Q: What respectful ways can the other three regions influence our Saudi colleagues and leaders to attend?

A: Consider ways of improving the management of the meetings:

• Make sure the meetings are not scheduled at very inconvenient times. Avoid non-workdays (Thursdays and Fridays), non-working hours (18:00 (6pm) to 7:00), and holidays (corporate and Muslim).

• Prepare an agenda and distribute it in advance. Include start and end times, list all attendees and their titles, and clarify the expectations of participants. You may consider personally telephoning the Saudi participants to invite their participation.

• During the meeting, make sure you start and end on time. Have a facilitator who "runs" the meeting and invites participation from the attendees.

• Assign a note taker who will distribute a post-meeting summary that documents meeting content, agreements, attendees and non-attendees.

Find a tactful way to involve the next level of management:

• Copy higher ranking managers at each site (including Saudi Arabia) with the schedule and agenda.

• After the meeting, send the post-meeting summary that identifies both attendees and nonattendees to participants and their managers.

• If the situation continues, share the situation with a non-Saudi, higher ranking manager at one of the locations who has political clout in the project. Have this manager bring up the subject when they meet with counterparts without finger pointing.

Another perspective: I find this issue to be somewhat common in Saudi Arabia. In the local culture, time is not maintained in many aspects of daily life, including meetings. For example, time is not maintained for shop opening and closing times, bus schedules, appointments, etc. This seems to be the norm and people adjust and accept it. As for phone meeting specifically, the culture emphasizes face-to-face meetings, and less importance is given to emails, phone calls, teleconferences, etc. To get things done, it is recommended that a person visit or meet the other party face to face.

In addition to many of the guidelines previously mentioned, to make phone meetings more effective, my company adheres to the following general rules:

• Attendance is tracked strictly and reported to management. Too many absences or late attendance are report separately to the individual's manager and to the whole team. Individual target is 90% adherence to meetings.

We have a policy that ensures key people's attendance: "Silence is approval". This means if someone had accepted the invitation but didn't attend or didn't participate actively in the meeting, then whatever is agreed on during the meeting applies on him/her (i.e. he/she cannot alter the agreement).

such a case, for a non-Muslim to cover her hair might be considered "over-doing" it. Over the past year the number of Saudi women in the local workforce has increased greatly. Depending on the sector they are working in many women are choosing to wear their head scarves more liberally and some may also choose to not cover their faces. This is becoming more acceptable. The society as a whole is evolving slowly. For example, women are still striving for their driving rights so the current mindset in the country is slowly changing.

That said, conservative dress and attire is highly recommended. I would also suggest for long hair to be in a bun on the back of the head.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 868