Faculty

Dr. Nick Forster
Professor of Business and Management
College of Business
Alfaisal University
Riyadh, KSA

Email: nforster@alfaisal.edu
Tel: (+966 1) 215-7703
Fax: +(966-1) 215-7611

EDUCATION:
Ph.D.	1987	Sheffield University
MBA (e-business)	2004	Central Queensland University, Australia

RESEARCH

Summary of Research Activities at the CBS Zayed University and the CoB Alfaisal University (2007 - present)

Globally, business and management researchers have either overlooked Arab women's conceptions and experiences of leadership and management, or just subsumed these under generic analyses of ‘the Arab World’ as a homogenous bloc (e.g. House et al, 2004). The existing international research on business leadership and women business leaders has been characterised by an Anglo-centric, ‘western’ worldview, and just a handful of leadership researchers have factored in the very different economic, political, cultural, and religious environments that prevail in each of the countries of the Middle-East and North Africa (MENA) region (e.g. Dubai Women Establishment, 2009).

This research has led to some understanding of how culture and religion shapes assumptions about business leadership and ‘appropriate’ gender-roles in the MENA region, and there has also been a limited amount of research documenting the emergence of Emirati women in significant numbers in the UAE labour market during the 2000s. However, in order to better understand Arab women's conceptions and experiences of leadership and management, we have supplemented the simplistic notion of ‘Arabic’ business leadership by including two new categories of analysis in our research: Women - as opposed to men or the generic/gender-neutral categories that have been used in almost all previous research; and individual Arab states - as opposed to the monolithic ‘Arab World’. The UAE, for example, is a unique country in the Middle-East, particularly in terms of the relative freedoms and opportunities it offers to national and expatriate women, and in its comparatively moderate variant of Islam.

To redress the distinct lack of information and knowledge about Emirati women in the UAE labour market and in leadership positions (and, of course, the attitudes of men towards women in these roles), six major studies have been completed. The results of these studies have either been published, recently submitted to journals, or are currently being written up for publication. These will culminate in a book, planned for publication in 2013. The seventh and eight studies, which replicate most elements of studies 1-6, are being conducted in the KSA and Kuwait during 2012-2013.

ACADEMIC AWARDS

June 2010, CBS Graduating Class of 2010 Teaching Commendation, with colleague Francois Bester.
July 2009, nominated by the Dean and Associate-Deans of the CBS for a Zayed University Outstanding Faculty Award; and received an AED 20,000 merit pay award in November 2009.
June 2009, CBS Graduating Class of 2009 Teaching Commendation, with colleagues Francois Bester and Farzad Farsio.
May 2008, CBS Graduating Class of 2008 Teaching Commendation, with colleagues Francois Bester and Kenton Swift.
Nominated by Business Faculty at UWA for a National Australian Universities’ Teaching Award in April 2005 and December 2000.
December 2002, Excellence in Teaching (EIT) award for The Management of Organizations ('Best Postgraduate Coursework at UWA’ - new award from 2002. $1000 prize).
December 2001, EIT award for the Management of Organizations, ('Best Postgraduate Coursework Unit at UWA’. $1000 prize).
UWA EIT award for Organizational Behaviour ('Best Unit Coursework at UWA'), December 1999.
Six faculty commendations for EIT 1998-2006, and one commendation for Doctoral Research Supervision in 1999.

Publications (2007 - present)

Books

Forster, N. (2010, second edition), Maximum Performance: A Practical Guide to Leading and Managing People at Work, pp. 584. Available from Amazon and, from January 2012, Apple iBooks. ISBN 1-902969- 02.
Forster, N. (2005, first edition), Maximum Performance: A Practical Guide to Leading and Managing People at Work, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 594. ISBN 1-84542-000-4. To date, this is the only book on leadership/people management published in Australia endorsed by Michael Chaney, Chairman of the Business Council of Australia and former CEO of Wesfarmers. It was also endorsed by two former winners of the Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year award.

