Literary works have tackled multiple aspects of corporate life, based on the time and place where they’re set. As a contemporary/ historical fiction novel set in Egypt 2011, The Bachelors of Egypt reflects on work conditions and communication within modern Egypt. Unique aspects of the Egyptian society influenced the formation of its distinctive corporate life, yet a few elements will always remain constant across cultures.
Books sample available for review:
Currently available for pre-order:
Employer-Employee
relationship anywhere in the world is formed by multiple economic, social, and
political factors that create a mix of conditions for those working in a country.
The following is a list of the most influential factors in Egypt 2011, and
nowadays:
·
High rate of unemployment
·
Relatively low salary packages
·
Lack of leadership skills
·
Lack of teamwork
spirit/skills
·
Incompetence resulting from
cultural and educational influences
·
The Parenthood notion
embedded in the Egyptian culture
·
Employment being the
“Virtue”
·
Work life balance being
underrated
They know better
In
Egypt, the core values of management are cross promoted among households,
educational institutions, workplaces, and within the broader scope of the
nation itself. These links have been established over centuries of social
interactions, enabling the powerful side(s) to gain more influence over the
powerless.
For
instance, parents may beat their children to make them more obedient as they
follow the Moral Rules set in a family. The same parents may accept
violence at school, as teachers may beat or name-call their children for the greater
good of helping them become more obedient as they follow the school rules, and
more respectful when they interact with their tutors. The same group of
people would usually accept regime’s violence when defending the Nation’s
values.
Oppression
within family is usually defended by the idea that your parents know what may
suit you better, they know your best interest, and you have to follow their
lead to become a better human being. Instead of trying to inform youngsters with
the reasons why they should behave in a certain manner, parents get to dictate how
they should behave and interact with others. When the same tactic is used by
the government, its supporters try to convey a message that the political
leaders know better, they don’t need to be transparent as it’s not important to
tell you why the State’s funds are spent in one direction instead of another,
they don’t need to convince Egyptians of anything, because they know better. This
explains why Egypt is ranked 108th among 176 countries by
“Transparency International”; citizens’ lack of access to information like
government expenditure or details of international agreements is rarely
perceived as an important issue. Parents know better, teachers know better, professors
know better, managers know better, and the president indeed knows better.
Nietzsche’s views on Morality, being a tool used
by the powerful to control the powerless and dominate a society can be helpful
in understanding daily interactions within the Egyptian society, as highlighted
in Philosophical Legacy: The Bachelors of Egypt.
Let’s overload everyone involved
The
importance of “Efficiency” led the world to establishing sciences of human
resources, spending on research and optimization to gain clues on what will
help a group of people achieve. More than a decade ago, Toyota’s branch in Gothenburg reduced
working hours to 6 hours per day, reporting that it improved employee satisfaction,
enhanced productivity, and increased the company’s profits. The Swedish government ran an experiment
within its departments in the same city to validate the hypothesis that reducing
working hours will lead to better performance. Other companies operating within
the Swedish market adopted the 6 hour working day model between the years
2014-2016. The debate between psychologists, scholars, economists, top
executives… has two main sides, one side holding research papers that
established a link between long working hours, and heart diseases and strokes;
supporting the 6 hours working day model. Those on the other side refer to a
few psychologists’ opinion that shorter working hours may add more pressure on
workers who will have to conduct the same amount of work.
This
form of debate is vital, healthy for a country’s economy and its citizens, and absent
from a wide range of countries, including Egypt. Due to the country’s
economic status, many Egyptians have to work one or two side jobs along with
their full time jobs. Most companies in the private sector may overload their employees,
extending working hours to 10-16 hours on some days. Competence within the Egyptian
work culture is usually measured by the amount of work conducted, or even
the amount of hours spent working, instead of the quality of employees’ output.
These long hours could all be spent on useless tasks and meetings:
If you
don’t like it, try applying for an almost impossible immigration to Sweden, as
an Egyptian, you’re neither Nordic nor European, and the Swedish laws are set to
discrimination against people like you, as shown in this article about Nationalism and National Exceptionalism.
The
value of “working hard” also reflects on sports’ life in Egypt, as trainers working
for most sporting clubs over-train youngsters with fitness sessions, believing
that more work will help extend their abilities. Some of those trainers choose
to ignore the findings of scientific papers in regard to the harms of over-training, when others are simply ignorant.
An interesting example of the “Overloading
Syndrome” in Egypt is the current president’s approach toward new projects. When
the head of Suez Canal Institute was declaring the initiation of the “New Suez Canal” project in a public event, he mentioned that the
project’s timeline would be 3 years. The president looked at him with a unique
smile that was aired on television to showcase the president’s firmness, which led the speaker to say “Ah, but the
president gave us an order to conduct the project in a single year”.
