International Journal of Research Studies in Management 2012 April, Volume 1 Number 1, 97-108 © The Authors / Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND Managing organizational change: Decision’s maker perceptions in the UAE manufacturing industry Yazeen, Zahi College of Business Studies, Al Ghurair University, Dubai, UAE (eibfs@yahoo.com) Okour, Adnan College of Business Studies, Al Ghurair University, Dubai, UAE (adnan@agu.ae) Received: 30 October 2011 Revised: 1 November 2011 Accepted: 14 November 2011 Available Online: 18 November 2011 DOI: 10.5861/ijrsm.2012.v1i1.37 ISSN: 2243-7770 Online ISSN: 2243-7789 OPEN ACCESS Abstract This paper aims to examine the common practices of change projects in the manufacturing industry in UAE and the key factors for effective implementation and highlighting the roadblocks of organizational change. The primary data were collected through pre-interview questionnaires and analyzed using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). The findings revealed that technology change is the change most practiced by the UAE manufacturing industry, then strategy development, TQM driven change, and software development with less emphases on cultural change. The usable data were restively small (n=150). Further research could be done with a larger sample to test the findings. The paper offers rare insight into change management practices in the manufacturing industry in UAE in addition to the initiators’ perception of key factors of effectiveness or the roadblocks of organizational. Keywords: change management; change leadership; organization development; UAE manufacturing sector; change agent