Book in Progress

Forster, N. (2013), A Quiet Revolution? The Growing Influence of Women in Business and Management in the Middle-East.

Refereed Journal Articles

Forster, N. and Al Marzouqi, A. (2011), ‘An exploratory study of the under-representation of Emirati women in the United Arab Emirates’ information technology sector’, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 30(7), 544-562. ISSN 2040-7149.
Forster, N. (2010), ‘Exposing the contradictions, myths and illusions of “the secrets of business success” literature’, Vision: the Journal of Business Perspective, 14(1-2), January-June, 1-22. ISSN 0972-2629.
Moore, L. and Forster, N. (2009), ‘An exploratory analysis of cross-cultural differences in sex-typing, gender self-attributes; and the emergence of androgynous leadership traits’, Indian Journal of Management, 2(2), July-December, 4-15. ISSN 0975 - 055x.
Cacioppe, R., Forster, N. and Fox, M. (2008), ‘A survey of managers’ perceptions of corporate ethics and social responsibility, and actions that may affect companies’ success’, Journal of Business Ethics, 82, 681-700. ISSN 10551-007-9586.
Forster, N. (2007), ‘CEOs’ readership of business and management journals: implications for research and teaching in Australian business schools,’ Journal of Management and Organization, 13(1), 24 - 40. ISSN 1833-3672.

Refereed Journal Articles in Progress

Forster, N., Ibrahim, N. and Ebrahim, A. (2012), ‘A study of work-family conflicts among professional Emirati women in the United Arab Emirates’, Gender, Work and Organization (to be submitted December 2011).
Forster, N. (2012), ‘The contradictory and evolving perceptions that male and female Emiratis have about women in business leadership positions in the United Arab Emirates’, Gender in Management: An International Review (to be submitted January 2012).

Book Chapters

Forster, N. (2007), ‘Expatriates and the impact of cross cultural training’, in Hutchings, K. and De Cieri, H. (Eds.), International Human Resource Management: From Cross-Cultural Management to Managing a Diverse Workforce, Aldershot: Ashgate, pp.83 - 98. ISBN 978-0-7546-2654-1.

Refereed Conference Papers

Forster, N., Ibrahim, N. and Ebrahim, A. (2012 - accepted), ‘A study of work-family conflicts among professional Emirati women in the United Arab Emirates’, Proceedings of the Women as Global Leaders Conference: Creating a Sustainable Future for the World, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, March.
Forster, N. and Al Marzouqi A. (2012 - accepted), ‘Factors that explain the under-representation of Emirate women in the United Arab Emirates’ information technology sector’, Proceedings of the Women as Global Leaders Conference: Creating a Sustainable Future for the World, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, March.
Forster, N. (2012 - accepted), ‘Are female managers from Venus and do male managers really come from Mars? Proceedings of the Women as Global Leaders Conference: Creating a Sustainable Future for the World, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, March.
Forster, N. (2010), ‘The contradictory claims, myths and Illusions of the “secrets of business success and company longevity” genre’. Proceedings of the Academy of International Business (Middle-East and North Africa) Conference, Dubai, UAE, December.
Forster, N. and Al Marzouqi A. (2010), ‘The under-representation of Emirati women in the United Arab Emirates’ information technology sector’. Proceedings of the Academy of International Business (Middle-East and North Africa) Conference, Dubai, UAE, December.
Forster, N. (2008), ‘The Emergence of Global Androgynous Business Leadership Styles? A Comparison of the Leadership Attributes of Zayed University Business Leadership 401 Students and MBA Students at the Graduate School of Management, the University of Western Australia’. Proceedings of the Women as Global Leaders Conference, Zayed University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, March.
Forster, N. (2007), ‘Research for whom? The impact of business and management research on private and public sector leaders, with a discussion of some implications for future directions in research and teaching in Australian business schools,’ Proceedings of The Oxford Business and Economics Conference, Oxford University, England, June.