In a different country, with audiences who
have a different cultural background, such stunts may harm the president’s
image. He may be perceived as an ignorant dictator throwing commands at his
subordinate without considering the gains of conducting the project over three
years versus a single year; or comparing the cost associated with the potential
increase in profit. In Egypt, among most members of the society, it had the
effect of a magical publicity stunt, as the president asked his subordinates to
work harder for the Greater Good of Egypt. In fact, it was a scene of a
military officer commanding another military officer; the military code doesn’t
allow for debates after an order is given, Sisi rules the country as a military
unit, and his fans/supporters enjoy watching such scenes.
In
chapter 2 of The Bachelors of Egypt novel, Karim Adel narrates one of Egypt’s
usual work incidents:
“We had a standup meeting with all department
executives, and before assigning tasks, the manager applauded me for getting
most tasks executed ahead of the deadlines. I started thinking that this kind
of praise would be followed by some sort of a bonus or promotion, until I found
it was all about more tasks heading my way," Karim Adel, The Bachelors of Egypt
Books sample available for review:
Within the novel, Karim’s incident was placed in the year
2011, which marked a series of protests by college students, workers and
employees demanding reforms across the country, post the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Revolutions usually bring hopes to the powerless, helping them object to
any strategies, tactics, and regulations imposed by the powerful, as long as they’re
viewed as unfair. Jan’s revolution provided the basis for minor revolutionary protests,
sit-ins, and strikes in the workplace. Teachers, Doctors, Handymen… formed
their own groups of reformists demanding long lists of needs that were
unfulfilled for decades due to widespread corruption and budget shortages.
Whether unionized or casually formed, these groups were framed
by mainstream media as self-interest-seekers, mobilizing groups of people to
gain public support, in order to achieve better life conditions for themselves,
instead of considering the overall good of the economy. The same tactic has
always been used to face similar demands, and has helped publicize a nation
serving notion that excludes groups’ well-being. The separation of citizens’ best
interest from the nation’s interest is evidently demonstrated in one of the
current president’s quotes. In one of his long speeches, president Sisi said,
“I would like to take all the money in the Egyptians’ pockets; for the sake of
Egypt”.
The elements that compose Egypt as a country include its
land, a ruling regime, a sovereignty of this regime over this piece of land,
and of course the citizens of the country. In other cultures, the wellbeing of
citizens is the main factor in determining the wellbeing of a state, but in
Egypt, a country’s wellbeing is measured by its power, which is in fact the
power of its regime. Apparently, according to Sisi, Egypt’s prosperity isn’t
the same as better life conditions for its citizens.
China for instance has the world’s third largest military,
and the second largest economy; exporting almost all types of products to
almost all other nations, yet one sixth of its residents live below poverty
line, with an income less than $2 per day. The Chinese government’s approach
toward economy is apparently different from governments of countries like Denmark,
Canada, and Australia… where life conditions of citizens as a factor is treated
with higher importance.
The Chinese scenario could be viewed as a dream for many
Egyptian dictators, being able to run rich and powerful government
institutions while maintaining influence over the powerless citizens of the
country. So far, Egyptian presidents, one after another have been failing at
achieving economic goals in general; autocracy and incompetence along with the
inability to construct economic strategies deprived the state from the
importance of its regional role.
Under president Sisi (2014-present), government’s priorities are
set in favor of the regime’s dominance; this idea has been continuously portrayed
with frequent salary bumps for army and police officers, along with judges. Those
are the regime’s men and collectively they form its backbone, these salary
increases helped Sisi gain an expected level of popularity among officers and
judges; creating long-lasting support for his decisions. When the power of
Egypt is already defined by the prosperity of its regime, Sisi’s men call for a
unified side/approach/opinion/stand toward all issues, which implies that you
can only be a “Nationalist” by supporting Sisi, and if you are for any reason opposing
his regime, you are an enemy of “Egypt”. Being himself a military figure, among
those who supported the removal of two former presidents, he pampers officers
and judges in order to protect his own presidency.
Similar tactics are usually applied within workplaces in
Egypt, General Managers and Chief Executive Officers tend to empower their own
men within their companies. When employees achieve business objectives, they help
with overall business growth, when they associate such accomplishments with their
managers’ support and mentorship, they help brand their managers as successful
business leaders; those who are capable of combining both tactics are
considered closest to the next promotion. How are you useful? Would your
promotion help me maintain my position? These are the main questions on
most managers’ minds when considering an employee for a promotion.
For people like Karim, the situation was different; he was
already working as a senior marketing executive for a multinational company,
which is a dream job for most of those who belong to his field. Being placed at
the top of the job market doesn’t allow you to complain about injustice, and
wouldn’t really help anyone sympathize with your message.
Many of these aspects are common across companies anywhere in the world, and many of them are left out for further elaboration in future articles. For more about Karim and other characters in the novel, review the book excerpt on Amazon or Kobo.
Books sample available for review:
No comments:
Post a Comment