Int. J. Human Resources Development and Management, Vol. 14, Nos.

1/2/3, 2014 157

From desert to destiny: knowledge, attitudes and

practices of Saudi Arabian leadership

Mark Charles Bechtold

Bechtold Consulting,
99 Hyfield Lane, Jefferson,
New Hampshire 03583, USA
Email: bechtoldconsulting@gmail.com

Abstract: This paper aims to examine the ways in which Saudi organisational
leaders and followers in organisations in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia
interpret the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of organisational leadership
within the context of the Saudi Arabian culture. Based on a qualitative study,
findings indicate the prevalence of a power-driven leadership style and a desire
for Saudi organisational leaders to adopt culturally-sensitive leadership and
organisational development approaches that serve to enable, develop, and
empower employees. Key themes suggesting the need for a developmental
leadership style include relationships, leader-follower roles, the principles of
Islam, and governmental support for business. The paper offers several
implications for human resource management and development for
organisations throughout Saudi Arabia, the GCC region, and beyond.

Keywords: leadership styles; power-driven leadership; developmental

leadership; Saudi Arabian culture; Saudi Arabian organisational leadership;
human resource management; human resource development.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Bechtold, M.C. (2014)

From desert to destiny: knowledge, attitudes and practices of Saudi Arabian
leadership, Int. J. Human Resources Development and Management, Vol. 14,
Nos. 1/2/3, pp.157169.

Biographical notes: Mark Charles Bechtold is a Human Resources and

Organisational Development Consultant. He holds a PhD in Human and
Organisational Development from the Fielding Graduate University along with
two Masters degrees in Human Resources Management and Development. As
an experienced HR process consultant, performance improvement facilitator
and leadership development coach, his international research interests include
the influence of Arab cultural attributes on organisational leadership practices,
the impact of Saudi Arabian leadership styles on generation-Y employees, and
the use of appreciative inquiry as an organisational and leadership development
approach within the Arab cultural context.

1 Introduction

Saudi Arabia is the worlds largest oil producer with more than a quarter of the worlds
reserves and an average output of over 10 MM barrels per day. A healthy global economy
depends upon the efficiency of Saudi Arabias oil production capability as a dominant
player in the international energy market. Key success factors for organisations in Saudi

Copyright 2014 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

158 M.C. Bechtold

Arabia that support the oil and gas industry include substantial oil reserves,
state-of-the-art technology and research, a comprehensive business infrastructure, and a
highly-skilled and motivated workforce. In turn, these success factors are driven first and
foremost by the quality of organisational leadership.
An understanding of the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Saudi Arabian
organisational leaders within the Saudi Arabian cultural context will lead to the
emergence of human resource management (HRM) practices and evidence-based
leadership development programmes that build on inherent cultural strengths and
leadership attributes. In this paper, the term, Saudi Arabian organisational leaders refers
to Saudi nationals who are in leadership positions within organisations located in Saudi
Arabia. Where leadership development programmes exist in Saudi-led organisations,
many are based on Western-designed instructional strategies and approaches espousing
Western ideologies and cultural norms that are incongruent with the Saudi Arabian
culture.
Culturally-sensitive leadership development programmes will produce more effective
leaders and articulate a clear brand of the Saudi organisational leader that has been
previously diluted by Western-imposed leadership development programmes. Building
this brand will benefit all organisations within Saudi Arabia since a new leadership style
is being called for by the growing generation-Y workforce. As a result, Saudi Arabia will
be better positioned as a key player in the global business arena to leverage Saudi
Arabias interests and enhance understanding of Saudi Arabian leadership and culture
among Western-based, multinational corporations doing business in Saudi Arabia.

