Roundabout Dubai

Bastards

I know a place that is run almost completely by European and American expatriates. The structure of management and power keeps the highest few positions in the hands of locals, but the actual running of the organization is in the hands of these expatriates; and they do a very poor a job at that. The problem is the locals guys on the top, who are reasonably credible and well-intentioned, have no clue; they are not effective leaders as they are not really informed or involved in any meaningful way in the workings of the organization. So they believe what they hear from their expatriate proxies. The other side of the problem is that the people who truly understand the situation and witness the blatant mismanagement are typically too afraid to come forward and speak out. The risk of losing employment as some have been made to learn is so real that people would rather just shut up and do what they are told to do. It is a classic dilemma of what price one is willing to pay for the sake of the truth and integrity of their job.

These expatriate czars enjoy almost absolute powers, are not subject to any review or evaluation process, and function more like a gang, while keeping the appearance of professionalism and quality and saying all the right things at the right times. Much of their “professional” energy is spent in building their own little fiefdoms, covering each other’s big asses, and nipping any hint of dissent or criticism in the bud. They are willing to fire the most qualified and experienced employees under the lamest of excuses and without batting an eyelid. They hide behind the facade of an empty but glittering image and empty words as they compete not for excellence but for personal power and glory.

Using a variety of pressure and scare tactics, these managers have a special talent for instilling fear and timidity in a place where diversity, freedom and creativity should thrive. They are masters of the time-honored carrot and stick approach, getting people to eventually do their bidding and still manage to look as gentlemen. It doesn’t stop there, as their skills extend to painting their miserable failures as successes, disrupting well-functioning sectors by introducing bizarre changes, moving people around to break any cohesion or collegiality that represents different thinking, and take credit for other people’s hard work and dedication. They are a bunch of little dictators. They have no shame refusing to finance essential operations as they squander enormous sums on stupid PR ventures and on multiplying their inflated salaries by generous compensations for extra positions that they are neither qualified nor have the time to do, plus a package of benefits that no other employee can even dream of.

This breed of parasites would have a difficult time getting away with this outrageous behavior in similar institutions in the West. There, it is more likely that some kind of process of accountability and true transparency would be in place and these bastards will be at least challenged effectively or made to pay for their corrupt and unprofessional management. But they do what they do here, knowing full that despite a false image of integrity that there is just zero accountability and zilch transparency and an absolute lack of real freedom and debate within the organization and outside of it. The sad thing is, these people have been given a trust by the well-meaning and forward-looking locals who put them in those positions, and what they did in return is in essence to betray that trust. In the final analysis they created a defective institution and made a mockery of the lofty goals and values this place was supposed to embody. They are bastards.

posted by bandicoot @ 10:12 AM