PAKISTAN BUSINESS REVIEW - Institute of Business Management

PBR 

ISSN 1561-8706 

PAKISTAN BUSINESS REVIEW 

Indexed and Abstracted by ECONLIT, Journal of Economic Literature 

Indexed by EBSCO New York. 

HEC Approved Journal 

Volume 13 Number 2 July, 2011 

Research 

Incoherences in Neo-Classical Economic Theory 

Muhammad Zahid Siddique, Haleema Sadia 

Assessing the Relationship between Leadership and 

Conflict Management Styles in the Banking Sector of Pakistan 

Humayun Zafar 

Assessing the Service Quality of Some Selected Hospitals In Karachi 

Based on the SERVQUAL Model 

Rizwan Ahmed, Hina Samreen 

Business Psychology Seminar Papers 

Gender Difference: Work and Family Conflicts and Family-Work Conflicts 

Sadia Aziz Ansari 

The Relationship between Work Motivation and Job Satisfaction 

Nadia Ayub, Shagufta Rafif 

Effectiveness of Brief Counseling Sessions for Employee Development: 

A Qualitative Study 

Zainab F . Zadeh, Samia Ahmad, Halima Ghani 

Role of Popularity in Being Bullied at the Work Place 

Qudsia Tariq, Saima Masoom Ali 

Personality Job-Fit 

Khalida Rauf 

Market Report 

Business Intelligence: A New Dimension to Business 

Azimuddin Khan , Karunesh Saxena 

Conference Report 

Workshop on Environment and Energy: An Overview 

Shahid Amjad 

INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT 

MANAGEMENT EXCELLENCE CENTRE 

KORANGI CREEK, KARACHI-75190, PAKISTAN 

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E-mail: sabina@iobm.edu.pk, mec@iobm.edu.pk 

http://www.iobm.edu.pk

Volume 13 Number 2 July, 2011 

CONTENTS 

Research 

Incoherences in Neo-Classical Economic Theory 

Muhammad Zahid Siddique, Haleema Sadia 

Assessing the Relationship between Leadership and 

Conflict Management Styles in the Banking Sector of Pakistan 

Humayun Zafar 

Assessing the Service Quality of Some Selected Hospitals In Karachi 

Based on the SERVQUAL Model 

Rizwan Ahmed, Hina Samreen 

Business Psychology Seminar Papers 




Nadia Ayub, Shagufta Rafif 

Effectiveness of Brief Counseling Sessions for Employee Development: 

A Qualitative Study 

Zainab F . Zadeh, Samia Ahmad, Halima Ghani 


Qudsia Tariq, Saima Masoom Ali 


Khalida Rauf 

Market Report 


Azimuddin Khan , Karunesh Saxena 



Shahid Amjad 

209 

243 

266 

315 

332 

348 

367 

379 

394 

410 

PAKISTAN BUSINESS REVIEW JULY 2011

Volume 13 Number 2 July 2011 

Editorial Committee 

Amna Abbas, Humeira Jawed Abidi, Syed Aijaz Ahmed, Ejaz Ahmed, Javaid Ahmed, Maqsood 

Ahmed, Samin Ahmed, Ch. Sohail Ahmed, Naseem Akhtar, Ghayyur Alam, Khalid Amin, Javed 

A. Ansari, Sadia Aziz Ansari, Linah Askari, Nadia Ayub, Sharique Ayubi, Mirza Aqeel Baig, Sahib 

Khan Channa, Aslam Dossa, Shazia Farooq, Syeda Mahtab Fatima, Sameena Hasan, Nasreen 

Hussain, Fareeda Ibad, Samra Javed, Fauzia Kanwar, Talib S. Karim, Faisal Kazi, Shahida Kazi, 

Urfi Khalid, Fazal Anwar Khalidi, Muhammad Asif Khan, Muhammad Massarrat Ali Khan, 

Shamim Ahmed Khan, Krishan Lal Khatri, Ali Asghar Malik, Bismah Malik, Shahnaz Meghani, 

Mujtaba S. Memon, Abdul Qadir Molvi, Mehboob Moosa, Fakhir Musharraf, Sarwat Nauman, 

Munazza Owais, Abdullah Patoli, Tauseef Ahmed Qureshi, Kamran A. Rabbani, Ajaz Rasheed, 

Wajdan Raza, Farheen Razzak, Syed Maqboolur Rehman, Samina Riaz, Owais Riaz, Syed Zia 

Abbas Rizvi, Bettina Robotka, Sadiyah Saeed, Kausar Saeed, Syed Imdad Shah, Asad Shahzad, 

Nida Shaukat, Asiya Shirazi, Lubna Siddiqi, Shama Siddiqi, Khalida Tanweer, Ejaz Wasay, 

Shahida Wizarat, Sobia Younus, Humayun Zafar, Madiha Zeest, H.Jamal Zubairi. 

Muhammad Ashraf Janjua: 

Sabina Mohsin: 

Ms. Fareeda Ibad: 

Muhammad Asif Khan 

Sheikh Muhammad Irfan 

Ghulam Dastagir: 

Shahzad Ali: 

Chief Editor 

Managing Editor 

Literary Editors 

Production Associate 

Editorial Co-ordinator 

International Advisors (Referees) 

Prof. Izlin Ismail, Faculty of Business and Accountancy, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 

Prof. David L. Jones, Indiana University Center on Southeast Asia, USA 

Prof. Dennis R. Briscoe, University of San Diego, USA 

Prof. Angelo Santagostino, University of Brescia, Italy 

Syed Z. Arshad, NICTA - Australian Technology Park, New South Wales 2015, Australia 

Mr. Thomsas Winter, University of Rostock, Rostock, Germany 

Dr. Ishrat Husain, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi 

Prof. Gerald D. Huston, Arizona State University, USA 

Prof. Mehtab Karim, John Hopkins University, USA 

Dr. Geoff Kay, City University, London 

Dr. Khalid Nadvi, IDS, University of Sussex 

Dr. Peter O’ Brien, SADCC, South Africa 

Prof. Sarfaraz Qureshi, Islamabad 

Dr. T.M. Roepstorff, UNIDO, Vienna 

Dr. Shahid Hasan Siddiqui, Research Institute for Islamic Banking and Finance, Karachi 

Prof. Charles J. Teplitz, University of San Diego, USA 

Dr. Arshad Karim, FC College, Lahore 

Prof. Munir Wasti, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Dr. Javed Iqbal, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Dr. Rashid A. Naeem, Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad 

Prof. Dr. Shafiq ur Rahman, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Dr. Rizwana Zahid, Government APWA College for Women, Karachi 

Dr. Arshi Ali, Federal Urdu University, Karachi 

Prof. Dr. Rafique Ahmed Khan, PAF-Kiet, Karachi 

Dr. Ayub Ali Meher, Karachi 

Mr. Amir Hussain Siddiqui, Trade Development Authority, Karachi 

Syed Zeeshan Arshad SZABIST, Karachi 

Dr. Abdul Wahab Suri, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Prof. Dr. Abdul Waheed, University of Karachi, Karachi 

(Cont’d) 


July 2011 

Volume 13 Number 2 

Referees 

Dr. Naveed, Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi 

Dr. Moazzam Khan Sherwani, Institute of Environment Studies, University of Karachi 

Dr. Samiuzzaman, Global Environmental Lab (Pvt) Ltd. Korangi, Karachi 

Dr. Anila Ambar Malik, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Dr. Seema Munaf, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Dr. Nabeel A. Zubairi, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Dr. Sabira Sultana, Foundation for Advancement of Science and Technology (FAST), Karachi 

Dr. Zainab F. Zadeh, Bahria University, Karachi 

Dr. Ziasma, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Prof. Asim Jamal Siddiqui, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Prof. Dr. Mudassir-ud-din, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Ms. Yasmin Zafar, Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi 

Dr. Muhammad Zubair, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Dr. Uzma Parveen, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Ms. Nighat Bilgrami Jaffery, Applied Economics Research Centre, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Mr. Mohsin H. Ahmed, Applied Economics Research Centre, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Prof. Syed Afrozuddin Ahmed, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Prof. Ghulam Hussain, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Mr. Mahboob-ul-Hassan, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Dr. Muhammad Mahmood, Khadim Ali Shah Bukhari Institute of Technology, Karachi 

Dr. Nargis Asad, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi 

Dr. Abuzar Wajidi, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Mr. Mohammad Umar, Takaful Pakistan Limited, Karachi 

Ms. Rubina Feroz, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Prof. Dr. Talat Wizarat, Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi 

Dr. Muhammad Zaki, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Mr. H. Jaleel Zubairi, Allied Bank Ltd. , Karachi 

Dr. Zaira Wahab, Iqra University, Karachi 

Dr. Ismail Saad, Iqra University, Karachi 

Mr. Naim Farooqui, Pak-Kuwait Investment Company Ltd. Karachi 

Dr. Sara Azhar, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Prof. Ahmad Farooq Shah, Bahauddin Zakarya University, Multan 

Mr. M. Mazhar Khan, State Bank of Pakistan, Karachi 

Dr. Tariq Yousuf Khan, Karachi 

Dr. Fauzia Shamim, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Mr. Mohammad Soliman, University of Sciences and Technology Chittagong, Bangladesh 

Prof. Abdul Mannan, School of Business, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh 

Dr. Fatima Imam, Federal Urdu University, Karachi 

Prof. G.R. Pasha, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 

Mr. Shameel Ahmad Zubairi, University of Karachi, Karachi 

Mr. Imran Naveed, Joint Director., State Bank of Pakistan, Karachi 

Mr. Qaisar Mufti, Chief executive, Qaisar Mufti Associates, Shahra-e-Iraq Saddar, Karachi. 

Ms. Afra Sajjad, Head of Education & Policy Development, ACCA Pakistan, Lahore 54660 

Dr. Khan Brohi, Director, Institute of Environmental Engineering and Management, Jamshoro 

Mr. Amir Hussain, Economist WTO Cell, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, Karachi 

Mr. Tanveer Anjum, Department of Business Communications, Iqra University 

Dr. Arifa Farid, Department of Philosophy Ex-Dean Faculty of Arts, University of Karachi 

Mr. Mushammad Asim, Department of Business Administration, Karachi 

Mr. Kamal Udin, Karachi 

Mr. Bhagwan Bharvani, Retired Internal Auditor, Pakistan International Airlines, Karachi 

Mr. Muhammad Zubair, Department of Islamic History, University of Karachi, Karachi 


Research 

Refreshing Incoherence in Neoclassical Economic Theory 

INCOHERENCES 

IN NEO-CLASSICAL 

ECONOMIC THEORY 

Muhammad Zahid Siddique 

National University, Karachi 

Haleema Sadia 

International Islamic University, Islamabad 

Abstract 

Neoclassical economic theory is often criticized for neglecting 

some essential elements in models of economic decision making. 

These criticisms can be categorized into external and internal 

ones. This paper summarizes a number of incoherence built into 

the models of neoclassical economic theory. One of the major 

weaknesses of standard teachings of economics is that students 

are often exposed to sanitized and uncritical exposition of 

economic theory as if its ‘imaginary world models’ are 

theoretically coherent and empirically congruent to real world 

capitalist order. The paper will provide a refreshal of usually 

neglected part of standard neoclassical economic teaching. 

Interestingly, despite all these criticisms, economic theory has 

not only been able to survive but also dominate the academic 

intellectual world. The concluding section will argue that the 

answer to this puzzle lies neither in the fact that there is ‘some 

deeper truth’ hidden behind economic theories nor that these 

theories have been shown to explain the empirical realties of capitalist 

order, rather major reasons for the sustainability of neoclassical 

economics rests on the facts that (i) it continues to provide a 

justification for the agenda of liberal capitalism against religious 

social order and (ii) there is no grand alternative competing theory 

to microeconomics. 

Key Words: Bounded rationality, monopoly capital, 

equilibrium, methodological individualism, capital controversy 

JEL Classification: B3, B5, D6, P2, P4, 

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Research 

1: Introduction 

Neoclassical economic theory is often criticized for 

neglecting some essential elements in models of economic decision 

making. These criticisms can be categorized into external and 

internal ones. This paper summarizes a number of incoherence 

built into the models of neoclassical economic theory. One of the 

major weaknesses of standard teachings of economics is that 

students are often exposed to sanitized and uncritical exposition 

of economic theory as if its ‘imaginary world models’ are 

theoretically coherent and empirically congruent to real world 

capitalist order. The paper will provide a refreshal of usually 

neglected part of standard neoclassical economic teaching. 

Interestingly, despite all these criticisms, economic theory has 

not only been able to survive but also dominate the academic 

intellectual world. The concluding section of the paper argues 

that the answer to this puzzle lies neither in the fact that there is 

‘some deeper truth’ hidden behind economic theories nor that 

these theories have been shown to explain the empirical realties 

of capitalist order, rather major reasons for the sustainability of 

neoclassical economics rests on the fact that (i) it continues to 

provide a justification for the agenda of liberal capitalism against 

religious social order and (ii) there is no grand alternative 

competing theory to microeconomics. 

However, it is important to have an idea of the kind of 

criticism that can be leveled against neoclassical economic theory. 

This will greatly help understand not only the forthcoming criticism 

of neoclassical economics but also demonstrate how to formulate 

an effective criticism of any economic theory. The first section 

outlines the nature of criticism as outlined by Boland (1992). 

2: Criticism: Its Nature and Types 

Criticism of any argument could take two general 

approaches depending upon whether or not one is ready to accept 

the aim of the argument for the purpose of discussion. 

Instrumental criticism is targeted at the methodology of an 

argument accepting its general objective. It could be internal and 

external. Internal criticism can be given if we accept the aim of the 

PAKISTAN BUSINESS REVIEW JULY 2011 

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argument. This type of criticism examines the internal logic of 

the argument without having any external considerations by 

analyzing either the truth status of its assumptions or by 

challenging the sufficiency of the argument. If a person is able to 

refute at least one of the assumptions, he claims to criticize the 

claim to understand the phenomenon in question with that 

argument. The assumption (or a behavioral postulate) can be 

challenged either by arguing against the possibility of the 

hypothesized behavior or by arguing against the empirical truth 

of the premise of the hypothesis. Even when an assumption is 

not directly refutable, it is possible to criticize the adequacy of 

the argument by proving that it is possible to have a false 

conclusion even when all of the assumptions are true, that is the 

argument is logically insufficient. 

However, an external criticism does not accept the aim 

of an argument. For example, an external criticism of the universal 

maximization is extended from some corners, such as Simon (1979) 

has argued that individuals are not maximizers of anything, rather 

they are ‘satisficers’ (we discuss it in detail below). Similarly, 

Leibenstein (1979) presented a ‘micro-micro theory’ arguing that 

profit maximization is not the objective of the firm and a complete 

explanation of the decision in the firm requires an intra-firm 

behavior. These critics do not accept the aim of the argument of 

maximization hypothesis; that is the challenge of showing the 

explanation of any phenomenon as a logical consequence of 

maximization behavior. 

It is important to note at the outset that it is not of our 

interest to evaluate the logical validity and the degree of success 

of the forth-coming internal and external criticisms of neoclassical 

economics since that falls outside the scope of this work. 1 The 

point that is of our interest is that all these criticism, either internal 

or external, are instrumental in their nature, that is the critiques 

accept the commitment to the fundamental beliefs of individual 

liberty and welfare maximization by satisfying human desires. 

Such criticisms are classified as instrumental ones because, given 

the objective of individual liberty and welfare, they serve to 

1 

For an excellent discussion on this issue, see Boland (1992) 

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provide the best technology of obtaining these objectives. No 

question of the form “why is it that we should honor individual 

liberty or why human wants are to be satisfied at all” are ever 

raised since these questions form the metaphysics of modern 

economic thoughts and, hence, not open to objection. Some 

seventy years ago, metaphysics 2 was considered a meaningless 

word, but today it has been realized that every explanation has its 

metaphysics. 3 

3: External Critiques: Methodological Problems 

3.1: Marxists Attack 

Karl Marx visualized capitalism in a different frame of 

mind and proposed a scientific investigation of it. To him, the 

current economic and social problems have their roots in the 

fundamental structure of capitalist system and uprooting those 

problems requires digging up those roots and moving towards a 

different sort of economic system. 

Marx refused the assumption that any aspect of human 

activity can be treated as given, such as taste and technology, 

and yet still manage to say something about the nature of 

valuation as society changed [Cole, Cameron and Edward (1983)]. 

He starts from the fact that the material environment in every 

society is shaped by that society’s dominant “mode of production” 

[the way people get together to produce means of livelihood and 

control and allocate the resulting surplus product] of commodities 

that individuals wish to use. This formulates the basis for 

historical materialism or economic determinism, the view that 

the way we think and live is transformed by prevailing material 

structure of production, distribution and exchange. 

2 

Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature and 

fundamental features of ‘being’ and ‘existence’. It attempts to understand 

the fundamental nature of all reality whether visible or invisible, that is 

what anything must be like in order to be at all. 

3 

Kuhn (1970) argues why metaphysical foundations are necessary for any 

scientific explanation. 


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“The mode of production of material life conditions 

the social, political and intellectual life process in 

general. It is not the consciousness of men that 

determines their being, but, on the contrary, their 

being that determines their consciousness” [Marx: 

with reference from Carter (1988)] 

A particular type of technology determines not only 

the technical division of labor, but also determines class 

relations of control over the means of production which is the 

source of power over the use of economic surplus. One form of 

these relationships is commodity-exchange which relates people 

to each other through markets via money, called capitalism. Such 

a mode of production necessitates a large majority of people in 

society to be wage-earner-laborers who are forced to gain 

subsistence through selling their time and ability to those who 

control the means of production and surrender all rights of the 

products of their labor. It is this commodity production as social 

relationship in the historical context of capitalism that was so 

strongly emphasized by Marx. To him, the problem with the 

neoclassical economic theory is that it only takes into account 

the social relations of exchange and neglects the wider structure 

of production within which these exchanges take place [Cole, 

Cameron and Edward (1983)]. Because neoclassical economists 

take this social structure as given, this allows them to postulate 

a system in equilibrium. The relations of exchange may be 

characterized by freedom under capitalism, but the relations of 

production are determined by coercion that leads to conflict. 

For Marx the social structure is never static [Marx and 

Engels (1967)]. The social life can only be studied in terms of the 

relationships between the forces and relations of production 

and the internal conflicting forces within this relationship. Marx 

outlined a theory of history by which the relations of production 

correspond to a definite stage of development of the material 

productive forces. But then, after further development of those 

forces of production, a conflict arises between them and the 

existing relations of production. These relations had formerly 

helped the development of the productive forces, but now they 

start fettering further progress. Revolution then occurs, but only 

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after all the productive forces in the old society that can develop, 

have developed. This conflict in capitalism between private 

appropriation and social production is revealed in the theory of 

rate of profit to fall, that gives rise to capital-labor conflict. Marx 

claimed that labor has the capacity to produce more use value 

than its exchange value and the difference between the two is 

called exploitation, but disguised as profit by capitalist [Marx 

(1898)]. 4 Therefore, the source of profits, according to Marx, under 

capitalism is value added by workers but not paid out in wages. 

Once the wage is covered, the capitalist, owners of the means of 

production, always has an incentive to force workers to work 

longer and harder than the workers are themselves likely to do. 

The capitalist is to compete with other businessmen to stay in 

competition by improving the product and cutting down the cost 

of production. But this attempt to increase labor productivity and 

thereby improve profit creates a tendency for the profitability of 

capital as a whole to fall. This further puts pressure by capitalist 

on labor force to increase profitability, a move that creates 

competitive instability and furthers class struggle. 5 Therefore, class 

struggle for power, the control over the means of production, is 

fundamental to capitalism and, therefore, capitalism is always in danger 

of destroying itself which lays the foundation of a new social order. 

The conflict is rooted in the essential structure of capitalism as a 

system: “those who own the means of production and those who 

perform wage labor are bound together but have significantly 

different needs about the intensity of production and the distribution 

of its proceeds” [Gordon (1987)]. In Marx’s own language, the 

conclusion is: 

“The modern laborer…instead of rising with the progress 

of industry sinks deeper and deeper below the 

conditions of existence of his own class. He becomes a 

pauper, and pauperism develops more rapidly than 

population and wealth. And here it becomes evident, 

that the bourgeoisie [capitalist class] is unfit any longer 

to be the ruling class in society….It is unfit to rule 

4 

For an exposition of Marxist’s Theory of Value, see Weeks (1981) 

5 

For a detailed analysis of the rate of profit to fall and abstract labor 

theory of value, see Cole, Cameron and Edward (1983) 


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because it is incompetent to assure an existence to its 

slave within his slavery, because it cannot help letting 

him sink into such a state, that it has to feed him, instead 

of being fed by him. Society can no longer live under 

this bourgeoisie…” [Marx and Engels (1967): p. 93]. 

Finally, workers are brought together into revolutionary 

associations which ultimately overthrow the bourgeoisie. 

If it is the dynamics of capitalist system that creates 

problems, then according to socialists, we need to think of 

possibilities moving somewhere else than capitalism. Many Marxist 

have suggested the following charter for moving beyond capitalism. 

Fairness: People must be treated fairly, that is they 

should not be penalized for their families, colors or skin. Capitalism 

violates social fairness in one fundamental aspect at least, that 

is a kind of power and control enjoyed by the owners of capital 

that is denied to the rest. “Nature does not produce on the one 

side owners of money or commodities, and on the other men 

possessing nothing but their own labor power…it is clearly the 

result of a past historical development” [Marx (1970): p. 169). 

The top 10 percent richest people in any country are many times 

wealthy as the bottom 10% percent of its people. Did they work 

so many times as hard as their income levels suggest? Rather, 

this huge difference is driven due to the concentration of capital 

goods ownership in a few hands legitimized by the capitalist 

system. Much economic fairness can be achieved by moving 

towards a system in which the ownership of capital goods is 

common. 

215 

Efficiency: People do not want to work harder than 

what makes their life comfortable. Heavy investment in social 

structures and economic systems, on the armies of managerial 

and supervisory personnel, on resolving continuing labor 

conflicts and on ever-present over production of dangerous and 

wasteful products necessitated by inter-firm competition make 

capitalism a remarkably wasteful kind of economic system. A 

better efficient system can be constructed if we move towards 

cooperation and control in the organization of production and 

greater social participation and control in the planning and 

allocation of economic resources. 



Research 

Community: According to Marxists, capitalism 

promotes profits without any concern for developing people. If 

the capital and infrastructure of a community is aging, capital will 

decide to move away without any concern for the lives of 

community workers. People are unessential and communities are 

ignored. Relations destroy but goods are produced and 

worshipped. It makes sense, therefore, to develop a system that 

places higher weight on developing people and promoting strong 

communities. 

However, the serious problem for Marxists lies in 

maintaining the social planning along with the individual freedom, 

the ultimate end to be achieved by Marx: 

“…in communist society, where nobody has 

exclusive sphere of activity but each can become 

accomplished in any branch he wishes, society 

regulates the general production and thus makes it 

possible for me to do 

one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in 

the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the 

evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have mind, 

without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman 

or critic” [Marx and Engel (1967), p. 54] 

This passage contains two crucial facts [Carter (1988)]: 

(i) it is the individual who decides his/her own activity as 

expressed by ‘just as I have mind’, and (ii) ‘society regulates 

the general production’. The question is to reconcile the 

antagonism between (i) and (ii). 6 

Capitalist Defense against Marxism 

Marx was surely a profound thinker who won legions 

of supporters around the world. But his predictions have not 

withstood the test of time. Although capitalist markets have 

changed over the past 150 years, competition has not devolved 

into monopoly. Real wages have risen and profit rates have not 

declined. Nor has a reserve army of the unemployed developed. 

We do have bouts with the business cycle, but more and more 

economists believe that significant recessions and depressions 

may be more the unintended result of state intervention (through 

6 

See Carter (1988) for a discussion on this issue. 


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monetary policy carried out by central banks and government 

policies on taxation and spending) and less an inherent feature of 

markets as such. 

Socialist revolutions, to be sure, have occurred 

throughout the world, but never where Marx’s theory predicted— 

in the most advanced capitalist countries. On the contrary, socialist 

revolts have occurred in poor, so-called Third World countries. 

The apparently higher standards of living and technological 

advancements in capitalist social system are regarded as a prima 

facie evidence of the supremacy of capitalist reality over Marxism 

by neoclassical economists [See Friedman (1980) and (1982) for 

ample examples]. But, when the defenders of capitalism frequently 

compare the Socialist East with the industrialized West, they 

choose the richest capitalist countries for comparison. This is 

analogous to defending feudalism by drawing attention to the 

happy condition of the nobility, while forgetting that their wealth 

and leisure are the results of the poverty of their serfs. Similarly 

West, when viewed as far from self-sufficient and a part of an 

international economic system, includes the exploitation of the 

Third-World as a basis for the high standards of living experienced 

in the developed nations, or at the very least is seen to induce 

underdevelopment in other parts of the world [Carter (1988)]. When 

this whole international exploitive capitalist system is compared 

with socialism, capitalism does not sound so well. 

Most troubling to present-day Marxism is the ongoing 

collapse of socialism. Revolutions in socialist countries today are 

against socialism and for free markets. In practice, socialism has 

failed to create the non-alienated, self-managed, and fully planned 

society. Real-world socialism in the twentieth century was 

unsuccessful in emancipating the masses. In most cases, 

neoclassical economists believe, it merely led to new forms of 

statism, domination, and abuse of power. Marx’s theory of value, 

his philosophy of human nature, and his claims to have uncovered 

the laws of history fit together to offer a complex, yet grand vision 

of a new world order. If the first three-quarters of the twentieth 

century provided a testing ground for that vision, the end of the 

century demonstrated its somewhat utopian nature and apparent 

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unworkability. Neoclassical economists usually equate the fall of 

Soviet Russia with the failure of socialism. 

It is important to highlight the instrumental nature of 

Marxist criticism on neoclassical economics. Both Classical 

Liberalism and Orthodox Marxism are the out products of 

Enlightenment belief that the natural order produces perfection 

[Moore and Bruder (2002)]. Both looked forward to a future of 

ever-increasing human freedom and placed great faith in human 

happiness. Though, according to Marxists, all economic and social 

problems have their roots in the fundamental structure of free 

market economic system and they proposed a different kind of 

economic system to avoid the reappearance of the same problems, 

yet they do not see any problem with the metaphysical objectives 

of neoclassical economics. It differs from it not on the basis of its 

metaphysics, rather on its approach to reach those presupposed 

objectives. Individuals left free to choose their self interest, 

according to this school of thought, will necessarily lead to clash 

in self-interests and a class struggle for power and, as a result, 

will impede the very objective of individual liberty and welfare. 

They offer an alternative social order which, they think, can best 

serve to achieve these metaphysical objectives: nothing wrong 

with those objectives is associated; these are to be attained 

anyhow. The matter of disagreement is how to get to them. 

