The Kenexa Research Institute: 48% of GCC employees rate senior leadership team as effective

The data come from an analysis of the WorkTrends database, an annual survey of worker opinions conducted by KRI.

The latest results indicate that 48% of employees in the GCC rate their senior leadership as effective, compared to the global rating of 51%. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait (50%) reported the highest ratings of leadership effectiveness, followed by Qatar (48%), Oman and Bahrain (47%), and Saudi Arabia (44%). Employees' evaluations of their organization's leadership team are driven by the extent to which senior managers gain employees' confidence through their decisions, actions and communications, keep employees well informed regarding company direction, and are seen as having the ability to deal with the organization's challenges.

Employees in the GCC view their senior leadership team as effective, if it quickly responds to marketplace opportunities and competitive threats, makes decisions that demonstrate that quality and improvement are top priorities, keeps employees well-informed about organizational issues, strives to serve the interests of multiple stakeholders, and recognizes employees for delivering outstanding customer service.

For all workers studied, a strong organizational leadership team has a significant impact on its employees' engagement levels. Employee engagement is the extent to which employees are motivated to contribute to organizational success, and are willing to apply discretionary effort to accomplishing tasks important to the achievement of organizational goals. Engaged employees favorably rate their pride in their organization, willingness to recommend it as a place to work and their overall job satisfaction.

Additionally, employees with positive opinions of their leadership team state a much higher intention to stay with the organization versus those who are dissatisfied. Those who favorably rate their leadership teams are also much more likely to have confidence in the organization's future and feel that they have a promising future with the company.

"These findings reinforce the importance of senior management's communication with employees. Those teams that demonstrate a strong emphasis on gaining employees' confidence through their decisions and actions, keep employees well informed regarding company direction, and have the ability to deal with the organization's challenges are the teams that will build more highly engaged workforces and outperform their competitors," said Tommy Weir, Vice President Leadership Solutions, Kenexa.