2 Saudi Arabian cultural context

The Saudi Arabian culture is described as highly collective, homogeneous, risk averse,
and accepting of positional power and status (Ali, 1996, 2009). Both large and small
organisations in Saudi Arabia operate within the context of strong cultural norms and
guidelines influenced by a conservative interpretation of Islamic doctrine and the desert
environment, impacting every facet of Saudi Arab life (Ali, 2009; Branine and Pollard,
2010). The more recent onset of industrialisation and Westernisation, the role of the
Saudi government, and changing population demographics are also impacting modern
Saudi culture.
Despite administrative challenges in rapidly growing Saudi organisations and a desire
to ameliorate the effect of modernisation and other influences on Saudi cultural
traditions, Saudi leaders can use the Islamic model to maintain an orientation conducive
to the support of the dignity, growth, and satisfaction of employees (Soraya, 2002).
Elements of the Islamic model (2002) are directly relevant to leadership practices. The
development of ones spiritual and psychological well-being, as well as ones physical
and material well-being privileges the Saudi leader who balances a focus on both task and
relationships. The social virtues of equity, ethics, morality, humanism, and dignity
espoused by Islam positions the effective Saudi leader as one who models and holds
others accountable for desirable behaviours. Consultation and participation rather than
authoritarianism in decision making serves to engage and empower employees, a basic
tenet for high performance and a desire of the generation-Y demographic. Personalised
relationships benefit Saudi leaders who recognise how to motivate employees through
inclusion, respect, deference, and loyalty. Moderate leadership authority positions leaders
 From desert to destiny 159

who recognise that sharing power can enhance employee commitment and bring out the
best in people. Leaders who develop skilful employees through training enhance the
self-esteem and confidence of employees to do their jobs. Hiring and reward systems that
are based on merit and performance positions the Saudi leader as being consistently fair
and impartial. Diligence and competence in work sets an example for the leaders
followers. The last element of the Islamic model advocates punishment of administrative
corruption such as nepotism and favouritism, further positioning the Saudi leader as one
who is respected for honesty and integrity.
Historically, the countrys desert environment and extreme temperatures have
dictated for many a seasonal, nomadic lifestyle characteristic of the Bedouin,
necessitating a heavy reliance on the extended family and tribalism for survival.
Accordingly, there is a strong sense of loyalty to family, tribe, and religious sect in
contemporary society that is infused into the workplace (Ali, 2009).
With the industrialisation of Saudi Arabia driven by the discovery of oil in the
mid-20th century, organisations within Saudi Arabia are relatively young in their
organisational life cycles. How an organisation evolves through its lifespan is readily
influenced by cultural values, and Saudi Arabia faces the ongoing challenge of changing
while maintaining stability as a country. According to Assad (2002, p.54),
On the one hand, organizational structures in Saudi Arabia are influenced by
conservative traditions: Islamic values, particularistic tribal family orientations,
and inheritance of the autocratic Ottoman system. On the other hand,
industrialization, Western contact, and the use of modern technology have
strengthened the influence of more pragmatic, universalistic values. At the top
level, the government recognizes that in order to compete in the global
economy, it must modernize its management practices.
Oil wealth has enabled Saudi citizens to enjoy a wide range of benefits such as subsidised
vacations, modern public infrastructure, interest-free loans, and more of a readiness and
ability to raise concerns to those in authority (Al-Mizjaji, 2002). These changes have
facilitated a prevalent societal attitude of free spending and consumerism, apathy, and a
lifestyle of ease in contrast to a historical tradition of hard work and productive use of
time (Assad, 2002). Government subsidies have subsequently served to increase the
standard of living and contribute to an increase in the importation of inexpensive foreign
labour.
The influence of Westernisation on the Saudi Arabian culture includes the growth of
Saudi students being exposed to Western education, an increase in the number of large
shopping malls with Western-designed products, and access to Western technology and
media. The advent of the Arab Spring in the Middle East has also contributed to the
growth of independent thinking and self-expression as basic human rights in Saudi
Arabia.
The Saudi Government is driven by its interpretation of Islamic laws and oversees the
propagation of the Islamic message, enforcement of Islamic law and punishment, and the
maintenance of social welfare systems. Saudi citizens are not required to pay taxes or pay
for public services including healthcare, education, and a retirement pension, and are
eligible to receive employment and unemployment benefits (Elamin and Alomaim, 2011;
Madhi and Barrientos, 2003). The Saudi Government is increasing the enforcement of the
Saudisation law, a national initiative designed to provide more jobs for Saudi nationals
while limiting reliance on foreign labour (Elamin and Alomaim, 2011; Sadi and
Al-Buraey, 2009). The ruling monarchy typically uses a top-down approach for
160 M.C. Bechtold