3.2: Origins of Economies: Pitfalls of Methodological 

Individualism 

Neoclassical economics is based on the ideology of 

methodological individualism—the idea that all social and political 

institutions can / should be reduced to and understood in terms 

of autonomous self-interested individual’s preferences and 

choices. Communitarian philosophers [e.g. Sandel (1982), Raz 

(1986), Taylor (1990)] have argued that the isolated individual 

cannot be a viable analytical starting point to understand 

societies. In fact, even if we take the individual as given, the rules 

of their interaction cannot be explained in terms of the individual’s 

terms. For example, standard economic theory traces back money 

to market exchange hypothesizing that money originated as 

individuals’ voluntary cost-minimizing innovation to replace 


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barter, but the orthodox economic theory cannot explain how 

individual utility maximizers settled on a single numeraire (Gardiner 

2004). In fact to present the higgling and haggling of market 

process as support for evolutionary development of money 

presupposes a fairly high degree of specialization of labor and 

resource ownership—but this pre-market specialization is itself 

hard to explain. The critics of methodological individualism point 

that in order to explain the origins of social institutions; one 

always has to presume individuals acting in a specific context. 

For example, game theory presumes a set of rules and constraints 

regarding the behavior of individuals at the very outset. The 

standard economic assertion that economies take the form by 

virtue of millions of individual human actions is misleading 

because ‘interaction requires accepted rules, practices, customs 

and language understanding’ (Mayhen 2005). Institutions are 

durable systems of established and embedded social rules that 

structure and constrain social interaction among individuals. The 

very institutions of private property, exchange and job-markets 

seem so basic in the modern world that people assume them to be 

‘natural parts’ of human existence. But in most parts of the world 

before the sixteenth century, this was not the common way of 

organizing life and distributing income—e.g. most food was 

produced not for exchange but for family consumption, 

production was organized by family unit and wage labor was rare. 

Neoclassical economic theory does not recognize the need to 

deal with processes whereby rules and practices are created. 

One reason why modern economics dismisses 

understanding individual behavior in terms of social collectivities 

is because it calls forth incorporating Classical economists’ 

(Malthus, Ricardo, Marx) idea of class-conflict as a permanent 

feature of the capitalist system. These economists maintained 

that capitalist economies are structured by classes (such as 

workers, landlords and holders of ‘stocks’) and the share of each 

group is determined largely by social and political conditions. 

For example, Malthus and Ricardo conceived that the wage share 

of workers is determined not in accordance with their contribution 

to output, but by the principle of ‘subsistence wages’—i.e. workers 

receive out of the total output only what is required to reproduce 

their labor services and their family. The exact amount of this 

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‘subsistence wage’ may differ as it is dictated by the level of 

development that has taken place in any society at any specific 

time (e.g. subsistence wage in Pakistan will be far lower than that 

in the US). Marx took this ‘class-based’ analysis to its logical 

conclusion by showing that capitalism is a system of production 

where workers are exploited by the capitalist class. Neoclassical 

economic theory of income distribution was developed to refute 

the ‘class-based’ theoretical analysis put forward by the Classical 

economists in the early and middle parts of the 19 th century. 

Neoclassical economics sets itself the task to prove that the 

fundamental characteristic of the market economy is ‘harmony’ 

and not ‘class-conflict’; and that the market is not a source of 

exploitation but of welfare maximization. The response to the 

Classical heritage came in the form of ‘equilibrium based analysis’ 

which asserted that competitive markets generate prices which 

leave all market participants in a state which cannot be improved 

upon by any other means—no one can be made better off by 

means other than participating in the market. Hence, to 

neoclassical economists, ‘market equilibrium’ is not only efficient 

but also welfare maximizing for all agents. 

But as pointed out above, this harmonized projection 

of capitalist social reality is based upon erroneous conception 

of asocial and ahistorical individuation—which is itself a specific 

conception of human self as a natural disposition of human 

nature. The idea of methodological individualism presumes that 

men could exist before the establishment of societies—an idea 

which is quite implausible. Ferguson (1776) attacked such an 

asocial and ahistorcial conception of human being (used, for 

example, by Rousseau or more recently by Rawls) as: 

“if we would know him (man), we must attend to 

himself, to the course of his life, and to the tenor of 

his conduct. With him the society appears to be as 

old as the individual…If there was a time in which 

he has his acquaintance with his own species to 

make and his faculties to acquire, it is a time of 

which we have no record, and in relation to which 

our opinions serve no purpose and are supported 

by no evidence” (p. 9) 


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Methodological individualism takes people to be distinct 

from their ends and embodies a mistaken view that peoples’ ends 

are formed independent of or prior to society which is seen merely 

as the outcome of contract between individuals whose ends are 

already given. This involves a mistaken relation between 

individual with his society because it is the kind of society that 

affects peoples’ understandings both of themselves and of how 

they live, argue communitarians. 

3.3: Maximization Hypothesis and Bounded Rationality 

The assumption of maximization behavior is the corner 

stone of neoclassical economics, and it has become an open 

avenue for criticism of this school of thought. The theory of 

“rational choice” has central place in economics. In the 

mainstream economics, explanations are regarded as “economic” 

to the extent that they explain the relevant phenomenon in terms 

of the rational (utility / profit maximizing) choices of the economic 

agents. Theories which do not have this structure—such as 

General Theory of Keynes with its reference to psychological 

propensities and animal spirit—are treated as suspect until their 

micro foundations have been constructed. Rationality means 

optimization of any objective for the attainment of utility and, 

therefore, is equivalent to the ‘consistency’ for economists: a 

person is rational to the extent that his choices are consistent 

with one another; i.e. his choices can be predicted by some theory. 

However, in recent years a new paradigm within economics has 

developed which has challenged the rationality hypothesis as 

assumed by traditional economists. 

First, the traditional rationality hypothesis has been 

criticized on philosophical grounds. Robert Sudgen provides a 

review of current state of rationality hypothesis, as presented in 

Savage’s The Foundations of Statistics, and argues that neither 

of the two axioms of rationality, that are completeness and 

transitivity of choices, can be defended from the view point of 

rationality as presented by economists. Similarly, Fullbrook (2005) 

provides a number of situations (e.g. social being, reciprocal 

imitation, self-referential goods, spontaneity, adventure etc.) in 

which a consumer clearly violates neoclassical axioms of 

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rationality. He emphasizes that ‘rather being obscure or farfetched 

exceptions to the general rule, they characterize 

mainstream economic practice’ of modern consumer society (p. 

83). His criticism seriously undermines the context-independent 

axioms of rationality. 

Apart from these considerations, it has been argued by 

psychologists that individuals are not rational as proposed by 

economists. Rather there are many obstacles to being rational in 

this sense. Simon (1979) says that human being have cognitive 

limitations (the limited processing capabilities of human being, 

the lack of knowledge of alternatives in the choice) which are a 

source of bounds in their rational decision-making. He 

discovered that when we ourselves confront a puzzle, we rarely 

reach a solution in a neat, linear fashion. Rather, we search in a 

haphazard way for potentially relevant facts and information, 

and usually quit once our understanding reaches a certain 

threshold. In Simon’s terms, we are “satisficers” not maximizes. 

Our conclusions are often inconsistent or even incorrect. 

Kaufman (1999) extends emotional arousal (the idea that high 

emotional intensity prevents optimal human performance) as 

another source for bounded rationality. These theories borrow a 

lot from psychological research which asserts that individuals 

make systematic errors by using decision heuristics (biases) or 

rules of thumb which fail to accommodate full logic of a decision, 

as when a person makes systematic errors by using adaptive 

rather than rational expectations. Equipped with the above ideas 

of bounded rationality, there is a fast growing field in economics, 

called experimental economics, designed to do research in the 

field of economics [Kahneman and Tversky (1979), Looms and 

Sugden (1982), Tversky and Thaler (1990), Kahneman and 

Tversky (1991). For the extension of bounded rationality in macro 

models, see Akerlof (1982), Akerlof and Yellen (1985a) and 

(1985b)]. 

Multiple answers are extended to this criticism. 

Neoclassical economists argue that it is implausible for an agent 

to forgo opportunities for gain; therefore, unbounded rationality 

identifies an agent’s likely action because it describes the best 


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opportunity for gain. Further, utility maximization has been a 

powerful generator of successful hypotheses. Without the 

discipline of optimizing models, economic theory would degenerate 

into a hodge podge of ad hoc hypotheses which covers every 

fact but lacks scientific methodology. Using well-understood 

mathematical tools, unbounded rationality confers definite 

outcomes. 7 It is also important to note that theory consists of 

three parts: hypothesis, deduction and empirical testing. 

Maximization hypothesis cannot be ruled out as a logical 

impossibility because direct testing of this hypothesis is almost 

impossible. The only way to reject this hypothesis is to apply 

indirect test by examining the implied patterns of observable 

choices based on the assumption of maximization hypothesis. But, 

as Boland (1992) notes it, “the fundamental methodological problem 

of refuting any behavioral hypothesis indirectly is that of constructing 

a convincing refutation”. The objection that a number of anomalies 

can’t be explained from utility maximization hypothesis can be met 

from the direction that the theorizing process is still not complete. 

Deductions from assumptions are crude and the project is to refine 

the argument by the use of more sophisticated mathematics. Lastly, 

until a strong competing theory is created which is better in test, 

neoclassical economists are uninterested in a priory discussion of 

the realism of assumptions. Neoclassical economists follow 

Friedman’s (1953) instrumentalism which presumes that the truth of 

the assumptions does not matter and the objective of research in 

economic theory is solutions to practical problems. Thus, neoclassical 

economics seems to be able to defend itself on methodological 

grounds. 

4: Internal Critiques: Theoretical Problems 

4.1: Monopoly Capital 

A standard economic declaration in favor of competition 

is based upon an unsound description of the dynamics of market 

mechanism. This argument is explicated with most clarity in the 

microeconomics textbook by Schotter (1997) which tries to 

provide a reassuring link between perfect competition and the 

real world: that profit-maximizing behavior converges to the 

223 

7 

For detailed discussion of the arguments on bounded rationality, see 

Conlisk (1996) 



Research 

perfectly competitive ideal as the number of firms in the industry 

increases—i.e. if we begin with monopoly business and leave 

the world alone to the individual’s self-interest, it would 

automatically converge to the unique solutions of perfectly 

competitive model. However, this image of market dynamics 

presents an opposite description of what actually happens in 

capitalist order—i.e. when we begin with perfect competition, 

the market mechanism tends towards monopoly (one large firm 

prevailing) or at best towards oligopoly (few large firms operating 

in the whole market). 

The formal treatment of economic process neglects the 

implications of technological advancements for the breakdown 

of competition. In fact, the very nature of competition itself 

induces changes that undermine competition [Henry (1990)]. 

Under the given structure of competition, firms are in social 

pressure to introduce new innovations quite rapidly in production 

process. Because a single firm has to face market price as a 

constraint as it cannot affect it in competitive conditions, the 

only way to increase profit is the reduction in costs. The costreducing 

and output-increasing innovations help make more profit 

to those firms who introduce them first, but the very act of 

innovation tends to reduce competition. It is because of two 

reasons: first, the growth of output due to technological 

advancement decreases market price as long as market prices 

are not dictated by any single firm. This reduction in price 

eliminates those firms from the market who are slow in innovating 

because prices have fallen lower than their minimum unit cost of 

production. Secondly, the higher technological invention 

incorporated in production process also means a higher fixed 

cost of production which implies higher entry cost. This 

constraints and limits the potential increase in the number of 

firms within the market. Moreover, since technology usually 

translates into higher production, therefore, the introduction of 

higher technology means that fewer, much larger, producers are 

needed to satisfy the requirement of any given market. According 

to Veblen [1904 (1967)] the result of the historical power has 

been the transformation of industry from a larger number of small 

producers to that of a few larger producers. Standard economic 

theory assumes away the potential entrepreneurial threat to 


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competition by assuming that profits attract entirely new entrant 

in the market. But in reality, a great deal of the new entry in capitalist 

markets takes place in the form of expansion in the scope of 

existing firms—i.e. through diversification and integration by 

already established firms. 

The above detrimental tendency for competition is 

further enhanced by the existence of increasing returns to scale. 

The standard economic theory usually assumes that monopoly 

has no scale-advantages over a perfectly competitive firm. But, in 

general, this assumption of scale-invariant costs is invalid because 

large firms do benefit from returns to scale. Increasing returns to 

scale occur when the cost of production rises less rapidly than 

the output as the scale of production increases. If large firms do 

have cost advantages over small ones, then given free competition, 

the large firms will drive the small ones out of the business. In 

reality, no capitalist market can sustain hundreds or thousands of 

competitive firms for a long time because economies of scale are 

always there to be exploited. Hence, increasing returns to scale 

means that the perfectly competitive market is unsustainable. It 

will, over time, break down to a situation of either monopoly or 

oligopoly. The theoretical response of economists to this dilemma 

has been to presume constant returns to scale. With constant 

returns to scale, the size of the firm does not matter; a small firm 

will be as effective as a large one. But the reality is that size does 

matter because economies of scale are an important part of the 

reason that most capitalist industries are dominated by a small 

number of large firms (Tables 1 and 2 in the appendix provide a 

highlight of concentration in US economy). 

Similar to the technical advancements are the problems 

of indivisibilities in production. Once an entrepreneur controls 

more and more resources, the size of that firm increases relative to 

market and one entrepreneur may become powerful enough to 

affect the price of a good by varying output rather than accepting 

it as a fact for decision making; the situation called imperfect 

competition. The argument is further strengthened if the given 

firm can constraint entry either by manipulating information; say 

by advertising to influence consumer motivation, by having 

patents on production technology or by using limit pricing 

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strategy. The result of this anti-social behavior is the inefficiency 

and inequity similar to the one discussed in section 4.6 for the 

social abuses of entrepreneurship. 

The neoclassical response to the above criticism holds 

that sustained imperfect competition is difficult, if not impossible, 

for many reasons. Firstly, it is argued that even the largest firms 

have their competitors in producing substitute goods, if not the 

identical ones. Second, if a firm needs large scale investment projects, 

it usually needs to raise funds from financial institutions which 

bring them under a critical and informed eye that judges its 

performance by its return to savers and not to its owner. This helps 

spread of rewards over a wider group of consumers and not to the 

entrepreneur alone. Therefore, “pressure exists even on the largest 

firm to keep prices down, distribute economic rent widely and 

maintain productivity in line with smaller, specialist firms” [Cole, 

Cameron and Edward (1983): p. 77]. 

4.2: Markets without Stability 

One of the important predictions of neoclassical 

economic theory is the stability of markets; that is markets have 

an inherent tendency to return to equilibrium. This prediction is 

vulnerable to changes in the underlying assumptions about the 

structure of the market. In a number of cases, markets go unstable. 

First, when economies of scale for the expanding firms at the 

market level are present and no individual firm is able to achieve 

them the on its own. Since these economies are external to the 

firm, it appears at the market level as a downward sloping supply 

curve; i.e. the larger the output, the lower the minimum average 

cost of production and, hence, the break-even price. However, 

the instability arises in this case if the supply curve slopes 

downward faster than the demand curve. Another case when 

the supply curve can be negatively sloped without internal 

economies of scale is decreasing cost industry. The increase in 

demand causes industry output to increase but as industry grows 

larger; it can take advantage of its size to obtain some of its inputs 

more cheaply. Here also the firm’s average cost curve shifts 


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downward and the market price of the output falls. Second, instability 

can arise even in the face of normal demand and supply curves if 

time lag is assumed in supply responses, say due to the fact that 

decisions regarding production are to be made at the start of the 

period as in agricultural goods. This assumption will involve a process 

of adjustment over a time which turns out to be unstable if the slope 

of the demand curve is steeper than that of supply curve. The model 

that studies this process is called cobweb model. 8 

However, the observation of these instabilities in terms 

of large variations in prices is no longer conclusive evidence 

against economic criterion of falsification. A number of variables 

are held constant to reach the demand and supply curves. The 

variations can be explained by extending reasons that shifts either 

demand or supply or both of them. And, after all, formal empirical 

testing is not an essential element for the survival of neoclassical 

economics, as stated by Cole, Cameron and Edward (1983): 

“the criterion of success within subjective 

preference theory (neoclassical economics) is not 

in statistically valid observations, but is self 

evident in the relative material well-being of the 

citizens of those societies where governments have 

appeared generally to act as if subjective preference 

theory were true” [p. 81, explanation added in 

bracket] 

This takes us close to what Blaug (1980) has stated as: 

“economists do not practice what they preach”. The accepted 

Popperian criterion for knowledge by prominent marginalists that 

knowledge is scientific only if it is put into falsification in the 

face of observation is honored in principle, not in practice. 9 

8 

See any good textbook on mathematical economics for it, such as 

Chiang (1985). 

9 

An all important case of market instability arises by relaxing the assumption 

of ‘representative agent’. However, this discussion would require a somewhat 

detailed discussion about economic methodology which is beyond the scope 

of this paper. 

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4.3: Capital Controversy 

The theory of Investment is central to neoclassical 

growth theories. These growth theories treat ‘capital’ as a 

separate input in the production function to obtain the downward 

sloping labor demand curve. The assumption of diminishing 

marginal productivity implies decreasing returns to scale if labor 

is the only available input. Since decreasing returns to scale is 

the assumption that is not compatible with the overall plan of 

neoclassical production theory, the alternative assumption of 

constant returns to scale is made by introducing another input 

that is substitutable with labor if wages increase so as to offset 

the fall in output. The introduction of capital as a separate input 

plays multiple roles: as a collection of machines it leads towards 

growth theory, as a source of a form of reward, called interest, 

leads to aggregate distribution theory and as a result of technical 

knowledge and natural resources leads towards international 

trade theory as an expression of unequal endowments [Cole, 

Cameron and Edward: p. 94]. With downward sloping demand 

curve for labor, the natural laws for unemployment, economic 

growth, international trade and income distribution between 

inputs could be shown to exist at the aggregate level as an 

extension of the laws of any single market. 

But the major problem is the measurement of capital 

stock of the economy. Adding up machines with warehouses 

requires a common index and for neoclassical economics that 

index is the system of relative prices that reflect the value of 

goods and services. Unfortunately, this index inherits a built-in 

problem because relative prices include interest paid out as part 

of the cost of goods included in capital stock. Capital is 

irretrievably a value quantity. In that case, if the price of capital 

rises, then demand for it will decrease, however, the value of 

capital stock might rise or fall depending upon the demanders’ 

intensity for capital. It is the treatment of capital being put on 

one axis in text books without even suggesting its problem that 

allows neoclassical economists to reach rigorous logical 

conclusions. But the Cambridge Capital Controversy that became 

known in the 1960s did have significant effects in the theoretical 

defeat of neoclassical economics. Cambridge Capital 


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Controversy was a major theoretical controversy arising out of 

the work of Sraffa (1960). This controversy concludes that it is 

impossible to deduce unambiguous predictions of any crucial 

variables from aggregate capital models if capital is measured by 

using prices to add up all types of manufactured inputs and raw 

material. Even more counterintuitive conclusions can arise in much 

more complicated models with many techniques, many more 

commodities, land-like natural resources, and fixed capital. In fact, 

these complications create surprising difficulties for traditional 

neoclassical theory. An important negative implication of this 

analysis concerns the marginal productivity theory of 

distribution—that is, there is no such thing. At least one of the 

two special assumptions is necessary to obtain any meaningful 

proposition: either the rate of interest should be zero which implies 

labor only economy or the relative price between a unit of capital 

input good and a unit of final output good should remain rigidly 

fixed which leaves no economic difference between the two goods 

and we effectively live in a world where single good is consumed 

and stored to be used with labor to produce more of itself. 

Marginal productivity theory based on aggregate production 

functions relies on too restrictive assumptions to have any hope 

of being descriptive of capitalist reality. The Cambridge Capital 

Controversy showed that an abundance of traditional models 

implicitly relied on special and unstated assumptions. 

Neoclassical economists had no way out of this defeat 

and came out with the preservation that such cases either don’t 

exist or are rare in practice and can be neglected so as to treat the 

whole economy as if the price of an input was inversely related to 

its demand. Solow (1983) realized the negative consequences of 

the Cambridge criticism for his growth model; he proposed an 

alternative basis for capital theory. He argued that the central 

concept of capital theory should not be capital, but the rate of 

interest as expressing a rate of return. Interest reflects a payment 

for deferring present consumption. By deferring present 

consumption, one can redirect the resources set free to produce 

tools that will result in a greater stream of consumption in the 

future. Interest rates measure this supposed return on investment. 

He claims that the market rate will converge to this value in longterm 

equilibrium. However, no aggregate measure of capital seems 

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to appear in this formulation of interest rate theory. The interest 

rate appears to be purely a technocratic notion independent of 

all considerations of pricing. It is still open to debate whether 

neoclassical long-run equilibrium theories can survive without a 

centralized capital market equating investment and savings or 

the demand and supply of capital. It is also a subject of discussion 

what, if anything, has been abandoned in such models. Capital 

controversy apparently ended as a theoretical defeat of 

neoclassical economics, at least to its critics. 

Underneath the apparently technical debate of the 

Capital Controversy lies the clash of ideological and political 

views of the two combating groups regarding the functioning of 

market capitalist system. The Cambridge-England critics of 

neoclassical economics regard market capitalism as an inherently 

antagonistic social order where different classes (such as workers 

and managers of capital) are trying to dominate each other. They 

argue that the distribution of surplus value cannot be understood 

independent of the political institutional structures of the market 

capitalist system. These critics, having rejected the marginal 

productivity theory of income distribution, argue ‘for a return to 

the Classical method of analysis in which pricing is an aspect of 

distribution’ instead of ‘distribution being but an aspect of pricing’ 

(Harcourt: 1972). The Cambridge critics, following Mill, 

distinguished between the analysis of production and that of 

distribution. They reinforced Mill’s view that: ‘the laws and 

conditions of the production of wealth partake of the character of 

physical truths. There is nothing optional or arbitrary in them’, 

whereas, ‘It is not so with the Distribution of wealth. That is a 

matter of human institution(s) solely’. 

Neoclassical economists, on the other hand, have some 

other beliefs. They struggle to show that capitalism is 

fundamentally characterized by harmony where each individual 

makes voluntary choices as a market participant—this is the 

reason they employ the ‘equilibrium methodology’ to analyze 

the market system. To them, the basic unit of a market capitalist 

system is ‘a self-interested individual’ and not ‘social classes’. 

Hence, in the neoclassical theory of income distribution there is 

no room for the analysis of ‘class-struggle’. Their theory pretends 


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to show that the supply of inputs is determined by a great mass 

of self-interested individuals and both production as well as 

distribution is dictated by the ‘laws of nature’ (such as the laws 

of demand and supply). The symmetric incorporation of ‘capital’ 

as a factor of production alongside ‘labor’ in the neoclassical 

production function is actually intended to incorporate the idea 

of ‘social and political equality’ of labor and capital in market 

capitalism. 

4.4: The Social Choice Dilemma 

All societies do make social choices, the National 

Assembly passes the budget, university faculties establish 

curricula, etc. A normative question that has taken much attention 

is how to make such choices in a socially optimal way. In the 

standard literature of welfare economics, social choice theory 

deals with the problem of aggregating individual preferences over 

different alternatives to construct a social welfare function so 

that the alternatives could be evaluated in terms of their welfare 

for the society. 10 In principle, the same structure that is used to 

analyze individual choices [i.e., maximization] should also be 

applied for making social choices since society is merely a sum 

total of individuals. Further, since the social outcomes [i-e. the 

value of each activity] are the function of sum total of individual 

preferences; the social choices should also be representative of 

those individual preferences [i-e. they should be democratic]. 

Keeping these reservations in view, the standard 

treatment of social choice theory regards society’s welfare as no 

more than the aggregate of individual utilities as perceived by the 

individuals themselves. This aggregation takes the form of a 

majority voting mechanism whereby the weights of each 

alternative project are obtained on the basis of the number of 

votes in favor of that project. The social choice theory has the 

characteristic that the social planner, usually an institution, must 

construct its objective function from the information gathered. 

The decision context in the social choice theory is the set of 

possible individuals’ cardinal utility functions. If these utility 

10 

See Sen (1986), Jhele & Reny (1998) and Gravelle & Rees R. (1994) 

for details. 

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functions are interpersonally comparable, we should be able to 

choose the exact social ordering without any ambiguity. This 

relationship between decision context and preference ordering 

is called performance correspondence. For any decision context, 

the performance correspondence tells which ordering will satisfy 

the performance criterion. However, the planner cannot use this 

knowledge to construct an ordering over the social states 

because there are certain non-comparability restrictions imposed 

on his frame; that is utility levels are non-comparable across 

individuals. Therefore, he must take an indirect route and specify 

a voting institution for the people in a society to use. He can 

only work with a set of individual ordering over states revealed 

by that voting mechanism to form the social ordering. Thus, the 

social choice theory is concerned with the existence of a function 

transforming or aggregating individual orderings into social 

ordering under these non-comparability assumptions. 

Arrow (1963) demonstrated that under certain 

restrictions on knowledge received by the social planner, an 

overall ordering possessing some reasonable properties cannot 

exist [those properties are consistency, transitivity, unrestricted 

domain, non-dictatorship, weak Pareto preference and 

independence of irrelevant alternatives]. This negative theorem, 

called Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem, states that no decision 

rule based on individual preferences can be completely 

satisfactory to choose among different alternatives. Any social 

decision rule that is chosen on majority voting basis must be 

dominated; that is we must relinquish either the desire for 

transitive preferences (the very basis for rationality) or democracy 

(the very basis for society). 

There have been various attempts to rescue social 

choice theory from the grip of Arrow’s impossibility theorem. 

One focus of attention has been the restrictions on the type of 

preferences that are allowed. An important result discovered by 

Black (1983) which says that equilibrium voting outcomes always 

occur if the issue being voted is one-dimensional (i. e., alternatives 

differ only in one characteristic) and voters preferences are 

‘single-peaked’. But if the issues of public choice are of 

multidirectional, as they normally are, then Black’s result is of 


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little importance. Another attempt to rescue social choice dilemma 

has been to relax the restrictions on the type of information that is 

conveyed by individual evaluations. In the above-mentioned 

Arrow’s framework, if the restrictions on knowledge are relaxed 

and evaluations are assumed to be measurable and characteristics 

are comparable to certain extents, interesting possibilities emerge. 

The basic references for this line of work include Hammond (1976), 

Roberts (1980) and Sen (1976). However, those relaxations require 

so much information to be conveyed that they become implausible 

and unobserved in practice. The social choice remains a dilemma. 

Sen (1970) took up the social choice dilemma and 

presented an impossibility result that has even more disturbing 

consequences for the principles of social choice. He, unlike 

Arrow’s theorem, neither required the transitivity of social 

preferences, but merely required the existence of a best alternative 

in each choice situation, nor the assumption of independence of 

irrelevant alternatives. Even with this mild formulation, it turned 

out to be the case that “liberal values even in a very mild form 

cannot possibly be combined with the weak Pareto principle, 

given an unrestricted domain…While the Pareto criterion has 

been thought to be an expression of individual liberty, it appears 

that in choices involving more than two alternatives it can have 

consequences that are, in fact, deeply illiberal” [Sen (1970): p. 

