Believe it or not, but in Dubai itself, over 80% of the people there consist of expatriates, with only about 17% of locals. One tenth of the people staying there are from Western countries like the US and European countries, hence there will be a minimal degree of influence by the Westerners. Yet, the workplace culture is heavily influenced by the Arab culture. To many who steps foot into Dubai for the first time and conduct business there, they are usually up for a lot of culture shock. Before proceeding to work in Dubai, one will need to take a medical examination, where if a person is tested positive for TB, Hepatitis B, or HIV, they will not be able to attain residence and will have to leave the country immediately. With Islam the official state religion of the UAE, Dubai’s businesses and workplaces follow Muslim traditions. In other words, the culture is very laidback. For the newcomer who is used to deadlines or getting work done on time, they will be very surprised by how much the culture stretches the work completion. Especially if a job would require another agency’s move in order to progress on; it can become rather frustrating for the non-urgency paid to matters. And if questioned on anything, they are usually answered with Insha’Allah, which means “God willing”. Another thing you should take note of is that every matter is settled calmly, thus, you should avoid shouting or swearing altogether. During the Ramadan period, some workplaces will follow the tradition which is to forbid eating, drinking and smoking for every employee, while others can be more relaxed, with allocated rooms for non-Muslims to eat and drink. To reduce the degree of culture shock, the basic idea is to expose you to the idea of what the Dubai is truly like. To start off, you should gather as much resources that can give you an idea of what the Arab culture is like. If you know anyone from Dubai, you can ask them what the work culture and ethics are like. However, if you do not know anyone there, you can always turn to books that can educate you on the culture, or make use of the Internet. With the Internet, you can actually find many sources of references, such as free Arabic movies online or even blogs by expatriates on their personal experiences in Arab workplace culture. You can find many free Arabic movies online, in which you can make observations on the behavior that is adopted by the characters of the film. Knowing what to expect before experiencing it can definitely help lessen the culture shock impact.
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Believe it or not, but in Dubai itself, over 80% of the people there consist of expatriates, with only about 17% of locals. One tenth of the people staying there are from Western countries like the US and European countries, hence there will be a minimal degree of influence by the Westerners. Yet, the workplace culture is heavily influenced by the Arab culture.
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