educational attainment.

The research is important for two reasons relevant for achievement of MDG (3) by 2015. Remarkable progress has been made on gender equality in education, and awareness is raised on limitations in the future for the employment of women.