155]. The framework of rational choice does not allow even the 

minimal liberalism. “The society cannot let more than one 

individual be free to read what they like, sleep the way they prefer, 

dress as they care to, etc., irrespective of the preferences of 

others in the community” [Sen (1970)] 

4.5: Social Abuses of Rationality 

The choice between an individual’s best interest and 

the group’s best interest is a choice we all must make constantly. 

As explained previously, standard neoclassical economics 

assumes that there is an invisible hand that guides self-interest 

maximization to the well-being of society. Nash (1928-) 

demonstrated that social exchanges involve games in which 

several agents interact with actions of each usually affecting the 

valued results for all and players must often make guesses about 

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the actions of other agents in order to choose their own best 

response. Game theory attempts to explain exchange results of 

such complex interactions. The problem raised by this analysis 

was that we don’t always choose what is best for society and 

ourselves even though we make rational choices! The classic 

example in game theory, called the prisoner’s dilemma, originated 

by Nash (1950) illustrates this problem. In the Prisoner’s Dilemma, 

a situation is described in which rewards are in amounts such 

that it would be in the mutual best interests of the participants 

for both to cooperate but the best interests of an individual is to 

defect. In particular, if you played the game over and over and 

you added up everyone’s score, the total would be a maximum if 

everyone cooperated all the time. Yet a rational player is presented 

a payoff matrix that pays most for defection in every single play. 

Even communication cannot help maintain cooperation in one 

shot Prisoner’s dilemma game; only changing the payoff 

structure can maintain cooperation. The essence of the story is 

that self-interest seeking behavior is not the best policy in all 

cases, not only for society but also for individuals. 

Following the above arguments, we should have no 

problem accepting the argument that most crime is a direct result 

of the ‘individual over individual’s group choice’. That is, crime 

is usually committed based on the individual’s assessment that 

his/her benefit will exceed the personal cost. Similarly, politicians 

as well as policemen generally do what is in their own best interests 

with disastrous impact on society in general by replacing 

exchange with ‘theft’—even though they are a member of that 

society. Why should a politician do what is best for their 

community when much greater personal rewards can be achieved 

in other ways? Why should politicians return control to the 

states or the individuals? If all individuals are maximizers of their 

own interest, this same principle should logically be applied to 

their elected representatives. The question of who controls the 

controllers is generally not faced by the economists. 11 

There are two major aspects to this paradox, both of 

which present enormous difficulties for a society based on 

exchange interaction. First, while it is true that a particular 

11 

See Stigler (1941) for some discussion on this issue. 


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endeavor would return a benefit to all members of the group 

where each individual would receive rewards that more than 

compensate for each individual’s contribution, it is also true that 

any particular individual would receive an even greater net return 

by not contributing anything. Good examples are elections, roads, 

water supplies, and other large investments. Yet, at the same time, 

it is obvious that for a particular individual, his/her maximum 

return is obtained by making no contribution—that is, free-riding. 

The second major component is that of the “Voter’s Paradox”, 

that is while it is true that the outcome of a group effort is made up 

of the sum of the individual efforts, in many cases a particular 

individual’s contribution makes no significant and/or measurable 

impact on the outcome. On a national election, one vote cannot 

possibly determine the outcome of the election. Massive noncooperation 

results in a breakdown of many group activities that 

would be useful. The massive growth of the welfare roles, crime, 

government spending, government waste, etc., are examples of 

individuals maximizing their own return at the expense of the 

group. The paradox is that they are acting rationally. 

How might cooperation be maintained? One answer is 

to have some sort of enforcement of contracts that changes the 

pay-offs so that reneging is no longer profitable. But this involves 

comparing the benefits from gains against the costs of state 

resources from the existence of such an institution. Another way 

to induce cooperation is creating the shadow of future. If the 

players may be involved in the contracts other than the one 

discussed in future times, then the incentive of each party changes 

because cheating will cause loss of value in future plays. Similarly, 

reputation developed from past honoring of contracts or reneging 

can also affect the behavior of future trading partners. Despite 

these possibilities of cooperation, neoclassical economists 

assume that these adverse cases are not widespread in practice 

and exclude them by assumption. After all, that society functions 

at all is a testimony for marginalist methodology to the fact that a 

large part of society does cooperate. Fortunately, it does not 

require 100 percent cooperation for most group efforts to succeed. 

Many public projects function with only a small percentage 

contributing. Voting is a good example in this regard. Moreover, 

this criticism has left limited impact because “the general principle 

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Research 

that market prices do reflect the real scarcity or abundance of 

goods and services is not fundamentally challenged” [Cole, 

Cameron and Edward (1983): p. 99]. 

5: Conclusion: Why Economics? 

One would wonder why, despite after so much critical 

exposition, neoclassical economics has not only survived but also 

dominated the academic circles of economics. The answer to this 

question lies neither in the fact that there is ‘some deeper truth’ 

hidden behind microeconomic theories nor that these theories have 

been shown to explain the empirical realties of capitalist order, rather 

a major reason for the sustainability of neoclassical economics 

rests on the fact that it continues to provide a justification for the 

agenda of liberal capitalism against religious social order. Economics 

as a distinct academic discipline arose at a time when Europe was 

undergoing a social transformation—a transformation from 

Christianity to capitalism. The new capitalist class was asking for 

the removal of political and social controls on individuals and society 

which were justified on the grounds of religious doctrine. Since a 

religious social order seeks to structure all social institutions so as 

to maximize the opportunities for the fulfillment of the Will of God, 

it necessarily imposes restrictions to discourage the immoral 

impulses of ‘accumulation and competition’ (i.e. greed and envy)— 

the impulses which ultimately commit an individual to ‘rivalry in 

worldly goods’ as an end in itself. In the social environment of 

Europe during the 18 th century, economic theory provided a counter 

to the religious way of thinking about individual, society and state. 

The emerging capitalist class faced social and political barriers and 

restrictions and whenever they objected to these barriers, they 

were reminded that these controls were needed to maintain the 

social order. At this critical juncture, economic theory armed the 

capitalist class with an effective rejoinder against the priests: it 

brought forth the idea that a system of government was not needed 

to maintain social order, instead social order and harmony arise 

spontaneously and naturally in a market economy where each 

individual is guided by only his or her self-interestedness. The 

echo of this idea was also found in Smith’s famous ‘invisible hand’ 

doctrine which played a key role in the transformation taking place 

during the 18 th century in Europe. Economists, since that time, 


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proposed that the essential feature of a market social order was 

‘equilibrium’—reflecting a state of social harmony. They preached 

the assumption that a market system necessarily and inherently tends 

towards equilibrium. If markets automatically and spontaneously 

attain equilibrium, then everything happens in equilibrium, hence in 

harmony, in a market system. This impersonal, spontaneous, natural 

and automatic ‘market equilibrium’ was presented to replace the 

legislative order of the European Christendom. Keen (2004) has rightly 

pointed out that ‘if, instead of equilibrium, economists had promised 

that capitalism would deliver chaos; if, instead of meritocracy, 

economists had said that capitalism could concentrate inequality, 

then economists could have hindered rather than helped the transition 

to capitalism’ (p. 162). It is specifically due to the service of this 

‘economic vision’ that economics has been able to resist all its 

critics—though, over the last century, it has been proved that 

economic theory is full of incoherence, but over the years the 

commitment to the ‘economic vision’ has become stronger. Contrary 

to the neoclassical economists’ assertion that ideology plays no role 

in the development of positive economic theory, it is in fact the 

defense of this core economic ideology that has made economic 

theory so resistant to change because the heterodox critics of 

economic theory have asked it to abandon the core belief of 

‘equilibrium’. It is rightly pointed out that ‘equilibrium’ is more than 

just a concept in neoclassical economics, it is a sweeping ontological 

pronouncement on the nature of capitalist social reality and, therefore, 

it is not open to direct conformation or refutation [Fullbrook (2005)]— 

it is presented as an apriori article of faith. Thus, the resistance to 

stick with economic theory is deeply embedded in ideological 

reasons. By using economics doctrines, economists try to rationalize 

the belief that capitalism is a rational system—in the sense that 

maximizing utility / self-interest / freedom maximizes social welfare or 

freedom. In this sense, economics is the religion of modern or 

enlightened man who treats its ‘belief system’ as unshakable dogmatic 

truths. This explains Stiglitz’s assertion that economics has suffered 

from the ‘triumph of ideology over science’ [Stiglitz (1941)]. 

Another reason why neoclassical economics has 

managed to survive despite its incoherence is the absence of any 

grand alternative competing theory to microeconomics. The survey 

of alternative schools of thought given by Siddique and Ansari 

237 



Research 

(2010) shows that though there are a number of emerging trends 

against neoclassical economics, their work is mostly restricted to 

the critical evaluation of microeconomics and they largely fail to 

provide any rigorous alternative framework to analyze capitalist 

social order. Economics will continue to celebrate its triumph, 

thanks to missing alternatives. 

Appendix 

The following two tables give the structure of businesses in USA to 

show the market power enjoyed by the large corporations. Table 1 

shows that though more than three quarters of all US firms are 

proprietorships-partnerships and only one fifth are corporations 

which capture 86% of total US revenue. Similarly, it is evident from 

Table 2 that almost all the US industries are dominated by a very few 

large corporations. Ignoring these numbers and assuming that actual 

capitalist markets behave as if they were perfectly competitive is in 

fact to make a mockery of capitalist realities. 

Table 1: Number of firms and their revenue shares in US 

economy 2001 

Proprietorships & Corporations 

Partnerships 

Number of Firms 80% 20% 

Total Revenue 14% 86% 

Controlled by 

Source: US Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the US: 2001 

Table 2: Revenue shares of firms in some US industries 2001 

Pe rce ntage Re ve nu e C on trol le d by 

Indust ry P rop riet orship s Large C orp orations 

A gricult ure 50 50 

Services 30 70 

C onst ruction 20 80 

R etail trade 17 83 

M ining 19 81 

T ransp ort 16 84 

F inance 10 90 

W holesale trade 6 94 

M anufact uring 3 97 

Source: US Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the US: 2001 


238

Research 


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Assessing the Relationship between Leadership and Conflict Management Styles 

ASSESSING THE RELATIONSHIP 

BETWEEN LEADERSHIP AND 

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT 

STYLES IN THE BANKING 

SECTOR OF PAKISTAN 

Abstract 

Humayun Zafar 

Department of Management 

College of Business Management, Karachi 

The purpose of this paper is to assess the relationship of Blake 

and Mouton’s leadership grid with the conflict resolution 

strategies of the leaders. These strategies categorized by 

Bernardin and Alvares (1976) are: accommodating, avoiding, 

compromising, competing and collaborating. 

The purpose of this article is to study the positive relationship 

of the Blake and Mouton (1964) leadership styles with these 

strategies in Pakistan. Three categories of executives in the 

banking industry were chosen, comprising of 19 employees in 

each category and the categories were those of managers, senior 

managers and top executives. 

The results of the study show that a growing number of 

executives in all the three categories perceived themselves to be 

practicing the team management style, and the proportion of 

this was found to be highest in the category of top executives. 

Keywords: SAMS (self assessment management skills) conflict 

resolution strategies, collaborating, accommodating, concern for 

production and concern for task 

JEL Classification: M 1100 

243 



Research 

I. Introduction 

Leadership style plays an important role in shaping the 

behaviour and attitudes of employees in an organization. In recent 

years the study of leadership has drawn attention due to its role 

in the failure or success of an organization. Several studies have 

focused on investigating the role of leadership in developed 

countries. However, relatively little is known about the prevailing 

leadership styles in developing countries. The next section 

attempts to enhance the understanding of different leadership 

styles as introduced by Blake and Mouton 1964. 

II. Blake and Mouton’s Leadership Grid 

Figure 1: Blake and Mouton’s Leadership Grid 

Source Blake and Mouton (1964) The Managerial Grid, Houston Gulf Publishing 


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Research 


The Blake and Mouton leadership grid as shown in 

Figure 1 uses two axes: 

Concern for people which is plotted on the X axis 

Concern for production or task plotted along the Y axis 

Both of these axes have a range from 0 to 9. The notion 

that just two dimensions can describe managerial behaviour has 

the attraction of simplicity. 

Blake and Mouton came up with the following five leadership 

styles after studying the behaviour of those in managerial 

positions: 

a. Authoritarian or “Produce or Perish” (score 9 on 

production, and 1 on people scale). 

b. Team leader (9 on production, 9 on people scale) 

c. Country Club leader ( 1 on production, 9 on people 

scale) 

d. Impoverished leader ( 1 on production, 1 on people 

scale) 

e. Middle-of-the-road leader (5 on production, 5 on 

people scale) 

Authoritarian Leader (high on task, low on relationship) 

People who get this rating are mainly task oriented and 

are hard on their workers (autocratic).There is little or no allowance 

for cooperation or collaboration. Heavily task oriented leaders 

display these characteristics; they are head strong on schedules; 

they expect people to do what they are told without question or 

debate, when something goes wrong they tend to focus on who 

to blame rather than concentrate on exactly what is wrong and 

how to prevent it; they show intolerant behaviour, which is 

contrary to norms, and they do not like people who show dissent, 

so it is difficult for the subordinates to contribute or develop. 

Team Leader (high on task, high on relationship) 

This type of person leads by positive example and 

endeavors to foster a team environment in which all team 

245 



Research 

members can reach their highest potential, both as team members 

and as people. They encourage the team to reach team goals as 

effectively as possible, while also working tirelessly to strengthen 

the bonds among the various members. They normally form and 

lead some of the most productive teams. 

Country Club leader (low on task, high on relationship) 

As the name suggests, this person uses predominantly 

reward power to maintain discipline and to encourage the team to 

accomplish its goals. Conversely, they are almost incapable of 

employing punitive, coercive and legitimized powers. This 

inability results from the fear that using such powers could 

jeopardize relationships with the other team members, and thus 

would render them unpopular in their respective domains. This 

type of leader which was described by Lewin, Lippit and White in 

(1938) as a”Laizzez-Faire” leadership style. 

Impoverished leader (low on task, low on relationship) 

This is a leader who uses a “delegate and disappear” 

management style. Since they are not committed to either task 

accomplishment or relationship maintenance; they essentially 

allow their team to do whatever it wishes and prefer to detach 

themselves from the team process by allowing the team to suffer 

from a series of power struggles and failures. Source: Bartol 

Kathryn Tien Margaret Mathews Graham Martin David 4 th ed. 

Management: A Pacific Rim focus 

Middle-of-the-road (equal concern for task, equal concern for 

people) 

Such a leader is a compromiser, a politician who wants 

to maintain the status quo. B.J. Avolio, (2002)has identified this 

criteria of leadership as being that of a transactional leadership 

style, enforcing the notion that this type of leader perform up to 

the minimum expected level of performance, which is required in 

order to justify their stay or tenure in the organization. 


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Research 


Leadership styles depend upon conditions, which are 

typical of certain organizations. Furthermore, they also depend 

upon the situations in which people are performing in their 

respective organizations. These include working conditions, pay 

scales, fringe benefits, hygiene conditions, etc. 

A survey was carried out by Blake & Mouton (1964) in 

the United States to identify leadership styles, in manufacturing 

industry and for that purpose a questionnaire was developed, 

which served as the research instrument for subsequent analysis. 

A valid criticism of the Blake & Mouton model is that it 

is a weak indicator for judging managerial behaviour or style of 

leadership, because the results solely rest upon filling out a 

simple questionnaire without using other sophisticated research 

instruments, so anyone can deceive the researcher by filling out 

the questionnaire, citing all the examples and traits which point 

to the welfare of people, and project himself as a “people – 

oriented leader” Answers to the questionnaire, reflect only the 

self perception of the respondents and are not, therefore, an 

objective assessment of their managerial characteristics. 

According to Blake & Mouton, although most managers 

admire and see themselves as operationalising a team 

management style, this style is not easily achievable in practice. 

There have been instances in the past, where leaders have attained 

the team management styles in their respective organizations, 

but were unable to sustain them over the long run. 

Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid (1964) still serves 

as the basis for research in the areas of leadership studies 

because the pivotal point in leadership studies is the 

determination of leadership styles, and the focus is often on 

determining to what extent a leader adjusts his style to changing 

situations and circumstances. 

247 

The managerial grid is widely used to gauge leadership 

effectiveness and it has been adopted extensively by several 

major industrial organizations throughout the world in order to 

improve interpersonal effectiveness and develop leadership 

skills. 



Research 

III The Bernardin – Alvares conflict resolution style 

characterization 

John Bernardin and Kenneth M. Alvares (1976) argue 

that despite the claims made by Blake and Mouton the grid theory 

has been subjected to relatively limited empirical testing. However, 

the companies which adopted the grid methodology did report 

changes in their profits and productivity, whether the changes 

were in part due to the team management style practiced by their 

supervisors, or due to other factors remains questionable. 

Bernardin and Alvares have placed strong emphasis on 

conflict resolution strategies, and their hypothesis testing is also 

accordingly based: 

The following hypotheses have been generated by 

Bernardin and Alvares: 

1. SAMS (self assessment management skills) as 

identified by Blake and Mouton’s managerial grid 

should predict preferred conflict resolution 

strategies. The 9.9 team oriented supervisor should 

prefer the collaborating resolution strategy, the 5.5 

middle of the road supervisor should prefer a 

compromise strategy and the 9.1 task oriented 

supervisor should prefer a forcing strategy. This 

hypothesis is tested by Bernardin and Alvares for 

two managerial levels It is posited that the 

respondents exhibit the above predicted correlation 

between leadership and conflict management styles. 

2. On the other hand, Blake and Mouton would predict 

a significant relationship between scores on the 

SAMS and effectiveness ratings from subordinates 

and superiors. More particularly, they predict that 

the team-oriented supervisor would be rated 

significantly higher in effectiveness than 

supervisors with other orientations. 


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Research 


One hundred twenty-nine employees of a large 

American Midwestern manufacturing company participated in 

the Alvares (1976) study on determining the relation between 

leadership and conflict resolution styles. The employees came 

from construction and maintenance departments of the firm. 

Participants had received no previous formal managerial training. 

The sample included all general foremen in the department, at 

least four first line supervisors in each section of the department, 

and at least one subordinate working under all supervisors. Of 

those receiving requests to participate, forty one out of fifty 

general foremen, forty six out of fifty five first line supervisors, 

and forty two out of seventy three subordinates returned usable 

questionnaires. All supervisors had to have occupied their 

present position for at least three months and all subordinates 

had to have worked under the same first line supervisor at least 

for three months. 

Participants were asked to rank paragraphs of 

behavioral descriptions from most to least typical of themselves 

and then to select from groups of statements those that best 

describe their own behaviour. The conflict situation section 

consisted of various situations and this can be defined by using 

the following example: 

“A job deadline is approaching that a foreman’s 

supervisor has emphasized to be met. The foreman, however, 

feels his men’s safety may be jeopardized if work is speeded up 

to assure meeting the deadline. What should the foreman do?” 

Following strategies are available to a supervisor: 

1. Forcing —— he makes what he himself feels is the 

appropriate decision and emphasizes that the 

workers have no choice but to comply (Blake and 

Mouton’s)authoritarian style (9.1) 

2. Compromise —— he looks for a compromise; he 

tries to find some sort of common ground and 

attempts to please everyone Blake and Mouton’s 

middle of the road style (5.5) 

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Research 

3. Confrontation —— he organizes a meeting of all 

interested parties providing them with an opportunity 

to work out their differences.(Blake and Mouton’s) 

team management style (9.9) 

The effectiveness rating scale consisted of five 

behavioral statements and were rated on a scale from 0 to 6 and 

the respondents were asked to evaluate a supervisor or general 

foreman on the following criteria: 

a. He maintains a high working standard and performs 

all needed tasks. 

b. He is quick to spot changes which will improve his 

effectiveness. 

c. He does and says the right things at the right time. 

d. He is good in time management, using the right 

equipment, and the right people. 

e. He is needed very much if the job is to be done right. 

According to the responses on the SAMS, participants 

were identified as task oriented (9.1), middle-of-road (5.5) or team 

oriented (9.9). According to the scoring procedure presented in 

Blake & Mouton (1964), 11, 9, and 17 first-line supervisors and 9, 

6, and 13 general foremen were classified with the three orientations, 

respectively. Ratings on the three conflict resolution strategies 

were summed up across conflict management style for each group 

of supervisors. 

As a final test of the predictability of conflict resolution 

strategy ratings from managerial orientation, responses on the 

SAMS behaviour statements were summed up. There were no 

significant correlations when the scores of the SAMS [Self 

Assessment Management Skills] were compared to conflict 

resolution strategies. 

A summary leadership effectiveness rating was complied 

for each first-line supervisor and general foreman by summing up 

across the five effectiveness statements, which are the original 

Blake & Mouton leadership styles. A number of tests which were 

carried out further failed to verify the hypothesis that there is a 


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Research 


relationship between managerial orientation as defined by the 

SAMS and leadership effectiveness ratings of first-line 

supervisors. Source: Bernardin John H and Alvares Kenneth M 

(1976) The Managerial Grid as a Conflict Resolution Method and 

Managerial Effectiveness Administrative Science Quarterely. 

IV 

Research Methodology 

The purpose of this study is to attempt to test the 

hypothesis that there is a relationship between Blake and 

Mouton’s leadership styles and the conflict resolution styles as 

presented by Bernardin and Alvares (1976). 

The sample consisted of 20 financial institutions; all 

situated in the city of Karachi, predominantly in the financial 

district. All were listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange and this 

number has been randomly selected. 

From each financial institution, three executives have 

been selected who have completed at least five years of service 

with that organization, and are in managerial roles, having 

leadership as one of their main functions. 

The justification for selecting the financial sector is the 

fact that this is a highly organized sector and attracts quite a 

number of qualified and well trained professionals. 

Two set of questionnaires were submitted to these 

managers one of which is based on the survey carried out by 

Blake and Mouton (1964) and the other set is based on conflict 

resolution styles assessment as presented by John Bernardin 

and Kenneth Alvares (1976). 

The purpose of the research is to correlate the Blake 

and Mouton leadership styles with those of the conflict resolution 

management styles of Bernardin and Alvares and to analyze the 

findings of both the questionnaires in order to determine the 

leadership and conflict resolution styles of the managers in the 

sample. 

251 



Research 

First of all, a matrix is developed to describe the 

theoretically posited relationship between Blake and Mouton’s 

leadership styles match with the conflict resolution styles of 

Bernardin and Alvares (1976). Secondly, using the questionnaire 

of Blake and Mouton, questions are identified on the basis of the 

leadership styles that the respondents are applying, however, it 

will also show how different management styles are estimated 

from the questionnaire. 

Table 1: Matrix showing hypothesized relationship between Leadership and Conflict 

Management Styles 

Blake & Mouton’s 

leadership styles 

1, Impoverished (1.1) 

2. Country Club (1.9) 

3.Middle of the road (5.5) 

4.Task management (9.1) 

5.Team management (9.9) 

Conflict resolution strategies of Bernardin & 

Alvares (1976) 

Accommodating 

Avoiding 

Compromising 

Competing 

Collaborating 

Questionnaire for assessing Blake and Mouton’s Managerial 

Grid Rating scale 

Never sometimes always 

0 1 2 3 4 5 

1.———— I encourage my team to participate when it comes to 

decision making time and I try to implement their ideas and 

suggestions.. 

2.———— Nothing is more important than accomplishing a goal 

or task. 

3.———— I closely monitor the schedule to ensure a task or 

project will be completed in time. 

4.———— I enjoy coaching people on new tasks and procedures. 

5.——-— The more challenging a task, the more I enjoy it. 

6.—— I encourage my employees to be creative about their job. 


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Research 


7.———— When seeing a complex task through to completion, 

I ensure that every detail is accounted for. 

8.———— I find it easy to carry out several complicated tasks 

at the same time. 

9.———— I enjoy reading articles, books, and journals about 

training, leadership and psychology; and then putting what I 

have read into action. 

10.———— When correcting mistakes, I do not worry about 

jeopardizing relationships. 

11.———— I manage my time very efficiently. 

12——— I enjoy explaining the intricacies and details of a complex 

task or project to my employees. 

13———— Breaking large projects into small manageable tasks 

is second nature to me. 

14———— Nothing is more important than building a great 

team. 

15———— I enjoy analyzing problems. 

16———— I honor other people’s boundaries. 

17———— Counseling my employees to improve their 

performance or behaviour is second nature to me. 

18———— I enjoy reading articles, books, and trade journals 

about my profession; and then implementing the new procedures 

I have learned. 

I now categorize the questions on the basis of people and task 

orientation the two dimensions of Blake and Mouton’s 

management grid. 

Questions pertaining to people orientation 

Question 1, is about encouraging and motivating the 

subordinates so that they can take decisions. 

Question 4 emphasizes the coaching and training aspect, as far 

as subordinates are concerned. 

Question 6 is about inculcating creativity in jobs. 

Question 9 is about developing reading habits, leadership traits, 

understanding human psychology and significance of training 

at the work place. 

Question 10 emphasizes the significance of not only admitting 

mistakes, but also correcting them as well. 

Question 12 emphasizes the importance of making complex tasks 

simple for the subordinates. 

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Research 

Question 14 emphasizes the importance of team work. 

Question 16 stresses respecting privacy of subordinates. 

Question 17 lays emphasis on counseling employees to improve 

not only behaviour at work place, but also their individual 

performance. 

Questions pertaining to task orientation 

Question 2 emphasizes completion of tasks. 

Question 3 emphasizes strict meeting of deadlines. 

Question 5 stresses the fact that tasks should be made more 

challenging and that subordinates should be in a position to 

enjoy accomplishing them. 

Question 7 is about incorporating minute details in a complex 

task. 

Question 8 is about the need for multi tasking complex jobs with 

ease. 

Question 11 is about time management. 

Question 13 emphasizes the need to develop work specialization 

and its related methods. 

Question 15 stresses the need to develop analytical skills. 

Question 18 emphasizes the need to enhance knowledge through 

reading and applying the same in discharging professional 

commitments. 

The nine questions pertaining to task orientation are 

plotted on the X axis, whereas the nine questions pertaining to 

people orientation are plotted on Y axis of the leadership grid. 

As in Blake and Mouton, the entire grid is divided into 

four major quadrants, namely the impoverished style (1.1) the 

country club style (1.9) the authoritarian (9.1) and the team 

management styles (9.9) on the basis of people and task 

orientation. The manager who scores (5.5) has a middle of the 

road style, the leader, who falls into this criteria attaches equal 

importance to work as well as to the welfare of his subordinates. 

In all 57 respondents have been interviewed. The 

stratification is on a non-gender basis, involving three persons 

from each bank, (i) a senior top executive, drawing a salary equal 

to or in excess of Rs, 150,000 per month (ii) a senior manager, 


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Research 


drawing a salary between the range of Rs. 75,000-100,000 per 

month and (iii) a manager drawing a salary in the range of 

Rs.50,000 - 75,000 per month. In smaller financial institutions, if 

the senior executive is the CEO or the owner is the key person 

this has been taken into account in the survey. The respondents 

have filled out the above given questionnaire to indicate whether 

they see themselves as possessing one of the five mentioned 

leadership styles. 

