I'm glad that someone here mentioned that issue in one of the threads, because I've been facing it lately. My boss constantly delegates work at the last minute and thus creates a huge amount of stress and panic. Is it just bad planning or is it animosity towards employees?
I don't know, but it's become the top reason why I'm now looking for a new job.
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NOPEC on its way…game over…
Everyone already knows that US Expats panic every time they are given any task that requires a minimum level of difficulty; because they don’t have the ability to complete the assignment.
It’s a backwards culture where nobody can speak up without fear of reprisals. If the big boss asks for something the Saudi goons will always comply with “yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir”. Nobody dares to ask ‘why’, or whether there is a better way. Bosses are always right and their supreme intellect must be worshipped AT ALL TIMES.
Asking questions to authority is seen as dissent and a direct threat, those people that dare are exiled/fired/locked up/ emigrated.
Culture eats strategy for breakfast and
with KSA it’s beyond repair.
My strategy has been as follows:
Take summer vacation July
Ramp up August
Work hard for Sept/Oct for PMP
Throttle back in Nov/Dec
Spring break repat
Coast until July
Odds are you won't have same supervisor in the Spring that you have in the fall.
Just remember it’s Show Business, nothing real. A lot of the delegated tasks from Management may be by end of the month, the Supt will require by end of the week and Supervisor by the next day….it’s all about looking good to their immediate boss…the chaos of drop-in jobs and changing priorities ensures dysfunction and constant firefighting for tasks that should be planned and routine…FUBAR…
"Think about it, how is it even the simplest requests become monumental in delivery, and when you do deliver the impossible, you get no praise, recognition, grade code etc etc etc."
Boy this is the truth! A careful observer will also notice that there is a pecking order among departments when it comes to unreasonable requests. The departments with more power (e.g. legal) can push back or dump the responsibility onto expats in powerless departments. The funny part is that many if not most of the expats who routinely got dumped on are now gone (and you can find what they did in the Aramco job postings). Departments and or individuals who used to be able to dodge such things now find themselves with no safety valve. More and more expats are getting flooded with such requests. The sewage is now backing up. LOL
In my old group, they just had two "dodger" expats resign because there was no place left to hide. It kind of reminds me of the Old South, where a plantation overlord would have his "house" servants out there picking cotton if enough "field" servants ran off.
The work handed down from on high cant be challenged, they can not say no if a senior manager or above requires something. Problem is, they are so fickle on high that the requests keep changing from the initial update to management and all the way down the chain, as after every update, everyone in the line management back down the chain to the worker will put their own sl--t on every request, its that simple. Think about it, how is it even the simplest requests become monumental in delivery, and when you do deliver the impossible, you get no praise, recognition, grade code etc etc etc.
You can not blame them, they are tribal arabs, its that simple. You can not expect western business values from a culture such as Saudi, with Extreme religious beliefs, Wasta, Arrogance, constant leadership turnover and absolute lack of skill and knowledge at senior levels. Its just life in the land of sand.
I hated that too.
The Kingdom is the Capital for ADHD. They should put Ritalin in the drinking water.