instituting new laws and reform in Saudi administration systems, which results in a
preoccupation with the valuing of compliance and conformity to specified directions in a
controlled work environment (Assad, 2002).
Changing demographics is also impacting Saudi Arabia. Over half the workforce is
comprised of expatriates and close to 50% of the population are under the age of 18,
contributing to a rapid rise in the number of generation-Y employees entering the
workforce. Women and men have clear expectations and social roles and as a result, it is
a norm for women to stay at home. However, the situation is changing with more women
being educated and joining the workforce (Elamin and Alomaim, 2011).
These cultural influences have led to various social practices that define roles,
traditions, and relationships that inform familial structures, attitudes, norms, practices,
and beliefs about work, family, tribes, and organisations. The resulting cultural
characteristics have been infused into the workplace and include strong group
membership, respect for position and seniority, dedication, and acceptance of ambiguity
due to the high-context culture of Saudi Arabia (Tayeb, 1996).

3 Saudi Arabian culture and organisational leadership

The cultural context has a direct effect on organisational leadership thought processes,
practices, status, and influence (Brodbeck et al., 2000; House et al., 2004; Thompson and
Arsalan, 2007). Leadership practices emerge as leaders incorporate followers needs and
desires in a way that builds on the influences of the collective sociocultural community
(Amis, et al., 2004; Schein, 2004).
Saudi organisational leaders can be characterised as having a wide range of emotional
expression (Trompenaars, 1993) with supportive coaching behaviours (Noer, 2008).
Organisational leaders seek to build and maintain multiple, effective relationships,
concurrently and over time, that naturally serve to support consensus building and
cooperation among followers in their organisations (Ali, 1996, 2009).
In Saudi organisations, culturally informed attitudes toward social status strongly
influence organisational leadership (Hunt and Al-Twaijri, 1996). A high degree of
acceptance of hierarchical power structures positions Saudi leaders as having great
influence over followers who are sensitive to the passions and inspirations of the leader.
Organisational change and development are dependent upon the leaders ability to ensure
that measures, incentives, and the involvement of employees are addressed as critical
factors (Ali, 2009; Jreisat, 1990). In the Islamic tradition, an important part of leadership
is the concept of shoura, in which all members of a community participate in ongoing
dialogue for the common good of all (Ajarimah, 2001). This concept is reinforced by the
homogeneity of the Islamic culture, which effectively influences attitudes and values
within families and the society (Hall and Hall, 1990). High collectivism in Saudi society
also influences a leader to develop strong relationships with followers, enabling an
environment of teamwork and collaboration. An orientation toward femininity
(relationship-oriented) versus masculinity (task-oriented) privileges leaders who care
about their people (Bjerke and Al-Meer, 1993).
 From desert to destiny 161

4 Methodology

The study was motivated by an important research question: How is Saudi Arabian
organisational leadership experienced in terms of knowledge, attitudes and practices
within the Saudi Arabian cultural context? Individual interviews with Saudi nationals
who hold leadership and non-leadership positions from various organisations in the
eastern province resulted in the identification of Saudi leadership characteristics. In
particular, the study explored how leadership emerges in the Saudi Arabian
organisational context, and its effects on employee motivation. It also examined the
influences of Saudi culture on leadership styles. A total of 15 interviews were conducted.
The interviews were largely semi-structured supported by probe questions that enabled
the sharing of behavioural descriptions, stories, reflections and explanations. The
interviews led to the identification of specific organisational phenomena and provided
different perspectives and interpretations of Saudi organisational leadership. To analyse
the data, a categorical content analysis was used to code and classify the information and
derive emergent elements, themes and subthemes based on the qualitative data
(Creswell, 1998; Josselson, et al., 2002; Neuedorf, 2002). The data was then analysed
against the extant literature, enabling the development of insights and propositions,
leading to a conceptual framework.