The respondents were required to answer 18 questions 

in the first questionnaire, regarding leadership styles. The 9 

questions relating to the area of people consideration are 

multiplied by 0.2; similarly the remaining 9 questions relating to 

the task area have been multiplied by 0.2. In the original Blake 

and Mouton model, there are 5 probable leadership styles, and 

in order to make our participants fall into one single leadership 

style the probability is 1 over 5, hence the weight 0.2. is assigned 

to each question. 

The second questionnaire consists of 15 questions 

which assess the conflict resolution style self perception of the 

managers. These styles are Competing, Avoiding, Compromising, 

Accommodating, Collaborating and Forcing strategies as 

specified by the Bernardin and Alvares study (1976). 

The purpose of the second questionnaire is to identify 

the conflict resolution style of the managers. 

The participants have been informed that the intended 

survey is being carried out to test the relationship between 

leadership styles and conflict management styles and preferences 

in this regard will in no way be taken into consideration as an 

adverse feature. All communication will be considered to be 

strictly confidential. 

In the case of the conflict resolution questionnaire the 

respondents were required to answer 15 questions, which 

identify various conflict resolution styles, such as Competing, 

Avoiding, Compromising, Accommodating, Collaborating, and 

Forcing and each of these styles are assessed on the basis of a 

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Research 

specific set of questions. i.e. the questions answered fall into that 

particular conflict management style categories. In total there are 

15 questions and all of them fall into one of the above mentioned 

categories. 

The sum total of individual styles and their weightage is 

added. The highest score indicates the most preferred conflict 

resolution style of the respondent and similarly, the style with the 

lowest score determines the least preferred conflict resolution 

style 

For example in this questionnaire, high scores on 

questions 4, 9 and 12 pertain to the competing resolution style. If 

a respondent scores highest on these questions as compared to 

the other resolution styles, then we can conclude that the 

respondent’s preferred style is “Competing”. 

Exhibit 1Questionnaire regarding Conflict Resolution Strategies 

1- I look at issues with others to find solutions that meet the needs 

of everyone. 

2- I try to negotiate and adopt a give-and-take approach to problem 

situations. 

3- I try meet the expectations of others 

4- I would argue my case and insist on the merits of my point of 

view. 

5- When there’s disagreement, I get as much info as I can and keep 

communication open. 

6- When I find myself in an argument, I usually say very little and 

leave as soon as possible. 

7- I try to see conflicts from both sides: what I need and what the 

other person needs. 

8- I prefer to compromise when solving problems and just move on. 

9- I find conflicts challenging and exhilarating and enjoy the battle 

of wits that usually follows. 

10- Being at odds with other people makes me feel uncomfortable 

and anxious. 

11- I try to accommodate the wishes of my friends and family. 

12- I can figure out what needs to be done and I am usually right. 

13- To break and deadlocks, I am willing to meet people halfway. 

14- I avoid hard feelings by keeping my disagreements with others 

to myself. 

15- I may not get what I want, and it’s a small price to pay for 

keeping the peace. 

True 

Somewhat 

True 

Somewhat 

False 

False 


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Research 


The rating scale is given to each question which is indicated below: 

(True=4 points; Somewhat true =3 points; Somewhat false=2 points; False=1 point) 

Categorization of Questions by Conflict Resolution Strategies 

Exhibit 2 

Question I scored Question I scored Question 

number this as: number this as: Number 

Competing 4 9 12 

Avoiding 6 10 15 

Compromising 2 8 13 

Accommodating 3 11 14 

Collaborating 1 5 7 

I scored 

this as: 

Row 

Total 

The row with the highest score indicates the most preferred conflict resolution 

style. 

Source: http://www.nwlink.com/-docclark/leader/bm/model.html 

V. Results 

The hypothesis tested states that the team management 

supervisor is expected to prefer a collaborating resolution 

strategy; middle of the road supervisor is expected to adopt a 

compromising strategy. The task oriented supervisor is expected 

to adopt a forcing strategy. We hypothesize that senior 

executives; senior managers and managers in the sample banks 

in Karachi demonstrate this relationship between conflict 

resolution and leadership style. 

There were 57 respondents from the banking sector, 19 

were at managerial levels, 19 were at senior managerial levels 

and the remaining 19 were at top managerial levels in their 

respective organizations, involving 3 persons (1 top, 1 senior 

and 1 junior manager) from each bank. 

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Research 

The overall responses of the participants can be seen 

from the following scatter diagram (Fig 2) and the predominant 

self perceived style seems to be the team management style and 

it is appropriate to say that there is a gradual and consistent shift 

away from the middle of the road style towards the team 

management style (9.9) 43 participants had shown themselves as 

falling into the team management quadrant. 

There are three respondents who have categorized 

themselves in the impoverished style of leadership and similarly, 

there are four respondents who have categorized themselves in 

the country club leadership style. One of the respondents had 

categorized himself in the task management style and the 

remaining two respondents have classified themselves in the 

middle of the road style. 

What seems to be surprising is the fact that only one 

respondent categorized himself in the task management (produce 

or perish) leadership management style. 

It has been observed that most of the participants do 

not have complete knowledge about the impact of effective 

leadership styles and are not fully aware as to how to alter styles 

in changing situations and the questionnaires which were 

circulated to them only managed to extract sketchy information 

and one of the main reasons for this is that leadership and 

managerial styles are also culture bound, and as a result of that a 

majority of the respondents fail to align the questions to the 

accuracy of their respective styles and came up with responses 

which do not truly reflect their own individual styles. However, 

the positive aspect which emerged out of this survey was the fact 

that the ‘optimum’ leadership styles theorized by Blake and 

Mouton’s i.e the Team Management style is perceived as ideal in 

the banking industry of Pakistan by most incumbent executives. 

(43 out of 57) 

The total responses are 57, but four responses are 

similar, hence those responses are not registered separately and 

the scatter diagram shows only 53 responses. 


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Research 


Fig 2. Scatter Diagram: Leadership styles (Full Sample) 

Country Club 

Style (1.9) 

Team Management 

(9.9) 

Impoverished style (1.1) 

Task Management 9.1 

Fig 3 reflects the responses from the managers in the banking 

sector one of the responses which were received categorized 

himself in the impoverished style (1.1) two responses fell in the 

area of country club style (1.9) and the remaining fourteen 

considered themselves to be in the area of team management 

style (9.9) The two remaining responses fell into the area of 

middle of the road (5.5) style. 

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Research 

Fig 3 

Scatter Diagram: Leadership style: Managers 

Country Club Style 

(1.9) 

Team Management (9.9) 

9.1 

Middle of the road 

Impoverished Style (1.1) 

Task Management 

(9.1) 

Fig 4 presents the responses from the senior managers in the 

banking sector. None of the responses received from senior 

managers classified themselves in the impoverished style (1.1) 

no responses fell in the area of the country club style (1.9) and 17 

responses considered themselves to be in the area of team 

management style (9.9) The two remaining responses accounted 

for duplication of styles, not exhibited in the diagram. 


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Research 


Fig 4 Scatter Diagram: Leadership style: Senior Managers 

Country Club Style 

(1.9) 

Team Management Team (9.9) 

Management 

9.1 




(9.1) 

The final scatter diagram (Fig 5), reflects the results of 

the top executives working in the banking sector, and fourteen 

see themselves as following the team management style of 

leadership (9.9), whereas two of the top executives see themselves 

following the impoverished style (1.1) and two perceive 

themselves to be practicing the country club style of leadership 

1.9). One executive consider himself to be practicing the task 

management style of leadership (9.1). 

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Research 

Most of the top level executives see themselves as 

having crossed the threshold of middle of the road approach with 

the exception of only five persons and out of them two rate poorly 

on the task structure and another two rate poorly on the people 

oriented grid as well as task leadership grid, whereas the remaining 

one sees himself as following the task management style, and 

this is evident from Figure 5. 

Fig 5 Scatter Diagram: Leadership style: Top Executives 

Country Club Style (1.9) 

Team Management (9.9) 

9.1 




(9.1) 


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Research 


We now proceed to examine the relationship between 

leadership and conflict management styles. Table 2 shows the 

extent to which the theoretical expectations are realized on the 

basis of our empirical results. 

Table2: Correlation of Blake & Mouton leadership styles with Bernardin & Alvares 

conflict resolution styles 

Managers 

1, Impoverished (1.1) Accommodating 

2. Country Club (1.9) Avoiding 

3. Middle of the road (5.5) Compromising 

Proportion of total sample showing this 

correspondence 

3 out of 19 

0/19 

0/19 


4. Task management (9.1) Competing 


5. Team management (9.9) Collaborating 

Senior Manager 












19 / 19 

Top Executives 













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Research 

We find a close correspondence between perception of 

management and conflict resolution styles with respect to the 

Team Management style and the collaborative conflict 

management style. Of the total sample of 57 respondents 47 

respondents see themselves as having a team management and a 

collaborative conflict management style. This close 

correspondence between the team management and the 

collaborative conflict management holds across all three sub 

samples –– managers, senior managers and top executives. Thus 

our results contradict the Bernardin Alvares finding that there is 

no correspondence between management and conflict resolution 

style perception by managers at least as far as the team 

management leadership and collaborative conflict resolution style 

is concerned. 


264

Research 


References 

Keys E. Bernard (1977) Management of Learning Grid for 

Managerial Development, The Academy of Management Review, 

vol 2, No 2, pp289-292. 

Blake Robert R and Mouton S. Jane (1964) The Managerial Grid, 

Houston Gulf Publishing. 

Bartol Kathryn Tien Margaret Mathews Graham Martin David 

4 th Ed.Management A Pacific Rim Focus pp 407. 

Bernardin John H and Alvares Kenneth M. (1976) The Managerial 

Grid as a Conflict. 

Resolution Method and Managerial Effectiveness Administrative 

Science Quarterly, vol 21, No I pp 84-92. 

Mckee Rachel The Grid Difference (2005) A Historical Perspective 

of Grid. 

Methodology, grid User’s Conference Belfast City, Northern 

Ireland. 

Robbins P. Stephens, (2007) Organizational Behaviour 12 th Ed. 

Prentice Hall, pp434-440. 

Deluga, J. Ronald, (1988) The politics of leadership: The 

Relationship between Task- 

People Leadership and Subordinate Influence: Journal of 

Organizational Behaviour, vol 9, No 4, pp359-366. 

Schermerhorn R. John, Hunt G. James, Osborn N. Richard (2003) 

Organizational. 

Behaviour 8 th Ed. John Wiley and Sons pp 301-302. 

http://www.nwlink.com/-docclark/leader/bm/model.html 

265 


Assessing the Service Quality of Some Selected Hospitals in Karachi 

Research 

ASSESSING THE SERVICE 

QUALITY OF SOME SELECTED 

HOSPITALS IN KARACHI 

BASED ON THE SERVQUAL 

MODEL 

Rizwan Ahmed 

Hina Samreen 

College of Computer Sciences & Information Systems 

Institute of Business Management, Karachi 

Abstract 

The study is aimed at exploring the dimensions of the 

SERVQUAL model which are the significant determinants of 

service quality, in terms of patients’ satisfaction, in the 

selected hospitals of Karachi. For this purpose, data was 

collected from 252 outpatients visiting three selected 

hospitals each from public sector, private sector and semipublic 

sector. The technique of factor analysis is used to 

extract the important factors on the basis of responses 

obtained from patients. Factor analysis resulted in five 

factors. The key findings of this study are the regression 

models obtained for all three hospitals. These models have 

the predictors that are statistically significant determinants 

of the patients’ satisfaction for each hospital. 

Keywords: SERVQUAL, Patients satisfaction, public 

hospitals, private hospitals, semi public hospitals 

JEL Classification: I10, I11 


266

Research 


I. Introduction 

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance 

of some selected hospitals of Karachi on the basis of the 

SERVQUAL model related to customer service quality. The 

research objectives of the study are to: 

Ascertain whether the selected hospitals that are 

operating in Karachi in the public, semi public and 

private sectors follow all five dimensions 

(TANGIBILES, RELIABILITY, RESPONSIVENESS, 

ASSURANCE, & EMPATHY) of the SERVQUAL 

model. 

Compare gaps among three types of hospitals. 

Identify the areas of maximum and minimum gaps for 

the items that are related to each dimension of the 

SERVQUAL model. 

Identify the determinants of patients’ satisfaction in 

the selected hospitals. 

The term “service quality” has been defined in several 

ways. Parasuraman et al. (1985) describes the word service quality 

as “a measure of the degree of discrepancy between consumers’ 

perceptions and expectations”. 

“Consumer dissatisfaction occurs when expectations 

of the consumers are greater than actual performance of service 

delivering organizations and perceived service quality is less than 

the satisfactory level.” 

Gronsroos (1984) defines service quality as a function 

of expectations, outcome and image. 

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Research 

The well known “SERVQUAL scale can be applied to 

any service providing organization to assess service 

quality.”(Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry (1990) 

The five generic dimensions or factors were 

introduced by Parasuraman et al (1988) to measure service 

quality are: 

Tangibles: Physical facilities, equipment and 

appearance of personnel; 

Reliability: Aability to perform the promised service 

dependably and accurately; 

Responsiveness: Willingness to help customers and 

provide prompt service; 

Security: Knowledge and courtesy of employees and 

their ability to inspire trust and confidence; and 

Empathy: Caring, individualized attention provided 

to customers. 

These dimensions were extracted on the basis of a 

questionnaire (See Chart 1) consisting of 22 questions that 

cover the expectations and performance aspect of each 

dimension of the SERVQUAL model 


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Research 


Chart 1: Original version of the SERVQUAL scale 

It e m E x p e c t at io n ( E ) P e r fo r m a n c e ( P ) 

X Y Z ha s m o d e rn 

T h e y sho u ld ha v e m o d e r n 

e qu ip m e n t. 

e qu ip m e n t. 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

1 0 

1 1 

1 2 

1 3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

T an gib ilit y 

R e li ab i lit y 

R e s p o n sib ilit y 

T h e p hy sic a l i n st a lla tio n s 

sh o u ld b e v isu a lly 

a ttr a c tiv e . 

T h e e m p lo y e e s sh o uld b e 

w e ll- dr e s se d a n d c le a n. 

T h e a p p e a r a n c e of c o m p a n y 

ins ta lla tio n s sh o u ld b e 

c on se r v e d a c c o r d in g t o th e 

se r v ic e o f fe r e d . 

W h e n th e se c o m pa nie s 

pr o m i se to d o so m e th in g i n 

a c e r ta in tim e , th e y m us t d o 

it. 

W h e n c lie n ts ha v e a ny 

pr o bl e m w ith th e se 

c om p a nie s , t he la te r m u s t 

be so lid a r y a n d m a k e th e m 

fe e l s e c u r e . 

T h e s e c o m p a n ie s s ho u ld b e 

of c on f ide n c e . 

T h e y sho u ld pr o vid e th e 

se r v ic e i n th e t im e 

pr o m i se d . 

T h e y sho u ld ke e p the ir 

re c o r d s c or r e c tly . 

It s ho u l d n o t b e e x pe c te d 

tha t th e y i nf o r m c lie n ts 

e xa c tl y w h e n th e se r v ic e s 

a re to b e e x e c u te d . 

It is no t r e a so n a b le to 

e xp e c t im m e d ia te 

a va ila b ilit y o f c o m pa n y 

e m p lo y e e s . 

C o m p a n y e m p lo ye e s d o no t 

ne e d to b e a lw a y s a v a ila b le 

to h e lp c l ie nt s. 

It is no r m a l f o r t he m to b e 

too b us y to re a d ily r e sp on d 

to r e q ue s ts. 

X Y Z ’s ph y sic a l 

in s ta lla tio n s a r e v is ua ll y 

a ttr a c tive . 

X Y Z ’s e m p lo y e e s a r e 

w e ll dr e s se d a nd c le a n. 

T he a p pe a r a n c e of 

X Y Z ’s ph y sic a l 

in s ta lla tio n s is c o n se r ve d 

a c c o r d in g to the se r v ic e 

o f f e re d . 

W h e n X Y Z p r o m is e s to 

d o so m e t hin g i n a c e r ta in 

tim e , it r e a lly d o e s it . 

W h e n y o u h a v e a 

p r o b l e m w ith X Y Z , it is 

so lid a ry a nd m a ke s yo u 

fe e l s e c ur e . 

X Y Z c a n b e tr ust e d . 

X Y Z p r o vid e s th e 

se r vic e i n th e t im e 

p r o m i se d . 

X Y Z ke e p s its re c o r d s 

c or r e c tly . 

X Y Z d o e s n ot i nf o r m 

e xa c tl y w h e n s e r vic e s 

w ill b e e x e c u te d. 

Y ou d o n o t r e c e iv e 

im m e d ia te se r v ic e s f r o m 

X Y Z e m p lo y e e s. 

X Y Z e m p lo y e e s a r e n o t 

a lw a y s a v a il a ble to h e lp 

c lie nt s. 

X Y Z e m p lo y e e s a r e 

a lw a y s too b u s y to 

re s po n d to c lie n t 

re q u e sts. 

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Research 

C li e nts sho ul d be a bl e t o 

be l ie ve in the c om pa n y’s 

e m plo ye e s. 

Y o u c a n be l ie ve X Y Z 


1 4 

1 5 

1 6 

S e c u r ity 

C li e nts sho ul d be a bl e t o 

fe e l sa f e in ne go ti a ti ng 

w i th c om pa n y e m pl oy ee s . 

T h e e m p loy e e s sh oul d be 

po li te . 

Y o u f e e l se c ure 

ne go ti a ti ng w it h X Y Z 


X Y Z e m p loy e e s are 

po li te . 

1 7 

T h e e m pl oye e s sh oul d 

ob ta i n a de qu a te su pp or t 

fr om t he c om p a ny t o 

pe rf o rm th e ir ta s ks 

c orr e c tl y. 

It sho uld n ot be e xp e c te d 

for t he c o mp a ni e s t o p a y 

in di vid ua l a tt e nti on to th e 

c li e nts . 

X Y Z e m pl oye e s do n ot 

ob ta in a de qu a te su pp or t 

f r om th e c om p a ny t o 

pe r form th e ir ta s ks 

c or re c tl y. 

X Y Z do e s n ot pa y 

in div id ua l a tte n ti on to 

yo u. 

1 8 

1 9 

2 0 

2 1 

2 2 

E m p a th y 

Source: Oliveria (2008) 

II. 


for t he e m pl oy e e s t o g ive 

pe rs ona l iz e d a tte n tio n to 

th e c li e nts . 

It is ab su rd t o e x pe c t t he 

e m plo ye e s to kn ow c l ie n t 

ne e d s. 

It is ab su rd t o e x pe c t t he s e 

c om pa n ie s to ha ve the 

c li e nts ’ be s t i nt e re s ts a s 

th e ir o bj e ct iv e . 


for t he b us ine s s h our s to b e 

c on ve ni e nt f or a l l c li e nt s. 

Literature Review 

X Y Z e m pl oye e s do no t 

gi ve pe r s on a l a tt e nt io n. 

X Y Z e m pl oye e s do no t 

kno w t he i r ne e ds . 

X Y Z do e s n ot ha ve 

yo ur b es t i nt e re sts a s its 

ob je c ti ve . 

X Y Z do e s n ot ha ve 

c on ve ni e nt bus in e ss 

ho urs fo r a ll c li e nt s. 

Andaleeb (2008) studied patient satisfaction (measured 

by using factor analysis). This study was conducted on 

caregivers who had accompanied a child came to a hospital in 

Dhaka. A regression model was constructed by using factor 

analysis based upon the five dimensional SERVQUAL model. 

The model explained 67.4% of the variation in the patients’ 

PAKISTAN 365 BUSINESS REVIEW JULY 2011 

270

Research 


satisfaction which was taken as the dependent variable. The 

behavior of the nurses, the behavior of the doctors and facilitation 

payments (staff expectation of extra payment for normal services 

that were provided to the patients) had been appeared as 

statistically significant determinants of patients’ satisfaction. 

Tangibles composite (all the items that were related to the 

cleanliness of the hospital and staff) and input adequacy 

(availability of medicines and equipment whenever needed), 

appeared as statistically insignificant. 

Babakus and Mangold (1992) assessed patients’ 

perceptions of service quality in a hospital environment. A modified 

SERVQUAL scale with 15 pairs of questions having 5 point scale 

was used. Factor analysis and correlation were used to assess 

the validity of the study. Reliability coefficients for all five 

dimensions were found greater than 0.5. 

Kang and James (2004) applied the SERVQUAL model 

in the cell phone industry based on European perspective 1 . A 

total of 464 users of two specific cell phone companies in South 

Korea were interviewed. Interviewees were asked to rate questions 

in the questionnaire constructed for 3 constructs i.e. functional 

quality, technical quality, image and their impact on overall service 

quality and customer satisfaction. Confirmatory Factor Analysis 

(CFA) was conducted to check the uni-dimensionality of the 

construct. Initial results did confirm the five-factor structure of 

the SERVQUAL model. The results of the study indicated that 

functional and technical quality influence the perceptions that 

are related to the overall service quality. 

Karassavidou (2009) aimed to identify the service quality 

dimension used by patients for service quality evaluation in Greek 

NHS (National Services Hospitals). A SERVQUAL questionnaire, 

including an expectation and perception section, each consisting 

of 26 statements having seven point Likert scale was used for the 

survey. A survey of 137 patients was conducted in six hospitals 

located in Northern Greece. In this study, principal component 

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Research 

method was used to extract factors. Factor analysis resulted in 

three extracted factors. Alpha coefficient ranged from 0.785 to 

0.996 and confirmed the reliability of all three dimensions. Gap 

analysis was also performed to determine the degree to which 

the difference between expectations and perceptions exist among 

patients surveyed. 

Lim and Tang (2000) examined patients’ expectations 

and perceptions about hospital service quality in Singapore. In 

the beginning, the survey instrument was designed with five 

dimensions of the SERVQUAL model. The instrument consisted 

of 25 questions having 5 point Likert scale. In this study another 

dimension “accessibility and affordability” was added to the 

questionnaire in the form of three additional questions that were 

different from original SERVQUAL model. This additional 

dimension would also be included as the part of the present 

study. 

In addition to this, the questionnaire also had a question 

on “overall importance” in the expectation section and another 

question “overall rating of service quality” in the perception 

section. 252 satisfactorily filled questionnaires out of 300 were 

collected from four general practitioners and two specialist 

clinics. The question related to the overall rating of service quality 

is also included in the present study. SERVQUAL score was 

calculated by using mean and standard deviation. Mann-Whitney 

test was applied to test the hypothesis that there was no difference 

in the mean gap (mean difference between the ratings of 

expectations and perceptions). In this study assurance and 

responsiveness appeared to be the most important dimensions 

of hospital services. 

Manaf and Nooi (2009) based their study upon the 

difference in perceptions and expectations of in-patients and 

out-patients on the basis of SERVQUAL model adapted for the 

health care industry in Malaysia. Surveys of outpatients and 

inpatients were conducted and 646 inpatients and 570 outpatients’ 

usable questionnaires were analyzed. Factor analysis was carried 

out for both inpatient and outpatient data. This yielded with two 

factors, namely clinical dimensions of service 2 and physical 

dimension of service 3 . 


272

Research 


Miranda et.al. (2010) based their study on the SERVQUAL 

model and measured the gap between the perceptions of health 

managers and that of patients’. Patients’ satisfaction was taken 

as the dependent variable and the variables, Health staff (doctors 

and nurses), Efficiency (waiting times and the time it takes to 

resolve complaints), No Health Staff (administrative staff), and 

Facilities (cleanliness, equipment and the location of the health 

center) were taken as independent variables. The gap between 

the perceptions of health managers and patients were measured 

and most of them were found to have statistically significant 

negative values. 

Mostafa (2005) tested perceptions of service quality in 

Egypt from the perspective of public and private hospital patients 

and attempted to seek an answer to the question; how do patients 

evaluate service quality by using relevant dimension. A survey 

of a total of 500 patients, from 12 hospitals of Egypt was conducted, 

and resulted in 332 successfully filled questionnaires. This 

questionnaire was designed on the basis of the five dimensional 

SERVQUAL model having 5-point Likert rating scale. The results 

of the survey highlighted a three factor solution of the SERVQUAL 

model. A statistically significant difference in terms of service 

quality was observed between public and private hospitals. 

Oliveria and Ferreira’s (2008) measured service quality 

at a higher education institute in Brazil. This was a survey based 

research. The survey instrument was five dimensional SERVQUAL 

model. The instrument consisted of 19 items having 7 point Likert 

scale. The gaps between expectations and perceptions for all 19 

items had been measured. The questionnaire was applied to 38 

beginning students in the Production Engineering course. The 

results show that the gaps for all 19 items were negative and this 

implies that the expectations of the students were higher as 

compared to the perceptions. 

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Research 

Parasuraman et al. (1985) used the original ten 

dimensions of the SERVQUAL Model in their study. They defined 

quality as a gap between expectations and performance. In-depth 

interviews of 3 - 4 executives from four recognized service firms 

and a total of 12 focus group interviews of consumers were 

conducted to gain insights about: 

The perceptions of managers regarding key attributes 

of service quality 

The consumers’ perceptions regarding the key 

attributes of quality in services 

Do discrepancies exist between the perceptions of 

consumers and service marketers? 

 

Can consumer and marketer perceptions be 

combined in a general model that explains service 

quality from the consumer’s standpoint? 

The authors’ exploratory research revealed 10 

evaluative dimensions or criteria that covered variety of services. 

The researchers developed the items that cover these 10 

dimensions. They had mentioned seven propositions to measure 

the gap between expectations and perceptions. 

Parasuraman et al. (1988) described the development of 

a 22-item instrument of the SERVQUAL model having 5 

dimensions to assess perceptions of customers regarding service 

quality in service and retailing organizations. The researchers 

had selected four major well known service providing businesses: 

a bank, a credit care company, a firm offering appliance repairs 

and maintenance services and a long-distance telephone 

company. They ended up with a 22-item instrument having five 

dimensions. All four different firms, from which the data was 


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Research 


collected to perform factor analysis, yielded five extracted factors 

with the same items loaded on each factor and having factor 

loadings greater than 0.5 cut-off value. The reliability 

coefficients (Cronbach’s Alpha) were all greater than the cutoff 

value of 0.6. This signifies the internal validity of the factors. 

Scale’s validity was also assessed with the use of analysis of 

variance. 

Sohail’s (2003) objective was to assess the dimensions 

of the SERVQUAL model that influence the perception of 

patients regarding the service quality in private hospitals in 

Malaysia. Patients’ satisfaction was taken as dependent variable 

and it was measured on the basis of five dimensions defined in 

the SERVQUAL model. The research instrument was a 

questionnaire based upon a modified version of SERVQUAL 

having five dimensions Tangibility, Reliability, Responsiveness, 

Assurance and Empathy and it consisted of 15 pairs of matching 

expectation/perception items. A total of 186 responses were 

obtained and this represented a response rate of 18.6%. To 

address construct validity of the study, factor analysis was 

conducted. None of the reliability alphas were below the cutoff 

point of 0.60. The mean scores of the patients’ expectations 

of service quality were generally low. 

