Photographs of the UAE from the past provide ample evidence of the country's development over the years. Skyscrapers sprang out of the sand, keeping pace with the fast growth of businesses in the Emirates.
But what effect did the rapid expansion have on employees within the enterprises themselves?
The Oxford University-trained organisational psychologists Dominic Ghanbari and Sean Williams-Eliyesil intend to find out.
"I came over here for a little bit of work in Abu Dhabi with the Ministry of Interior, and I was just looking at the pace of change happening over here and what's happening with the workforce, and I kind of thought it was a unique opportunity," says Mr Williams-Eliyesil, a co-founder of Neptune Management Consulting.
So far, Mr Ghanbari and Mr Williams-Eliyesil have collected data from hundreds of employees in the Emirates, adding to their database of thousands of people worldwide, to determine what happens during changes in an organisation.
And they have discovered that rapid growth can have negative consequences.
An employee may be part of a group of 10 and ably completing a specific job, but if that work group grows to 20 and the change "hasn't been thought out, there could be task duplication, which causes a lot of tension", Mr Ghanbari says.
The rapid growth of a business can also lead to confusion over where an employee fits into an organisation. Other negative effects include further disengaging employees who were already on the brink.
"For people who don't necessarily identify with their organisation, [rapid growth] has a completely negative effect on their behaviour," says Mr Williams-Eliyesil.
As an organisation changes, the employees become even more uncertain, and they engage and collaborate less within groups, he says.
So what is the solution? Unmotivated employees can be paired with others who are enthusiastic about the organisation, experts suggest.
Communication can also be a problem in companies that have grown quickly in the UAE.
"As your company is growing, restructuring or merging, you need constant, effective communication to all employees at all levels - but in a way that's meaningful. That's something we don't find is happening," says Mr Williams-Eliyesil.
"The purpose of a leader is to lead, but without visibility there is no leadership. In the UAE, there is often no visibility," he says.
But the problem is not just at the top. Better communication is needed between managers and employees, too.
"A business is a bit like a child in a way. Its abilities grow over time based on its experience in the marketplace, how long it's existed and how well you nurture it," says Mr Williams-Eliyesil. "You need to take the time out to nurture relationships between managers and employees. When you're growing you're always working at your full capacity, but you don't necessarily until this point have the time to think to make sure these relationships are all working."
Neptune's research revealed that employees in the Emirates feel that they do not have as much freedom in their jobs as workers in Europe. And the more freedom an employee has, the more opportunities that person has to think of ways to do the job better.
It is not all bad news, however.
"What you find in Europe at the moment is that employee engagement and employee confidence is plummeting. A lot of companies are going through a round of layoffs, and that's having a significant effect on a company's performance," says Mr Williams-Eliyesil. "Confidence is a little bit higher here [in the Emirates]. Employee engagement is a little higher. There is a higher morale overall."
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