Reflections: Stern Solutions Experiential Learning Project Takes MBA students to Qatar
In fall 2018, NYU Stern MBA students traveled to Qatar as part of a Stern Solutions experiential learning project conducted in partnership with the Stern Center for Business and Human Rights and the Center’s Research Scholar David Segall. Below are excerpts from the students' travel blogs.
Gabriel Ng (MBA/MPA ‘19), Stern Solutions Qatar Project, Day 2 Travel blog
Today we were driven around Doha’s “industrial city” and one of the World Cup stadiums. We also visited the Ben Jelmood House (the slavery museum), the Museum of Islamic art, and the Souq. Finally, we had dinner with executives from the construction company.
One striking thing about Doha is the ubiquitous presence of portraits of the Emir on the facades of buildings everywhere. David told us this was a relatively recent phenomenon, a reaction against the blockade. For our purposes, it drives home the importance of the government to the society and businesses of Qatar. Perhaps ultimately, it is the government that we need to convince to act in order to be able to have an effect?
Industrial city, where a lot of construction workers live, was not as bad as I was expecting. We understood from David that what we saw represented a vast improvement on even a year ago. That said, while there were paved roads, the quantity of dust caking cars and everything else was remarkable. We also saw glimpses of older worker housing, which substantiated the level of improvement. It was a good sign that all the buildings we saw had air conditioning, given the baking heat long past the height of summer, though of course we do not know whether they were functioning or not.
The story told by one of the executives about a previous recruitment drive was very good: it was compelling and she seemed sincere. We will need to dig into the numbers more, though, over the next few days.
Su-Kyong Park (MBA ‘20), Stern Solutions Qatar Project, Day 3 Travel blog
What an exciting day! We rolled into the office early in the morning for our first meeting with the client. After our introductory meeting with the Head of Human Resources, the General Services Manager, who works closest to workers’ welfare (from inception to termination), decided to take us, impromptu, on a tour of the accommodations they built previously for their workers. I imagine all the facilitates and rooms we observed were in their natural state. We even looked through sign-in logs and noticed that about 50 workers stop by the gym on a daily basis! I was in high spirits – what an opportunity! I took so many notes – for one, they don’t take away workers’ passports (which is what commonly happens in the Gulf). In fact, they have a security box screwed onto workers’ wardrobe so that only workers have access to their passports.
While on the tour, I couldn’t help but remember Industrial City from yesterday – what looked like shanty towns on the outskirts of one of the richest countries per capita…
Though I didn’t think the day could get any better – it did. The team at the accommodation prepared lunch for us at the on-site cafeteria (thankfully! We were starving at that point). Granted, we did sit in the cordoned area for managers and supervisors and the food was presented to us like a buffet... Perhaps the food they were serving to us wasn’t exactly as it normally was – but basically, this is all to say that the food was absolutely amazing. It was the best we had so far into our trip. In order to cater to all of the different nationalities, you could find food from Nepal, India, Bangladesh and more.
All day, we had not focused on recruitment fees. But it was time to interview four workers who were direct hires from the construction company from its previous recruitment drive (which we were here to research!). Kinni was our translator and she did a great job – I felt that given it was our first experience interviewing workers, given the sensitivity and the vulnerability of the workers, we made a good start. I managed to sneak in a few questions myself, although David led this one for the most part. There was definitely an interesting dynamic with four workers in one sitting. There was the talkative worker (finally, his voice was being heard!) and the quiet, shy worker (perhaps a fear of
backlash).
It is strange to say but as I was listening to the workers – I almost felt myself... watching them as if it were unreal. To be interviewing migrant workers –who had paid such a hefty sum, separated from their families in order to come to a foreign country to work in the desert heat... earning little, spending years abroad. Tan, burnt even. Coarse hands. Foreign language – foreign eyes. But after the interviews, when we shook hands, they were real people. There was warmth in their hands, eyes that seemed to say something, a small squeeze. Despite speaking for a little over an hour, there was now a connection between us.
Kinni Shah (MBA ‘19), Stern Solutions Qatar Project, Day 4 Travel blog
With a packed schedule, we started the day at 8am with a meeting at an international organization that deals with labor. Large international organizations have always fascinated me and their work at both the government and business level has been admirable. The meeting was a good way to get the organization’s take on our project and direction. We also had one of our most important meetings with an executive from the construction company who was our point person for the recruitment drive. Speaking with him gave us a good insight into the drive, provided me with some further clarity on the company’s decision making process and enumerated the benefits of the drive at the firm level.
The afternoon was reserved for more worker interviews where our team went on current construction sites of the construction company to interview 18 workers in total. It was intriguing to see the actual size of these sites in person and planning process on how the project team would deliver the project in time. The worker interviews, again, were heartwarming. It was encouraging to see them share their experiences and plight with little hesitation. However, it was also sad to hear some of their background stories. For example, one worker was threatened to have his passport ripped if he did not pay money to come to Qatar, while another decided to come back to work in the the Middle East after 25 years for personal reasons. What was admirable about them was their aspiration to do good work and earn a decent living for themselves and their families – unlike current perceptions they were not shy of hard work and neither did they care about the amount they might have had to pay to come do their job, they just wanted to keep working, hopefully progress and make their families proud. Listening to their perspectives and acting as a translator was an enriching experience and I felt lucky to have gotten the opportunity.
