Cultural Background of Pakistan and Brazil
Question:
Discuss about the Cross Cultural Analysis between Pakistan and Brazil.
A corporate culture can be defined as the values and the traditions of a nation that imparts a direct effect on development of the unique and unmatched social and psychological environment of an organization. It has to be understood in this context that the concept of corporate culture had been introduced in the late 1980s to early 1990s, and every since the phenomenon of organizational culture has generated much importance in the corporate world. Many authors have commented corporate culture to be the essence that characterizes an organization from the vast variety of them, on the other hand, a very different school of thought relates the organizational culture with the foundation based on which the business process management of the organization has been established (Abbasi et al. 2015).
Although it has to be mention that there are a number of external and internal factors that influence the corporate culture, and the cultural traditions of the nation imparts by far the most significant of the impacts (Ahmed Sheikh and Wang 2011). This assignment will attempt to compare and contrast the organizational cultural characteristics of two nations, Pakistan and Brazil, based on the differences in the cultural backgrounds of both of the nations.
The cultural heritage and custom differentiates Pakistan from all the other countries based on the uniqueness of the traditions and the customs. It has to be understood that there are a vast variety of different sub-communities inhabiting the country and each of the ethnic communities and their cultural characteristics have a direct impact on the lifestyles of the citizens. The societal culture of the nations is mainly patriarchal with the men dominating the society, and the scope of technological innovations are very limited in the nation (Anderson et al. 2015). The inhabitants of Pakistan follow the religion of Islam mostly and hold their cultures and traditions very close to their heart, they abhor from any influence form the western countries or their lifestyle preferences, and hence most traditional superstitions and stigma are still predominating the society. On the other hand, Brazil represents a primarily westernized culture and the impact of the same is conspicuous on the lifestyle of the inhabitants as well. Although, despite the western influence the country also represents strong cultural values and a great ethnic diversity due to the amalgamation of the different cultural backgrounds in the community, including the aboriginal and non- aboriginal citizens (Asquer and Marcialis 2010). The colonization had a significant impact on the culture and social stratification in Brazil, however, the portugese culture had the most profound impact, and hence the core of the Brazilian culture is derived for the land of Portugal. Two third of the population in the Brazil are Roman catholics, and society is mostly westernized yet with strong influence from the traditional customs.
(Retrieved from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/brazil,pakistan)
Now comparing the cultural dimensions between two countries can take assistance from the Hofsted analysis, a common tool that is utilized abundantly in the comparison of two different national cultures. There are six dimensions of culture are each of these variables are utilized to contrast both the nations (Minkov and Hofstede 2012). The first dimension is power distance, which represents the level of social stratification and inequality in both of the nations. According to the analysis, the extent power distance is higher in Brazil than Pakistan, which inevitably indicates that social hierarchy and unequal distribution of power is accepted in the society as a common norm, despite the western influence on the societal culture, the social disparities are strangely higher than the more traditional society of Pakistan. On the contrary, Pakistan ranks lower in the individualism dimension, which indicates that, the nation and its society has a very low interdependence and represents a collectivist society. It has to be mentioned that the communities for Pakistan is more group based rather and entertains extreme sense of loyalty among the group members, be it family or organizational groups (Chan and Cheung 2012). Brazil on the other hand is more interdependent and is based on the more cohesive and extensive grouping system. The next dimension is masculinity, which indicates the presence of competitive dominance or compassion in the society; both the nations have intermediate scores on it.
Comparison of Cultural Dimensions using Hofstede Analysis
Uncertainty avoidance is the next element that discusses the ability of the society to adapt to an uncertain future. Brazil scored impressively high for this element, which directly indicates at the contemporary nature of the society and their ability to instantly adapt to any adverse situation due to the modernized and westernized lifestyles of the citizens. The score for Pakistan is comparatively lower, and a contributing factor behind the same can be extreme influence of traditional superstitions and stigma (Crittenden and Crittenden 2012). The last two elements are long-term orientation and indulgence, long term orientation discusses the ability of a society to learn from mistakes and progress depending on the continuity with the past, whereas indulgence discuses the ability of the citizen to control acting upon desires and urges. The score for long term orientation for both the nations is intermediate, although Brazil can be considered an indulgent society with more optimist and positivity based principles (Fernandes and Behlau 2013).
