Paper no.5. Implications of postcolonialism and post-9/11 on national culture and HRM. practices in Pakistan

Transcription

1 Extended Abstract Paper no.5 Implications of postcolonialism and post-9/11 on national culture and HRM practices in Pakistan Abstract: This study examines characteristics and complexities surrounding national culture and management practices in present-day Pakistan. The study centrally attends to Pakistan s colonial history and the current contextual dynamism of the post-9/11 era. Established as religion-state in 1947, Pakistan inherited a number of British colonial legacies such as those vested in its legal frameworks, its power elites, and in its civil and military administrative structures, all of which have profoundly informed its national character. In the years following its independence, the civil-military elites have expropriated their means of power, dominated state-owned enterprises, and these changes, amongst others, have been central to the development of now prevailing HRM practices. Additionally, the United States support of military regimes in Pakistan during the Cold War and, more recently, its relationship with Pakistan in the post-9/11 climate has had far-reaching implications for its public institutions and enterprises. Pakistan is a frontline state in the so-called global war on terror ; its status as such presents unique opportunities and threats to the business community, both at home and abroad. Given these characteristics to the Pakistani context, it is perhaps surprising that to date, very little empirical research exists which addresses the distinctive development of HRM practices in this environment. This study thus seeks to address this dearth of research-based evidence through centrally exploring how HRM practices have developed in a post-colonial, and subsequently, a post-9/11 Pakistani context. This study anticipates policy recommendations for national and 1

2 global business community on HRM practices and original contribution to the existing literature on the subject in context of Pakistan. Introduction: It is generally believed that human resource policies and practices vary in context of different countries. Western research on the subject ignores developing countries contexts including Pakistan which differ in history, religion, institutions and culture. British Colonial Rule and United States have indelible impact on history, institutions, national culture and HR practices in postcolonial history of Pakistan. This study intends to investigate the impact of socio-cultural characteristics embedded in national culture on HR practices. The research builds on the argument that colonial legacy i.e. military, bureaucracy and landed elites oligarchy dominated by Punjab province emerged as dominant force on state power also affected HR practices. Oligarchy allegedly involved in cronyism and promoted their ethnic group which encouraged inter-provincial and inert-ethnic grievances. Additionally, unstinting United States support to civil-military oligarchy has stimulated and galvanised the militarisation of state and enterprises. The incident of 9/11 brought Pakistan close to the US in global coalition of war on terror as a result Pakistan received massive financial aids to transform institutions to combat extremism. Despite the importance of British-past and American-present of Pakistan, there has been little systematic empirical evidence assessing the impact of national character on HR practices in Pakistan Therefore, this study aims to analyse and report implications of postcolonial history and post-9/11 on national cultural and HR practices. Study is an attempt to offer continuity to ongoing discourse on the subject by filling void overlooked in previous investigations. 2

3 Literature review: There are a number of studies including legendary work of Hofstede (1980) and Kanungo and Jaeger (1990) that attempted to establish linkages between national culture and HR practices. Thy attempted to explicitly link national culture and HR practices, by proposing model of culture fit (MCF). The model was expanded and tested in ten countries including Pakistan however, study shown inability to interpret Pakistan s socio-cultural characteristics being ignored in cross-cultural management research (Aycan et al., 2000). A recent research effort by Khilji (2003) reported that British colonial legacy and American influences have left ineffaceable impact on national culture and HR practices in Pakistan. However, she overlooks Punjabi oligarchy as by-product of colonial legacy and its connection with HR practices. Preceding investigations reiterated the need to investigate the subject rigorously which sounds motivating. Equally, a large body of political literature on the subject indicates that British legacy and United States support to the military regimes in Pakistan supplemented the grip of oligarchy in postcolonial Pakistan (Yong 2005). Largely, because earlier investigations fail to incorporate the historical perspective experienced by Pakistan society therefore they lack robust results and model specification and generalization is yet questionable. Consequently, this study attempts to examine the postcolonial impact on national culture and HR practices in context of Pakistan comprehensively. Research methodology: Briefly, because of the nature of central research question which indicates it s two components. First part relates to current functioning of HRM and second section speaks about the British-American impact on national culture. The latter part has been 3

4 impacted by colonial legacy i.e. civil-military elites created by British Raj in subcontinent and supported by US policies. The attempt is made to have appropriateness in choice of methodological paradigm to cover all aspects of the central research question. The choice of methodology, this study argues, must be consequential to the researcher s philosophical stance concerning the phenomenon under-investigation rather to have research led by methodology. Several philosophical paradigms have been commonly followed in social science research, however, this study focuses to have match in philosophy, methodology, and central research question. The following comparison between positivist and phenomenological assumption rooted in ontology, epistemology and methodology would justify the approach that this study employs. 1. Ontologically: positivists believe that reality exists objectively and independent of human experiences whereas interpretivists emphasize the subjective meaning of the reality that is constructed and reconstructed through a human and social interaction process. 2. Epistemologically: positivists are concerned with the hypothetic-deductive testability of theories. Scientific knowledge should allow verification or falsification and seek generalizable results. On the contrary, interpretivists believe that scientific knowledge should be obtained not through hypothetic-deductive reasoning but through the understanding of human and social interaction by which the subjective meaning of the reality is constructed. 4