An unusual adventure from today was our encounter with a sandstorm! When we were leaving from one of the construction sites, we witnessed a crazy sandstorm that surrounded the city and affected visibility. As someone who has never been in a sandstorm before it was exciting to see the effects of the storm (which lasted for not more than 2 hours) and the view from our hotel room. The sandstorm definitely completed my experience in Qatar in a way!
Today we were driven around Doha’s “industrial city” and one of the World Cup stadiums. We also visited the Ben Jelmood House (the slavery museum), the Museum of Islamic art, and the Souq. Finally, we had dinner with executives from the construction company.
One striking thing about Doha is the ubiquitous presence of portraits of the Emir on the facades of buildings everywhere. David told us this was a relatively recent phenomenon, a reaction against the blockade. For our purposes, it drives home the importance of the government to the society and businesses of Qatar. Perhaps ultimately, it is the government that we need to convince to act in order to be able to have an effect?
Industrial city, where a lot of construction workers live, was not as bad as I was expecting. We understood from David that what we saw represented a vast improvement on even a year ago. That said, while there were paved roads, the quantity of dust caking cars and everything else was remarkable. We also saw glimpses of older worker housing, which substantiated the level of improvement. It was a good sign that all the buildings we saw had air conditioning, given the baking heat long past the height of summer, though of course we do not know whether they were functioning or not.
The story told by one of the executives about a previous recruitment drive was very good: it was compelling and she seemed sincere. We will need to dig into the numbers more, though, over the next few days.
Su-Kyong Park (MBA ‘20), Stern Solutions Qatar Project, Day 3 Travel blog
What an exciting day! We rolled into the office early in the morning for our first meeting with the client. After our introductory meeting with the Head of Human Resources, the General Services Manager, who works closest to workers’ welfare (from inception to termination), decided to take us, impromptu, on a tour of the accommodations they built previously for their workers. I imagine all the facilitates and rooms we observed were in their natural state. We even looked through sign-in logs and noticed that about 50 workers stop by the gym on a daily basis! I was in high spirits – what an opportunity! I took so many notes – for one, they don’t take away workers’ passports (which is what commonly happens in the Gulf). In fact, they have a security box screwed onto workers’ wardrobe so that only workers have access to their passports.
While on the tour, I couldn’t help but remember Industrial City from yesterday – what looked like shanty towns on the outskirts of one of the richest countries per capita…
Though I didn’t think the day could get any better – it did. The team at the accommodation prepared lunch for us at the on-site cafeteria (thankfully! We were starving at that point). Granted, we did sit in the cordoned area for managers and supervisors and the food was presented to us like a buffet... Perhaps the food they were serving to us wasn’t exactly as it normally was – but basically, this is all to say that the food was absolutely amazing. It was the best we had so far into our trip. In order to cater to all of the different nationalities, you could find food from Nepal, India, Bangladesh and more.
All day, we had not focused on recruitment fees. But it was time to interview four workers who were direct hires from the construction company from its previous recruitment drive (which we were here to research!). Kinni was our translator and she did a great job – I felt that given it was our first experience interviewing workers, given the sensitivity and the vulnerability of the workers, we made a good start. I managed to sneak in a few questions myself, although David led this one for the most part. There was definitely an interesting dynamic with four workers in one sitting. There was the talkative worker (finally, his voice was being heard!) and the quiet, shy worker (perhaps a fear of
backlash).
It is strange to say but as I was listening to the workers – I almost felt myself... watching them as if it were unreal. To be interviewing migrant workers –who had paid such a hefty sum, separated from their families in order to come to a foreign country to work in the desert heat... earning little, spending years abroad. Tan, burnt even. Coarse hands. Foreign language – foreign eyes. But after the interviews, when we shook hands, they were real people. There was warmth in their hands, eyes that seemed to say something, a small squeeze. Despite speaking for a little over an hour, there was now a connection between us.
Kinni Shah (MBA ‘19), Stern Solutions Qatar Project, Day 4 Travel blog
With a packed schedule, we started the day at 8am with a meeting at an international organization that deals with labor. Large international organizations have always fascinated me and their work at both the government and business level has been admirable. The meeting was a good way to get the organization’s take on our project and direction. We also had one of our most important meetings with an executive from the construction company who was our point person for the recruitment drive. Speaking with him gave us a good insight into the drive, provided me with some further clarity on the company’s decision making process and enumerated the benefits of the drive at the firm level.
The afternoon was reserved for more worker interviews where our team went on current construction sites of the construction company to interview 18 workers in total. It was intriguing to see the actual size of these sites in person and planning process on how the project team would deliver the project in time. The worker interviews, again, were heartwarming. It was encouraging to see them share their experiences and plight with little hesitation. However, it was also sad to hear some of their background stories. For example, one worker was threatened to have his passport ripped if he did not pay money to come to Qatar, while another decided to come back to work in the the Middle East after 25 years for personal reasons. What was admirable about them was their aspiration to do good work and earn a decent living for themselves and their families – unlike current perceptions they were not shy of hard work and neither did they care about the amount they might have had to pay to come do their job, they just wanted to keep working, hopefully progress and make their families proud. Listening to their perspectives and acting as a translator was an enriching experience and I felt lucky to have gotten the opportunity.
An unusual adventure from today was our encounter with a sandstorm! When we were leaving from one of the construction sites, we witnessed a crazy sandstorm that surrounded the city and affected visibility. As someone who has never been in a sandstorm before it was exciting to see the effects of the storm (which lasted for not more than 2 hours) and the view from our hotel room. The sandstorm definitely completed my experience in Qatar in a way!