Yesilada and Direktor (2010) extracted the dimensions 

of the SERVQUAL model in both public and private hospitals. 

In the survey, 990 people living in Northern Cyprus, above 18 

years of age were selected for the survey. 806 people contributed 

their responses. A 22 items-SERVQUAL model with 5-point 

“agree-disagree” Likert scale was used. Three factors were 

extracted through factor analysis, with 61.5% explained variance. 

Reliability –confidence, empathy and tangibility appeared as 

the most important dimensions of service quality. Private 

hospitals appeared with smaller gaps between expectations and 

perceptions (not negligibly small), as compared to the public 

hospitals and were perceived as better service providers. 

275 



Research 

III. Methodology 

III.1 Data Collection 

In this study, three hospitals are selected that are 

operating in Karachi. The study is conducted from September 15 

to October 8, 2010. To give appropriate representation to the 

population of the city, one hospital each from the public sector, 

the semi-public and the private sector was selected. Both the 

hospital authorities and patients were given assurance of 

anonymity. Target population was the out-patients who visit the 

consulting and executive clinics of the three selected hospitals 

during their operating hours (morning and evening hours). 

As a sampling technique, systematic sampling was 

used to select every k th patient 4 as a respondent. Systematic 

sampling was used to collect data because the entire 

population was homogenous in terms of the purpose for which 

they had come to the hospital. The number of patients sitting 

in the waiting lounge was considered as the population and 

20% of the individuals were selected as the part of the sample. 

During the data collection, we found that from 20 to 30 patients 

per executive/consulting clinic visited these hospitals during 

consulting hours. 

During the data collection, we have faced the difficulty 

of lack of cooperation when the individuals who were selected, 

refused to be the part of the study (Approximately between 40 to 

50 % of them refused). The lowest numbers of respondents were 

from the public hospital where people were least willing to 

cooperate. Even though, the questionnaire in Urdu and was 

especially designed, keeping in view the difficulty that the 

respondents may face, most of the individuals who visit public 

hospitals are not well educated. The lack of cooperation within 

the public hospital patients was mainly because they had been 

kept waiting for so long as they were 

finished with the consultation they were eager to leave the 

hospital premises immediately. 


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Research 


This data collection activity was spread over the three 

weeks (one week each for each hospital). The number of 

respondents from the private hospital, the semi-public hospital, 

and the public hospital was 96, 90, and 66 (a total of 252) 

respectively. The lowest numbers of respondents were from public 

hospital where people were least willing to cooperate. 

III.2 Research Instrument 

The research instrument for this study was a 

questionnaire having 26 items and each item was divided into 

two parts in such a manner that the first part of each item measures 

the expectations of the patients and the second part measures 

the perceptions of the patients based upon their experiences. 

Each question is constructed with the 5-points Likert scale rating 

from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Questionnaire 

was also translated in Urdu for the respondents who did not 

understand English. 

In this study, five dimensions of the original SERVQUAL 

model that is Tangibility, Reliability, Responsibility, Assurance 

and Empathy were incorporated and an additional dimension 

Accessibility & Affordability included in Lim & Tang (2005) was 

also incorporated. 

Tangibility includes questions related to Physical facilities, 

equipment and appearance of personnel. 

Questions related to hospital equipment, other facilities 

apparent get up and out going personalities of doctors and 

paramedical staff were a vital part of the previous studies (Babakus 

(1992), Lim and Tang (2000), Sohail (2003), Mostafa (2005), 

Karassavidou (2009), and Miranda (2010)). This study has also 

included these questions in Tangibility dimension. (Question no. 

1 to Question no. 5 in the questionnaire) 

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Research 

The question related to privacy during the treatment 

was only included by Lim and Tang (2000) in the Tangibility 

dimension, and we have also included this question as a part of 

Tangibility dimension. (Question no. 5) 

Lim and Tang (2000) and Karassavidou (2009) have used 

modified version of SERVQUAL by adding a new dimension 

“Accessibility and Affordability” in their studies. A question on 

adequate parking facilities was included in both studies. 

Questions about the easy accessibility to hospital 

location, and affordability of hospital services, are also the part 

of our questionnaire (Question no. 25 and question no. 26). 

Previous researchers like Lim and Tang (2000), and Karassavidou 

(2009) have also studied these dimensions. 

Ability to perform the promised service dependably 

and accurately comes under the definition of Reliability. 

Babakus (1992) and Miranda (2010) had included 

question about the professionalism and competency of doctors 

and health staff. This question is also the part of our 

questionnaire under reliability dimension (Question no. 8). 

Question about error-free documentation of medical 

records, previously used by Babakus (1992), Lim and Tang (2000), 

Sohail (2003), Mostafa (2005), Karassavidou (2009) is also added 

in our questionnaire in Reliability dimension (Question no. 9). 

Two questions, “Hospitals should provide their services 

at the time they promise to do so”, and “Services should be 

carried out right the first time”, were previously included by 

Babakus (1992), Lim and Tang (2000), Mostafa (2005), 

Karassavidu (2009), Miranda (2010) in Reliability dimension. 

(Question no. 6 and question no. 7). 


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Research 


Lim and Tang (2000) included a question about 

consistency of charges in the same dimension and we are also 

considering this question. (Question no. 10). 

The fourth dimension Responsiveness is defined as 

Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. 

Questions related to “provide prompt services”, and 

“willingness of doctors and health staff to help patients” was 

considered as a part of responsiveness dimension, by Babakus 

(1992), Lim and Tang (2000), Sohail (2003), Mostafa (2005), 

Karassavidou (2009) and we are also including these questions 

under this dimension. (Question no. 11 and question no. 12) 

Our next question is about waiting time in health centers, was 

also the part of Lim and Tang (2000) and Miranda (2010) (Question 

no. 14). 

The fifth dimension Assurance, consists of questions 

related to competence, courtesy, credibility and security, 

Knowledge and ability to inspire trust and confidence. 

In this dimension, we are considering a question 

regarding Secure feeling of patients, receiving medical services, 

was previously used by Babakus (1992), Sohail (2003), Mostafa 

(2005), Karassavidou (2009), Miranda (2010). 

We have also added a question in this dimension, “Do 

the Attitude and behavior of doctors/staff instill confidence in 

patients?”(Question no. 13), adapted by the previous studies of 

Lim and Tang (2000), Sohail (2003), Mostafa (2005), Karassavidou 

(2009). 

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Research 

D i m e n s i o n 

Accessibility & Affordability Empathy 

Assurance Responsiveness Reliability Tangibility 

Chart 2- Dimensions and related items 

Ite m 

u p -t o -d a t e e q u ip m e n t 

c le a n & c o m fo rt a b le 

e n v iro n m e n t 

d o c t o rs / s t a ff a re n e a t 

in fo rm a t iv e b ro c h u re s 

p riv a c y is o b s e rv e d 

s e rv ic e s a re p ro v id e d a t 

a p p o in t e d t im e 

s e rv ic e s a re c a rrie d o u t rig h t a t 

t h e firs t t im e 

d o c t o rs a n d s t a ff a re 

p ro fe s s io n a l a n d c o m p e t e n t 

s y s t e m o f e rro r fre e a n d fa s t 

re t rie v a l o f d o c u m e n t s e xis t s 

c o n s is t e n c y o f c h a rg e s 

p ro m p t s e rv ic e s a re g iv e n 

d o c t o rs a n d s t a ff a re re s p o n s iv e 

a t t it u d e o f d o c t o rs a n d s t a ff 

in s t ill c o n fid e n c e in p a t ie n t s 

w a it in g t im e d o e s n o t e xc e e d 

o n e h o u r 

d o c t o rs a n d s t a ff a re c o u rt e o u s 

a n d frie n d ly 

d o c t o rs p o s s e s s w id e s p e c t ru m 

o f k n o w le d g e 

p a t ie n t s a re t re a t e d w it h d ig n it y 

a n d re s p e c t 

p a t ie n t s a re e xp la in e d t h e ir 

m e d ic a l c o n d it io n t h o ro u g h ly 

fe e d b a c k is o b t a in e d fro m 

p a t ie n t s 

s e rv ic e s a re a v a ila b le ro u n d t h e 

c lo c k 

d o c t o rs a n d s t a ff h a v e p a t ie n t s ' 

b e s t in t e re s t s a t h e a rt 

d o c t o rs a n d s t a ff u n d e rs t a n d 

t h e s p e c ific n e e d s o f p a t ie n t s 

h o s p it a l h a s a d e q u a t e p a rk in g 

fa c ilit ie s 

t h e lo c a t io n is a c c e s s ib le 

c h a rg e s fo r t h e s e rv ic e s 

re n d e re d a re a ffo rd a b le 


280

Research 


Babakus (1992), Lim and Tang (2000), Sohail (2003), 

Mostafa (2005), Karassavidou (2009), Miranda (2010) have 

included questions related to knowledge, friendliness and 

courtesy of doctors and health staff. And we are also considering 

these questions in this dimension. (Question no. 13, Question 

no. 15 & Question no. 16). 

Lim and Tang (2000) and Karassavidou (2009) have 

extended this dimension by incorporating two additional 

questions addressing dignity and respect of patients receiving 

health services, and how doctors explain medical conditions to 

patients. So we are considering both questions under the same 

dimension. (Question no.17) 

The sixth dimension Empathy includes access, 

communication, Caring and individualized attention that the 

firm provides to its customers. 

24-hours availability of services, used by Lim and Tang 

(2000), and Karassavidou (2009), is included in our questionnaire 

as a part of Empathy dimension. (Question no. 20) 

Another question in the questionnaire of present study, 

is related to understanding of specific needs of patients, is 

previously used by Lim and Tang (2000), Mostafa (2005), 

Karassavidou (2009), Miranda (2010). (Question no. 22) 

Interest of doctors and health staff towards problem 

resolution of their patients was considered previously by Lim 

and Tang (2000), Mostafa (2005), Karassavidou (2009), Miranda 

(2010) and we are including this question in our questionnaire. 

(Question no. 21). 

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Research 

III.3 Measures 

SPSS 17 is used for data analysis and differences of 

ratings related to expectations and perceptions were obtained to 

identify the gap regarding each item of the questionnaire. The 

purpose was to identify the areas where the maximum and 

minimum gaps in the selected hospitals exist. This approach was 

also used in Karassavidou (2009), Lim and Tang (2000), 

Myercoughs (2002), Sohail (2003), and Yesilada and Direktor 

(2010). 

As a second step, factor analysis was performed. On 

the basis of the ratings of the perceptions of 252 respondents, 

factors were extracted as the determinants of the patients’ 

satisfaction 5 . To extract important factors as the determinants of 

patients’ satisfaction, the technique of factor analysis was used 

as used by Andaleeb (2008), Iwaarden (2003), Kang and James 

(2004), Karassavidou (2009), Manaf and Nooi (2000), Sohail 

(2003), Parasuraman (1988), Yesilada and Direktor (2010). Factor 

loadings were obtained by using Varimax rotation. The 

consistency of data was checked by using Cronbach alpha that 

was also used in Babakus and Mangold (1992), Manaf and Nooi 

(2000), Parasuraman (1988), Sohail (2003) and Mostafa (2005). 

After performing the factor analysis a regression was run by 

taking all the extracted factors as the independent variables and 

patients’ satisfaction as the dependent variable (Yesilada & 

Direktor, 2010). The values of the independent variables were 

obtained by calculating the mean score of the items that were 

loaded on each factor. The 26 th item that measures the patients’ 

satisfaction with overall service quality was used as the 

dependent variable. 

Y ( patients ' satisfacti on) 

 

0 

1X 

1 

 

2 

X 

2 

 

.......... 

n 

X n 

Where, 

 

i 

: the regression coefficients estimated on the basis of the 

data 

X 

i 

: the independent variables obtained from factor analysis 


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Research 


The regression models were measured in two steps: 

First, by considering all 252 observations and second them three 

regression models that were obtained for three hospitals 

based upon thedata collected from each hospital. 

IV. Findings & Discussion 

At the first stage of our analysis, the study has been 

focused on the gap analysis (the difference in the ratings of 

expectations and perceptions of the respondents). For each item 

of the questionnaire, the study identified the maximum and 

minimum gaps so that the areas of strengths and weaknesses for 

each hospital. In Table 1, only maximum and minimum gaps in the 

items related to each dimension were presented for all the three 

hospitals. 

In tangibility, the item “doctors/staff are neat in 

appearance” has minimum difference of 0.7292 for the private 

hospital while the item “informative brochures are available” has 

the maximum differences of 1.7879 for the public hospital. 

In Reliability, the item “doctor/staff are professional and 

competent” has the minimum value of 0.9167 for the private hospital 

and the item “system of error free and fast retrieval of documents” 

has the maximum value of 1.7556 for the semi-public hospital. 

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Research 

Table 1- Hospital-wise minimum and maximum gaps in expectations & perceptions 

D im e n s io n It e m M a x. M in . M a x. M in . M a x. M in . 

u p -t o -d a t e 

e q u ip m e n t 

c le a n & 

c o m fo rt a b le 

e n v iro n m e n t 

Tangibility 

d o c t o rs / s t a ff a re 

n e a t 

in fo rm a t iv e 

b ro c h u re s 

p riv a c y is 

o b s e rv e d 

s e rv ic e s a re 

p ro v id e d a t 

a p p o in t e d t im e 

0 .7 3 0 .9 8 0 .9 0 9 1 

1 .2 9 1 7 1 .6 6 7 1 .7 8 8 

1 .5 1 5 

s e rv ic e s a re 

c a rrie d o u t rig h t 

a t t h e firs t t im e 

Reliability 

D o c t o rs a n d 

s t a ff a re 

p ro fe s s io n a l a n d 

c o m p e t e n t 

0 .9 2 1 .1 3 1 .2 4 2 4 

s y s t e m o f e rro r 

fre e a n d fa s t 

re t rie v a l o f 

d o c u m e n t s 

e xis t s 

c o n s is t e n c y o f 

c h a rg e s 

p ro m p t s e rv ic e s 

a re g iv e n 

d o c t o rs a n d s t a ff 

a re re s p o n s iv e 

1 .6 0 4 2 

1 .7 5 6 1 .5 1 5 

1 .4 2 1 .3 6 3 6 

1 .4 2 1 .3 6 3 6 

Responsiveness 

a t t it u d e o f 

d o c t o rs a n d s t a ff 

in s t ill c o n fid e n c e 

in p a t ie n t s 

0 .9 6 

w a it in g t im e 

d o e s n o t e xc e e d 

o n e h o u r 

2 .0 8 3 3 1 .7 1 1 2 


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Research 


Table-1 (continuation) 

D im e nsi on I tem M a x . M in . M ax . M in . M a x . M in. 

Empathy 

Assurance 

Accessibility & 

Affordability 

do cto r s and 

sta f f a r e 

c ou r te o us 

a nd fr ien d ly 

do cto r s 

po ss ess w i de 

sp e c tr um o f 

kn o w le d ge 

pa t ie nts a re 

tr e a ted w it h 

dig n ity a nd 

re s p e c t 

pa t ie nts a re 

e xp la in e d 

the ir 

m e d ic al 

c on d itio n 

tho r o ug hl y 

fe e d b a c k is 

ob ta in e d 

fr o m 

pa t ie nts 

ser vi c es a r e 

a va il a ble 

ro u nd th e 

c lo c k 


sta f f ha v e 

pa t ie nts ' be s t 

inter es ts a t 

he a r t 


sta f f 

un de rs ta nd 

the s pe c i fic 

ne e d s o f 

pa t ie nts 

ho sp ital h a s 

a de q u ate 

pa r k in g 

fa c il ities 

the lo c a tio n 

is a c ce ss ib le 

c ha r g e s f or 

the s e rv ic es 

re n d er ed a r e 

a ff o r dab le 

1.0 8 89 .93 9 4 

.87 5 0 

1 .1 8 75 1 .6 22 2 2 .1 51 5 

1 .5 8 33 2 .0 22 2 2 .4 54 5 

1 .06 2 5 1.5 1 11 .87 8 8 

.77 0 8 1.0 0 00 .78 7 9 

1 .8 1 25 1 .9 11 1 2 .3 33 3 

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Research 

In Responsiveness, the item “attitude of doctors and 

staff instill confidence in patients” has the minimum mean 

difference of 0.9583 for the private hospital and the item “waiting 

time should not exceed one hour” has the maximum mean rating 

of 2.0833 for the private hospital. 

In Assurance, the item “patients are treated with dignity 

and respect” has the minimum mean difference of 0.875 for the 

private hospital and the item “patients are explained their medical 

condition thoroughly has the highest mean difference of 2.1515 

for the public hospital. 

For Empathy, the item “services are available round the 

clock” is found with the minimum value of 0.8788 lowest for the 

public hospital and the item “feedback is obtained from patients 

has the highest mean difference of 2.4545 for the public hospital. 

For Accessibility & Affordability, the item “the location 

is accessible” has the minimum mean difference of 0.7708 for the 

private hospital and the maximum difference of 2.3333 in mean 

ratings is observed for the item “charges for the services 

rendered are affordable” for the public hospital. 

In the second stage, exploratory factor analysis was 

performed (see Appendix 2 for SPSS output of Factor Analysis), 

by taking the ratings of the perception of respondents regarding 

each item then these extracted factors were used to determine 

patients’ satisfaction. The results are displayed in table 2. 

Five factors were extracted as a result of factor analysis. 

According to the nature of the items that were loaded on a factor; 

they are named as Tangibility & Professionalism, Reliability & 

responsiveness, Assurance & Empathy, Feedback, and 

Affordability. 


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Research 


Table 2- Extracted Factors, Factor Loadings, Cronbach Alpha and Average 

Variance Extracted 

Dimensions /Item s 

F actor 

Loa dings 

C ronbach 

A lpha(α) 

Avera ge 

Variance 

Ex tracted 

(AVE ) 

287 

T angibility and Pro fessiona lis m 0 .8 38 17 .555 

Up to date and well m ain tain ed 

equ ip men t 0 .77 4 

Do ctors and staff are neat in a ppearance 0 .67 1 

Do ctors and staff are profes sio nal and 

com petent 0 .70 5 

Sys tem of erro r free and fas t r etrieval of 

do cum ents 0 .66 2 

Do ctors po ss ess wid e sp ectrum o f 

kn owledg e 0 .61 7 

Th e lo catio n is access ib le 0 .54 1 

Reliability & Respo nsiv enes s 0 .8 65 15 .754 

Priv acy is ob served du rin g tre atm ent 0 .59 0 

Services are pro vid ed at app oin ted time 0 .68 4 

Services are carried out rig ht at the first 

tim e 0 .63 8 

Do ctors and staff are res po nsi ve 0 .51 5 

Atti tud e of d octors an d s taff ins till 

con fi den ce in patients 0 .63 6 

waitin g tim e d oes not exceed on e hou r 0 .77 2 

As surance a nd Em pathy 0 .7 52 13 .851 

Do ctors and staff are court eous and 

friend ly 0 .57 4 

Pati ents are treated with di gni ty and 

resp ect 0 .62 3 

Do ctors and staff have p atients' best 

in terest at heart 0 .77 8 

Do ctors and staff und erstand the specific 

needs o f a patient 0 .80 3 

Feedback a nd Gui dance 0 .5 57 9.6 90 

Infor mative broch ures are av ailab le 0 .57 3 

Pati ents are exp lain ed their med ical 

con ditio n thoro ug hly 0 .79 2 

Feedback is ob tain ed fro m pati ent s 0 .80 7 

Affo rdability 0 .8 51 6.4 98 

C ons is ten cy o f charges 0 .70 4 

C harges for the s ervices rendered are 

affo rdab le 0 .81 



Research 

The reliability coefficients (Cronbach Alpha) are all 

greater than 0.5 (see appendix 3) and ranged from 0.577 to 0.865 

except for the factor (named as affordability) for which the value 

is below the cut off value of 0.6. The total variance explained on 

the basis of rotated factor loading is 63.349. The average 

variances extracted by each of factors are 17.555 (tangibility & 

professionalism), 15.754 (reliability & responsiveness), 13.851 

(assurance & empathy), 9.690 (feedback & guidance) and 6.498 

(affordability) respectively. Chart 3 gives the flow chart of 

determinants with alpha (α) values and average variance extracted 

by each factor. 

CHART 3 – Determinants of Patients’ Satisfaction extracted from Exploratory 

Factor Analysis with Cronbach Alpha and Average Variance Extracted Values 

Tangibility & 

Professionalism 

Reliability & 

Responsiveness 

α=0.838, 

AVE =17.555% 

α=0.865, 

AVE =15.754% 

Assurance & 

Empathy 

α=0.752, 

AVE =13.851% 

Patients’ 

Satisfaction 

Feedback & 

Guidance 

α=0.557, 

AVE =9.690% 

α=0.851, 

AVE =6.468% 

Affordability 

a 


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Research 


In the third stage of data analysis, regression analysis 

was performed by taking the ratings of 252 respondents on the 

basis of items related to the extracted factors. These extracted 

factors have been taken as the independent variables while 

patients’ satisfaction (measured with the help of ratings given to 

the 26 th item 6 of the questionnaire) as the dependent variable. The 

results of regression analysis are presented in tables 3 (a) through 

3 (c). From table 3 (a), R Square for the regression model is 0.694 

with the standard error of the estimate having a very low value of 

0.32086. Table 3 (b) gives the results of analysis of variance and it 

shows that ANOVA is statistically significant. 

It adds further reliability to the regression model. 

Table 3 (a) 

Model 

R 

R 

Square 

Adjusted R 

Square 

Std. 

Error of 

the 

Estimate 

1 .833 a .694 .687 .32806 

M o de l 

S u m of 

S qu a r e s 

A N O V A b 

df 

Table 3 (b) 

M e a n 

S q u a re F S ig . 

1 R e g r e ss ion 5 9 .95 4 5 1 1 .99 1 1 11 .41 7 .0 00 a 

R e s id ua l 2 6 .47 5 2 46 .10 8 

T o ta l 8 6 .42 9 2 51 

Table (3 c) gives the regression coefficients for the model 

based upon the extracted factors. All the five factors that were 

extracted on the basis of factor analysis are found statistically 

significant to determine patients’ satisfaction except the factor 

named as feedback and guidance. 

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Research 

M o de l 

C o ef fic i e nts a 

U n sta nd ar di z ed 

C oe ff ic ien ts 

B 

Std . 

E r ro r 

S ta nd a rdi ze d 

C oef f icie n ts 

B eta 

t Sig . 

1 (C o ns tant) .6 20 .13 9 4 .47 6 .00 0 

T ang ib ility & 

Pro fe s sio na li sm 

Table 3 c (Regression Coefficients – All Hospitals) 

.2 18 .04 7 .23 5 4 .68 7 .00 0 

R elia b ilit y & 

R esp o ns iv e ne s s 

A ss ur an c e & 

E mp a th y 

Fe ed back & 

G uid a n ce 

.3 41 .04 2 .41 4 8 .14 3 .00 0 

.1 62 .04 1 .22 5 4 .00 0 .00 0 

.0 44 .03 0 .06 7 1 .44 6 .15 0 

A f fo r dab ili ty .0 55 .02 5 .08 3 2 .19 4 .02 9 

a. D e p end ent V ariab le : P atie nt s' Sa tis f ac tio n 

Regression Standarized Residual 


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Research 


After performing analysis of variance, the predictive 

ability of the regression model was checked on the basis of 

histogram and P-P Plot of the dependent variable (patients’ 

satisfaction) and the regression standardized residuals was 

obtained. It also shows that the residuals are approximately 

normally distributed, while histogram indicated some extreme 

frequencies in the region having standardized residual values 

between 0.6 and 1.4. 

Histogram and normal P-P plot suggested that the 

elimination of ‘feedback and guidance’ from the model. After 

removing this factor another regression model was run. The 

results of the regression model after removing the stated variable 

are displayed in tables 4 (a) through 4 (c). 

Model R R Square 

Table 4 (a) 

Model Summary b 

Adjusted R 

Square 

Std. Error of 

the Estimate 

1 .831 a .691 .686 .32878 

Table 4 (b) 

Model 

Sum of 

Squares 

ANOVA b 

df 

Mean 

Square F Sig. 

1 Regression 59.729 4 14.932 138. 

139 

Residual 26.700 247 .108 

Total 86.429 251 

a. Predictors: (Constant), Affordability, Reliability & 

Responsibility, Tangibility & Professionalism, Empathy 

b. Dependent Variable: Patients' Satisfaction 

.000 a 

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Th e m odel h a s R squar e of 0.691 wi t h 

approximately same standard error. Table 4 b gives the 

results of ANOVA for the model has a relatively greater F- 

value as compared with the initially fitted model. 

Table 4 (c) indicates the statistical significance of 

the predictors included in the regression model. All the 

independent variables that were included in the regression 

model have p-values less than 0.05. On the basis of the 

finding in table 4 (c) we obtain the regression model: 

Y (Patients’ satisfaction) = 0.632 + 0.222 (tangibility 

&professionalism) + 0.343 (reliability & responsiveness) + 

0.189 (assurance & empathy) + 0.058 (affordability) 

Mo del 

Table 4 (c) 

C oeffici ents a 

Uns tand ardized 

Coefficients 

B 

St d. 

Erro r 

Stand ardized 

Coefficients 

B et a 

1 (Co nstant ) .63 2 . 139 4.5 58 .0 00 

Tang ib ility & 

Profession alism 

Reliabili ty & 

Res po nsivenes s 

Ass urance & 

Em path y 

t 

Sig. 

.22 2 . 047 .23 8 4.7 50 .0 00 

.34 3 . 042 .41 7 8.1 93 .0 00 

.18 9 . 036 .26 2 5.2 10 .0 00 

Afford ab ility .05 8 . 025 .08 9 2.3 40 .0 20 

a. Dep en dent Vari able: Patients' Satis factio n 


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In the fourth stage of the data analysis, separate models 

were obtained for the three hospitals. Preliminary data analysis 

indicated that different combinations of predictors were 

statistically significant for each hospital set up. 

Table 5 (Regression model For Private Hospital) 

Model R R Square 

Model Summary 

Adjusted R 

Square 

Std. Error of 

the Estimate 

1 .718 a .516 .500 .33509 

a. Predictors: (Constant), affordability, reliability & 

responsiveness, feedback & guidance 

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M ode l 

1 R egress i 

on 

S um o f 

S qu are s 

A NO VA b 

df 

M e an 

S qu are F S ig. 

1 1.0 03 3 3. 668 3 2.6 64 .0 00 a 

R esid ual 1 0.3 30 9 2 . 112 

To ta l 2 1.3 33 9 5 

a . P re di c tors : (C o nst a nt ), a fforda b il it y, re l ia bi li ty & 

re spo ns ive n e ss, fe e dba c k & gu id an c e 

b. Depe n de nt Varia b le : pa t ie nt s' sa t is fa c t io n 

Model 

Coefficients a 

Unstandardized 

Coefficients 

B 

Std. 