The leadership styles can be considered as the most important factor that defines and directs the nature of operational management of the company and the business process management. It has to be mentioned in this context that the corporate industry in the present day relies mostly on the multicultural and inter-dimensional status, where different individual from differential societal and professional domains, come together within a team environment to work. Now the two indicators for successful business process management is performance and productivity, and in order to achieve excellence in the above mentioned sectors, it is acutely important to maintain harmonious co-operation and collaboration form the rest of the teams members. Without adequate leadership achieving harmony all the while directing the effective communication and apt conflict resolution among the different team members are extremely difficult. Now, different nations have different take to organizational leadership, and the culture and tradition often has a strong link with the dominant leadership style of a nation (Hopewell 2015).
For instance, it has to be mentioned that Pakistan is a male dominated society, which is traditional and orthodox and has never been every open to contemporary transitions in the old and tested methods and techniques. Their rigid and orthodox principles are reflected conspicuously on the leadership styles and nature that they perform abundantly in all sectors of the society. It has to be mentioned in this context that the most predominant leadership approach that has been observed in Pakistan is the transactional leadership style. Both males amd females have been reported to prefer and regularly engage in the transactional form of leadership in different sectors of society, whether it is organizational, political or even familial. However, it also needs to be mentioned that the presence of idealized influence and motivational leadership has been introduced in the society with the slow paced innovation and modernization in the society, and hence, the emergence of transformational leadership has also been observed on the educated males of the society, although reward and contingence based leadership still prevails dominantly in the Pakistan societal culture (Khan 2010).
Leadership Styles and Organizational Management
On the other hand, Brazil, the second nation under comparison, the influence of the western culture is overpowering and it is frequently observed in the leadership styles and lifestyle in general in the citizen. The most prevalent leadership qualities that are found in the Brazil are charismatic or value based leadership attributes, the leaders are team oriented and are inspiring, motivating, encouraging and compassionate; which bears a conspicuous proof of the western culture infused tradition in the nation (Leng and Botelho 2010). Although, it has to be mentioned in this context that the Brazilian society is heavily collectivist and relies dearly upon the different stratification in the societal hierarchy, the presence of authoritarian leadership in the political sectors cannot be overlooked. Although with the innovation- based progress and westernization of the society the presence of the paternalistic and transformational leadership styles have started taking over on the different sector of the society (Liu et al. 2012).
The most emphasis that a national culture and tradition has on the different elements of societal structure has to be the communication style. Communication and the approaches utilized in a society of the different communities within it, speaks largely of the cultural norms and tradition of the region of nation in general. Now it has to be mentioned that the communication is a very important aspect in the corporate world as well, without effective communication, harmonious and successful business process management cannot be even hoped to achieve in an organization. Along with that, the communication style is also heavily associated with the business style adapted by a nation, with the interaction based economy and competitive corporate world in the present age, effective communication can be considered one aspect that all the corporate professionals need to keep in their arsenal (Shah and Amjad 2011).
The communication style adapted in the Pakistan society is mainly indirect and their basic instinct is to avoid confrontation or offence. They prefer to communicate in their native language and their speaking expression is often exaggerated. They do not believe in assertive or open communication and they are extremely careful to maintain a respectful stance when communicating so as to not offend anyone (Sohaib and Kang 2014). Contemporary openness in communication is strictly abhorred in the orthodox culture of Pakistan and even criticism is approached very sensitively in Pakistan. The nonverbal communication in Pakistan, is traditional and complex. Physical contact and eye contact both is generally welcome within same sexual backgrounds. The society represents a massive gender inequality and it is reflected in the communicational characteristics as well, women are generally oppressed and are not given an equal right to communicate their opinion or have a free voice (Tipu, Ryan and Fantazy 2012).
