Noora Alkhalfan
201101628 Class 005 Word-Count 1,272
The Cover Page ............................................................................................. 1
Introduction ................................................................................................. 3
The interview ............................................................................................ 3-6
The Online Research & Analysis ................................................................ 6-8
Conclusion .................................................................................................... 8
Bibliography .................................................................................................. 9
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Noora Alkhalfan 201101628 Class 005 Word-Count 1,272
As a Senior-Student in the Business-Management Major, it’s important for me to have an overview of the industry that I want to pursue my career in, and gain a sense of experience of its many positions.
Therefore, an interview have been conducted, In 16 th /October/2014, with Mr. Jehad Hassan, who works in the Banking & Finance Private-Sector, as a Branch-Manager of Standard-
Chartered-Bank-Bahrain Manama branch, in his office at 5:30. He was chosen because he has the position that I want to reach one day, which is a manager in the Business-Field, and because it relates to my Current-Studies.
The interview:
It was basically asking Open-Statement-Questions to gather as many important-information as possible, to help me as a Senior-Student to understand/recognize my chosen industry & future
Career-Requirements.
The questions asked were:
What’s the nature of your job?
What are the Main-Competencies required for a manager position?
How your Educational-Achievements and Life-Experiences helped you in your job?
What are the main things that Bahrain-Business-Industry requires, from an Effective-
Manager?
What are the main things your Company looks for in their applicants?
How did you reach a manager’s position?
What’s your recommendation to get a similar job?
The findings/statements gathered from the interviewee were as follows:

The Main-Competencies required by a manager are:

Having high-ethical standards, like integrity/honesty/fairness, as in the Gulf-Region, we
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Noora Alkhalfan 201101628 Class 005 Word-Count 1,272 tend to put the relationships/friendships first, which can lead to bias/unethical-actions sometimes to protect those relationships. This reflects badly/negatively on the manager's/company's image and cost them their position.

Good-Communication-Skills, being a Good-Listener, give everyone the same attention they need, to feel considered/important/motivated to infuse their energy in their work.
Also, speaking/writing English properly, as Mr. Jehad emphasized that it's the world's number-one-language for communication, and the Business-Industry is all about communication/relationships with people from different-countries.

Have a sense of responsibility/accountability, to be fully dedicated to the work, team & company. Also, having the ability to handling such position, working-effectively under stress and leading the team towards success.

Having Good-Charisma that reflects the positive-side of your personality and have control over the negative-side, to inspire the subordinates, gain their trust/respect/support.

Solving-Problem-Skills, to soothe conflicts/intensive-situations, maintain the team'sharmony and work-effectiveness.

Decision-Making Skills, thinking of everyone's interest/concerns, study the projects/decisions thoroughly with the team-member and listen to their opinions/suggestions before taking any decision.

Delegation, to complete the job efficiently through his/her team, by recognizing every team-member's areas of strengths/weaknesses to give them suitable-role & tasks.

Having Good-Planning-Skills, to facilitate the work efficiently & reach deadlines/goals.
Also, to build a Strong-Succession-Plan, so in any retirements/accidents situations, the manager is able to fill the gap of those empty-positions with qualified/ready workers, and maintain the successful-workflow.
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Noora Alkhalfan 201101628 Class 005 Word-Count 1,272

Mr. Jehad stated that to get a similar-job, it’s important to start from the lower-positions and then move to higher-ones of any career, because when you try different-jobs, you empower your knowledge/experience, and become qualified for any challenges like the manager-position.
Moreover, it allows you to understand people/yourself more, so you can easily decide the career you want and how to deal with people or lead a team effectively. And that is what made him get his current-position.

According to Mr. Jehad, his company & the Business-Industry require their applicants/workers to have a good-understanding/alignment with the country's labor, commercial & financial-sector laws, to know their rights/obligations and work by them.
Also, the ability to work with/among diverse-workforce, as a big part of Bahrain's-Industries is depending on expats, therefore it’s important for managers/workers to accept people from different backgrounds/genders/ages/knowledge/ethnics etc., while still holding on their values/beliefs/culture. And that is another critical reason of why his company requires applicants fluent in English. Moreover, they look for people with experience/knowledge that come from trying different positions/jobs, and adaptable people who can work-effectively with environmental/economical changes and learn-continuously.

He recommended me to gain experience as-much-as possible, by trying different jobopportunities or even volunteer-work, and develop my knowledge by taking trainingcourses to empower my skills and continue learning about my major/interest, even if they don't match, because it’s always possible to be a manager of something you are passionate about.

