The influence of Islamic values on management practice in Morocco

This article explores how Islamic values influence management and business practice in Morocco with a view to a new understanding of how one of the global, socio-political tides of the early twenty-first century is now beginning to make itself felt commercially. An interpretivist approach, coupled with access to a rich and hitherto inaccessible mix of diverse and highly placed participants, allows the authors to augment extant research with a vivid rendering of the lived reality of Islamic management practice. And in consequence, sweeping monocultural generalisations about national character and practice can be refined into a nuanced and layered analysis of actual management behaviour. In order to understand how Islamic values influencemanagement practice the findings unravel what has hitherto been presented in the extant literature as a Gordian Knot of complex influences. By putting the voices of participants ‘centre-stage’ the Gordian Knot is replaced by the metaphor of the Arabesque, a Moorish artform typically comprising motifs of flowing branches, leaves and scroll work all interlaced and entwined. Just as these typicalmotifs are ever-present in the form of the Arabesque yet take on a unique pattern in each individual depiction, so it is with the characteristics which influence management practice in Morocco. The principal motifs elicited from participants include: ‘living’ Islam (including the interaction of Islam and personal beliefs, alongside the influence of kinship); Islam versus Moroccan Islam (the national culture’s ingestion of a religion); national characteristics of family and patriarchy (including the support that employees expect from their managers); socio-economic factors, in particular education and gender (life experiences including education and the home); and foreign influences (the impact of Western colonialism). This research identifies that these principal motifs are ever-present in their influence on management practice, yet in each individual’s case the pattern of such influence bears the unique imprint of the individual manager’s own religiosity and character. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.