The purpose of this Master’s thesis was to develop a proposal for efficient work culture in a multicultural environment. Global business requires competent and multi-culturally fluent professionals. They need to move fast and adapt quickly to challenging projects all over the world. To be able to win in highly competitive markets of the Middle East, management and the HR face several challenges. Success is measured by the ability to take advantage of these opportunities.
My research method is the case study. A Finnish expert engineering company operating in the Middle East was selected for the case. The aim was to investigate the strengths and opportunity areas for managing demanding projects in the area. Thus, the study belongs to two different theoretical fields, international management and cultural research.
This thesis has been divided into three parts: theory, empirical analysis and the development plan. The theory built on the base of management and culture studies. The empirical research was utilizing the target company’s yearly employee engagement survey (quantitative research). Information was collected also from three Finnish expats, who had been working in the target company in the Middle East for at least two years. Personal interviews were confidential and open also for more profound discussions (qualitative research).
A careful analysis of the survey and interviews proved that the target company has lots of professional potential. An improved proposal to further develop the multicultural work environment, the management and the HR skills and finally, to build a highly competitive Project Task Force to operate in challenging projects around the region was then offered as contribution of this study
