Emotion and emotional intelligence

A fascinating and important concept which all respondents underscored was the issue of emotion and the idea of emotional intelligence in the workplace. For many respondents the following idea caused great frustration among expatriates and was seen to be the one distinguishing factor between themselves and their Egyptian colleagues.

“They get quite embarrassed … they’re very sensitive to being embarrassed; very sensitive…” – B & A

“Another thing is the Egyptians are very emotional people to such an extent that it makes them immature. I have such good managers and then the moment there’s a problem then they just go berserk. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to … knock on an Egyptian’s door and tell them, ‘Listen, I’m on the phone and I can’t hear over your shouting!’ … they can’t control their emotions… and sometimes when they’re just talking, you think they’re shouting at each other in the streets. They’re not; they’re just having a conversation. So it’s limiting I think, it limits a lot of them…” – B

“Emotional intelligence…? There is none.” – Al

“...her husband has been trying for the last six years to find someone to replace him, because he wants to come back to South Africa, and he just said it’s impossible to find someone with … not the mentality, but the emotional skills.” – R

“The emotional maturity is very low here. I’ve discovered that their emotional intelligence is … because the Egyptians are so protected; you don’t leave home until you get married, and that’s their general rule. So you’re protected by your parents until the day you get married and then once you’re married, you’re in a relationship. So they never learn to grow-up, to be independent and to think for themselves, and that makes them very young emotionally. Even in relationships they are just very immature, incredibly immature! Somebody in their twenties would have the emotional maturity of an [eighteen-year-old] … I

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think it’s a big disadvantage that they never get a chance to live by themselves to make their own decisions and think for themselves and constantly … [being] told by everybody that this is how you should do things.” – C

“They are extremely confrontational [and] very emotional people, so a lot of the decisions they make are emotionally driven. That’s why all over the Arab world you have to be so careful about upsetting them … they react to things very emotionally, and they are very passionate about things, [and] because of that you have to be very careful about how you deal with them [as] they get very easily hurt; very easily. When you’re dealing with them on a work level it’s one thing, but on a personal level you can really hurt their feelings. I’ve seen them cry, I’ve seen grown men cry, because if you accuse them of being a thief or a bad person, they get very upset. So you have to be very respectful of their feelings … it’s weird … When it comes to somebody that works for you, not [so much] someone you work for, but someone that works for you, you have to be very sensitive...” – C

“Don’t hurt their little hearts. They’re like children. These adults will go sit in a corner and cry very easily. They’re not tough. I mean toughness in a sense of emotional maturity. They just fall apart and they break into little pieces very quickly. I learnt that the hard way.”– G

For many in the workplace, this emotional immaturity is a great concern. Not only does it translate into incompetence in the workplace, but it makes it extremely difficult for foreign managers to know how to cross the cultural divide. C attributes this emotional immaturity to the way in which Egyptians are raised and protected by their families and communities. She states that if Egyptians were raised more independently and socialised “normally” (as one would socialise children in a western context) it would automatically translate into higher emotional intelligence. While I argue that this socio-cultural reality leading to an underdevelopment of emotional maturity within Egyptian culture greatly influences the Egyptian work ethic, it is also important to note that Egyptians are perceived as emotionally immature in comparison to how South African expatriates perceive themselves with the “correct” and “sufficient” levels of emotional intelligence.

It is therefore important to highlight that although extremely relevant to the study, the perception of emotional maturity by South African expatriates is purely subjective regardless of the fact that ideas and perceptions about Egyptian emotional maturity were similar across responses. Also, as explained previously, a display of emotion of Egyptians is not considered to be a “loss of control” as is often the perception among “westerners”. Emotional outbursts therefore, for Egyptians, are therefore not perceived to be inappropriate.

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“When you have two Egyptians having a normal conversation, they scream at each other … and that’s their normal way … but they won’t accept it from our culture. If you have arguments and raise your voice, you’re speaking badly to them. It’s not acceptable. They do it amongst themselves.” – V

“It’s also very surprising, because they’re so aggressive. They can really shout and scream, but they get so hurt, so easily.” – C

The abovementioned quotes by V and C illustrate the “ritual pantomime of dowshah”. Although this “performance” is central to Egyptian culture, South African expatriates display little knowledge about this cultural phenomenon and perceive it to be a lack of emotional maturity. There is also unwillingness amongst Egyptians to let foreigners take part in their cultural “pantomime” and reserves this ritual for members of their cultural group. V’s statement also highlights the difference between what is acceptable behaviour from Egyptians in contrast to acceptable behaviour from foreigners. This indicates the cultural and social distance created by Egyptians towards accepting foreigners.

5.1.4.1. Fear

Extremely important in our discussion of an Egyptian work ethic is the concept of fear. Feghali (1997:366-368) states that decision-making is often delayed or extended for fear of making the wrong decision. Responses among South African expatriates reiterate the centrality of fear in Egyptian colleagues’ behaviour in the workplace:

“They live in fear.” – M

“Vrees vir die gevolge; vrees vir die verlies van inkomste, verseker. Ek dink oor die algemeen want hulle salarisse is skokkend en die werk is nie veel nie. So hulle will asseblief nie hul werk verloor nie en daar’s geen wette hier om hulle te beskerm nie. Geen, geen! Jy kan iemand nou in diens neem en dan môre fire. Ek sien hulle doen dit as hulle nie tevrede is met hulle diens nie. Daar’s niks waarskuwing of iets nie.”23 – P

“They are not malicious people. From my experience a lot of what they do, comes from fear. They would tell on each other or knife each other in the back, but they do that because they’re scared of losing their own jobs. That’s kind of how it happens. They won’t protect each other if it means that they will lose their own job. When I came over here the

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Fear for the consequences; fear for losing a source of income, definitely. I think in general, because their salaries are shocking and there are not a lot of jobs available. So they will do anything not to lose their jobs and there are no laws here to protect them. None, none …! You can hire someone today and fire them tomorrow. I see them do it if they aren’t satisfied with your service, no warning or nothing.

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people were just fantastic, they were warm, welcoming. Very, very friendly. But put them in a situation where they are threatened, they are not pleasant.” – C

“There is a lot of fear in losing their jobs. Unemployment in Egypt is exceptionally high; you’ll find a lot of people highly qualified, working [in menial] jobs. I mean I’ve met them before. One of the security guys is a lawyer; you’ll find taxi drivers with university degrees. They are really well qualified, but they can’t get jobs, so if they do get a job they will hold unto it with both hands. So when they criticise others or they put others down, [it has] a lot to do with self-preservation.” – C

It is clear from the above statements that fear in the workplace stems from the socio- economic reality of unemployment in Egypt. To most of the respondents, fear of job loss guides the behaviour of their Egyptian colleagues who are terrified of not being able to find alternative employment.