5 Discussions of findings

Findings from the qualitative study reveal Saudi organisational leadership characteristics
that can be classified into the concepts of knowledge, attitudes and practices. Table 1
identifies the emergent themes of these three leadership concepts associated with
organisations in the eastern province.
Table 1 Themes and concepts associated with leadership of Saudi nationals

Concepts Leadership knowledge Leadership attitudes Leadership practices

Themes Reflection and change People Power-driven style
Self-development Happiness Developmental style
Dealing with people Challenges
Leadership approach
Success

Findings further indicate four other concepts describing Saudi cultural factors influencing
Saudi organisational leadership, including relationships, leadership and followership
preferences, Islam, and government and business. Table 2 illustrates the themes for each
of the four concepts associated with eastern province organisations in Saudi Arabia.
162 M.C. Bechtold

Table 2 Themes and concepts associated with Saudi Arabian cultural context

Leadership and Government and

Concepts Relationships Islam
followership business
Themes Affiliation Values Life after death Government
Community Family and tribe Virtues support
Respect Loyalty Shoura Competition

Geography Followers Haram and Halaal Time

Work-life balance Influence of Saudisation

Gender generations Expat workforce

Communication Government
regulations

5.1 Knowledge
Technology, modernisation, Western media, and quality of education serve to enhance
development of knowledge. Successful Saudi organisational leaders are very aware of
organisational politics, and face the challenge of driving organisational improvement
while balancing loyalty and deference to higher-level leaders in order to avoid career-
damaging mishaps in highly sensitised, relationship-oriented work climates.

5.2 Attitudes
Saudi leadership attitudes espouse the ideal, and emphasise the importance of
maintaining strong relationships and the virtues of Islamic-principled living, including
forgiveness, openness, compassion, and trust. The importance of happiness as a
leadership attitude reflects the highly collective nature of the Saudi cultural mindset, and
a follower preference for a leader who emphasises a feminine orientation (relationships)
over a masculine orientation (tasks).One respondent summarised the measure of a
leaders effectiveness with a simple yet powerful statement, If you make your people
happy, they will make you happy. In contrast, a majority of respondents indicated that
leadership attitudes can be characterised as task-focused and power-driven, favouring
micromanagement, bureaucracy, preferential treatment, and employee fear of reprisal. A
general shifting of leadership attitudes away from the influence of historically-rooted
sociocultural norms and Islamic principles may be attributed to five main factors, as
reinforced in the literature:
1 The influence of modernisation, marketing, and advertising practices emphasising
material wealth and consumerism, and raising the appeal of the power of wealth
through position and consequent subjugation of other forms of wealth including
virtuous, Islamic leadership practices within organisations (Ali, 2009)
2 The residual influence of the Ottoman invasion and their autocratic, bureaucratic rule
for 500 years beginning in the early 15th century (Ali, 1996; Assad, 2002).
3 The past practices of Western business leaders who initially discovered oil in
Saudi Arabia in the late 1930s, and their subsequent establishment of management
processes and leadership practices adopted from the historically autocratic US
military model (Ali, 1996).
 From desert to destiny 163

4 The strong affiliation with family, tribe, and religious sect which, when Saudisation
began in the late 1990s, influenced organisational leaders to emphasise loyalty and
affiliation as a base for employment decisions, and the exercise of positional
authority over rational transparency to justify such decisions (Al-Faleh, 1998;
Chhokar et al., 2007; Soraya, 2002).

