There is a paradox at the heart of modern management: managers state that employees are their most important asset but employees don't feel that way. That's a view confirmed by the London School of Economics professor Richard Layard, the author of Happiness: Lessons from a New Society. His research indicates that most people are least happy when interacting with their boss. They would rather spend time with friends, family, even be alone - anyone but the boss.
This makes for pretty bleak news for all those, such as myself, who like to think of ourselves as progressive, likeable managers when in fact we might be ogres who make our teams cringe every time they see us. During the industrial revolution management was about squeezing every last kilojoule of energy from the worker before he or she dropped. The boss was breathing down their necks. There were of course some exceptions. Companies run by Quakers or philanthropic owners followed a different model.
However, by the start of the 21st century we were studying concepts such as emotional intelligence and neuro-linguistic programming in an attempt to soften management. Everything became touchy-feely, with casual clothing and pastel colours to create moods and values within the corporate walls. So where did it go so wrong for this generation of managers to be so disliked? After all, these psychology-centred techniques had equipped us with the finer arts of management.
In typical management speak my "gut reaction" is to "break through the clutter" by "creating a sea change" as I try to "think outside the box" so that I can deliver a "high-impact solution". And if you understood that, then you're definitely one of the management, as opposed to one of the suffering employees. In a nutshell, we managers need to find someone to blame other than ourselves for making our staff feel so miserable. It can't be our fault.
So first on the list of possible culprits are the business schools who've been mass producing MBA students and sending them out into the world of work. That's certainly the opinion of the actor Michael Douglas, who was recently speaking at the Cannes Film Festival. He reprises his role as the ruthless, money-obsessed Gordon Gekko in the Hollywood film Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, the follow-up to Wall Street.
Douglas said: "I was pretty stunned after the first Wall Street by how people perceived Gordon Gekko. He was an insider trader who destroyed companies and people … We never foresaw that all those MBA students would be raving about this man and saying 'That's what I want to be.'" Another possible villain can be the company we work for. As we spend most of our lives working within them, so they have made us who we are.
I saw a good example of this a few months ago when I strolled into an abandoned office on a prime location along the Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai. The company that had been there, but which had folded, had left all of its furniture, paperwork and other office paraphernalia behind. It felt eerie as I walked along deserted corridors and empty workstations; it looked as though a killer virus had swept through striking everyone down. I was half expecting a zombified chief executive to jump out at me from behind the photocopier.
The real chief executive had left his mark. Reading the company notice board, I saw that the first thing he had done when the financial crisis hit was to put up an internal notice to staff declaring "the company" had decided to cancel all annual leave. A month later the next notice announced that "the company" would give written warnings to staff who turned up five minutes or more late to the office in the mornings. It also said staff would now need to declare the time they were spending away from their desks for toilet and smoke breaks.
In month three there was a solitary notice which said that "the company" was closing with immediate effect and any staff who hadn't received their pay to date should seek the assistance of a legal representative to recover any amounts due to them. The chief executive had already left town, probably with the blessing of "the company". It's a shocking story but one that has repeated itself in many places. Managers blame the company, as though it were some separate consciousness that had been telepathically directing their behaviour.
How easy it is to hide management incompetence behind the teachings of a business school or the corporate veil of process and bureaucracy that pervades many organisations. Yet in those companies where employees have a genuine say or some form of ownership, such as an employee-owned business, then we rarely see the mental and psychological disconnect between the manager and the managed. How can there be when every employee is also an owner in the business?
Management in that situation becomes about degrees of responsibility. Employees who are owners will naturally gravitate to helping one another achieve goals together that they cannot achieve individually. The answer to the paradox at the heart of management therefore lies not merely in management techniques, but in company ownership structures. Unfortunately, you won't find this on the agenda of any management meetings.
Rehan Khan is a business consultant and writer based in Dubai business@thenational.ae
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
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Essentials
The flights: You can fly from the UAE to Iceland with one stop in Europe with a variety of airlines. Return flights with Emirates from Dubai to Stockholm, then Icelandair to Reykjavik, cost from Dh4,153 return. The whole trip takes 11 hours. British Airways flies from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Reykjavik, via London, with return flights taking 12 hours and costing from Dh2,490 return, including taxes.
The activities: A half-day Silfra snorkelling trip costs 14,990 Icelandic kronur (Dh544) with Dive.is. Inside the Volcano also takes half a day and costs 42,000 kronur (Dh1,524). The Jokulsarlon small-boat cruise lasts about an hour and costs 9,800 kronur (Dh356). Into the Glacier costs 19,500 kronur (Dh708). It lasts three to four hours.
The tours: It’s often better to book a tailor-made trip through a specialist operator. UK-based Discover the World offers seven nights, self-driving, across the island from £892 (Dh4,505) per person. This includes three nights’ accommodation at Hotel Husafell near Into the Glacier, two nights at Hotel Ranga and two nights at the Icelandair Hotel Klaustur. It includes car rental, plus an iPad with itinerary and tourist information pre-loaded onto it, while activities can be booked as optional extras. More information inspiredbyiceland.com
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
2020 Oscars winners: in numbers
- Parasite – 4
- 1917– 3
- Ford v Ferrari – 2
- Joker – 2
- Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood – 2
- American Factory – 1
- Bombshell – 1
- Hair Love – 1
- Jojo Rabbit – 1
- Judy – 1
- Little Women – 1
- Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl) – 1
- Marriage Story – 1
- Rocketman – 1
- The Neighbors' Window – 1
- Toy Story 4 – 1
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
North Pole stats
Distance covered: 160km
Temperature: -40°C
Weight of equipment: 45kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 0
Terrain: Ice rock
South Pole stats
Distance covered: 130km
Temperature: -50°C
Weight of equipment: 50kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 3,300
Terrain: Flat ice
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
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The Way It Was: My Life with Frank Sinatra by Eliot Weisman and Jennifer Valoppi
Hachette Books