Investigating team work in the Egyptian context
| Published date | 01 April 2005 |
| Pages | 246-261 |
| Date | 01 April 2005 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/00483480510579457 |
| Author | Ghada El‐Kot,Mike Leat |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
RESEARCH NOTE
Investigating team work in the
Egyptian context
Ghada El-Kot
College of Management and Technology, Arab Academy for Science and
Technology and Maritime Transport, Alexandria, Egypt, and
Mike Leat
Plymouth Business School, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK
Abstract
Purpose – The aim is to explore in the Egyptian context the incidence and pervasiveness of
teamworking, the types of teams in use, and to gather information on some of the factors perceived by
researchers in the West to be influential in determining team effectiveness.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper reports and discusses a preliminary inquiry in a
sample of 20 manufacturing and service organisations in Egypt. The research was conducted by way
of face-to-face semi-structured interviews with between three and five managers in each of the
organisations. Comparisons are drawn with much of the western literature and further research needs
are identified.
Findings – This initial survey has provided evidence of the utilisation of teamworking in a sample of
employing organisations in Egypt, which in several respects appears to reflect trends and
developments in the more developed economies of the West.
Research limitations/implications – In this survey only some of the factors identified as
influencing team effectiveness were investigated and further research is required to examine in more
detail the relevance of the various models of team effectiveness devised by researchers in the western
context.
Practical implications – The research was exploratory and is the precursor to a wider and deeper
study concerning team effectiveness in the Egyptian context.
Originality/value – The study reported is initial and exploratory in nature and, as far as the authors
are aware, the first study of teamworking in Egypt.
Keywords Team working, Teamperformance, Managers, Egypt
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Team working became increasingly common in organisations in developed economies
in the latter part of the twentieth century, for example, in America (Gordon, 1992;
Alder, 1997; McHugh, 1997; Ankarlo, 1994; Elmuti, 1997; Bergmann and De Meuse,
1996; Osterman, 1994) and in the UK (Herriot and Pemberton, 1995; Cully et al., 1998;
Hayes, 1997). Many advantages have been claimed for teamworking including; it is a
source of competitive advantage, enabling both cost reduction and improve d quality
(Niehaus and Swiercz, 1996; Parker, 1990), it facilitates the completion of increasingly
complex organisational tasks, which frequently require capabilities and resources that
are beyond the means of any one individual (Russ-Eft et al., 1997), it enables the
empowerment of employees as decision making is decentralised (Levi and Slem, 1995),
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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PR
34,2
246
Received January 2002
Revised September 2003
Accepted January 2004
Personnel Review
Vol. 34 No. 2, 2005
pp. 246-261
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/00483480510579457
teams can be a positive force for change and encourage flexibility, efficiency and
employees involvement (Hayes, 1997). Herriot and Pemberton (1995) reported that in
many organisations teamworking was seen as an effective means of enabling
organisations to respond to new challenges and opportunities within their business
environment. Tayeb (1996) amongst others has made the point that in introducing
teamworking many western managers were seeking to emulate what they perceived as
the source of the success of many Japanese firms, yet it may be that teamworking is
compatable with certain national and socio-cultural contexts but not with others.
Aim of the research
The aim of the research reported here is to explore in the Egyptian context the
incidence and pervasiveness of teamworking, the types of teams in use, and to gather
information on some of the factors perceived by researchers in the west to be
influential in determining team effectiveness. In regard to team effectiveness we
examine in particular: the size of teams in use and management perceptions of: the
degree of autonomy allowed to teams in their organisations, the degree of task
interdependence and the nature of reward schemes. The study reported is initial and
exploratory in nature and as far as the authors are aware the first study of
teamworking in Egypt.
The Egyptian context
The Egyptian economy has been transformed in recent years and Egyptian
organisations now need to be internationally competitive and able to respond to the
challenges and opportunities of an increasingly international and turbulent business
environment. There has so far been relatively little research undertaken into the
management practices employed in Arab countries and Egypt in particular (Atiyyah,
1992, 1993; Parnell and Hatem, 1999), and one of the latters’ findings was that Egypt’s
business and management practices lag behind their Western counterparts. Atiyyah
(1992) also argued that there had been little interest shown in Arab employees’
attitudes and behaviour. Nevertheless there are two sets of reasons for thinking that as
in the Western world team working may have been utilised more in Egypt in recent
years. The first of these relates to the fact that more and more Arab managers had been
to the west to be educated and to attend management conferences and training
programmes aimed at enabling them to apply Western management methods and
techniques in their companies (Atiyyah, 1993). The second relates to the influence of
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Butter (1999) has noted that the Egyptian economy
has been transformed in recent years. Hatem (1994) suggested that the Egyptian
economy had changed as a result of two main developments, each of which increased
foreign investment in Egypt. The first was the Open Door Policy introduced in the
mid-1970s, which encouraged private and foreign companies in many different fields to
invest in Egypt. The second was as a result of implementing an economic reform
strategy that encouraged foreign investments. Hatem (1994) also noted that as a result
of the foreign investment and joint ventures human resources and their management
had become critical issues for Egyptian companies. Parnell and Hatem (1999) have
acknowledged the influence of the open door policy referred to above and argue that
Investigating
team work
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