The Organisation: Scholarship Coordination Office
The Scholarship Coordination Office (SCO) at Ministry of Presidential Affairs (MoPA) is the governmental unit that aims to increase the quality of national personnel in Engineering, Information Technology, Medicine, Business Management and Administration, Physics, Biology, Law and many other fields of knowledge. The SCO does so by sponsoring distinguished UAE students’ education. SCO was established in 1999 in Abu Dhabi, and it currently offers two major scholarship programs: the Distinguished Students Scholarship and the Study Abroad Scholarship.
SCO is a functional unit of MoPA, which represents a complex of governmental departments serving as support for the country’s prime decision-maker, His Highness the President of the UAE. Along with other structural units of MoPA, such as the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Economy, and Ministry of Education, SCO strives to develop high-quality competence and applied skills for the improvement of the MoPA’s primary position in the fulfilment of national objectives, execution of policies and provision of excellent community services aimed at increasing national welfare and quality of life for the UAE population.
Motivated by this mission, SCO annually grants prestigious scholarships to twenty distinguished high school students. The major objective of the scholarship programs administered by SCO is to offer these UAE students opportunities to study in top-ranked international universities and colleges in the U.S.A and the U.K. The scholarships provide these selected students with financial assistance to cover university tuition, travel costs to that university’s country, healthcare insurance and a monthly stipend.
By supporting the students in their pursuit of academic and professional goals, MoPA and SCO contribute to the advancement of the UAE human resources’ competence, intelligence and skillfulness; by doing so, the government is assisting society in its adjustment to rapid global changes and in attaining success in the unstable global environment that is the 21st century.
Important Persons in SCO
Director
Mr. Al Hadid is the director of SCO. He is a thirty-six-year-old resident of Abu Dhabi. He graduated from Abu Dhabi University with a Master’s in Education and Educational Leadership, then obtained the Executive Master’s of Business Administration at the London Business School.
Mr. Al Hadid brings comprehensive working experience as a public administrator and leader. Prior to taking his place as director of SCO, he worked in the UAE private secondary and high schools in the administrative office, and he was also a high school principal for over seven years. Under his administration, his former school demonstrated improved indicators in multiple performance areas, including teachers’ efficacy and job satisfaction; student academic success; effectiveness of curriculum design; and, educational program efficiency. The achieved improvements helped the school earn an excellent rating and to stand out among other schools in Abu Dhabi.
As SCO’s director, Mr. Al Hadid pays great attention to the organisational culture and considers the working environment the main premise of employees’ productivity and efficiency. He emphasizes the importance of organisational social responsibility and accountability of stakeholders’ interests and needs. As a director, he prefers to avoid strict control and rigidity, focusing instead on managerial strategies toward the development of positive relationships with subordinates. He targets methods that stimulate employee’s self-realisation, self-discipline and creativity and allows mobility and freedom in the fulfilment of professional tasks.
He believes that labour is a natural process, and when appropriate working conditions are created, employees will self-organise and independently regulate their own work. Ultimately, Mr. Al Hadid believes that a moderate level of supervision and less rigid organisational policies actually stimulate employee productivity. Through consideration of these psychological implications of the working process, Mr. Al Hadid attempts to refine organisational culture, increase work efficiency and coordinate personnel and project development in order to achieve positive results.
Manager of Academic Advising
Mrs. Al Dharhiri is SCO’s Manager of Academic Advising Department. Under her leadership, academic advisors provide educational guidance to students, offering course recommendations, schedule planning and educational solutions across varying academic fields. Mrs. Al Dharhiri is thirty-one years old, and her home emirate is Sharjah, where she graduated from the University of Sharjah with a Master’s in Education Counseling. She continued her studies at the University of Dubai, where she graduated with a Master’s in Business Administration.
As SCO manager, Mrs. Al Dharhiri collaborates with SCO’s academic advisors and provides motivation and leadership. She focuses on student-centred advising and support, from enrollment to graduation.
The Manager of the Academic Advising Department provides reports to the SCO’s director and collaborates with Support Service Management. Overall, Mrs. Al Dharhiri is not responsible merely for coordinating efforts within Academic Advising; rather, she is responsible for cooperation with the rest of SCO’s functional units. These cooperative activities, which Mrs. Al Dharhiri executes through constant communication and by maintaining free information flow among departments, are of paramount importance because they contribute to team cohesion, to raising organisational awareness regarding topical problems and to generating adequate problem-solving strategies.
Ms. Al Dharhiri prefers a results-oriented management style, so at times, she may be more rigid with subordinates. She focuses on control and discipline regarding these principles as key factors that lead to increased productivity and work efficiency.