Error 

Standardized 

Coefficients 

Beta 

t 

Sig. 

1 (Constant) 1.579 .232 6.813 .000 

reliability & 

responsiveness 

feedback & 

guidance 

.298 .070 .349 4.241 .000 

.196 .045 .367 4.371 .000 

affordability .107 .043 .202 2.486 .015 

a. Dependent Variable: patients' satisfaction 

Table 5 summarizes the results of the regression model 

that is obtained for the private hospital based upon the 

perceptions of 95 respondents. It has a R square value of 0.516 

with the standard error of the estimate 0.33509. ANOVA showed 

an F value of 32.664 and reliability & responsiveness, feedback 

& guidance and affordability appeared as the strong predictors 

of patients’ satisfaction with the p-values below 0.02.The 

regression model obtained for the private hospital is: 


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Research 


Y (patients’ satisfaction) = 1.579 + 0.298 (reliability & 

responsiveness) + 0.196 (feedback & guidance) + 0.107 

(affordability) 

Table 6 (a) and 6 (b), gives the results for the regression 

model obtained for the semi-public hospital based upon the 

perceptions of 90 respondents. The R square value for the model 

is 0.775 with the standard error estimate for the model was 0.3. 

ANOVA was statistically significant with the F value of 98.832. 

T a ble 6 (a ) & (b) (M od el Sum m a ry fo r Sem i-priv a te 

ho sp ita l) 

M o del Su mm a ry 

M o d el R R Sq uare 

A d ju sted R 

Sq u are 

Std . E rro r of 

th e E sti mate 

1 .88 0 a .7 75 .76 7 .30 0 28 

a. Pred icto rs: (Co nstant), em p athy , tang ib ility & 

p rofessio nali sm , reliab ilit y & resp on siv en ess 

Model 


Squares 

ANOVA b 

df 

Mean 

Square F Sig. 

1 Regression 26.734 3 8.911 98.832 .000 a 

Residual 7.754 86 .090 

Total 34.489 89 

a. Predictors: (Constant), empathy, tangibility & 

professionalism, reliability & responsiveness 

b. Dependent Variable: patients' satisfaction 

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Research 

In the regression model, the factors, tangibility & 

professionalism, reliability and responsiveness and empathy, 

appeared as the statistically significant predictors (with p values 

closer to zero) for the patients’ satisfaction for the semigovernment 

hospital selected for the study. 

The regression model for the semi-government hospital is: 

Y (patients’ satisfaction) = 0.375 + 0.283 (tangibility & 

Professionalism) + 0.325 (reliability & responsiveness) + 0.282 

(assurance & empathy) 

Table 6 c (Regression coefficients for Semi-public Hospital) 

Coefficients a 

Model 


Coefficients 

B 

Std. 

Error 

Standardized 

Coefficients 

Beta 

t 

Sig. 

1 (Constant) .375 .187 2.007 .048 

tangibility & 

professionalism 

reliability & 

responsiveness 

Assurance & 

empathy 

.283 .061 .321 4.675 .000 

.325 .069 .356 4.715 .000 

.282 .051 .360 5.560 .000 

Table 7 gives the results of the regression model obtained for the 

public sector hospital selected for the study. The R square for the 

model was 0.769 with the standard error of 0.325. ANOVA is found 

to be statistically significant with the F value of 68.770. The 

variables tangibility & professionalism, reliability & 

responsiveness, and empathy appeared as strong predictors of 

patients’ satisfaction for the hospital operated by the public 

sector. 


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The regression model for the Public Hospital is: 

Y (patients’ satisfaction) = 0.875 + 0.195 (tangibility & 

Professionalism) + 0.366 (reliability & responsiveness) + 

0.161 (empathy) 

Table 7 (Regression model for Public Hospital) 

Mo del R R Squ are 

M odel Summ ary 

Adjusted R 

Sq uare 

Std. E rro r of the 

Estimate 

1 .87 7 a .7 69 . 75 8 .32513 

a. Pred ictors: (Con stan t), e mp athy , reliability & 

respon siveness, tangibility & pro fession alism 

Mo del 

A NO V A b 

S um of 

Sq uares 

d f 

Mean 

Sq uare F Sig . 

1 Reg res si on 21 .8 09 3 7 .27 0 68. 7 

7 0 

Res id ual 6 .55 4 62 .10 6 

Tot al 28 .3 64 65 

a. Predi ct ors : (C on st ant), emp ath y, rel iab ili ty & 

res po nsi ven ess, tan gib il it y & p rofess ion ali sm 

b. D epend ent Variab le: pati ent s' sat isfact io n 

M odel 

Co efficients a 

Un standardized 

Coefficients 

B 

Std . 

Error 

Standardized 

Coefficients 

Beta 

t 

Sig. 

1 (Constant) .875 . 237 3.6 93 . 00 0 

tangibility 

& 

professiona 

lism 

reliability 

& 

respon sive 

ness 

Assuran ce 

& empathy 

.195 . 113 .208 1.7 20 . 09 0 

.366 . 072 .508 5.0 76 . 00 0 

.161 . 087 .227 1.8 54 . 06 9 

a. D ependent Variable: patients' satisfaction 

. 000 

a 

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Conclusions and Recommendations 

The paper provides health care managers and 

administrators an opportunity to identify the dimensions of the 

service quality in which larger gaps between the patients’ 

expectations and perceptions were found in the three hospitals. 

In this context, the gap analysis has revealed that the following 

items have very large gaps. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Availability of informative brochures 

Error free and fast retrieval of documents 

Waiting times 

Counseling of patients regarding their 

treatment 

Feedback of patients regarding service quality 

Affordability of charges 

Hospital-based comparison identifies that the maximum 

gap regarding availability of informative brochures has been 

observed among the respondents who have visited the public 

hospital. This result is expected because of the fact the public 

hospitals are not profit oriented but service oriented entities and 

their spending depends upon the governments’ budgetary 

allocations and for that reason public sector hospitals have much 

less to spend on informative brochures as compared to the private 

sector hospitals. Error free and fast retrieval of documents is the 

area of concern for the respondents who have visited the semiprivate 

hospital. Waiting time is the area of grievance among the 

visitors of the private hospital. Respondents of public hospitals 

have rated the items ‘medical condition thoroughly’, ‘feedback 

obtained from patients’ and ‘affordability of charges’ in a way 

that gives the larger gaps between their expectations and 

perceptions regarding quality of service that they are provided. 

Table 8 gives the summary of the regression models that were 

run in this study. 


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Research 


Hosptial 

Table 8 – Summary of the Regression Models 

Determinants of Patients' 

Satisfaction 

Regression 

Coefficient 

Significance 

Constant 0.632 0.0000 

Tangibility & Professionalism 0.222 0.0000 

R- 

Square 

All Reliability & Responsiveness 0.343 0.0000 0.691 

Assurance & Empathy 0.189 0.0000 

Affordability 0.058 0.0200 

Constant 1.579 0.0000 

Private Reliability & Responsiveness 0.298 0.0000 0.516 

Feedback & Guidance 0.196 0.0000 

Affordability 0.107 0.0150 

Semi- 

Public Constant 0.375 0.0480 

Tangibility & Professionalism 0.283 0.0000 

Reliability & Responsiveness 0.325 0.0000 0.775 


Public Constant 0.875 0.0000 

Tangibility & Professionalism 0.195 0.0900 0.769 

Reliability & Responsiveness 0.366 0.0000 


The technique of regression analysis, when applied to 

the entire data set, has shown that the factors reliability & 

responsiveness, tangibility & professionalism, Empathy and 

Affordability as the statistically significant determinants of 

patients’ satisfaction. 

In the regression model obtained on the basis of 

perceptions of 95 respondents in the private hospital, the factors 

reliability & responsiveness, feedback and guidance, and 

affordability are found statistically significant determinants of 

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Research 

patients’ satisfaction. The findings indicate that the management 

of the private hospital considered in the study has to work in the 

areas that appeared as the significant determinants of patients’ 

satisfaction. They have to especially focus on shortening the 

waiting time of the patients and make sure the availability of the 

doctors at the appointed time. They have also to focus on the 

affordability aspect of the service. 

The regression model obtained for the semi-public 

hospital has resulted in the factors of reliability & 

responsiveness, tangibility & professionalism and empathy as 

the statistically significant determinants of patients’ satisfaction. 

This model is based upon 90 respondents who have visited the 

selected semi-public hospital at the time of data collection. The 

management of this hospital has to give more emphasis on the 

cleanliness of the hospital and to make their staff more courteous. 

They have also to improve the system of fast and error free 

retrieval of documents and they have to make their staff more 

courteous and responsive because these are some of the aspects 

of the service quality with which patients are most dissatisfied 

and need immediate attention. 

In the public hospital selected for the study, the 

regression model based upon the perceptions of 66 respondents 

identifies the factors of reliability and responsiveness, tangibility 

& professionalism and empathy as the statistically significant 

predictors of patients’ satisfaction. According to the findings of 

this study the areas of immediate attention with which patients 

can be made more satisfied are the cleanliness of the hospital, 

waiting times, proper attention and guidance to the patients 

regarding their medical condition and feedback of the patients. 

The public hospitals are the only sign of hope and source of 

getting medical treatment for the masses as the majority of our 

population lives below the poverty line and they cannot afford 

to get medical treatment in the private hospitals. 


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Research 


In comparison with the overall regression model the 

factor of reliability & responsiveness is the common factor 

appeared with the highest factor loadings in all regression models. 

The factors of tangibility & professionalism and empathy have 

appeared in the regression models obtained for the semi-public 

and public sector hospitals. The factors of feedback & guidance 

and affordability have appeared as the determinants of patients’ 

satisfaction only in the regression model obtained for the private 

hospital. 

The target audience of this paper is the management of 

the hospitals considered in the study. The findings of this research 

paper highlight the areas where management of each hospital has 

to make improvements to increase patients’ satisfaction because 

the gaps in perceptions and expectations of the patients are 

critically important for their performance improvement. 

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Research 

Notes 

1- It is based upon three dimensions, technical, functional 

and image to determine the service quality instead of 

functional quality dimension that is characterized by five 

components in the original SERVQUAL model. 

2- It includes the services of doctors and nurses, clinical 

treatment received, the way the patients were managed or 

treated, and the information given about the condition of 

patient 

3- It includes clean liness, environmen t, noise in ward, 

management of visitors, registration process, comfort of 

waiting room, atmosphere of pharmacy. 

4- It was determined by taking 20% of the patients selected as 

the respondents who visited the hospitals during data 

collection period. 

5- It is the degree to which individual regards the health care 

service or product or the manner in which it is delivered by 

the provider as useful, effective or beneficial. 

Source: www.biology-online.org/dictionary/ 

patient_satisfaction 

6- How do you rate the overall service quality of this hospital? 


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Research 


References 

Andaleeb.S (1992) ,”Caring for children: A model of healthcare 

service quality in Bangladesh” , International Journal for 

Quality in Health Care, Volume 20, Number 5: pp. 339–345 

Babakus.E,Mangold.G , “Adapting the SERVQUAL Scale to 

Hospital Services”: An Empirical investigation , Health 

Services Research 26:6 (February 1992) 

Iwaarden, V. J., van der Wiele, T., Ball, L., and Millen, R., 

(2003), “Applying SERVQUAL to websites: An exploratory 

study”, International Journal of Quality & Reliability 

Management, Vol.20, No. 8, pp. 919-935 

Kang.G and James.J, (2004), “Service quality dimensions:An 

examination of Gronroos’s service model” Managing Service 

Quality, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp 266-277. 

Karassavidou, E., Glaveli, N., Papadopoulos, C. T., (2009), 

“Health Care Quality in Greek NHS Hospitals: No one knows 

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No. 1, pp 34-46. 

Lim, P.C. and Tag, N.K. (2000), “A study of patients’ 

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International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 

13, No. 7, pp. 290-299. 

Manaf.N and Nooi.P(2009). “Patient Satisfaction as an 

Indicator of Service Quality in Malaysian Public Hospitals”, 

Asian Journal on Quality, Vol. 10 Iss: 1, pp.77 – 87 

Miranda, F.J., Chamorro, A., Murillo, L.R., Vega, J. “Adapting 

the SERVQUAL Scale to Primary Health Care Services in Spain: 

Managers vs. Patients perceptions”, J. Public Health 

Management Practice(2010) 

Mostafa, M.M. (2006), An empirical study of patients; 

expectations and satisfaction in Egyptian Hospitals”, 

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International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 

18, No. 7, pp. 516-32 

Myerscough.M.A (2002) ‘ “Concerns about SERVQUAL’s 

underlying dimensions”, Issues in information systems,III 

,pp.462-470 

Oliveria, O.J., and Ferreira, E.C., “Adaptation and application 

of the SERVQUAL scale in higher education”, POMS 20 th 

Annual Conference. 

Parasuraman, A., Valarie, A., Zeithaml, Berry, L. L. (1985), “ A 

Conceptual model of Service Quality and Its Implications for 

Future Research”, Journal of Marketing Vol.49 (Fall 1985), pp 

41-50 

Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A., and Berry, L. (1988), 

“SERVQUAL: A Multiple-item Scale for Measuring Consumer 

Perceptions of Service Quality”, Journal of Retailing, Vol.64 

(Spring), p.12-40. 

Sohail, M. S.,(2003), “Service quality in hospitals: more 

favorable than you might think”, Managing service Quality, 

Vol. 13 Iss:3, pp.197-206 

Vinagre, M. H., Neves, J., (2008)”The influence of service quality 

and patients’ emotions on satisfaction”, International Journal 

of Health Care Quality Assurance Vol.21 No.1, pp. 87-103 

Yesilada.F and Direktor.E: “Health care service quality:A 

comparison of public and private hospitals”, African Journal 

of Business management ,Vol.4(6),pp 962-971,June 2010. 


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Research 


APPENDIX 1 

Que s tio nnair e 

Gender: 

M / F Age: _______Area of Residence: _______________ 

1. The hospital should have up-to-date and well-maintained 

medical facilities and equipment 

1(a). The hospital has up-to-date and well-maintained medical 

facilities and Equipment 

1. 1 2 3 4 5 

1(a). 1 2 3 4 5 

strongly disagree strongly agree 

2. The hospital should have clean and comfortable environment 

with good directional signs. 

2(a). The hospital should has clean and comfortable environment 

with good 

directional signs. 

2. 1 2 3 4 5 

2(a). 1 2 3 4 5 


3. Doctors /staff should be neat in appearance. 

3(a). Doctors /staff are neat in appearance. 

3. 1 2 3 4 5 

3(a). 1 2 3 4 5 


4. Informative brochures about services should be available. 

4(a). Informative brochures about services are available. 

4. 1 2 3 4 5 

4(a). 1 2 3 4 5 


5. Privacy should be observed during treatment. 

5(a). Privacy is observed during treatment. 

5. 1 2 3 4 5 

5(a). 1 2 3 4 5 


6. Services should be provided at appointed time. 

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6(a). Services are provided at appointed time. 

6. 1 2 3 4 5 

6(a). 1 2 3 4 5 

strongly disagree 

strongly agree 

7. Services should be carried out right the first time. 

7(a). Services are carried out right the first time. 

7. 1 2 3 4 5 

7(a). 1 2 3 4 5 



8. Doctors/staff should be professional and competent. 

8(a). Doctors/staff are professional and competent. 

8. 1 2 3 4 5 

8(a). 1 2 3 4 5 



9. The hospital should have the system of error free and fast 

retrieval of documents. 

9(a). The hospital has the system of error free and fast retrieval 

of documents. 

9. 1 2 3 4 5 

9(a). 1 2 3 4 5 



10. There should be consistency of service charges. 

10(a). There is a consistency of service charges. 

10. 1 2 3 4 5 

10(a). 1 2 3 4 5 



11. Patients should be given prompt services. 

11(a). Patients are given prompt services. 

11. 1 2 3 4 5 

11(a). 1 2 3 4 5 



12. Doctors /staff should be responsive. 


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12(a). Doctors /staff are responsive. 

12. 1 2 3 4 5 

12(a). 1 2 3 4 5 



13. Attitude of doctors/staff should instill confidence in patients. 

13(a). Attitude of doctors/staff instill confidence in patients. 

13. 1 2 3 4 5 

13(a). 1 2 3 4 5 



14. Waiting time should not exceed one hour. 

14(a). Waiting time does not exceed one hour. 

14. 1 2 3 4 5 

14(a). 1 2 3 4 5 



15. Doctors/staff should be courteous and friendly. 

15(a). Doctors/staff are courteous and friendly. 

15. 1 2 3 4 5 

15(a). 1 2 3 4 5 



16. Doctor should posses wide spectrum of knowledge. 

16(a). Doctors possess wide spectrum of knowledge. 

16. 1 2 3 4 5 

16(a). 1 2 3 4 5 



17. Patients should be treated with dignity and respect. 

17(a). Patients are treated with dignity and respect. 

17. 1 2 3 4 5 

17(a). 1 2 3 4 5 



18. Patients should be explained their medical condition 

thoroughly. 

18(a). Patients are explained their medical condition thoroughly. 

18. 1 2 3 4 5 

18(a). 1 2 3 4 5 



19. Feedback should be obtained from patients. 

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Research 

19(a). Feedback is obtained from patients. 

19. 1 2 3 4 5 

19(a). 1 2 3 4 5 



20. Service should be available round the clock. 

20(a). Services are available round the clock. 

20. 1 2 3 4 5 

20(a). 1 2 3 4 5 



21. Doctors /staff should have patients’ best interests at heart. 

21(a). Doctors /staff have patients’ best interests at heart. 

21. 1 2 3 4 5 

21(a). 1 2 3 4 5 



22. Doctors/staff should understand the specific needs of patients. 

22(a). Doctors/staff understand the specific needs of patients. 

22. 1 2 3 4 5 

22(a). 1 2 3 4 5 



23. Hospital should have adequate parking facilities. 

23(a). Hospital has adequate parking facilities. 

23. 1 2 3 4 5 

23(a). 1 2 3 4 5 



24. The location should be accessible. 

24(a). The location is accessible. 

24. 1 2 3 4 5 

24(a). 1 2 3 4 5 



25. The charges for the services rendered should be affordable. 

25(a). The charges for the services rendered are affordable. 

25. 1 2 3 4 5 

25(a). 1 2 3 4 5 



26. How do you rate the overall service quality of this hospital? 

1 2 3 4 5 

Very poor poor average good excellent 


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APPENDIX 2 

(FACTOR ANALYSIS) 

TABLE (A) 

Comp 

onent 

Total 

Initial Eigenvalues 

% of 

Variance 

Total Variance Explained 

Cumulative 

% Total 

Extraction Sums of 

Squared Loadings 

Cumul 


Variance 

ative 

% Total 

Rotation Sums of 

Squared Loadings 


Variance 

Cumul 

ative 

% 

1 9.853 39.411 39.411 9.853 39.411 39.411 4.389 17.555 17.555 

2 2.238 8.950 48.361 2.238 8.950 48.361 3.939 15.754 33.310 

3 1.368 5.474 53.835 1.368 5.474 53.835 3.463 13.851 47.161 

4 1.266 5.065 58.900 1.266 5.065 58.900 2.423 9.690 56.851 

5 1.112 4.449 63.349 1.112 4.449 63.349 1.624 6.498 63.349 

6 .957 3.828 67.177 

7 .846 3.385 70.562 

8 .791 3.163 73.725 

9 .708 2.833 76.558 

10 .671 2.682 79.240 

11 .658 2.632 81.872 

12 .563 2.253 84.125 

13 .545 2.178 86.303 

14 .519 2.074 88.377 

15 .432 1.730 90.107 

16 .376 1.505 91.612 

17 .348 1.392 93.003 

18 .309 1.236 94.239 

19 .297 1.188 95.428 

20 .262 1.046 96.474 

21 .220 .880 97.353 

22 .196 .782 98.136 

23 .181 .725 98.861 

24 .161 .643 99.504 

25 .124 .496 100.000 

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. 

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KMO and Bartlett's Test 

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .873 

Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 1745.409 

df 300 

Sig. .000 

FIGURE 1 


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Research 


up-to-date and wellmaintained 

equipment 

clean and comfortable 

environment with good 

directional signs 

doctors and staff are neat in 

appearance 

informative brochures are 

available 

privacy is observed during 

treatment 

services are provided at 

appointed time 

services are carried out right at 

the first time 

Doctors and staff are 

professional and competent 

system of error free and fast 

retrieval of documents exists 

TABLE (C) 

1 2 3 4 5 

.774 

.671 

.705 

.662 

.590 

.684 

.638 

.573 

consistency of charges .704 

prompt services are given 

doctors and staff are 

responsive 

attitude of doctors and staff 

instill confidence in patients 

waiting time does not exceed 

one hour 

doctors and staff are courteous 

and friendly 

doctors possess wide spectrum 

of knowledge 

patients are treated with 

dignity and respect 

.617 

.515 

.636 

.772 

.574 

.623 

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Research 

patients are explained their 

medical condition thoroughly 

feedback is obtained from 

patients 

services are available round 

the clock 

doctors and staff have patients' 

best interests at heart 

doctors and staff understand 

the specific needs of patients 

hospital has adequate parking 

facilities 

the location is accessible .541 

.778 

.803 

.792 

.807 

charges for the services 

rendered are affordable 

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. 

Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization. 

a. Rotation converged in 6 iterations. 

.810 

APPENDIX 3 (SPSS OUTPUT FOR RELIABILITY ANALYSIS) 

Tangibility & Professionalism 

Case Processing Summary 

N % 

Cases Valid 252 100.0 

Excluded a 0 .0 

Total 252 100.0 

a. Listwise deletion based on all variables in the 

procedure. 

Reliability Statistics 

Cronbach's Alpha N of Items 

.838 6 


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Reliability & Responsiveness 


N % 



Total 252 100.0 


procedure. Reliability Statistics 

Cronbach's Alpha 

N of Items 

.865 4 

Empathy 


N % 



Total 252 100.0 


procedure. 




.752 3 

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Research 

Feedback & Guidance 


N % 



Total 252 100.0 


procedure. 




Affordability 

.557 2 


N % 



Total 252 100.0 


procedure. 




.851 6 


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GENDER DIFFERENCE: WORK 

AND FAMILY CONFLICTS AND 

FAMILY-WORK CONFLICTS 

Abstract 


Department of Business Psychology 


The present study was conducted to explore the prevailing 

differences between work-to-family interference, and family-towork 

interference among men and women employees. The 

population was a random sample of 210 men and women employed 

in Karachi aged 25–50 years. Work-family conflict, and familywork 

conflict was measured by (Niemeyer, Boles, & Mcmurrian - 

1996) 10-item scale, which was scored on a 7-point Likert scale 

ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Data 

collection also included questions about their current functioning 

with regard to family support, control over work responsibilities 

and work hours flexibility along with demographic questions 

about, age, gender, education, marital status, number of 

dependents and nature of employment. Data was analyzed 

through descriptive statistics to assess prevalence of work-tofamily 

interference and family-to-work interference. Overall 

results indicate no significant gender difference with regard to 

work-family interference and family-to-work interference. This is 

theoretically an unexpected result, however, it might be due to 

the sample size which was too small to identify such differences. 

Further study is necessary to accurately identify the predictors 

of work-family interference and family-to-work interference in 

collectivistic societies. 

Key-words: Work-family conflict, family-work conflict, gender 

JEL Classification: A13, J16, Z13, R20, M15 

*An earlier version of this refereed paper was presented at the first 

Business Psychology Seminar held by the Department of Business 

Psychology IoBM in November, 2010 

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Research 

Eclectic Literature Review: 

In the recent past most of the research in the domain of 

work and family has been originated within diverse disciplines 

like sociology, psychology, occupational health, business 

management, and gender and family studies. Work and family 

symbolize two of the most critical roles of an adult life. It’s obvious 

that work can interfere with family and family can interfere with 

work, factors like globalization, equal employment opportunities, 

working hours, and changes in the demographic makeup of 

employees have posed significant challenges for both 

organizations and employees. In particular, with the increase in 

dual-career households, employees are ever more performing both 

work and family roles all together and dealing with job-related 

demands that place limits on the performance of family role and 

vice versa. Hence; researchers are primarily interested in identifying 

causes of work-family interference. 

The work-family interface is defined as a unified 

relationship between work and family. Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, 

and Rosenthal, (1964); first examined this inter-role conflict that 

people experienced between their work roles and other life roles. 

Later Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) defined work-family conflict 

(WFC)as, “a form of inter-role conflict in which role pressures 

from the work and family domain are mutually incompatible in 

some respect” competing work activity or when family stress 

(FWC) has a negative effect on performance in the work role”. 

There are three aspects of the work-family interface that are related 

to conflict: (1) bidirectional nature (Carlson & Kacmar, 2000), (2) 

time, and (3) psychological carryover (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985; 

Piotrkowski, 1979; Voydanoff, 1988). Work -family conflict is 

explained as reciprocal interference of work and family roles 

leading to significant personnel and organizational problems. 

Studies focusing on role stress have suggested that employees 

are frequently confronted with role stress, heavy workloads, long 


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work hours, irregular work schedules, job insecurity and are at 

risk of conflict in the work-family interface (Karatepe & Baddar, 

2006; Karatepe & Sokmen, 2006; Namasivayam & Mount, 2004). 

A group of authors including: Carlson and Kacmar 

(2000); Eagle, Icenogle, and Maes (1998); Eagle, Miles, and 

Icenogle (1997); Frone, Yardley, and Markel (1997); Greenhaus 

and Powell, (2003); Gutek, Searle, Klepa, (1991); Matsui, Ohsawa, 

and Onglotco (1995); Netemeyer, Boles, and McMurrian (1996); 

Williams and Alliger, (1994) agreed that conflict in the work-family 

interface has a bidirectional nature. Such as Frone, Russell and 

Cooper, (1992) have shown that work-family conflict and familywork 

conflict as the two forms of inter-role conflict. Where workfamily 

conflict refers to “a form of inter-role conflict in which the 

general demands of time devoted to, and strain created by the 

job interfere with performing family related responsibilities”; and 

family-work conflict refers to “a form of inter-role conflict in which 

the general demands of time devoted to, and strain created by 

the family interfere with performing work-related responsibilities 

(Netemeyer, Boles, & McMurrian, 1996). 

Similarly, Greenhaus and Powell (2003) showed that 

work-family conflict occurs when participation in work activity 

interferes with participation in a competing family activity or 

when work stress has a negative effect on behavior within the 

family domain. For example, conflict may occur when an employee 

is accepting a promotion that requires more hours which in turn 

decreases the number of hours at home with the family. On the 

other hand, family-work conflict is experienced when participation 

in a family activity interferes with participation in a competing 

work activity or when family stress has a negative effect on 

performance in the work role. 