Another key-points were, as long as I am a Business-Graduate I can be a manager of any
Business-Organizations. However, some industries like engineering require their employees to have a basic-knowledge and be that major graduate. He emphasized on having good
Business-Relationships, because in gulf "Nepotism/WASTA" is very important and can affect my life in many-aspects, even though its considered unfair/unethical-practice, but that is
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Noora Alkhalfan 201101628 Class 005 Word-Count 1,272 how the Gulf-Culture works.
The Online Research & Analysis:
To support the interviewee’s-information, an online-research have been conducted, using credible sources/articles, and the information found regarding the nature of a manager’s job, its requirements & main competencies were mostly the same, as the researchers emphasize on the importance of having the above-mentioned Manager’s Competencies to reach this position, and highlighted the importance for students & workers to continue learning, developing & gaining experience as a student, and that learning is a process that never stops & continue flowing with our dreams & ambitious. (Berman & Ritchie, 2006; Petersen, 2006; Bersin, 2007; Krajčovičová &
Čambál, 2012)
However, some differences were found, regarding the behavioural aspect of managers, mostly due to cultural-differences between the Eastern & Western countries that has a significant impact on the way managers behave in the workplace, such as: (Aboyassin, 2006; Noma &
Crossman, 2012)

Giving-Instructions & Asking-for-Clarifications:
Westerners-Managers: are direct/clear about their directives/comments, expect their subordinates to ask challenging-questions & think for different-solutions.
Easterners-Managers: are indirect & use non-verbal common clues to deliver their ideas/instructions, the subordinates are very careful/precise with their questions, avoiding the "Loss-Of-Face" or to seem as they’re challenging/questioning the authority.

Dealing with Challenges/Conflict:
Westerners-Managers: care about solving issues as soon as they appear, even when it might hurt/offend others.
Easterners-Managers: value others feelings/concerns/relationships more than the solution itself, and tend to go-thru the issue over-and-over till they reach a win-win-solution.

Authority & Work-Relationships:
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Noora Alkhalfan 201101628 Class 005 Word-Count 1,272
Westerners-Managers: act as a team player, but like to be in-charge & hold authority that matches their skills/experiences. Try to make their office-relationships professional asmuch-as-possible.
Easterners-Managers: see their subordinates as their family, & act like their second-father.
Give them the personal-support/guidance they need to get their loyalty/compliance in return.

Punctuality:
Westerners-Managers: they highly-value time, committed to arrive at the time agreed-on & never late on meeting.
Easterners-Managers: Being late is a common-thing, practiced by everyone & they often start meetings with non-business-related conversations.

Agreements & Criticism:
Westerners-Managers: consider the word "YES" as a confirmation/commitment to pursue their decisions, and get really upset/angry when the promises are broken. They feel there’re times when it's appropriate/necessary to criticize a worker in public.
Easterners-Managers: use the word "YES" to show their interest/attention, it's rarely means approval, and they show more-understanding for others agreements –withdrawal. It’s very important to avoid the "Lose-Of-Face" and they always try to criticize in private.

Privacy & Personal-Status:
Westerners-Managers: believe that what's confidential should always be confidential.
Personal-Status are not important, and showing them in public is deemed as showing-off.
Easterners-Managers: take it really personal when their colleagues/friends are keeping secrets from them. Being recognized to where you stand in the social-ladder is deemed important for career/life advancements.
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Noora Alkhalfan 201101628 Class 005 Word-Count 1,272
To conclude, based on my current-position as a senior-student of the Business-Management-
Major and the information-gathered from the interview & online-data-bases, I believe that I am not-ready YET to be a manager.
Considering the interviewee’s-recommendations, I believe I need to maintain my high performance in studying to get my Bacholar-Degree with a High-GPA, develop my English-
Language by taking courses within my university, like the Writing-Center in Bahrain-Polytechnic-
Univercity, or join in the Summer-Holiday other institutions like Berlitz or The British Council.
Then start from the begginning as a regular-employee, trying different jobs to understand myself more & the areas where I work at my best, develop my strengths/weaknesses by signing to training-courses that matches my chosen career-requirements, gain experience by getting my hands on the work & involve myself with the team/group I am assigned to, and continue learning by pursueing my Masters-Degree.
Moreover, I believe it’s important to educate myself with others-experiences in the business & other fields I am interested-in, as this interview allowed me to assess my potentials & get a sense of the career I always dream of.
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Noora Alkhalfan
201101628 Class 005 Word-Count 1,272
Aboyassin, N. A. (2006). Managers' belief in employees' job and psychological readiness and employees' participation in decision-making: A comparison between American and Jordanian managers. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/304912984/abstract/776D59B0832946D1PQ/1?accountid
=62741
Berman, J., & Ritchie, L. (2006). Competencies of Undergraduate Business Students. Journal of
Education for Business, 81(4). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/202820225/A12C6FDED70E421EPQ/11?accountid=62741
Bersin, J. (2007). The Role of Competencies in Driving Financial Performance. Retrieved from http://www.successfactors.com/static/docs/Bersin-Competency-Report.pdf
Krajčovičová, K., & Čambál, M. (2012). Typical managerial competencies of successful managers in industrial enterprises. Electronic International Interdisciplinary Conference 2012.
Noma, H., & Crossman, J. (2012). ANALOGUE AND DIGITAL MINDSETS: SOME IMPLICATIONS FOR
INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION BETWEEN WESTERN AND EASTERN ORGANISATIONS. Asian
Academy of Management Journal, 17(1). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1506155232?accountid=62741
Petersen, P. (2006). Top management Competencies - An investigation into the top 100 private and public companies in the Faroes.
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