In the Name of Allah, the Most Benevolent and the Most Merciful
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In the name of Allah, the most benevolent and the most merciful. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. 1 Leadership and Culture in Pakistan: An Interpretive Study Abdul Shakoor Khakwani A Thesis submitted to the University of the West of England (UWE) for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Business and Law, Bristol, UK November 2014 2 Dedication The work produced here is solely dedicated to my Ammi Jan & Abbu Jan 3 Table of Contents Contents Page Nos. Title page 02 Dedication 03 Table of contents 04-06 List of abbreviations 07-08 Abstract 09-10 Acknowledgements 11-12 Declaration 13 Chapter – 1 Introduction 14-25 1.1 Introduction 14-16 1.2 Where to look for evidence 17-20 1.3 Why leadership and culture? 20 1.4 Research aims 21 1.5 Significance and scope of the study 21-22 1.6 Key research questions and narratives of study 22-25 1.7 How this thesis will proceed 25-27 Chapter – 2 Researching Leadership from an Emic Perspective 28-55 2.1 Introduction 28-29 2.2 Defining leadership and culture 29-36 2.3 The emic perspective 36-38 2.4 Emerging parameters of the emic perspective 38-51 2.5 The linkage between identity, politics and leadership 51-54 2.6 Conclusion 54-55 4 Chapter – 3 Constructing the Reality of Leadership and Culture 56-79 3.1 Introduction 56-57 3.2 Situating the research context 57 3.3 Ontological predilections 58-64 3.4 Critical epistemology 64-69 3.5 Three prime methodological considerations 69-78 3.6 Conclusion 78-79 Chapter – 4 Research Design and Methods 80-95 4.1 Introduction 80 4.2 Research design 81-83 4.3 Data collection: methods and sampling 83-86 4.4 Research methods 86-92 4.5 Ethical consideration 92-93 4.6 Limitations 93-95 4.7 Conclusion 95 Chapter – 5 Leadership Practices 96-118 5.1 Introduction 96 5.2 Structural informality 96-101 5.3 Personalismo 101-108 5.4 Geo-Cultural orientation 108-116 5.5 Comparative analysis and findings 116-118 Chapter – 6 Organization Politics 119-141 6.1 Introduction 119 6.2 Political practices in MNCs 119-124 6.3 Political practices in PSCs 124-131 5 6.4 Political practices in LLCs 131-139 6.5 Comparative analysis and findings 139-141 Chapter – 7 Identity Practices 142-167 7.1 Introduction 142 7.2 Identity practices in MNCs 142-149 7.3 Identity practices in PSCs 149-156 7.4 Identity practices in LLCs 156-166 7.5 Comparative analysis and findings 166-167 Chapter – 8 Conclusions 168-192 8.1 Introduction 168-169 8.2 The distinctive nature of my research contribution 169-170 8.3 Leading findings and summary of chapters 170-186 8.4 Limitations 186-189 8.5 Practice implications and research reflections 189-192 References 193-214 Appendices 215-220 Appendix A - Glossary of Urdu terms 215-217 Appendix B - Interview Question Guide 218 Appendix C - Demographics of Respondents 219-220 6 List of Abbreviations A-MNC American Multinational Corporations ASM Area Sales Manager B-MNC British Multinational Corporations BOD Board of Directors CA Chartered Accountant CD Customer Development CEO Chief Executive Officer CEU Chief Engineer Utilities CMA Cost & Management Accountant CSR Corporate Social Responsibility ED Executive Director EDF Executive Director Finance EDS Executive Director Supply Chain FMCGs Fast Moving Consumer Goods GM General Manager GMH General Manager Human Resources GMI General Manager Information Technology GMM General Manager Marketing GMP General Manager Plant GMR General Manager Refinery GMT General Manager Textile GOME Government of Middle East GOP Government of Pakistan HR Human Resources IBA Institute of Business Administration JD Job Description KPIs Key Performance Indicators 7 LLCs Large Local Corporations LUMS Lahore University of Management Sciences MBA Master of Business Administration M-CON Management Consultant MD Managing Director MNA Member National Assembly MNCs Multinational Corporations MPA Member Provincial Assembly NSM National Sales Manager PML (N) Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz League) PML (Q) Pakistan Muslim League (Quaid-e-Azam League) PSCs Public Sector Corporations ROM Regional Operational Manager RSM Regional Sales Manager SBU Strategic Business Unit SMG Senior Manager TM Territory Manager VP Vice President 8 Abstract This thesis provides an account of an empirically-based research project on the nature of leadership and culture in the corporate context of Pakistan. An interpretive approach is adopted in the exploration of the following themes: organization politics, identity and leadership practices. I also examine the ontological issues associated with culture and leadership in an organizational context, and its interpretation through such constructs as social practices, politics