Industrial and organizational psychologists and other 

researchers have attempted to better understand work-family 

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conflict construct by examining the bidirectionality of work family 

conflict, different types of conflict, several reactance models of 

work-family conflict, and different causal models explaining how 

conflict affects individuals. However, gender differences in work 

and family conflict have been a consistently important theme in 

work-family research (Lewis & Cooper, 1999). Pleck (1977) 

considered gender as an important factor in work-family conflict 

in his theory of the work-family role system. He has conceptualized 

work-family interface that includes gender as an important factor. 

Further he explained that the work-family role system is composed 

of the male work role, the female work role, the female family role, 

and the male family role. Each of these roles may be fully actualized, 

or may be only partly actualized or latent, as is often the case with 

the female work role and the male family role. 

According to Lambert (1990) gender differences must be 

studied in depth. Extensive review of the literature has suggested 

two hypotheses concerning gender differences in domain source 

conflict: domain flexibility and domain salience. The domain 

flexibility hypothesis predicts that the work domain is a greater 

source of conflict than the family domain for both women and 

men. The domain salience hypothesis predicts that the family 

domain is a greater source of conflict for women than the work 

domain and the work domain is a greater source of conflict for 

men than the family domain. Izraeli, (1993); Evans & Bartolome 

(1984) assumed that the work domain is less flexible, thus work 

affects family life more than vice versa and there is no gender 

differences. Contrary to this, Cooke and Rousseau (1984) 

proposed that conflict is greater from the domain that is more 

salient to the person’s identity. Therefore, women experience more 

conflict from the family domain and men from the work domain. 

Hall (1972) noted that women may experience more role conflict 

as a result of simultaneity of their multiple roles. Beside gender, 

some family domain pressures like the effect of presence of young 

children (Lewis & Cooper, 1988); (Kopelman & Greenhaus,1981), 


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spouse time in paid work (Coverman & Sheley, 1986); (Voydanoff, 

1988) and work domain pressures like number of hours worked 

per week (Voydanoff, 1988); (Burke,Weirs & Duwors,1980) are 

associated with work family conflict. 

Moreover, studies have shown that employed women 

generally face more demands (from paid work, child care, and 

housework) than employed men (Robinson & Godbey, 1997). 

The degree of this difference for women is made up by housework: 

when men and women differ on number of hours dedicated to 

housework, flexibility of the activity, and the challenging and or 

creativity of the task. Hochschild (1989) also reported that 

employed mothers work an extra month per year of 24 hour days 

when compared with employed fathers with their number of hours 

dedicated to housework. Similarly, research has shown that men 

do not adjust the time that they spend on home and family 

activities according to their wives’ employment decisions 

(Shelton & John, 1996). Consequently, even if women increase 

the number of hours they work, men are not likely to spend more 

hours on housework. It’s not just time that leaves women with 

the feeling of imbalance. Housework is gendered that is, there 

are tasks that women are expected to perform and others that are 

generally men’s expected responsibility. Women cook, clean, and 

care for children, while men usually take care of home repairs 

and lawn maintenance, (Robinson & Godbey, 1997). In this regard 

“male” activities are more flexible while “female” responsibilities 

are often necessary to do every day. Therefore men do their 

tasks as leisure-like and discretionary activities (Larson, Richards, 

& Perry- Jenkins, 1994); (Shaw, 1988). Greenhaus and Beutell, 

(1985), and many scholars have hypothesized that women 

experience more work-family conflict than men because of their 

typically greater home responsibilities and their allocation of 

more importance to family roles. However, more recent researchers 

have discovered that men and women do not differ on their level 

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of work-family conflict (Blanchard-Fields, Chen, & Hebert, 1997; 

Duxbury & Higgins, 1991; Rice & Frone , 1992; Wallace, 1997) 

On the basis of the above discussion the present study 

aims to explore gender and domain differences in work family 

conflict among women and men employees employed in Karachi. 

Specifically, this study attempts to scrutinize which of the two 

domains that is work-family conflict or family-work conflict, causes 

more conflict for men and women and examine gender differences 

on the basis of Niemeyer, scales measures of work-family conflict 

in Pakistani population. 

Hypothesis: 

1. Null Hypothesis: There is no relationship between 

gender and the degree of work-family and family work 

conflict. 

Alternative hypothesis: There is a relationship 

(difference) between gender and the degree of workfamily 

conflict & family-work conflict. 

2. Null Hypothesis: There is no relationship between 

gender and the nature of work-family and family work 

conflict. 

Alternative hypothesis: There is a relationship between 

gender and nature of family-work conflict and work-family 

conflict. 

Methodology: 

The present study was conducted to observe gender 

differences pertaining to work–family interference among 

employees both men and women from diverse professions which 

include: teachers, mangers, doctors, bankers and others. To assess 

work-family conflict (WFC) and family-work conflict, (FWC) 

Niemeyer, Boles, & Mcmurrian’s (1996), scale was used. It includes 

two subscales: WFC and FWC and each subscale consists of 

five items with 7-point likert rating scale ranging from strongly 


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disagree to strongly agree where 1= strongly disagree, 2= 

disagree, 3= slightly disagree, 4= neutral, 5= slightly agree, 6= 

agree and 7= strongly agree. Niemeyer, Boles, & Mcmurrian 

(1996), described high internal consistency of five items subscales 

for both WFC and FWC that is Cronbach alpha range from .82 to 

.90. The scale measures the respondent’s degree of agreement 

with statements. The scale scores range from 5 to 35, a high 

score indicates a high level of perceived conflict between WFC 

and FWC, while a low score reflects a low level of perceived 

conflict between WFC and FWC. Along with the work-family 

conflict scale, demographic questions about age, gender, 

education, marital status, number of dependents and nature of 

employment were asked. The demographic section also included 

eight moderating variables including: respondent’s perceived 

family, friends and partner’s support for WFC & FWC, perceived 

control over work responsibilities, perceived flexibility in work 

hours, and perceived boss’s support for both WFC and FWC 

measured through self-structured questions. 

Those eight questions are as follows: 

1) on a scale from 1 (no control) to 7 (complete control), 

how much control do you have over your work 

responsibilities? 

2) on a scale from 1 (no flexibility) to 7 (complete flexibility), 

how would you describe your work hours? 

3) on a scale from 1 (no support) to 7 (complete support), 

how would you describe the level of support you feel 

you have from your partner for conflict that arises as a 

result of work interfering with family responsibility? 



you have your partner for conflict that arises as a result 

of family responsibilities interfering with work? 

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you have from your family members and friends for 

conflict that arises as a result of family responsibilities 

interfering with work? 



you have from your family members and friends for 

conflict that arises as a result of family responsibilities 

interfering with work? 



you have from your boss/supervisor for conflict that 

arises as a result of work interfering with family 

responsibilities? 



you have from your boss/supervisor for conflict that 

arises as a result of family responsibilities interfering 

with work? 

The targeted population was both men and women, 

regular full time employees, working in Karachi. The sample 

was a random selection consisting of 105 men and 105 

women (N=210), age ranged 25–50 years. The study was 

conducted through one to one contact. Participants 

completed the work-family conflict, family-work conflict and 

demographic questionnaire. All the data was collected by 

going into the field during September, 2010. 


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Results & Discussion: 

Table 1: Descriptive statistics for demographic variables 

(age, gender, marital status, educational level, no of children 

and nature of employment) 

Demographic Frequency % 

Characteristic 

N= 210 

Gender Male= 105 

Female= 105 

50% 

50% 

Age 

( M=26.4yrs ) 

20-25= 73 

26-30=56 

31-35=20 

36-40=26 

41-45=11 

46-50= 24 

Marital status Married= 120 

Single= 90 

Education level Masters=78 

Graduate =58 

Intermediate=34 

Matric =23 

Others=17 

No of children 0= 66 

1=11 

2=27 

3= 11 

4= 5 

Nature of 

employment 

Full time= 164 

Part-time= 44 

No answer=2 

34% 

26% 

9.5% 

12.5% 

5.% 

11.3% 

57% 

42% 

37% 

27% 

16% 

10% 

8% 

55% 

9% 

22% 

9% 

4% 

78% 

20% 

0.9% 

Data was analyzed through descriptive statistics to 

analyze the demographic characteristics of sample and 

moderating variables. 26.4 years appeared as an average age of 

respondents. Demographic findings show that most of the 

participants i.e. (57%) are married and (55 %) of married 

respondent have no children. On the other hand, the remaining 

married respondents have respectively two (22%) , three (4%) 

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and one (9%) as number of children, this reflects that just 4% of 

the total married population possessed somewhat large family 

size with four children. The rest of total respondents i.e. (47%) 

are single. Among all respondents (37%) have completed their 

masters, (27%) graduate, (16%) intermediate and (10%) matric as 

their last educational qualification (see table 1.1). 

Table 2: Descriptive statistics for Eight moderating factors 

for FWC & WFC 

Variables 

Male 

m 

Female 

m 

Control over work responsibilities 5.5 3 5.27 

Working hours Flexibility 4.59 4.4 

Perceived partner’s Support for WFC 5.05 5.27 

Perceived partner’s Support for FWC 4.8 5.2 

Perceived Friends & Family’s Support 5.0 5.2 

for WFC 

Perceived Friends & Family’s Support 4.8 5.1 

for FWC 

Perceived Boss Support for WFC 4.4 4.5 

Perceived Boss Support for FWC 4.2 4.5 

Table1.2 presents the mean values for all moderating 

variables which work as buffer to WFC & FWC including work 

hour flexibility, control over work responsibilities, family, partner, 

friends and boss’s support for the work-family and family-work 

conflicts. Social support and relations with co-workers and 

managers is an important part of an individual’s social environment 

and lack of it can be a contributing factor to their stress. Our 

findings clearly support this argument as most of the respondents 

experienced moderate level of WFC (mean=21) & FWC 

(mean=17.8). Where 19 is the 50 th percentile for FWC score and 22 

is the 50 th percentile for WFC score distributions. This indicates 

that about half of the total respondent’s scores on WFC & FWC 

scale are either less or equal to 19 and 22 (see Table1.3). 

Furthermore, standard deviation for FWC (std. deviation = 6.3) 

and (std. deviation = 5.7) for WFC which indicates that majority 

of respondent’s scores don’t fall into the mean scores for both 

FWC and WFC scores. Moreover, this is also supported when 

both male and female respondents of the study received complete 


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support from their husbands, family members and friends i.e. 

(5.2%). All respondent irrespective of the gender reported that 

they receive higher level of support and encouragement from 

their families, friends and partners when work and family domains 

become troublesome. On the contrary, most of the participants 

received moderate level of their boss’s support i.e. (4.5%) to 

manage with WFC & FWC. The amount of support received by 

men and women from their bosses is found relatively the same 

i.e. (4.2%). 

In general there is a relation between responsibility and 

control when it comes to work. If individual’s have lots of 

responsibilities at their jobs and little or no control over it to 

have it interfere more with work as well as family obligations 

than control at work responsibilities. Respondents of this study 

reported that they have enough control i.e. (5.5%) over their 

work responsibilities and can also work with flexible working 

hours. Furthermore, for women flexibility at work i.e. (4.4%) 

reduces the amount of family work conflicts when they are able 

to determine the hours they work in which moderates the WF & 

FW interference. 

Table 3: Descriptive Statistics for Work-Family Conflict & 

Family-Work Conflict 

Percentiles FWC WFC 

25 13 17 

50 19 22 

75 23 25 

All respondent’s 17.83 21 

Mean score 

Std. Deviation 6.36 5.75 

Std. Error 0.43 0.39 

Variance 40.45 33 

Male 17.5 20.5 

Female 18.1 21.4 

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Table 4: Chi-Square Tests (SPSS 17.0) 

Value 

df 

Asymp. 

S ig. (2- 

sided) 

Pearson Chi-S quare 26.735 a 26 .423 

Likelihood Ratio 33.125 26 .158 

N of Valid Cases 210 

a. 32 cells (59.3%) have expected count less than 5. The 

minimum expected count is .50. 

Chi-square was analyzed through (SSPS 17.0) to test 

the hypothesis. It was hypothesized that there is no 

relationship between gender and the degree of work-family 

and family work conflict which is rejected at alpha (p=0.05 

level> X2=26.7). The probability of the chi-square test statistic 

p=38.8, at the alpha level of significance of 0.05 was greater for 

FWC & WFC (chi-square=26.7), therefore, the null hypothesis 

was accepted (see Table 4). It was also hypothesized that 

there is a relationship between gender and the type of workfamily 

and family work conflict as women experience more 

family-work conflict and men experience more work-family 

conflict this hypothesis was also rejected at alpha (p=0.05 

level> 38.8). The probability of the chi-square test statistic 

p=38.8, at the alpha level of significance of 0.05 was greater for 

FWC & WFC (chi-square=23), therefore, rejected the research 

hypothesis. The research hypothesis that differences in 

“degree of perceived work-family and family- work conflicts” 

are related to differences in “gender” is not supported by this 

analysis (see Table 5). 


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Table: 5 Chi-Square Tests (SPSS 17.0) 

Chi-Square Tests 

Value 

df 

Asymp. Sig. 

(2-sided) 

Pearson Chi-Square 23.048 a 24 .517 

Likelihood Ratio 26.120 24 .347 

N of Valid Cases 210 

a. 29 cells (58.0%) have expected count less than 5. The 

minimum expected count is .50. 

These findings are more in the line with previous 

studies that there were no differences between the gender in 

experience of work-family conflicts. Even which present 

findings don’t support that family is the greater source of 

conflict for women and work for men. Furthermore, source of 

family-work conflicts are associated with moderating variables 

like the number of small children, number of children and time 

spent at work. Since majority of respondents are married with 

no children might be the indicative of rejection. When it is 

even contrary to our societal gender role expectations and 

responsibilities; women carry out most of the family 

responsibilities from child care to the household. In this way 

these findings can support little when most of the respondents 

are young with small family size hence the family doesn’t 

generate enough pressures when it clashes with their work 

responsibilities. 

This is also an indicative of evolving family- friendly 

organizations in Pakistani society. Social support i.e. family, 

friends, partner and boss’s support is generally considered a 

moderator between stress and conflicts; individuals who 

receive high support experience low strain than others. This 

is also comparable to the respondents in the present study. 

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When both male and female respondents equally perceived 

that they have enough control over their current work 

responsibilities and working hour flexibility and appeared as 

dominating moderating factors for WFC and FWC in the present 

study. It also indicates that working environment in industries 

like academia, health and banks is becoming conducive to work 

in our local context. 

However, with a small and convenient sampling 

generalization of the results hold limitations of the study. 

Moreover, unequal distribution of sample from different and 

specific occupation also resulting limits to the generalization. 

On the basis of above discussion we conclude that sources of 

WFC & FWC can be better examined if employees are with 

comparable occupational and of employment status. Such as 

Karasek’s theory, suggested that lower level managers reported 

higher levels of conflict than others. Therefore, there is still a 

need to study work family conflict construct in detail and 

identify what those different organizational and moderating 

variables like support, controllability and work hour flexibility, 

work load, and work environment to determine gender 

differences for WFC and FWC. Future research may also focus 

on exploring the factor analysis and convergent-validity of 

two different constructs such as Carlson scale for its local 

implication so that it can be brought into human resource 

management functions. 


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THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN 

WORK MOTIVATION AND JOB 

SATISFACTION 

Abstract 

Nadia Ayub 

Department of Business Psychology 

Shagufta Rafif 

Department of Management 


Numerous researchers investigated the relationship between 

job satisfaction and work motivation in diversified 

professions but none investigated bank managers in 

Pakistan. Therefore, the current study attempts to explore 

the relationship between work motivation and job 

satisfaction. Based on the literature review two hypotheses 

were formulated 1) There will be positive relationship between 

work motivation and job satisfaction, and 2) There would be 

a gender difference on the variable of work motivation and 

job satisfaction. To asses job satisfaction, “Job Satisfaction 

Survey (JSS; Spector, 1997)”, and for motivation, “Motivation 

at Work Scale (MAWS, Gagné, M., et.al, 2010)”, were used. 

The sample of the study consists of 80 middle managers (46 

males; 34 females) from different banks of Karachi, Pakistan. 

A Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient was 

calculated for the correlation between the work motivation 

and job satisfaction. In order to find out gender differences 

t test was computed. In conclusion, the findings of the study 

suggest that there was a positive correlation between work 

motivation and job satisfaction. Furthermore, there was a 

significant gender difference on the variable of work 

motivation and job satisfaction. 

Keywords: Motivation, job satisfaction, gender difference 

JEL Classification: J81, O15, Z13, J28 





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Introduction 

The relationship between job satisfaction and motivation 

at work has been one of the widely researched areas in the field of 

management in relation to different professions, but in Pakistan 

very few studies have explored this concept especially on banking 

sectors employees. According to Khan (1997), in the current 

business environment, organizations in all industries are 

experiencing rapid change, which is accelerating at an enormous 

speed. Finck et al. (1998) also stated that companies must 

recognize that the human factor is becoming much more important 

for organizational survival, and that business excellence will only 

be achieved when employees are excited and motivated by their 

work. In addition, difficult circumstances, such as violence, 

tragedy, fear, and job insecurity create severe stress in employees 

and result in reduced workplace performance (Klein, 2002). 

According to Watson (1994) business has come to realize that a 

motivated and satisfied workforce can deliver powerfully to the 

bottom line. Since employee performance is a joint function of 

ability and motivation, one of management’s primary tasks, 

therefore, is to motivate employees to perform to the best of their 

ability (Moorhead & Griffin, 1998). 

Banks are corporeal structures and play a significant 

role in the economy worldwide, although faced by internal 

competition among the commercial banks in Pakistan, the only 

competitive advantage they have is through their motivational 

personnel that deliver quality service to their customers. 

Outstanding services provided by these employees create a niche 

in the eye of the customer, which plays an important and significant 

role in delivering high customer satisfaction. Thus it’s important 

for management to ensure that managers are work place motivated. 

Pinder (1998) described work motivation as the set of 

internal and external forces that initiate work-related behavior, 

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and determine its form, direction, intensity and duration. Pinder 

(1998) contended that an essential feature of this definition is 

that work motivation is an invisible, internal and hypothetical 

construct, and that researchers, therefore, have to rely on 

established theories to guide them in the measurement of 

observable manifestations of work motivation. Du Toit (1990) 

added that three groups of variables influence work motivation, 

namely individual characteristics, such as people’s own interests, 

values and needs, work characteristics, such as task variety and 

responsibility, and organizational characteristics, such as its 

policies, procedures and customs. Van Niekerk (1987) saw work 

motivation as the creation of work circumstances that influence 

workers to perform a certain activity or task of their own free will, 

in order to reach the goals of the organization, and simultaneously 

satisfy their own needs. 

Work motivation of the middle managers in the banking 

sector largely depends on the social, economic, and cultural 

circumstances of the country. If the manager does not receive a 

competitive salary, he will face problem in maintaining his family 

life status. The pressure of the family will not let this individual 

show his full potential, thus he will be stressed out and the 

organizations efficiency will be affected by this individual. 

Therefore, it is very important to find out the variable that 

contributes to his motivation at work and job satisfaction. Job 

satisfaction of the managers who have an important place as 

forerunners of the society will affect the quality of the service 

rendered. 

According to Sempane, Rieger & Roodt (2002), “Job 

satisfaction relates to people’s own evaluation of their jobs 

against those issues that are important to them”. Job satisfaction 

is regarded as related to important employee and organizational 

outcomes, ranging from job performance to health and longevity 

(Spector, 2003). The nature of the environment outside of the job 


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directly influences a person’s feelings and behavior on the job 

(Hadebe, 2001). Judge and Watanabe (1993) reinforced this idea 

by stating that there is a positive and reciprocal relationship exists 

between job and life satisfaction in the short term, and that over 

time, general life satisfaction becomes more influential in a person’s 

life. Schultz and Schultz (1998) emphasized that people spend 

one third to one half of their waking hours at work, for a period of 

40 to 45 years, and that this is a very long time to be frustrated, 

dissatisfied and unhappy, especially since these feelings carry 

over to family and social life, and affect physical and emotional 

health. 

Megginson, Mosley & Pietri (1982) stated that people 

experience job satisfaction when they feel good about their jobs, 

and that this feeling often relates to their doing their jobs well, or 

their becoming more proficient in their professions, or their being 

recognized for good performance. Literature suggests that, “A 

variety of factors motivate people at work, some of which are 

tangible, such as money, and some of which are intangible, such 

as a sense of achievement (Spector, 2003)”. Schultz and Schultz 

(1998) held the view that job satisfaction encompasses the positive 

and negative feelings and attitudes people hold about their jobs, 

and that these depend on many work-related characteristics, but 

also on personal characteristics, such as age, gender, health and 

social relationships. 

Employee motivation and job satisfaction cannot be 

isolated, but they complement each other and respond to different 

organizational variables like productivity and working conditions. 

Employee and job satisfaction depends on people’s insight and 

behavior at the work place which is driven by a set of intrinsic, 

extrinsic needs and by their view of numerous job-related and 

organization related attitudes. The relationship has long been 

ignored by researchers, although a very strong relation exists, 

that can be supported by previous literature such as Hoole and 

Vermeulen (2003) found that the extent to which people are 

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Research 

motivated by outward signs of position, status and due regard 

for rank, is positively related to their experience of job 

satisfaction. Chess (1994), reported that certain motivational 

factors contribute to the prediction of job satisfaction. 

The evidence suggests that there is a gender difference 

in work motivation. For example, Hofstede (2001) came to the 

conclusion that while men’s concerns are mostly earnings, 

promotion and responsibility, women value friendly atmosphere 

and usually concern prestige, challenge, task significance, job 

security, co-operation and their work environmental conditions. 

Reif et al. (1976) examined significance of 33 particular rewards 

for men and women and found that gender was the determining 

factor of appreciation of the value of reward. Gooderman et al. 

(2004) have also discovered that men prove to be much more 

financially motivated than women do. A study by Miner (1974a) 

of business managers (44 females and 26 males) and educational 

administrators (25 females and 194 men) found that managerial 

motivation was “significantly related to the success of female 

managers” (p. 197), but there were no consistent differences 

between men and women in managerial motivation. Miner 

concluded that “it implies only that those women who become 

managers have the motivational capacity to do as well as males 

who become managers…Whether the female population can 

provide a major source of managerial talent in the future, 

consonant with the rising labor force participation of women, 

poses a major and as yet unanswered research question” ( p. 

207). 

Few studies suggest negligible or no gender difference 

on work motivation such as a study by Dubinsky, A.J., et al., 

(1993) showed that rather minimal differences in motivation exist 

between men and women. Similarly, Pearson & Chatterjee (2002) 

while examining experience of China came to the conclusion that 

despite divergences, gender uniformity in job motivation of men 

and women dominated. They share the same attitudes as to high 


336

Research 


earnings, training opportunities, work autonomy, usage of skills, 

desirable living area, relations with managers, etc. 

Gender differences in job satisfaction have been 

extensively researched and no conclusive evidence has been 

found with regard to the levels of satisfaction among men and 

women. However, results from several studies have indicated 

that there is a relationship between gender and job satisfaction 

(Bilgic 1998; Lumpkin & Tudor 1990; Goh & Koh 1991; Oshagbemi 

2000b). For instance, Hulin and Smith (1964) investigated 295 

male workers and 163 female workers to determine the satisfaction 

level of employees. Results indicated male workers were more 

satisfied with their job than female workers. On the other hand a 

research conducted by Lumpkin & Tudor (1990) showed that 

female managers are paid less and are less satisfied with their 

pay; thus, it follows that they are not satisfied with their pay, 

promotions, and overall job satisfaction. 

Based on above literature review, the primary aims of 

the current study are twofold. One, our study attempts to explore 

the relationship between work motivation and job satisfaction. 

Two, the study also looks at gender differences, in terms of work 

motivation and job satisfaction. 

Methodology 

Sample 

The sample comprised of 80 middle managers (46 males, 34 

females) working in different banks of Karachi, Pakistan. Participants 

were selected through the HR department pool. The mean age of 

participants was 30.56 years. With regard to marital status, 64% men 

were married, 36% women were married. Seventy five percent of 

participants were Master’s and 25% were Bachelor’s. An average 

participant’s length of the service was 5.8 years. 

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Research 

Measures 

A demographic form was filled by the participants, 

which included information about age, gender, qualification, 

length of service, designation, and marital status. 

The Motivational at Work Scale (MAWS; Gagné, M., 

et al., 2010). The MAWS consists of 12 items. Each subscale 

consists of three items i.e. Intrinsic (item 4, 8, & 12), Identified 

(item 3, 7, & 11), Introjected (item, 2, 6, & 10), and extrinsic (item 

1, 5, & 9).The rating scale range from 1= not at all; 2= very little; 

3 = a little; 4 = moderately; 5 = strongly; 6 = very strongly; 7= 

exactly. MAWS was found to be internally consistent at the 

level of = .824. 

The Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS; Spector, 1997) is a 

nine-subscale measure of employee job satisfaction. The nine 

facets are 1) pay, 2) promotion, 3) supervision, 4) fringe benefits, 

5) contingency rewards, 6) operating conditions, 7) coworkers, 

8) nature of work, and 9) communication. The JSS consists of 36 

items to be rated by participants on a 6-point likert format 

response scale (i.e., disagrees very much, disagree moderately, 

disagree slightly, agree slightly, agree moderately, and agree very 

much). In the present study, JSS found to be internally consistent 

at the level of = .759. 

Procedure 

The questionnaires were distributed to respondents and 

they completed the questionnaire manually. The data was 

collected individually. At the beginning of each questionnaire, 

an overview was provided. All respondents must fill a 

demographic form which includes information on age, gender, 

qualification, length of service, designation, and marital status. 

The researcher gave directions for the Motivational at Work 

Scale (2010) first and then for the Job Satisfaction Survey (1997). 


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Research 


Participation was voluntary and the responses were anonymous. 

The respondents were informed about the purpose of the research. 

As with all study participants, they were assured that all 

information would be kept confidential. 

Statistical Analysis 

After the collection of data, the answer sheets were 

scored. The Motivation at Work Scale and Job Satisfaction Survey 

were scored according to the instructions given in the manual. 

Then, the data was tabulated on Microsoft Excel sheet. Statistical 

Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 16.0 was used for 

all statistical analyses. Descriptive statistics for demographic 

information and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient 

was performed in order to find the correlation between Motivation 

at Work and job satisfaction. 

RESULTS 

Table 1 Correlation between Work Motivation and Job 

Satisfaction 

Job Satisfaction Significance 

Work M otivation .563** 

.000 

Note. Shows correlation between Work Motivation and 

Job Satisfaction significant at**p=.000 

Table 2 Pearson Correlation between type of Work 

Motivation and overall Job satisfaction 

Subscales of Work Motivation 

Job Satisfaction 

Intrinsic .538* 

Identified .622* 

Introjected .438** 

Extrinsic .583** 

* Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (1-tailed) 

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Research 

Table 3 represents t- test Gender Difference on Work 

Motivation 

Variable Gender N Mean Std Dev t df Sig 

Work 

Motivation 

Male 34 131.13 6.386 

Female 46 126.91 7.379 

4.324 78 

.000 

Job 

Satisfaction 

Male 34 142.29 11.559 

Female 46 132.96 11.015 

-3.67 78 

Note. Verifies Significant difference was found between male 

and female (t= 4.324, df =78, p

Research 


for recognition and influence (Locke, 1999). Therefore, financial 

compensation is assumed to play a significant part when people 

choose jobs, stay in jobs and are motivated in jobs. The possible 

explanations of these findings are when the managers basic and 

higher order needs are fulfilled at work, the employee will have a 

positive attitude towards job that will eventually lead to job 

satisfaction. 

