Keeping in view the involvement of foreigners in the workplace in Bahrain, Ahlia University, in association with International Center for Management and Research, Inc. organized a three day workshop “Managing in a Multicultural Environment.” This workshop was conducted at the Gulf Hotel, Bahrain on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of October, 2004.

The principal facilitators who conducted this workshop are an eminent team of professionals who have academic, consulting and business experience in different parts of the world: Professor Gary Ferraro and Professor Samira A. El-Sayed. Professor Gary Ferraro is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina, USA and has served as the Director of the Intercultural Training Institute at UNC-Charlotte, a consortium of cross cultural trainers/educators from academia and business. Professor El-Sayed got her B.S. in Sociology from Ein Shams University. She is a visiting Professor at Ahlia University. She has worked as a full professor of Psychology and has gained a unique set of qualifications and experiences, which enable her to present and discuss the nature, characteristics, challenges and barriers of interacting in diverse cultural environments.

The purpose of the workshop is to gain a fuller understanding of the role of cultural differences in managing in a diverse cultural environment. The workshop is intended for
Chief executives, division heads, executives and staff of any organization employing personnel from diverse cultures, or dealing with others from different cultures.

The workshop explored a number of vital issues related to better understanding of the cultural dimensions of management. The workshop took a threefold approach to understanding the cultural dimension of managing in a multicultural environment namely A Cultural-general Segment, A Culture-specific Segment and Understanding Communication Patterns, Verbal and Non-verbal.

The methods of workshop instruction used spanned group discussions, viewing and analyzing of videos, analyzing case studies and group problem-solving. Knowledge and subject-matter expertise was disseminated in a positive and supportive environment in which all participants interacted in and contributed to the workshop.

As is well-known, the performance of an organization entirely depends on the performance of its workforce as a well knit team. To achieve this, each organization that employs workforce from different cultures and geography has to train its staff how to manage in an organization in which multicultural environment is a reality. The need for this training is felt acutely in the Kingdom of Bahrain inasmuch as it serves as the hub of banking activity in the Arabian Gulf and an important cosmopolitan centre in the Middle East

Participants agreed the workshop represented an opportunity for many organizations to add value to their management function in the sphere of multicultural training.