Professional and Practitioner Articles

Spiers, C. and Forster, N. (2010), ‘What holds Emirati women back’, Gulf News (Business Section), 7 December. p. 10.
Forster, N. (2010), ‘Dubai 2010: boom, bust and some benefits’, Business-Because, http://www.businessbecause.com/school-commentary/dubai-2010-boom-bust-blame-and-some-benefits.htm.
Forster, N. (2008), ‘Where the consultants go wrong’, CEO Middle East, January. p. 21.

Working Papers and MBA Case Studies

Forster, N. (2011), Corporate Culture Case Study: Hewlett Packard, (Iteration 17), Case Study used on the ZU EMBA and Al Faisal MBA programs, pp. 35.
Gunningham, C. & Forster, N. (2007), What Do MBA Students Want From MBA Teachers? (Iteration 5). Working paper distributed to all Graduate School of Management, UWA, staff and also used during induction sessions for new and adjunct lecturers, pp. 18.
Cacioppe, R.; Forster, N. & Fox, M. (2007), A Study of Corporate Ethics and Social Responsibility: Perceptions that are Changing Company Performance, GSM Integral Leadership Centre, Working Paper, Number 12, pp. 33.
Forster, N., O’Donnell, K. & Jennings, N. (2007), The Implementation of a Corporate Knowledge Management Program at the City of Perth, Western Australia, Graduate School of Management, University of Western Australia, pp. 45. MBA Organizational Change and Transformation course Case Study.

TEACHING AND LEARNING
Teaching Responsibilities at the Al Faisal College of Business (2011 - 2012)

Postgraduate: Organizational Behaviour on the MBA program, with 60 students divided into two sections; 2 x 3 hours of teaching per week, for 14 weeks.
Undergraduate: One section of Organisational Behaviour during the Fall semester, with 15 students, and one section of Business Leadership and Managing Change during the Spring Semester 2012.

TEACHING, LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT AND EXTERNAL ACTIVITIES

Nick joined the College of Business at Al Faisal University in September 2011. He is a Professor of Business and Management. Before this, he worked at Zayed University in Dubai from August 2007, where he was a Professor of Business Leadership. He is the author of four books, has published more than 120 academic and professional articles, book chapters, conference papers and has written several research and consulting reports for business organizations in the UK, Australia and Singapore. The second edition of his MBA textbook Maximum Performance: A Practical Guide to Leading and Managing People at Work, was published in July 2010 (available from Amazon’s Kindle Library).
Before moving to Dubai, he worked at the Graduate School of Management, the University of Western Australia from March 1997 to May 2007. He taught Organizational Behaviour, Organizational Change and Transformation and Social, Ethical and Environmental Issues in Business on the GSM’s MBA and Executive MBA programs. He received ten MBA-nominated commendations and awards for teaching, and was also chosen twice by the Business Faculty as a nominee for National Australian University Awards for University Teaching in 2000 and 2005. He has also received two teaching commendations from the CBS Graduating Classes of 2008 and 2009.
Nick has collaborated in research, management development and consulting projects with more than fifty companies in the UK, Singapore and Australia, and was also a facilitator in the Australian Institute of Management’s Action Learning Programs with local companies, run in collaboration with the Harvard Business School. He was involved in the delivery of leadership and management development workshops to many of WA’s largest companies and public sector organizations, including the Office of the Premier and Cabinet and the City of Perth Executive.
He was a member of the national judging panel for the annual Australian Human Resource Management Awards for three years, and helped to write the criteria for two new awards in 2004, ‘Corporate Citizenship’ and ‘Employer of Choice’. He was featured in several ABC radio interviews and on the Qantas in-flight Business Program, and also contributed several articles to practitioner publications such as West Australian Business News, The Australian, Leadership Quarterly and Business Review Weekly.

Alfaisal University
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