Hofsteds Value Dimensions In Pakistan

Shazia Nawaz Madiha Khan MBA 2K12 (B)

SHORT RESEARCH ON HOFSTEDS DIMENSIONS IN PAKISTAN

In order to understand the degree of Hofsteds value dimensions in our culture we did a small survey consisting of 10 respondents of mix gender. All of our respondents were students. So we have evaluated these dimensions by keeping students responses in mind & then generalized them for our society. Our findings on the basis of their responses are concluded as follows:

POWER DISTANCE
By our findings we can conclude that there is high Power Distance culture in Pakistan. We found that there exists a strong centralized decision making system in Pakistan. The respondents were of the view that in decision making process the individuals in power, the parents, the teachers, the group leaders etc, take the final decisions rather than conferring with other individuals, family members or group members. There exist relationship of respect & fear between parents & children & between teachers & students. As one respondent told: Last Monday I had some confusions regarding topic maam taught. I spent almost half an hour in deciding whether to go to maam & ask for confusions or not. Finally I decided to not to go maam as she may get angry. Respondents were of the view that there exists an unequal distribution of wealth as well because of which poor people are becoming poorer & rich becoming richer. The consequences of unequal distribution are corruption, theft & other unethical acts.

INDIVIDUALISM VS COLLECTIVISM
We can conclude that we have a collectivist society. Majority of our respondents prefer to work in group (considering well being of coworkers important as well) rather than individually as they feel ease to work in cooperative environment rather than competitive one. We found that in our society, students are resistant to ask questions or to participate in class or to express their opinion. As one respondent share his feelings: I did my bachelors from Australia. I found there that students were very comfortable asking questions & were eager to share their thoughts & opinions. They even contradicted the teachers & openly disagreed with them. None of the student was being preferred there & all the students were treated equally. But all that was new

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for me as the thought of speaking & asking something terrified me a lot. So I felt very uncomfortable there.

QUALITY OF LIFE VS QUANTITY OF LIFE

In Pakistan generally quality of life is being focused as people are more attached with families & relationships. As respondents tell us that they used to share their possessions with others & used help others monetarily as well as morally. Individuals majority (6/10) preferred joint family system over nuclear system. But some (4/10) were also of view that there is no privacy in joint family system. People work for the comfort of their family. One respondent share her views: My brother got a job with an excellent salary package in USA. But there were some problems because of which his family could not move with him. So he sacrificed that job & prefers to work here. But few individuals were also of the view that materialistic things make them happier.

LONGTERM ORIENTED VS SHORTTERM ORIENTED

On the basis of our findings it can be concluded that Pakistan is a short term oriented country. Our respondents were students; almost all of them were of the view that they used to do their assignments just before the deadline, study only for quizzes and exams. Individuals were of the view that although long-term planning is an important factor for attaining success but even then majority of them have short term approach. A respondent tell us: I have midterm exams exactly after 1 week & I have not read anything before. I know it will be very difficult for me to cover the syllabus even then I am following T-twenty world cup matches. Students were of the view that their success or failure depends on luck. They used to do frequent spending rather than saving something for future. The respondents added that this short-term approach is not only at individual level but also at national level which is the main reason of major crises of Pakistan.

UNCERTAINTY AVOIDENCE
We found that Pakistan has lower need for uncertainty avoidance & rather avoid too many rules. There is acceptance of ambiguous & unstructured situations. Students were of the view that they are more flexible toward changes. They emphasize innovations, new ideas, risk taking & experimentation. For example a respondent told us: At the start of our session I came to know that there are students of different regions of Pakistan in our class including 5 foreigners. I was very much excited to meet them & to know about them. In current scenario Pakistanis have to face uncertain situations almost every day. Floods, terrorism and some other things are the reasons that make people here low in uncertainty avoidance.

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APPENDIX A

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

POWER DISTANCE
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Are you consulted for your studies & other important matters or directed what to do? Are you in favor of consultation or do you think getting orders is good enough? What is the general behavior toward elders in our society? Can you give an example? Do you think that rich people are getting richer & poor are becoming poorer in our society? 6. Do you think there are very few individuals who take major decisions in our society? 7. What are the consequences of unequal distribution of power & wealth in our society?

INDIVIDUALISM VS COLLECTIVISM
1. Do you prefer to work in a group or individually? 2. Do you bother the well being of your coworkers or its only you which you think is important? 3. Where will you prefer to work? In a highly competitive environment or cooperative one? 4. Do you feel comfortable asking questions to teacher & express your opinion freely or is there any element of fear or hesitation? 5. If yes then can you give me an example? 6. Do you think that it is important to put everyones ideas together when making a decision?

QUALITY OF LIFE VS QUANTITY OF LIFE

1. Do you use to share your possessions with others? 2. What do you think is more preferred in our society? Materialism or relationships?

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3. Can you give any example? 4. What excites you more? Spending time with friends & family or shopping? 5. How will you prefer to work? More office hours with good salary package or scarify salary for timing? 6. If your friend is in need of money then would you prefer to help her save for your tomorrow? 7. What do you think is more dominant in our society? Joint family system or Nuclear system? 8. What will you prefer? Joint family system or nuclear one?

LONGTERM VS SHORTTERM
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Do you develop proper schedules for study? What are your views about success in examination? It depends on effort or luck? Do you save for your tomorrow or spend frequently? Have you planned something for next 4 to 5 years? Do you think long term planning is important for success? Individually as well as for whole country? 6. What are your views about long term planning in our society? 7. Does our government used to plan with long term approach? 8. What are the consequences of short term planning at national level?

UNCERTAINTY AVOIDENCE
1. Do you accept changes readily or take time? 2. Do you prefer taking risk to get something or avoiding it by leaving what you want? 3. If you have to do a certain task urgently (in emergency) then you would take it as a challenge or get stressed? 4. Are you in favor of too many rules & regulations or avoid them? 5. Do you get stressed in unstructured or ambiguous situations? 6. Do you think that insecurity is now being accepted in our society? 7. Do you think we now get comfortable with ambiguous & uncertain situations prevailing in Pakistan? 8. In your daily life what kind of uncertain situation you have to face?

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APPENDIX B

Profiles of the Respondents

1. Asma Noreen Age: 23 years Gender: Female Student, MBA (NUST) Rawalpindi, Pakistan. 2. Jamal Khan Age: 22 years Gender: Male Student, BSc Civil Egineering Lahore, Pakistan. 3. Fahad Nawaz Bajwa Age: 22 years Gender: Male Student, BSc Electrical Engineering Rawalpindi, Pakistan. 4. Rabia Khan Age: 23 years Gender: Female Student, MBA (NUST) Islamabad, Pakistan.

5. Farooq Nawaz Bajwa Age: 21 years Gender: Male Student, BSc Civil Engineering Islamabad, Pakistan. 6. Ayoosha Saleem Age: 22 years

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Gender: Female Student, MBA (NUST) Islamabad, Pakistan. 7. Mariyam Noor Age: 23 years Gender: Female Student, MBA (NUST) Islamabad, Pakistan. 8. Rida Rizwan Age: 23 years Gender: Female Student, MBA (NUST) Islamabad, Pakistan. 9. Muhammad Faizan Age: 24 years Gender: Male Student, MSc Economics Islamabad, Pakistan. 10. Fatima Ali Age: 22 years Gender: Female Student, MBA (NUST) Islamabad, Pakistan.

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