Det svenska ledarskapet i Förenade Arabemiraten : Svenska chefers upplevelser av ledarskap i Förenade Arabemiraten

Sammanfattning: The aim of the study was to investigate how the Swedish managerial leadership applies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and to what extent they need to adapt their leadership due to the context which they are in. Six semi-structured interviews were made, and the results shows that the conditions for Swedish leaders is better in a context higher educational level among the employees and where the employees also express that they value the Swedish leader’s education and professional background. The study also shows that the participants to a high extent need to use an adaptive leadership approach to match the various contexts they work in. The leadership style the participants mostly use is a mixture of what they have learned in their new environment with their roots still in the Swedish approach. The study also shows that that the outcome of leadership can be affected by the different cultures and hierarchies within the different organisations. It is therefore necessary for the Swedish mangers to have a cultural intelligence and characteristics that can meet both the demands of the employees and the employer who often are of different educational and cultural backgrounds. This balance between the historical leadership in the UAE and the new Western leadership is something that the Swedish managers need to bring with them in their everyday work