As mentioned above, the influence of the western culture is extreme on the Brazilian societal norms and cultural characteristics, which is reflected in the communication approach that the inhabitants have as well. The communication style that the Brazilians are associated with is very open and expressive; they are not restrictive in speaking up their mind, which inevitably represents a complete contrast with the communication approach by the Pakistan. Although it has to be mentioned in this context that Brazilians, despite being very expressive and extroverted, they are avoid conflict very strictly. The most common communication medium for the Brazilian is Portuguese, although English is also the second most spoken language in the nation (Usman et al. 2010).
Decision-making has to be one of the most challenging attribute that indicates at the ability of an individual to handle any adverse situation that demands critical decision- making. It has to be understood in this context that decision- making is essentially an individualistic attribute, however a nation- wide accepted and followed outline in lifestyle definitely has an influence in the patterns of decision making in the individuals. For instance, the decision making patterns in Pakistan are not based on SDM or shared decision making. It has to be mentioned that Pakistan is a strictly orthodox society where the individuals are more restricted in their communicational patterns and hence, the impact of their introverted lifestyle is reflected in the decision- making styles as well (Vieira and Alden 2011). The concept of shared decision- making is still very foreign for the country and the individuals retaining powerful positions do not share the decisive to anyone. Along with that it has to be mentioned in this context that due to the absolute lack of transformational or alike contemporary leadership styles, the leaders or decision makers in general do not let the sub-ordinates take part to voice their opinion in case of the decision making process as well. The scenario in case for Brazil is also not very different, despite the acute influence of the westernized cultures and norms, the phenomenon of shared decision-making is still not adapted by the society in Brazil. All the sectors of the society starting from the medicine to politics, the decisive power is saturated in the hands of the powerful social stratifications (Yoo, Donthu and Lenartowicz 2011).
Team work is undoubted a very useful attribute in order to attain success in any of the sectors for the benefit of the most of the professional sectors now-a-days. It has to be mentioned that the present age professional world, regardless of the domain, is dependent on a team structure; this is where the different individuals from the inter-domain expertise come together and work harmoniously towards achieving the ultimate goal of excellent performance and productivity. In addition, in order to attain the above mentioned goal it is extremely important to maintain optimal team working capabilities among all the team members.
In terms of team working, the style or approach taken in case of Brazil is a very casual approach to team work. In addition, along with that it has to be mentioned in this context that the Brazilians are very prone to establishing informal long- term relationships before the business discussions, which indicates further at the predominance of casual approach to team working. In case of Pakistan, the team working style is more traditional orthodox, reflecting their societal structure. They are very respectful towards the seniors and the stratifications are very predominantly visible in the fixed hierarchy within the teams as well (Bizerril, Soares and Santos 2011).
Shared values is a very recent concept which enables a contemporary ideology within the organizational sectors, and allows each strata within the organization to have a clear voice within the team and allow each and every individual to take equal part in the decision making and implementation procedure. In this case, Brazil has been progressing with more than one third of the big industrial corporations in brazil restructuring their operational management based on the principles of shared values. For adequate and optimal supply chain management and risk management, the large companies from Brazil have slowly but steadily started initiatives towards the development of shared values, although corporate culture in Pakistan is yet to catch up with the other country in comparison (Crittenden. and Crittenden 2012).
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, it has to be mentioned that here is a significant series of differences between the cultures and its impact is reflected in the different sectors of societal and organizational domains. The cultural dimensional analysis with the aid of the Hofstede analysis framework effectively helped to highlight the differences between the nations and also pointed out the similarities between the societal stratifications and the cultural norms. It can be stated from the discussion, that Pakistan is a country that has deep rooted traditional values and principles that has restricted any westernization or modernized developments in the society and this restrictions are the most important contributing factors behind the challenges in the optimal developments of the nation. In case of Brazil the western influence has had a profound role in urbanization of his nation and the progress it has attained, although, the casual approach or extreme power distance can be dragging their developmental pace
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