Dubai is one of seven emirates or countries, each controlled by an absolute monarch. Together they make up United Arab Emirates.
There is a resident population of 2,4 million, of whom only about 10% are Emirati Arabs. The rest are expatriates. A rainbow nation if ever there was one – except that this is not a nation of people, it’s a nation of Emiratis employing a group of temporary contract workers, whose right to reside in Dubai depends entirely on being gainfully employed.
I am sure we are all familiar with the glittering images of Dubai, the business hub of the Middle East. It boasts the world’s highest skyscrapers, the world’s largest shopping malls, entire suburbs are built on land reclaimed from the sea, and so on.
Visiting the place for the first time recently, I was expecting to be impressed – and I was.
But what completely blew me away were the standards. Not a speck of litter to be seen; shop attendants and cashiers smiling and efficient; buses and trains, operated by smiling, efficient staff, spotless and running on time; busy highways, but no sign of ill-discipline, frustration or anger from drivers.
I wondered how it was that the owners and managers of the businesses in Dubai were able to achieve such outstanding performance, when the only people permitted to own land freehold in Dubai are Arab residents.
The notion that the conferring of ownership of land (or shares in a business) somehow motivates people to perform at levels they would otherwise not achieve has no place in Dubai’s success.
Motivated to work
I was reminded of the words of Mike Black, Kwanalu’s outgoing president, at his farewell speech at the union’s recent congress: “Transformation is not only about land. There are countless other ways in which one can make a difference.”
My host in Dubai was a South African accountant who has lived in the country for six years. When I probed for the secret to the exceptional human performance at work I was seeing, he said it was quite simple: “Expatriate employees are paid well, have excellent conditions of employment, are quite clear as to what is expected of them, and get good bonuses if they meet or exceed expectations. If they miss their targets, they are sent home!”
Keep it simple
Don’t get me wrong. I know that conditions in the UAE are different to ours, but what I saw in Dubai got me thinking. When it comes to transforming our society, the first thing that seems to come to mind is a transfer of ownership. But as I have seen now in Dubai and elsewhere, workers are likely to be more interested in their working conditions and earnings than in ownership.
There are many other ways – less complicated, less emotive and more efficient – in which we can contribute to societal transformation than by conferring ownership. It makes sense to get going with these, before getting involved in ownership issues.
