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The Middle East is a vast region, comprising a multitude of cultures, religions, nations and peoples. This complex mix can sometimes be hard for outsiders to comprehend. Any organisation planning to do business in the Middle East needs to have an in-depth understanding of these complexities.

Cross Cultural Training Middle East programmes such as Communicaid’s Doing Business in the Middle East training can help organisations and individuals acquire the cross cultural skills and knowledge to deal with culturally sensitive situations which might arise when doing business in the Middle East. Some of the key challenges of doing business in the Middle East include the following.

Hierarchy
The general business structure in the Middle East is very hierarchical, with a clear separation of levels, i.e. senior management, middle management and their teams. Respect for titles and seniority is crucial when doing business in the Middle East.

Religion
Religion is an ever-present issue in the Middle East. Whether your Middle Eastern counterparts are Jewish, Christian, Muslim or of another faith, religion will have some influence on their lives and your business dealings with them. An example of one such influencing factor is Sabbath days. In the Islamic Middle East, the Sabbath days (days when businesses tend to close) are Thursday to Saturday. In Israel, the Jewish Sabbath means that businesses close and no work is done on Fridays and Saturdays.

Restrictions
Restrictions on activities and operations vary across the Middle East. When setting up operations or sending international assignees to the Middle East, it is essential to make yourself or your international assignees aware of any culturally sensitive restrictions they are likely to encounter when doing business in the Middle East. Cross cultural awareness training programmes can help.

Attitudes towards Time
Punctuality is not as important to the communities of the Middle East as it is to Europeans or Americans. For this reason you should expect and be tolerant of time delays, late starts and meetings running over the agreed time limits.

The Middle East is a complex region for doing business due to the combination of history and tradition, the variety of different communities and cultures, and the current economic and political climates in the region. Now more than ever before it is imperative that any organisation doing business in the Middle East is properly prepared for what can be a minefield of cultural and practical challenges. Cross cultural awareness training programmes can ensure that organisations and individuals doing business in the Middle East have the required skills and knowledge to be successful.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010