5 In the absence of individual differentiation in a highly collective, homogenous Saudi

society, strong affiliation with religion, family, and tribe is most important for
defining self-concept. This loyalty to affiliations outside of the organisation creates a
challenge for organisational leaders who are expected to demonstrate and favour
their own and their employees affiliations to the organisation.

5.3 Practices

For leadership practices, the prevalent power-driven leadership style is perceived by

the respondents as domineering and disrespectful of followers, serving to demotivate
employees and create feelings leading to low work morale. In contrast, the preferred
developmental leadership style is reportedly linked closely with the Prophet
Mohammeds teachings of Islam, and has a positive effect on employee motivation,
morale, and loyalty, since employees feel appreciated and valued. The assumption
and practice of power-driven leadership can be characterised as autocratic and
egocentric, with a top-down decision-making and communication approach.
This leadership style tends to increase the distance of the leader from close relationships
with followers, and creates a sense of vulnerability within both the leader and
follower. This sense of insecurity may be mitigated by a leaders practices of
favouritism and nepotism, and reinforce the adoption of a benevolent power-driven
leadership style.
Several Saudi cultural factors support a developmental leadership style, including
Islamic beliefs and principles that have been universally embedded as a moral and ethical
guide of behaviour. The tradition of respecting the elderly facilitates the transfer of
knowledge. A focus on the importance of relationships that privileges leaders who
respect their followers can result in high levels of employee motivation and performance.
The homogeneity of the Saudi culture can become quickly aligned to the direction of a
developmental leader. High collectivity also privileges the use of a team-based approach
for addressing organisational issues and enhancing organisational performance. Finally,
the traditions of respect and justice enable the use of appreciative inquiry (Cooperrider
and Whitney, 1999) as a methodology for driving performance improvement and
employee development in Saudi Arabia (Bechtold, 2011).
One respondent captured the essence of the complexity of Saudi organisational
leadership within the current Saudi Arabian cultural context: your personality, mindset,
and character all affect your leadership style. Your character has been built over the years
by the family, the culture, the religion, the changes, your education, and the people you
are dealing with. Figure 1 illustrates a framework that identifies the knowledge,
attitudes, and practices of Saudi Arabian organisational leaders within the Saudi Arabian
cultural context.
164 M.C. Bechtold

Figure 1 An emergent framework of leadership knowledge, attitudes, and practices in the

Saudi Arabian context
Leadership Leadership Attitudes Leadership Practices
Knowledge -Islamic-principled -Focus on expediting
-Islam living -Driven by deadlines
-Technology -Emotional expression -Reactive
-Modernisation -Social status -High-context
-Western media -Task-focused orientation
-Quality of education -Power-driven -Authoritative
-Organisational -Micromanagement -Political
improvement -Material wealth and -Loyal
-Politics consumerism -Relationship-oriented
-US military model -Conflict-Averse
-Loyalty and affiliation -Orientation toward the
-Risk aversion ideal
-Deference to -Affiliation vs.
positional authority performance
-Appearance vs. merit

Saudi Organisational Leadership

Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices

Relationships Leadership and Islam Government and

-Affiliation Followership -Life after death Business
-Community -Values -Virtues -Government support
-Respect -Family and tribe -Fatalism -Competition
-Decision making -Loyalty -Shoura -Time
-Geography -Followers -Haram and -Saudisation
-Work-life balance -Influence of Halaal -Expat workforce
-Gender generations -Government
-Communication regulations

Saudi Arabian
Cultural Context

Arab, Middle East Cultural

6 Implications for HRM

The incongruence of the reported predominance of the power-driven organisational

leadership style with Islamic principles and traditional cultural values espousing respect,
fair treatment and consultative decision making poses a growing challenge for the Saudi
organisational leader in the eastern province. This power-driven style emphasises the
 From desert to destiny 165

