Corporate culture and environment in Pakistani context

According to T.S Eliot, Culture is the one thing that we cannot deliberately aim at. It is the
product of a variety of more or less harmonious activities, each pursued for its own sake. As
countries have national cultures and value systems so is the case with organizations as well.
Corporate culture refers to the principles, beliefs, values, and ethical codes that determine
how management and employee interact with each other, and with their clients.it plays a
vital role in company’s performance, achievements, failures. In order to perform well a
company, must ensure a better work-life balance, satisfaction and betterment of
employees. National cultures, traditions and economic trends influence the corporate
culture of a company. Organizations and firms operating in Pakistan also have different
cultures and ethical codes which are highly affected by Pakistani culture, and local
conditions. Unemployment, inflation, and security condition of country affect the
organizations and its employees.

When we talk about organizations and their cultures in Pakistan, we generally have two
sectors - government and private. Work culture varies in these sectors, government sector is
very much affected by internal politics, professional jealousies, outside interference of
governments, and corruption. Whereas, private sector work culture is way better than that,
but still workload job security and some other issues are present in it. So, Personal life of the
working class gets very much affected once you have married, people feel loneliness, they
start hating daily routines, travels, and hotels. Working class people in Pakistan go through
many hard patches and serious pressure of long term and short-term targets, long-term
work hours, and lack of transparency and they always have a fear of job insecurity because
of considerably high unemployment, and lack of opportunities. In return they don’t get the
salaries and rewards as per their performance. The balance of senior level and junior level
positions isn’t maintained effectively, therefore there is always a gap of communication
between employees and management which leads to misunderstandings. Nepotism and
favoritism have always been there in organizations, because of this performance of
employees and companies gets impacted. Then this pressure develops the anxiety,
agitations, lack of interest in challenging targets, and low energy.
People in Pakistan usually don’t follow the rules strictly, in many cases they want an easy
way out, same is the psyche of working class. They get jobs due to political affiliations having
not enough qualification. In these cases, institutions get weaker and corruption takes place
of competition. Even hard-working men often get trapped in corruption and bribe, since
they don’t get the appreciation that they are capable of. Such practices make the work
culture toxic. It can only be corrected by having a very strict check and balance systems.

Different organizations in Pakistan have allowed their workers to form their associations to
advocate their demands and needs. But in most cases these associations blackmail
organizations by boycotting and strikes. Workers associations of many organizations have
the power to bring down management to their demands. Unfortunately, associations are
failing to represent employees in right manner because of their internal rifts and fights.
Noticeably, these associations have affected many organizations in negative way by
lowering their performances. Leaderships of associations often exploit its members on their
personal agendas, and narratives.

Reputable organizations in country have tried to introduce a fair, supportive, and people-
oriented culture, which ensures not only job satisfaction but also provides a better relation
among management and employees. Organizations are not meant to manipulate the
employees but they are meant to make them enable and capable, They often arrange
counseling sessions for employees – where they are mainly advised to maintain a balance,
make friends at work, divide the targets, and give time to their selves. Open office initiatives
are also been introduced in some organizations where all levels of employees and
management sit under one roof and work together. These companies facilitate their
employees in their needs and in return they get employees who work with full energy and
passion. These organizations own their employees by granting them insurances and other
benefits.