Support Service Manager
Mr. Mahgoup is the Manager of the Support Service Department which is meant to coordinate both internal and external operations of SCO, primarily in the field of the public communications. Mr. Mahgoup supervises implementation, coordination and maintenance of current programs, preparation of scholarship agreements and contacts with universities and students. He is twenty-seven years old, and he has a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication, which he earned at the University of Dubai.
After graduation, Mr. Mahgoup worked as a public relations coordinator at Abu Dhabi Retirement Pensions and Benefits Fund. He became a Service Support Manager for SCO just a few months ago. At his current position, he tries to rely on accumulated professional experiences to bolster the liaison among the organisation, faculty, students, social networks, organisations and the public, in order to maintain existing contacts and to communicate information about scholarships and other related activities.
Outside Environment
Initiation and realisation of scholarship programs imply constant collaboration with international and national universities, the public media, public and private organisations, as well as other MoPA’s ministries. Universities, social networks, mass media and organisations are considered crucial stakeholders and important external agents that influence the implementation of scholarship programs. The effectiveness of communication with key national agencies ensures the success of SCO’s professional operations, including the successful enrollment of new candidates, effectiveness of promotional campaigns and creation of productive partnerships.
Moreover, the quality of informational support provided by SCO to external environmental agents and the efficiency of cooperation with distinct MoPA’s ministries – like the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Ministry of Labour, Ministry of Culture and Youth and Community Development – are significant for the fulfilment of national goals in both education and labour.
The Problems and Needs for Decisions
Structural changes in the UAE government touched upon public education service and involved the need for change toward achieving progressive goals in training competent national human resources. As the UAE economy continues to grow, the demand for highly educated workers and researchers also increases. It is expected that national higher education facilities will support the government in realising objectives toward the improvement of workforce quality that will, in turn, ensure the sound development of a national economy and society.
Collaboration with international universities is associated with the expansion of progressive knowledge, adoption of skills for suggesting innovation and generation of sound ideas that may help the UAE avoid future crises. MoPA’s scholarship programs thus play a crucial role in the achievement of national developmental goals: training of skilled personnel in high-level professional domains including business management and leadership, as well as the technical and humanitarian sciences.
Under the reality of governmental restructuring, SCO’s director, Mr. Hadid, recognizes that in order to meet social demands and to achieve formulated educational goals, the organisation must design and implement new projects, plus attract more universities and national agencies for collaboration within these programs. SCO must stimulate public awareness as well as student interest toward participation in scholarship programs and toward the improvement of academic achievements.
To develop relevant public relationships, and to expand collaboration with social networks, Mr. Hadid decided to create an innovative strategic approach supported by the data accumulated through careful investigation and evaluation of the external environment.
The preliminary analysis made clear that technology and environment are the most critical aspects of national development. Hence, with the support of his managerial team and the approval of the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Presidential Affairs, Mr. Hadid decided that new projects should be developed to support progress in selected areas of knowledge. To fulfil desired objectives, Mr. Hadid assigned Mrs. Al Dharhiri and Mr. Mahgoup to evaluate any potential risks and barriers to project implementation and to develop relationships with the Abu Dhabi Environment Agency as well as the UAE Space Agency toward reaching agreement on the provision of qualified personnel in technologic sciences and in environmental protection.
At the initial stage of project development, both Support Service and Academic Advisory Departments serve to sustain existing professional relationships, provide reports and analyze current projects to enhance results and reduce deficiencies. While announcing new developmental goals, Mr. Hadid emphasizes the importance of Research and Development activities, as well as support and communication with key agencies in the realisation of all announced goals.
During one of management meeting, Mrs. Al Dharhiri suggested creating a focus group to consist of key specialists from Support Service and Academic Advising Departments, with the goal of moving SCO down a path of further growth. She suggested that under her leadership and with the comprehensive knowledge of such experienced employees, the team might achieve significant positive results in the development of new projects and programs that focus on collaboration with social networks and Ministries. The proposal confused Mr. Mahgoup because Mrs. Al Dharhiri never discussed her individual ideas with him. He was disappointed and thus opposed forming this new focus group.
Moreover, Mr. Mahgoup began to worry about his position in the organisation because he did not have sufficient experience in SCO. He knew Mrs. Al Dharhiri to be an aggressive and goal-oriented leader, with solid professional connections in the Ministry. Mr. Al Hadid said, though, that he would consider the idea of creating an independent focus group and promised to offer feedback shortly.