avoidance of conflict, and a focus and striving for the ideal. The avoidance of open
expression and sharing of problems and issues by employees can exacerbate the
challenge of creating organisational change, since a necessary precursor for change is the
recognition of a disparity within the current reality and a willingness to reflect on its
causes and impact.
When developing leaders, HR professionals can consider learning interventions
that make it safe to identify leadership discrepancies, and design recognition and
reward systems that value innovation and change over compliance and conformance,
performance and merit over loyalty and submissiveness, and autonomy and risk-taking
over deference to authority and fear of reprisal. HR professionals can also design
and facilitate communication and strategic planning sessions that enable the open
sharing of ideas, and emphasise the affirming attributes and strengths of an
organisation while probing into what might be changed or improved rather than judged or
criticised.
Saudi leaders and followers who are constrained from raising issues and voicing
opinions which may be considered in opposition to existing leadership practices and
beliefs can be subject to undesirable consequences. Thus, a general attitude of deference
to authority can result in a shifting of individual and collective mindsets ultimately
compromising organisational culture away from one of personal growth,
accomplishment, and improvement. The surrender to a mindless, mechanical compliance
to management directives can result in employees becoming an organisations living
casualties while satisfying only limited standards of performance.
To improve this situation, HR professionals can seek to highlight developmental
leaders in their organisations as exemplars for others. Criteria for selection and promotion
can be redesigned to include peer reviews and collective feedback. A list of collaborative
leadership and employee behaviours can be linked to organisational values and posted in
meeting rooms for easy reference. Training programmes to develop appropriate
behavioural traits as well as the skill of giving and receiving of feedback can be effective.
Under the guidance of human resource professionals, a team of facilitators can be
developed from within the organisation to work with leaders and their teams to learn and
practice developmental leadership behaviours. A mandate that leaders at all
organisational levels conduct periodic and confidential feedback surveys on their
leadership effectiveness can be also instituted. HR professionals can further assist
management in the implementation of a standardised performance management and
improvement process that eases the transition from a power-driven to a developmental
leadership style.
Loyalty in a hierarchy is typically a most valued attribute of followers in the Saudi
culture (Ali, 2009), and so a challenge may exist for many power-driven organisational
leaders to ensure that followers avoid parroting what the leader wants to hear or
acquiesce to unrealistic or meaningless directives. Since people support what they help
create, HR professionals can play a critical role in providing the necessary training and
coaching for leaders to enhance follower trust, practice consultative decision-making
practices, encourage cognitive dissonance and dialectical discourse within teams, and
ensure the hiring and promoting of employees with both divergent and convergent
thinking.
The prevalence of power-driven behaviours may indicate a significant degree of
insecurity within leaders and their subsequent adoption of behaviours that may lead to
166 M.C. Bechtold

less-than-desirable performance results. The imposition of Western business practices