5 3. Methodologically: a quantitative method such as the questionnaire survey (an objective measurement) is a typical positivist instrument employed to test hypotheticdeductive theory. Interpretivists, to other end contend that to understand the meaning embedded in human interaction in social setting to discover participants perspective on the social phenomenon under investigation. This study thus engages to employ in-depth interviews and focus group interviews to probe first experience from participants to generate interpretive knowledge. In order to carry out empirical evidence, methodological triangulation i.e. questionnaire survey, in-depth interview, focus group and additionally document analysis will be employed. Following ontological and epistemological assumptions this study combines both positivist and phenomenological paradigms to have methodological rigor. Justifications for Triangulation: Triangulation method helps to understand the same phenomenon with different perspectives empirically and it also works to lessen inherent weaknesses of single measurement instrument. Additionally, triangulation allows an investigator to address a broader range of historical, attitudinal, and behavioural issues {Tashakkori and Teddlie (1998); Bryman, (1988) and Creswell (2003).} This method effectively reduces chances of researcher being personal and biased which may stem in use of single method (Denzin, 1989). i. Qualitative method: As the present research is geared towards exploring the postcolonial and post-9/11 implications on national culture and HR practices in 5

6 Pakistan in-depth interviews will be the effective data collection instrument. Because interviews allow flexibility to probe and illuminate many building blocks of psychological and contextual phenomenon that otherwise will remain hidden quantitative method (Khilji, 2003). Moreover, in-depth interviews will focus first person experience to grasp the absolute, logical and ontological character behind phenomena. ii. Quantitative method: The questionnaire survey will help measure employee satisfaction with HR practices. The measure of Khilji & Wang (2006) will be used to collect statistical data to determine HR satisfaction level of employees. This method is targeted to offer credibility to the conclusions which will be drawn from the interviews. HRM theory is often criticised for its managerial bias, as it is frequently based on the views of policy-makers or managers have a tendency to admire the policies and practices they make (Frey, 1994). To avoid this inadequacy, the nonmanagerial employees will be included in the sample. iii. Content analysis: This method will help examine policy documents of government and private enterprises to ensure intended and implemented HR policies and practices. This method will help enlighten whether the dominance of oligarchy is protected technically and legally institutionalized in federal and provincial quota systems for recruitments in civil-military services. Data analysis: For the purpose of qualitative data analysis the Nvivo 7 software will be applied. Nvivo 7 software is an intelligent application that helps to manage, shape and analyze 6

7 qualitative data and helps in model building. It lessens burden of manual tasks associated with analysis, like classifying, sorting and arranging information which saves time to explore trends, build and test theories. For quantitative data analysis SPSS software will be applied which has long established credibility in statistical data management. It helps provide with a broad range of capabilities for the entire analytical process. With SPSS, we can quickly generate results with high-quality tabular and graphical output we need to interpret the data. Possible outcomes: The outcome of the study would suggest how HR systems can bring about the change and transform socio-cultural environment. Study anticipates major contribution to existing HRM literature in context of Pakistan and would lend help to MNCs to formulate their HR policies and practices corresponding national culture. Following contributions of this study can be substantive academic contribution to the existing literature, theory and practice. Anticipated outcomes The major outcome of the study would be to extend understanding regarding the impact of colonial legacy and post-9/11 climate on national culture and HRM systems in Pakistan. Study anticipates major contribution to existing HRM literature in context of Pakistan To contribute to theory and practice of HRM in developing country context Study aims to lend help to MNCs to formulate their HR policies and practices corresponding national culture. 7

8 References: Aycan, Z., Kanungo, R.N., Mendonca, M., Yu, K., Deller, J., Stahl, G. & Khursid, A. (2000) Impact of culture on human resource management practices: A tencountry comparison. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 2000, 49(1), Bryman A. (1988) Quantity and quality in social research, London, Sage. Creswell J W (2 nd ed., 2003) Research Design: qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods approaches, London, Sage. Denzin, N.K. (1989) The research act: A theoretical introduction to sociological methods. New Jersey: Englewood Cliffs. Hofstede G (1980) Culture's consequences: international differences in work related Values. London, Sage. Kanungo, R.N. and Jaeger, A.M. (1990) Introduction: the need for indigenous management in developing countries, in Jaeger, A.M. and Kanungo, R.N. (Eds), Management in Developing Countries, London, Routledge,. Khilji, S. (2003) To adapt or not to adapt. Exploring the role of national culture in HRM-a study of Pakistan. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management. Vol. 3, No. 1. Pp Khilji, Shaista E. and Wang, Xiaoyun (2006) ''Intended' and 'implemented' HRM: the 8

9 missing linchpin in strategic human resource management research', The International Journal of Human Resource Management, Vol.17:7, Yong, Tan Tai (2005) The Garrison State, Lahore, Vanguard. Tashakkori A and Teddlie C (1998) Mixed methodology: combining qualitative and quantitative approaches, London, Sage. 9