After Mrs. Al Dharhiri has made her proposal, other conflicts began emerging between the two departments. Mrs. Al Dharhiri tried to convince Mr. Mahgoup about the benefits and advantages of a new focus team, but Mr. Mahgoup proposed another idea. He suggested that SCO should assign a portion of every Support Service coordinator’s working time to Research and Development activities—instead of forming a completely new, independent team. Discussions about the development of a Research and Development team became a foundational point of conflict between Mrs. Al Dharhiri and Mr. Mahgoup, as each brought distinct opinions on every common problem.
Differences in professional views and the conflict between the managers were revealed during organisational meetings. Mr. Al Hadid then expressed his innate concern that team morale and working effectiveness in both departments might be negatively affected by these problems; however, he continued to delay a final decision on the further direction of the organisational growth and formation of the new Research and Development team in SCO.
The uncertainty about the strategy for the organisational development and change, as well as the disputes between departmental managers, gradually began to impact productivity and efficacy of units, and as a result, the quality of relationships with major stakeholders was also affected. Moreover, these conflicts provoked the occurrence of risks such as the emergence of new barriers to the realisation of projects, deterioration of organisational values and distortion of communication between the departments.
Additionally, the conflicts distracted SCO employees from the fulfilment of major organisational objectives, like overcoming issues related to organisational representation through the performance of social responsibility, implementation of methods to increase public interest to the scholarship programs and development and promotion of values of academic and professional success in the public.
Mr. Al Hadid, however, always cared for his subordinates’ well-being and job satisfaction so while announcing a plan for organisational change and for fresh goals, he also promised better benefits and working flexibility to employees to increase motivation.
Mrs. Al Dharhiri often reminded SCO’s director about the establishment of a new focus group and the existing complexities she faced in cooperating with the Head of Support Service Department. Irritated by the ongoing delay in making such a vital strategic decision, Mrs. Al Dharhiri declared that she would resign unless measures were undertaken in the near future. Since Mr. Mahgoup had an insignificant amount of working experience in SCO and the quality of his performance was impacted by excess stress caused by this enduring conflict, Mr. Al Hadid made the decision to terminate his employment.
The unexpected Support Service Manager’s departure caused a huge gap in SCO leadership: team members started to worry about the future of their unit, causing some of the excellent Support Service coordinators to leave the organisation.
During this period, the effectiveness of the Support Service was significantly reduced due to the lack of cohesion and communication among departments. This substantially affected the efficiency of public relationships and informational support activities. Under such conditions, Mrs. Al Dharhiri sensed an opportunity for career growth, and she suggested to Mr. Al Hadid that with current capabilities and competence levels in Support Service, the unit could not fulfil prescribed professional activities and that the Academic Advising Department might more successfully complete Support Service duties.
Finally, Mr. Al Hadid agreed to make detailed changes to the functional purposes of departments, and he endowed the Academic Advising unit with responsibilities for the support of the critical stakeholders, including networks, organisations, governmental agencies, universities and students. As a result, existing job security concerns in Mrs. Al Dharhiri’s department disappeared, since her team took a crucial role in both support of communication and in Research and Development. At the same time, the Support Service Department started functioning in a less vital role, even though Mr. Al Hadid did appoint a new manager there.
Ending the Case
This case represents an example of an internal organisational conflict that was primarily provoked by interpersonal factors like differences in personal values, lack of trustworthy relationships, threats to one’s professional status and the inability to cope with organisational change. It is possible to claim that leadership strategy and model may be regarded as major elements in the prevention and resolution of conflicts. While the managers did seemingly act out of personal interests in attempts to preserve social and professional rank—and to attain secure access to scarce organisational resources—the conflicts still became an inevitable part of the working process.
Questions to consider
- What measures did Mr. Hadid need to take to avoid the tacit approval of the conflict situation between the departments?
- What is the leadership style associated with Mr. Hadid’s managerial behaviour?
- What changes in his leadership strategy could be suggested toward avoidance of organisational communication failures, development of trust and prevention of personality conflicts?
- How might differences regarding professional responsibilities and authority affect employees’ performance? How might organisational leadership approach the prevention of potential negative impacts of such differences?
- What techniques could a leader implement to increase cooperation between organisational divisions?
- How might an organisation work with methodological differences in the managers’ professional conduct to achieve an overall positive organisational output?
- How can a leader decrease competition across the organisational resources and among employees?
- How is it possible to motivate subordinates toward the achievement of common organisational goals and decrease the impact of individual value differences on the achievement of intended positive results?
- What can help the organisation to ensure compliance with organisational rules and norms of behaviour and help avoid substandard performance?