that emphasise individualism and differentiated performance, risk-taking, documentation
of operational details, and business results within a highly homogeneous society that
emphasises collectivism, deference to authority, risk aversion, and the importance of
relationships and the ideal may be a source of tension and stress for the Saudi leader.
A heavy reliance on professional expatriate advisors for their expertise may also
serve as reminders of personal deficiencies for some Saudi leaders, contributing to a
less-than-positive sense of self-concept and personal agency. This tension may, in turn,
lead to a sense of hubris and even attitudes of arrogance in organisational leaders, who
may further distance themselves from their followers.
HR professionals can mitigate this tension by tactfully facilitating discussions among
leaders in leadership communities of practice through and regular self-reflection and
knowledge-sharing sessions. HR can also conduct audits and provide feedback on
perceived levels of employee work-life quality, leadership effectiveness, and
organisational development using appreciative inquiry and other affirming methods for
identifying and building on existing leadership strengths. HR practitioners might also
design HR programmes and systems that measure and recognise desirable leadership
behaviours including 360 feedback surveys, focus groups, and individual coaching
sessions.
Finally, a major issue confronting Saudi organisational leaders is the challenge posed
by the younger generation. Generational differences dictate the need for a shift in
leadership knowledge, attitudes, and practices. Power-driven leadership behaviours
driven primarily by a focus on the accomplishment of work may have been a logical
match with the motivational needs of the older generation in the past, but the new
demographic requires a shifting to a more developmental leadership orientation that
balances a focus on both task and relationship and views employees as customers. A
leader is only as good as his people, and the younger generation has a vastly different set
of needs that include the desire for immediate gratification, short-term incentives,
constant recognition, career autonomy, more rapid promotions into positions of
responsibility, continuous learning, new challenges, and the constant flow of a diverse
amount of information.
HR professionals can enhance the alignment between leaders and generation-Y
employees by providing learning interventions that elucidate the characteristics of these
employees as part of a broader diversity development strategy. Career development
processes can be redefined to prepare generation-Y employees for supervisory positions
within several years of initial employment through job assignments in departments that
offer them greater exposure to management and leadership opportunities.
In summary, Table 3 illustrates the power-driven and developmental styles of Saudi
organisational leadership in terms of six leadership dimensions identified by Ali (1998).
For the dimension of change, a developmental leadership style will more closely match
the desires of generation-Y employees to develop, grow, and learn from others while
enjoying a high level of autonomy. In the dimension of business conduct, proactive and
transformational leaders will better meet customer needs and maintain competitiveness
by focusing on what is most critical for success rather than spending valuable energy
attempting to perfect every aspect of leadership. For the dimension of commitment,
employees reciprocate developmental leaders support and loyalty as they are
collaboratively assigned challenging projects and offered professional development
opportunities.
 From desert to destiny 167

Motivational systems are enhanced by respecting and recognising performance and

results as opposed to compliance and conformance. The dimension of decision style is
based on employee and customer input for developmental leaders, who recognise that
while a participative approach may take longer than an autocratic decision-making
approach, a better decision can result since the whole is greater than the sum of the parts
when those who are affected by decisions are included in the process. Developmental
leaders who display integrity and credibility instil the same in others and positively affect
employee attitudes towards leaders. HR professionals are instrumental for increasing
awareness of the benefits of the developmental leadership style in each of these
dimensions by acting as coaches, mentors, facilitators, and process consultants to
organisational leaders.
Table 3 Power-driven and developmental styles of Saudi organisational leadership

Saudi power-driven leadership Saudi developmental leadership

Dimension
style practices style practices
Change Risk-averse Risk-taking
Imposed Collaborative
Conformity Innovation
Business conduct Expeditor Proactive
Reactive Transformational
Transactional Strategic
Commitment Politically-driven loyalty Employee affiliation
External affiliations Company affiliation
Authority Development of employees
Self-development
Motivational system Saving face Performance
Compliance Merit
Employees as suppliers Employees as customers
Decision style Politically popular Merit/logic-based
Top-down Impact on employees
Autocratic and customers
Ad hoc Participative/consultative
Attitude toward Respect based on Respect based on merit/
authority position/power/affiliation performance/credibility
Boss as director/customer Boss as supporter/guide
Source: Adapted from Ali (1998)

7 Conclusions

This paper identifies key insights into the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of
Saudi Arabian organisational leaders in organisations in the eastern province of
Saudi Arabia, and discusses Saudi Arabian cultural influences that may have an impact
on leadership styles. Human resource professionals play a key role supporting the shift
168 M.C. Bechtold

from the predominantly power-driven leadership style to a developmental leadership style

that builds on the Islamic tradition and more closely matches the needs of the growing
generation-Y demographic in Saudi Arabia. In this role, HR professionals are most
effective as leadership-behaviour coaches, facilitators of learning and strategic planning,
assessors and providers of feedback, and process consultants of organisational
development.
Future research on Saudi organisational leadership lies at the intersection of
Saudi culture and Western business practices as evidence for an evolving Saudi
leadership style that optimises cultural variables to viably compete in the global business
environment. Some potential areas for research include the impact of Saudi leadership
styles on generation-Y motivation, the impact of various decision-making approaches on
performance, the identification and development of women leaders, and the influence of
Islamic principles on organisational development.

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