and identity (chapter 2). Moreover, I explain my dissatisfaction with the existing body of knowledge because of its methodological weaknesses, inadequacies and philosophical flaws. My concern is to develop more appropriate methodological strategies and a framework for conducting research in a non-western context. Hence, the study stresses the need to maintain an etic–emic distinction and epistemic consideration of the location of practice, especially when the research subject is situated in an Asiatic or non-western context (chapter 3). Leaders were interviewed on-site in three organizational domains: Public Sector Corporations (PSCs), Multinational Corporations (MNCs) and Large Local Corporations (LLCs). The nature of the research is inductive and my methodology focuses on ethnographic, polyphonic and emic aspects of interviewing. Thematic analysis techniques were applied to focus on indigenous terms, to locate local meanings of western terms, through elaboration of similarities and differences between local and western terms, metaphors and linguistic expressions used by informants (chapter 4). Prominent issues that emerged out of the data analysis are discussed at length in the subsequent chapters. These are leadership practices, politics in organization and organizational identity. Leaders‟ practices in organization seem to represent a combination of two streams of values, dialectically opposed to each other: social and organizational. What constitutes the social can be considered as the combination of informal, personal, political and cultural as against organizational values that emanate from hierarchy, structure and system (legal- bureaucratic) dynamics. Three prominent attributes of leadership: structural informality, personalismo and geo-cultural orientations, are observed across modern-western and local- national organizations with varying intensities (chapter 5). Politics is practiced in our daily routines and is considered an essential ingredient of social and organizational lives. Though the common denominator of self-interest is found amongst leaders in all three types of organization, leaders in modern-western and local- national organizations are observed to experience, give recognition to and articulate the phenomenon of politics in organization somewhat differently. Moreover, leaders in all 9 three types of organization are observed to formulate different political strategies to manage their organizations (chapter 6). Perhaps the most interesting finding was that while identity practices in MNCs seemed to involve denial of their foreign identity, paradoxically high-performing PSCs and LLCs tend to deny local or national identity at a collective level. Moreover, this study shows that the status of national identity in Pakistani organizations or corporate life is a much contested one. It is also competing with social identification in the sense that local or national social identity is deemed inappropriate for corporate and business imagery. This is expressed, with different intensities, in the rhetoric and discourse of leadership in all three types of organization (chapter 7). The concept of identity is no longer considered static, stable and fixed over time and space. Empirical evidence presented here, leads me to argue that the identity-creation process in the corporate sector of Pakistan is something that can be described as geo-cultural. This concept retains and gives recognition to the simultaneous existence of multiple identities, be they modern or traditional, global organizational or local-cultural or national. It is something associated with historical and collective conditioning of individuals, communities and societies entrenched in a particular local identity (geographically-based) which generates its own specific interpretation and meanings. As such, geo-cultural identity-construction is an amalgam of personal, familial, linguistic, religious and other local cultural features deeply ingrained with the historical conditions of the geographical region. In other words, leaders‟ identity stems from locality, leaders‟ politics revolve around locality and leaders‟ social modes of practices concern locality. Hence, the nature of social practices, the structure of leaders‟ political orientation and their identity responses, are all predisposed to confirm the existence and centrality of local-cultural leadership. Put simply, leadership emanates from, and tends to be heavily influenced by, geo-cultural attributes. 10 Acknowledgements I have been able to produce this work only through the generous help and cooperation I have received from a number of people, both individuals and organizations, which I think I must acknowledge here. First of all, I wish to acknowledge and express my deep gratitude to