Bees vs spiders: U.S. military told sensitivity to culture is key to motivating Arabs
Thursday, December 3, 2009 E-Mail this story Free Headline Alerts
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military has been urged to grasp differences in the mentality of its Arab counterparts.
Lt. Col. Brian Steed has written an analysis that contrasts the motivation of the U.S. officer with that of the Arab officer. Steed, senior training and doctrine liasion to the Israeli military, has argued that American officers would fail to motivate their Arab counterparts without understanding the latter's definition of success.
Steed, who spent 30 months posted to Jordan as part of a military exchange program, compared American officers to bees and their Arab counterparts to spiders. He said the bees were driven by goals and spent much of their time trying to fulfill a schedule.
In contrast, the Arab officers, as spiders, focused on developing a network of friends and contacts. Steed said this explains the Arab penchant for frequent and long meetings that to the American appear to be a waste of time.
"To improve working relationships, it is imperative that one sees and understands the differences in culture and how this affects the daily life of each person," Steed wrote in Army Magazine, published by the Association of the U.S. Army. "Once one understands the cultural paradigm of the other, then it is possible for real productive dialogue and cooperation to exist."
"The Middle Eastern officer bases success on whom one meets with and how many people one has made contact with throughout the day, although the officer probably does not think about it that way himself," Steed said. "He does not determine his success on what he does, but on how he builds or strengthens his network."
Steed said the Arab officer builds his career by ingratiating himself with his superiors. This includes long sessions where he and more senior officers drink tea and speak about their families.
"He wants to build this network so that when he needs something, he can reach out and touch a line and make contact with someone who can help him," Steed said. "This is a reason why hospitality is so important. If someone enters another’s office, he must feel welcome and be treated well -- the strand connecting the two people must be strengthened."
As a result, Steed said, the Arab officer tries hard not to share information that would threaten his social network. The officer also refrains from cooperating with his colleagues in a way that would expose his methods or contacts with senior officers.
Steed warned his American colleagues in Afghanistan or Iraq against the notion that Arabs would revise their thinking through working in a Western-style system. Instead, the Arab officer would merely adopt his methods to appease his U.S. or other Western benefactors.
"There has been a great deal of interaction between the U.S. military and the people of Iraq and of Afghanistan, and working relationships have improved over time," Steed said. "This does not necessarily mean, however, that the other cultures are 'coming around' to a Western way of thinking; they are probably adapting their practices to appease the current power broker. If we want to achieve real and lasting transformations, we need to first understand the underlying differences and then make adjustments to shape the discussion in a way that will assist in accomplishing our goals and desires."