ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE IN PAKISTAN

Introduction

Organizational culture is the system of shared assumptions, values and beliefs that results in the unique and psychological environment of an organization.

Every organization has its own unique culture. This unique environment of an organization is stated as its culture. Numerous studies and researches have been taken place in this regard to explain several types of cultures and most importantly, the ways an organizational culture can affect itself and its ultimate influence on other employee related variables such as commitment, satisfaction, cohesion and performance etc.  In a group of people working together, organizational culture is obviously an indistinguishable factor but also the most powerful force that affects the behavior of the members of a group. In this current organizational environment, culture is considered as the powerful tool to showcase numerous phases of an organization and also defines the proper functioning and operation of the business. Others scholars have concluded that organizational culture not only display, guide and change but also can contribute by affecting the overall performance.

In- spite of the fact, there is a large amount of literature on the subject of organizational culture and in a number of countries especially regarding Pakistan.

The organizational culture of Pakistan has shown number of diversions and changes. All those facts and figures are mainly based on the roots of the norms and the values of the organizations which are different of each of them. But the organizational culture in Pakistan has a wide influence on the workers due to a proper typical authoritative style, as the positive culture will inculcate positive impacts on the employees and workers performance and the negative culture will surely deduce the progress and performance of the respective employees.

Objectives

The main objectives of this research explaining organizational culture in Pakistan are stated below:

1. Organizational culture in Pakistan    
2. Impact of organizational culture on the respective performance of employees and workers. 

Organizational culture in Pakistan

Organizational culture in Pakistan is quite different from western organizational culture. In-spite of the fact that the number of well-established recognized firms is very few except banking sector etc.

In most of the organizations of Pakistan including Banking sector the typical Authoritative culture is being validated by the leaders as they are the boss and they have full chain of employee working under them without any right to speak up in front of the boss, in such cultures Boss is always right who dictates policies and procedures, decides what targets needs to be achieved, strategy is being forcefully implemented without any meaningful participation of by the subordinates (employees). As it states that the leader has all the power and vision in mind and should be able to motivate and encourage subordinates to get the job done under close supervision. Subordinate's answers to the orders given are either punished or rewarded. Leaders have unlimited authority don’t like sharing of power so what he has said is the ultimate order and has to be fulfilled at any cost. The biggest example is the textile industry of Pakistan. 

    Authoritative leadership

                                                                                       

There are some organizations which have involved all the employees with them as the information flow in both directions; from top to bottom as well as bottom to top. In those organizations employees are considered as the valuable assets and make decisions. Although, not every employee of every level is being involved but still many of them are given the authority to speak and give the opinion. These organizations include the educational institutes of Pakistan and banking sector up to some extent.

In-case of educational and some corporate firms of Pakistan which have given each employee the liberty to give their information as such organizations are ready to adopt the change. Such firms and organizations have belief on power sharing because authority is not being conserved in one hand but is being distributed in the people. Group sharing and group works are being more promoted and preferred as compared to divided works. This brings more efficiency in the decision making which is being made by the combined several brains of several people, so the best out of the best is being selected. Such kind of Pakistani Corporate and Organizational Culture can be observed in “Telecom industry” and other growing industries as well.

Organizational culture in Multinational Companies of Pakistan

Organizational culture in Pakistan varies from organization to organization. In term of big organizations like banking sector organizational culture is based on centralized decision making. There is no doubt that banking sector is one of the largest and growing sectors in the country. It is considered to be very strict and prudent in its very conditions and operations. The top management has the right to make decision and then the branch members and other staff members will follow the decision. Though the employees have rights to make decision that they think is good for the employees. Every employee has his/her own personal computer to perform day to day business operations. There is a good communication level among all employees at any level and also there is good cooperation among them. There is a proper training program for  the employee’s  learning and focuses on the implementation of that knowledge at the work places so that changed could be measured.

Integration among individual needs and organizational needs is very important aspect of business. Organizational culture is all about matching needs and wants of people and companies where they perform their day to day activities.

Coca-Cola is Tall in terms of organizational complexity structure and controlled through a vertical hierarchy. Decision-making is in the hands of company’s upper management which act as a role model to ensures that rules and regulations are been applied and closely review their employees performance and behavior. Daily and routine decisions are made by the supervisors at the middle level.

The largest beverages selling company Coca Cola (Pakistan) says that diversity is injected in their culture which is the integral part of who we are, how we operate in the present and how we see the future. It creates such a culture which provides growth opportunities and communication opportunities to its employees irrespective of racial background gender, race and nation.

 To sum it up, everybody has equal access to information. Coca cola Pakistan organizational culture is defined by seven core values: passion, integrity, leadership, collaboration, quality, diversity, and accountability.

Role culture is a culture which coca cola adopts where employees have a predefined task to do. Role culture is split up into a number of functions that are structured in a hierarchical way. Organizational structure of Coca-Cola is divided into various functions like marketing, accounts and production. These functions also have hierarchical ordering. This type of culture works only by logic and rationality. Role culture is mainly used in large organizations. In this culture position is considered as the main source of power and rules and procedures are the source of influence in the marketplace and in the work place which is critical to our sustainability.

So, we can say that organizational culture is very advantageous in many manners because of unity and positivity. Increased productivity is one of the merits of organizational culture. Sometimes, new recruits can be damaging for an organizational culture in such a way that they do not follow the predetermined rules and regulation of the organization. An employee should work accordingly with the culture of organization.

Job Satisfaction and Organizational Culture     

Organizational culture is interrelated with job satisfaction of employees. If we look at the centralized based and role based culture of Pakistan’s organizational structure.  The culture of the organization also contributes to the ways by which employees move towards their own organizational goals and targets, and execute their given work and use the resources in an appropriate way to have them. The climate of an organization has also an effect on the minds of people, by which they intentionally and unintentionally think feels and make their decisions.

According to Deal Kennedy (1982) and Pates Waterman the climate of the organization has a sound effect in particular areas like job satisfaction, execution of tasks, achievements and commitment. The satisfaction level and dedication of the individuals to firm may change because of their personal beliefs, attitudes and personal values.

National Culture impact on Organizational Culture and Job Satisfaction in Pakistan

The behaviors, functioning and expectations of employees in an organization may change in different set of cultures at national level.

The system by which companies and organizations are being integrated, national culture has also impact on them. The example of Pakistan implies that it is influenced by different families. Due to this type of hold, there is bureaucratic form, promotion of power and decision making made at higher level produce the low quality and quantity of work. In most of the cases position is given on the grounds of family belongings and linkage of relationships. On the contrary, the public stock holders of western firms and organizations are owner and expert mangers run them. These western companies are discouraging centralized decision making and adopt flat and simple structure. Workmen at different levels of position may make independent decisions. Merit policies, skills and expertise are the main determinants for getting promotion. Because of increasing tendency of globalization, organizations with their bosses must aware and have knowledge of compulsory constraints for companies known as effective leadership and assess lines of commitment for the satisfaction of jobs.

Conclusion                     

                                         

To sum it up, research has shown heterogeneous results depend on the type of organizational culture in Pakistan.

Therefore, it is concluded that in-spite of authoritative culture in big organizations employees are working efficiently and progressing with the passage of time.

Author has worked for the banking sector and feels that organizational culture in Pakistan is an ideal workplace where you can adapt your personality according to the scenario. Supervisor would be employee friendly with great communication skills and could coach and lead you to meet common and rewarding goals. And employees are largely extrinsically oriented as the premium placed on their monetary rewards is very high.