Acclimating to Work in the Middle East

Noted on August 23, 2010 by Giustina Pelosi in

by Nick Smith: University of Oregon student and Summer 2010 Scholarship recipient interning with Center for Strategic Studies (CSS) in Amman.

I made my way to the Middle East with an open mind ready to try something new. Coming in I knew things were going to be radically different from what I thought I knew about the Arab world. I’ve been here for seven months now and my preconceived notions of Arab society have dissipated over time, but there are still stark differences between how work environments function and university environments function in the States compared to here.

My first few months here were spent studying Arabic at the University of Jordan, the same University where I am currently working. In a classroom setting everything functions similar to America. Punctuality is key, not doing your homework just short of contesting the teachers authority, and tests require endless amounts of study. With a few slight differences it is easy to get comfortable attending school at the University of Jordan so long as a tribal war doesn’t disrupt classes for the day.

Come summer I was thrown into the working world of Arab society, doing research for a branch of the University of Jordan. The working environment here couldn’t be any more different than what you would expect in the States. The workday revolves around multiple coffee and tea breaks whenever they are needed, maybe a short afternoon post-lunch nap, and a cigarette between each of these activities. This is a place where your time isn’t always equated to money or value. I have dealt with “Arab time” over the course of my stay here but not like you experience it in the working environment. A Tuesday meeting, make it Thursday. A 2 P.M. appointment? 3 o’clock is clearly what was meant.

While the idea seems strange to us Westerners, that your time is sometimes so “disrespected,” everyone here in Jordan functions with this same basic mindset. Things get done eventually, there are of course deadlines but you should never be rushed. And it makes sense considering a research-based institution’s primary source of information these days (the internet) is relatively new and many times barely functioning. The crazy thing is, things still get done and work still moves along as if these barriers didn’t really exist.