The overwhelming majority of professionals in Kuwait and in the wider Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) region, seek corporate jobs based on the management style and structure of the company.
The importance of how corporate management functions was revealed in a new survey conducted recently by Bayt.com, the leading online job site in the Middle East. The survey showed that a stupendous 97 percent of professionals in the region choose jobs based on the company’s management style and structure. Over half the respondents also reported they prefer working for a company with a very clear organizational structure, rather than a job where the management provides a more flexible structure.
Given that higher employee engagement reaps rewards for the organization, it is clear that the role of a manager is highly critical to attracting and retaining talent.
During an interview, candidates judge a manager based on their communication and personality (44%); the questions they ask and information they share (31%) ; their knowledge and years of experience (19%), while only 5 percent said they go with their gut feeling.
Data from the survey, which appropriately enough was titled ‘What Makes the Ideal Manager in the MENA’, could prove beneficial to corporate managers seeking to hire the best available talent. Response to the survey questionnaire reveals a series of factors that could prove useful for managers seeking to build high-performing teams. The research also underlines the criticality for corporations to invest in and support good high caliber managers. Additionally, the data could be beneficial to job applicants and the economy as it would allow youth to find and keep good quality productive jobs that they desire.
Managing or leading people in a business requires a core set of management skills which require time and experience to develop. According to the survey respondents, the most important characteristic of a good manager includes communication and listening (50%), decision making (28 %), technical skills and knowledge (14%), flexibility (6%) and empathy (2%).
A substantial number of respondents believe that the manager’s age does not matter to them as a professional, with 18 percent preferring having a manager who is closer to their age and 11 percent preferring a manager to be much older, while 71 percent did not chalk any preference when it came to the age of managers.
Strong managers should focus on diagnosing individual employee needs and motivations, and thereby creating an environment that encourages transparency and skill sharing within their teams. Survey respondents revealed preference for different leadership styles, including 42 percent who preferred a democratic managerial style, which was highly communicative, consensus seeking and team-oriented. A further 29 percent would like to have an administrative type manager who follows rules and processes to keep outcomes consistent.
Meanwhile, 14 percent of respondents said they preferred an authoritarian manager who was strict, fair, inflexible and micromanaged employees. In addition, 12 percent preferred an affiliative manager who focuses on people over tasks, and looks primarily at visions and values; while a minority (4%) said they would like to work for a laissez-faire manager who was uninvolved in directing the professionals and instead depended on the team to self-direct.
Data for the survey was collected online in June 2022 and the results were based on a sample of 2,479 respondents from 18 MENA countries: Algeria, Egypt, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states ( Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates), Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen.
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