In the study, a significant gender difference was found 

on the variable of work motivation (n=80, t=4.324, pd”.05). The 

findings are in line with previous literature, which suggests that 

women are rather highly motivated to avoid success, because 

they are likely to expect negative consequences, like social 

rejection and/or feeling of being unfeminine (Horner, 2005, p. 207). 

Gooderman et al. (2004) have discovered that men prove to be 

much more financially motivated than women. Reif et al. (1976) 

examined a significance of 33 particular rewards for men and 

women and found that gender was the determining factor of 

appreciation of the value of reward. According to Marjaana G. et 

al., (2007), men in Japan “value more highly not only the masculine 

work attribute of advancement but also the following feminine 

factors: fringe benefits and personal time. In contrast, Japanese 

women value more highly not only physical working conditions 

but also the challenging work that is supposed to be valued more 

highly by men”. 

According to the results there was a difference on job 

satisfaction (n=80, t= -3.670, p


Research 

more important. On the whole, these studies have demonstrated 

that there is some association between gender and job 

satisfaction. 

There are some limitations of the present study. Firstly, 

the findings of the study were from convenient purposive 

sampling method. Therefore, the generalizability of the findings 

is inadequate. Second, this study did not include age, and length 

of service - an important correlate of job satisfaction. For future 

investigations should include these variables and explore 

relationships among age, length of service, and other value 

variables in relation to motivation and job satisfaction. Finally, 

the study depended on self-reported data. There is always a risk 

of being biased and selective recall when using such data (Smith 

& Glass, 1987). Expansion on the present study would allow 

greater knowledge into the predictors of job satisfaction and 

motivation in the banking profession. 

The findings of this study have several implications 

for employers that gender contributes a major part in motivation 

as well as in job satisfaction. For that reason employers should 

keep in mind that gender does play a significant part while 

designing assignments, challenging tasks, incentive plans, 

promotions, and working conditions for managers in the 

workplace. It is, therefore, hoped that these findings will serve 

as resource materials for the management of banks, government, 

and significant others who are concerned with the managers 

quality performance. 

Conclusion 

To conclude, findings of the study illustrate that work 

motivation improves job satisfaction. Employee gender displayed 

a marked influence on employee motivation, & job satisfaction. 

The research findings suggest that when employers are caring 

and supportive and focus their attention on motivating factors 

the outcome is more productive and committed employees. 


342

Research 


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347 


Effectiveness of Brief Counseling Sessions for Employee Development 

Research 

EFFECTIVENESS OF BRIEF 

COUNSELING SESSIONS FOR 

EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT: 

A QUALITATIVE STUDY 

Zainab F Zadeh PhD 

Samia Ahmad 

Halima Ghani 

Institute of Professional Psychology, Bahria University, 

Karachi 

Abstract 

The purpose of the study was to provide a qualitative analysis 

of the brief counseling sessions and to investigate the 

effectiveness of the same in employee development. Further it 

identified issues leading to spill over at work and creating worklife 

imbalance. 

The study was launched with a group orientation sessions 

comprising of a briefing related to purpose, procedure and 

regulatory requirements of the process followed by an ice breaking 

activity. Drawing was chosen as an icebreaking activity as it is 

considered one of the useful tools for rapport building and 

providing free reign to thoughts. Each employee was asked to 

submit a drawing depicting their current feelings. 

A total of 20 employees participated in the study for which follow 

up sessions began with brief counseling. A minimum of eight to 

ten sessions including the intake interview were conducted, of 

which the duration of each session was between 30 to 60 minutes. 

Each session was problem focused, providing rapport and 

expectation clarification in the initial phase, leading to reeducative 

and supportive counseling for presenting complaints 

in later sessions. Towards the end feedback was obtained 

regarding the effectiveness of the sessions. 





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Research 


Results 

The results indicate that among the 20 employees, two reported 

all four complaints of emotional disturbance (i.e. anger, stress, 

frustration and anxiety), seven reported three complaints of 

emotional disturbance and the combination varied accordingly 

(two out of seven complained of anger, frustration and stress, 

three complained of frustration, stress and anxiety, there was a 

single case of stress, anger, and anxiety, and a single case of 

anger frustration and anxiety). Nine employees reported two 

complaints of emotional disturbance (and the combination varied 

accordingly, two of anger and frustration, two of frustration and 

anxiety, one of stress and anxiety, two of frustration and stress 

and two of anger and stress). Two employees reported a single 

complaint of emotional disturbance (i.e.anxiety). 

To asses the efficacy of brief counseling sessions the following 

question was asked in the terminal phase from each participant 

“Did you benefit from the counseling sessions?” The feedback 

received in the form of a verbatim was further divided into three 

categories i.e. Yes, No, and Indifferent. The results showed in 

Table 2 clearly indicates that 18 out of 20 employees reported that 

they benefited from the counseling process and it helped them 

gain relative control over emotional disturbances caused by 

personal and workplace issues whereas the response of two 

employees suggested indifference related to the outcome of the 

counseling process, which shows that 90% of the employee 

feedback was in the favor of the counseling process. 

Conclusion 

The study limitations were that employees’ verbal feedback was 

the only form of data collected during brief counseling and no 

other formal pre or post counseling assessments were conducted. 

Key Words: Development, Employee Development, Brief 

Counseling, Change: Organizational Restructuring, Emotional 

Disturbance, Work-life balance. 

JEL Classification: O15, I29, M15 

349 



Research 

Introduction 

The purpose of the study was to provide a qualitative 

analysis of brief counseling sessions and to investigate the 

efficacy of the same in employee development. Further, it 

identified issues leading to spill over at work and creating worklife 

imbalances. 

Employee development initiatives have a significant 

impact during organizational restructuring. As defined by the 

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development CIPD, 2001 

development is the growth or realization of a person’s ability 

and potential through the provision of learning and educational 

experiences (Armstrong, 2006). For the purpose of this study 

Employee development is defined as the process of re-education 

in order to reduce emotional disturbance and achieve a desirable 

state. 

At an organizational level a variety of employee 

development strategies are utilized for instance, training and 

Quality of Work Life (QWL) programs which is an organizational 

development technique designed to improve organizational 

functioning by humanizing the work place. An approach to 

improve QWL is Quality Circles (QCs) in which small groups of 

volunteers meet regularly to identify and to solve problems related 

to the work they perform and the conditions under which they 

work. Another example is of team building exercises which 

enhance employee development by discussing problems related 

to their work group’s performance. On the basis of these 

discussions specific problems are identified and plans for solving 

them are devised and implemented. Survey and feedback 

techniques are also used as employee development techniques. 

The survey feedback technique follows three steps 1. Collecting 

data: employees complete surveys to provide information about 


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Research 


problems in their organizations; 2. Give feedback: feelings about 

the organization are summarized and shared with all employees; 

3. Develop action plans: through group discussions specific plans 

for overcoming problems are identified and developed. Employee 

Assistance Programs are also an effective strategy for employee 

development. An EAP provides employees and their family 

members with opportunities to address their workplace concerns 

as well as those in their personal life through counseling (Robbins, 

1998). 

In 2001 the British Association for Counseling and 

Psychotherapy commissioned and published a report, Counseling 

in the Workplace. The results showed that “after counseling, 

work-related symptoms returned to normal in more than half of all 

clients and sickness absence was reduced by over 25%” McLeod 

(2003). 

The objectives of counseling reported by Eisenberg and Delaney 

are: 

1. Understanding self 

2. Making impersonal decisions 

3. Setting achievable goals which enhance growth 

4. Planning in the present to bring about desired 

future objectives 

5. Effective solutions to personal and interpersonal 

problems 

6. Coping with difficult situations 

7. Controlling self defeating emotions 

8. Acquiring effective transaction skills 

9. Acquiring ‘positive self-regard’ and a sense of optimism about 

one’s own ability to satisfy one’s basic needs. 

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Research 

Many professionals working in mental health agencies, 

private practice and schools are increasingly asked to shorten 

their time with clients and provide clear evidence of counseling 

effectiveness (Ivey, 1997). Brief counseling provides prompt and 

early interventions as it allows limited but attainable goals to 

improve coping abilities. It is a time limited intervention designed 

to attain specified goals, the principle focus being on the here 

and now rather than on early life events. It also provides rapid 

initial assessment of the nature of the problem to develop a work 

formulation and maintain a flexible approach (Bloom, 1997). In 

the present study Brief counseling was introduced as an 

intervention during organizational restructuring. 

According to Holmes and Rahe (1967) any life changes, 

including work related life events requiring readjustments can 

be perceived as stressful. Moreover, changes that are introduced 

in organizational restructuring affect the socio-psychological 

well-being of the organization members given the potential for 

uncertainty that may accompany such changes (Ahmed & Zadeh, 

2008). Employees in a post-restructuring context are 

understandably wary about the future direction of the 

organization and their roles within it (Lee & Teo, 2005). 

Organizational restructuring is a global phenomenon. 12000 

managers in 25 countries (Kanter, 1991) were asked to identify 

changes they have experienced in the past two years. Major 

restructuring was the highest organizational change reported 

along with others like mergers, acquisitions reduction in 

employment, international expansion etc. (Robbins, 1998). 

For the purpose of this study Change: organizational 

restructuring is defined as the rearrangement of the existing 

division of labor, as well as the pattern of coordination, 

communication, workflow and authority. 


352

Research 


The concerns raised during the brief counseling 

sessions were mainly around emotional disturbance in the form 

of stress: perceived pressure in fulfilling responsibilities, anger 

outbursts: disagreements and misunderstandings, anxiety: 

apprehension of failure and frustration: inability to find solutions. 

These disturbances were reported to effect both domains of work 

and life. 

These disturbances were resolved through 6 – 8 brief 

counseling sessions per employee in order to bring about worklife 

balance. Each employee was counseled using cognitive 

interventions. Cognitive intervention uses scientific and rational 

methods to explore thought assumptions and beliefs people have. 

These methods focus on functioning that has been found to play 

both a causative and maintenance role in solving psychological 

problems. Cognitive interventions are time limited and obtain fast 

results because they are problem focused. Moreover, the 

techniques are structured and directive in which they provide an 

agenda for each session. Agenda setting was imperative because 

each employee had a schedule and the organization’s goal was to 

achieve results within a limited time frame. The participants met 

the “inclusion criteria” for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), 

as they could understand the CBT rationale, access their thoughts 

and feelings, take responsibility and demonstrate optimism for 

change. 

In an analysis by Schultheiss (2006) “an extensive 

literature base has been established on the interdependencies 

between the world of work and family life” (Barling & Sorensen 

1997; Fassinger 2000; Greenhaus 1989; Greenhaus & Parasuraman 

1999). A variety of models have surfaced to elaborate the 

relationship among the two prominent spheres of life, including 

spill over, work-family conflict, work-family enrichment, workfamily 

integration, work-family balance. Work-family balance is 

353 



Research 

perhaps the most extensively sited term in the literature of job 

satisfaction. Grrenhaus et al. (2003) suggests that Work-family 

balance refers to the extent to which an individual is equally 

engaged in and equally satisfied with his or her work role and 

family role. 

The theory of Work-Life Balance proposes three 

hypotheses about how job and life satisfaction are related. 

Weaver (1978) proposed that satisfaction (or dissatisfaction) in 

one area of life affects or spills over to another termed as the 

“spill over hypothesis”. Therefore, difficulties in home life can 

affect those in work causing the spillover. The second hypothesis 

that is “compensation hypothesis” suggests that an individual 

compensates for dissatisfaction in one area of life with another. 

Thus an employee facing dissatisfaction at work may look for 

satisfaction in other areas of life or vice versa. The final 

hypothesis which is “segmentation hypothesis” poses that 

people group aspects of their lives separately and thus 

satisfaction or dissatisfaction in one group does not affect 

another. (Rein et al. 1991) point out that because research has 

consistently found a positive correlation between job and life 

satisfaction, the spill over hypothesis is the only one supported 

by studies. Judge and Watanabe (1993) conducted a longitudinal 

study over a 5-year span which suggests that job satisfaction 

and life satisfaction affect one another in that satisfaction or 

dissatisfaction in either will affect the other (Spector, 1996). 

In the present study it was found that Work-Life balance 

was being disturbed causing spill over, as a result of “change” 

which came about in the form of organizational restructuring. 

Change: organizational restructuring caused rearrangement 

of the existing division of labor, as well as the pattern of 

coordination, communication, workflow and authority. When 

organizational restructuring was taking place the employees were 

facing a transition in work location disturbing their original 

routines. This transition required additional time away from home 


354

Research 


causing disruption in performing their jobs as well as daily chores 

at home. Furthermore, the employees were expected to look after 

existing responsibilities with the same fervor as earlier along 

with assimilation towards setting up the new location. 

Figure 1: Stages of employee development 

355 



Research 

Methodology 

Sample 

A total of 20 non teaching staff participated in the 

study. The group comprised of 19 males and one female, ages 

between 23 to 58 years, out of which 14 were married and six 

unmarried. Most of the staff was educated up till Bachelors’ 

level and belonged to middle and lower-middle socioeconomic 

backgrounds. 

Measures/Techniques 

A semi structured intake interview followed by brief 

counseling sessions per individual were conducted weekly. 

Procedure 

The study was launched with an orientation to define 

the purpose, procedure and regulatory requirements for the 

counseling sessions. Drawing was chosen as an icebreaking 

activity as it is considered one of the useful tools for rapport 

building and providing free reign to thoughts. Each employee 

was asked to submit a drawing depicting their current feelings. 

The follow up sessions began with brief counseling 

which was between eight to ten sessions including the intake 

interview for each employee. The intake interview focused on 

questions related to work-life such as “Do you think you 

have a job of your choice?” and “Where do you see yourself 

after five years?” and home life such as “Among your friends 

and family who do you count on for support?” and “Marital 

status” along with the emotional involvement with ones 

spouse was inquired through “How long have both of you 

been together?” indicated also the level and depth of 

interaction. These areas of investigation indicated how married 

employees were experiencing relatively more emotional 

disturbances as compared to unmarried employees due to a 

more complicated family dynamics, indicated a spill over at 

work. 


356

Research 


The duration of each session was between 30 to 60 

minutes, which was problem focused, providing rapport and 

expectation clarification in the initial phase, leading to re-educative 

and supportive counseling for presenting complaints in the later 

sessions. Towards the end feedback was obtained regarding the 

effectiveness of the sessions. The consolidated brief counseling 

activity lasted approximately for a period of three months from 

start to end. 

Session Structure 

Session 1 

Intake interview, establishing rapport, expectation clarification 

Session 2 

Problem identification, structuring a future plan 

Session 3 

Introduction of re-educative techniques, catharsis 

Session 4 

Working through, cognitive restructuring 

Session 5 

Practicing alternative strategies, dealing with reluctant behavior 

Session 6 

Modifications in client strategies 

Session 7 

Session review and feedback, preparation for closing session 

Session 8 

Closing, discussion on future plans 

Through the method of content analysis the employee’s 

emotional disturbances were identified which were manifested in 

the form of anger outbursts, frustration, stress and anxiety. 

Anger is a fairly strong emotional reaction which 

accompanies a variety of situations such as physically restrained 

being interfered with, having one’s possessions removed, 

attacked or threatened. It includes physical reactions such as 

facial grimaces and body positions characteristic of action. 

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Anger Outbursts are described as disagreements and 

misunderstandings at work. Anger outbursts were mainly 

manifested in two forms passive and active. Passive anger 

manifested itself as an inert struggle with feelings of unfair 

treatment, and stubbornness. Active anger was evident in the 

form of miscommunication, impulsivity and verbal arguments. 

Frustration is an inability to find solutions resulting in 

a negative and puzzled sate of mind. For example, difficulty in 

interpersonal communication, feelings of inferiority, decision 

making and adaptability issues. 

Stress is perceived pressure in fulfilling responsibilities 

pertaining to work as well as home, manifested in the form of 

poor concentration, difficulty in prioritizing with multitasking, 

and modification in responsibilities. 

Anxiety is an apprehension of failure. In the present 

study it was observed in the form of job insecurity, low initiative 

and lack of trust in one’s self and others. 

Definition Of Key Terms: 

Development was the growth or realization of a 

person’s ability and potential through the provision of learning 

and educational experiences. 

Employee development was defined as the process of 

re-education in order to reduce emotional disturbance and achieve 

a desirable state. 

Change: organizational restructuring was defined as 

the rearrangement of the existing division of labor, as well as the 

pattern of coordination, communication, workflow and authority. 

Emotional disturbance was defined in following terms: 

Stress: perceived pressure in fulfilling responsibilities, 

Anger outbursts: disagreements and misunderstandings, 

Anxiety: apprehension of failure and Frustration: 

inability to find solutions. These disturbances were reported to 

reflect in both domains of Work and Life. 

Brief Counseling: Brief Counseling where a minimum 

of eight to ten sessions including the intake interview were 

conducted. The duration of each session was between 30 to 60 

minutes. 


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Wok-life Balance: Gaining relative control over emotional 

disturbances caused by personal and workplace issues. 

Discussion of Results 

The purpose of the study helped identify the 

effectiveness of brief counseling at the workplace to reduce 

the employee’s emotional disturbances and bring about work 

life balance. The study elaborates the emotional disturbances 

faced by employees during the time of organizational 

restructuring causing spill over of work on home 

responsibilities. In order to reduce the emotional disturbance 

and restore balance, brief counseling was used as an effective 

intervention. 

In the Pakistani organizational context there is little 

evidence based work in counseling research.Expressive 

language has a therapeutic effect on one’s mental state. 

Similarly, counseling provides an opportunity for catharsis in 

a non judgmental environment with the assistance of a 

professional. Through this qualitative assessment the 

effectiveness of brief counseling on employee development 

was evident as given an opportunity to talk in an environment 

providing conflict resolution is healthier than gossiping. This 

allowed employees to gain awareness and insight on how to 

balance their work and home issues, in a healthier and more 

constructive manner. 

The manifested anger outbursts were identified as 

active and passive. Passive anger manifested itself as an inert 

struggle with feelings of unfair treatment, and stubbornness. 

Active anger was evident in the form of miscommunication, 

impulsivity and verbal arguments. During counseling active 

anger was addressed through debating, deep breathing 

exercises, and relaxation techniques. Employees with passive 

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Research 

anger were taught to cope with anger outbursts through assertive 

training. 

Frustration was revealed through feelings of inferiority 

which were also reported like low self confidence and low self 

respect, where employees felt they were unable to express and 

resolve issues. Memory problems pertaining to retention and 

recall were bought during counseling. Techniques such as 

external memory aids and diary keeping were introduced for 

memory problems. Role play facilitated enhancement in 

interpersonal communication. Low self confidence and low self 

respect were restructured through debating negative and 

irrational thought patterns. For instance one of the senior 

employees felt inferior in terms of position/rank when compared 

to fellow colleagues. With debating a realistic picture was drawn 

to bring about healthy acceptance of existing circumstances 

which minimized the unfair comparison. 

Stress was observed in the form of poor concentration 

and difficulty in prioritizing with multitasking. Modification of 

responsibilities during organizational restructuring was 

perceived as an added pressure. Married employees with 

dependent family members perceived relatively more stress than 

others. Socio economic background was another determinant in 

creating stress leading to work-life imbalance; this was also more 

evident in employees with dependants. Time management, 

structuring and planning with distribution of responsibilities were 

the main techniques utilized during counseling. For example, in 

case of one of the administration employees, the pre-counseling 

behavior indicated mounting stress due to difficulty in delegation 

of responsibilities and consequently finding oneself responsible 

for every task given. During counseling this stress was addressed 

by analyzing the tasks in steps and teaching delegation at various 

stages. 


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Research 


Anxiety was observed as apprehension of failure, a few 

of the employees reported reluctance in taking initiative and 

responsibilities during organizational restructuring due to 

increased fear of disapproval and losing one’s job. Techniques 

used during counseling for anxiety reduction were relaxation with 

deep breathing and imagination, thought stopping, mirroring, 

motivational debriefing and reassurance. For instance, one of the 

employee’s negative automatic thoughts were addressed during 

increased anxiety through the method with thought stopping. 

Table 1 Complaints of Emotional Disturbance 

Types of Emo tiona l D isturb an ce 

Ca se G ender M a rital Ang er F rustrati on Stress Anxiety 

No 

status O utburst 

1. M ale M arri ed Χ X X X 

2. M ale U nm arried X X 

3. M ale U nm arried X X X 

4. M ale M arri ed X X X X 

5. Fema le U nm arried X X X 

6. M ale M arri ed X X X 

7. M ale M arri ed X X X 

8. M ale M arri ed X X 

9. M ale M arri ed X X 

10 . M ale M arri ed X X 


12 . M ale M arri ed X 


14 . M ale U nm arried X 

15 . M ale U nm arried X X X 


17 . M ale U nm arried X X 


19 . M ale M arri ed X X X 

20 . M ale M arri ed X X X 

Table showing case wise frequency of complaints related to emotional disturbance 

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Research 

Th r ough t h e m eth od of con t en t a n al ysi s 

counseling data was analyzed in units which were the 

participant’s presenting complaints. The results showed 

in Table 1 indicate that out of 20 employees two reported 

all four complaints of emotional disturbance (anger, stress, 

frustration and anxiety), seven reported three complaints 

of emotional disturbance and the combination varied 

accordingly (two out of seven complained of anger, 

frustration and stress, three complained of frustration, 

stress and anxiety, there was a single case of stress, anger, 

and anxiety, and a single case of anger frustration and 

anxiety). Nine employees reported two complaints of 

emotional disturbance (and the combination varied 

accordingly two of anger and frustration, two of frustration 

and anxiety, one of stress and anxiety, two of frustration 

and stress and two of anger and stress). Two employees 

reported a single complaint of emotional disturbance (i.e. 

anxiety). 

These units were further evaluated in terms of 

frequency, space and direction. Frequency refers to the 

number of participants with the recurrent unit presented, 

space referred to the amount of sessions covered for each 

unit and direction showed positive or negative impact in 

the unit. Some of the units identified in the study were 

emotional instability, need for enhancing education and 

marital issues. Based on the demographics of the sample 

in cl udin g ma rita l an d socio economi c st at us a nd 

educational level variations in terms of intensity in units 

were observed. 

It was observed that married employees were 

experiencing relatively more emotional disturbances as 

compared to unmarried employees due to more complicated 

family dynamics. The lack of quality time spent with family 

and the contributing lower socio economic background 


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Research 


were the two other significant determinants that lead to the 

spill over hypothesis. 

A m a jor i t y of t h e em ployees wh o wer e 

undergraduates and have reached mid career levels with 

work experiences of eight to ten years were feeling job 

insecurities (threat was caused by less job opportunities 

outside the organization and the employee’s age group, 

with older employees feeling more insecure). 

Table 2 Feedback of efficacy for brief counseling sessions 

Cas e No No Yes Indifferent 

1. X 

2. X 

3. X 

4. X 

5. X 

6. X 

7. X 

8. X 

9. X 

10. X 

11. X 

12. X 

13. X 

14. X 

15. X 

16. X 

17. X 

18. X 

19. X 

20. X 

Total 18 (90% ) 2 (10% ) 

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Research 

To asses the efficacy of the brief counseling sessions 

the following question was asked in the terminal phase from 

each participant “Did you benefit from the counseling sessions?” 

The feedback received in the form of a verbatim was further 

divided into 3 categories i.e. Yes, No, and Indifferent. The results 

showed in Table 2 clearly indicates that 18 (90 percent) out of 20 

employees reported that they benefited from the counseling 

process and it helped them gain relative control over emotional 

disturbances caused by personal and workplace issues. As 

against this the response of two (10 percent) employees 

suggested indifference related to the outcome of the counseling 

process. 

The feedback obtained from the participants during the 

termination phase suggested that brief counseling sessions had 

a positive impact on employee development and helped them 

restore relative control over work-life balance. 

The study provided support to the non teaching staff 

to manage stress level during the time of organizational 

restructuring. In Pakistan most of the research data shows little 

documentation and thus for this purpose it was decided to 

document the findings reported in the study, which can serve as 

grounds for establishing facts regarding the effectiveness of 

counseling for later research. This was the reason the study 

poses a limitation in terms of pre and post evaluation through a 

structured instrument. 

Conclusively, the feedback obtained from the 

participants during the termination phase suggested that brief 

counseling sessions had positive impact on employee 

development and helped them restore relative control over worklife 

balance. 


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Research 


Qualitative analysis of sessions based on participant 

feedback revealed that the process of counseling provided an 

opportunity to non teaching staff to openly express in a non 

judgmental environment. Through cognitive behavioral 

techniques employees gained insight to restore relative control 

over work-life balance. Such practices can prove to be helpful 

in organizations at a one to one level as this process reveals 

an in-depth understanding of employee issues. 

Study limitations indicate that employee’s verbal 

feedback was the only form of data collected during brief 

counseling and no other formal pre or post counseling 

assessments were conducted. For future studies it is 

recommended that formal pre and post assessments tools can 

be used to analyze the actual utilization of the insight and 

skills acquired in the employee’s everyday functioning. 

Moreover other demographic features like socio economic 

background, education etc. could be analyzed in detail in future 

researches. Consideration of detailed analysis of the drawings 

that were used in the ice breaking activity could also provide 

useful information in further studies. 

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Research 

References 

Ahmad, K. B. & Zadeh, Z. F. (2008). Number of Working Hours 

and Male Employee’s Psychological Work Stress levels. 

Pakistan Journal of Psychological Research, 23 (1-2), 29-36 

Armstrong, M. (2006). A Handbook of Human Resource 

Management Practice. (10 th Ed). Kogan Page. Philadelphia, USA. 

213, 535. 

Bloom, B. L. (1997). Planned Shot-term Psychotherapy, A Clinical 

handbook. (2 nd Ed). Allyn and Bacon. Massachusetts, USA. 5. 

Chatturvedi, R. (2007). Encyclopedia of Guidance and Counseling. 

Cresent Publishing Corporation. New Delhi, India. 175 – 186. 

Ivey, A. E., Ivey, M. B. & Simek-Morgan, L. (1997). Counseling 

and Psychotherapy, A Multicultural Perspective. (4 th Ed). Allyn 

& Bacon. Massachusetts, USA. 81 – 82. 

McLeod, J. (2003). Doing Counseling Research. (2 nd Ed). Sage 

Publication Limited. London, UK. 122 – 125. 

Robbins, P. S. (1998). Organizational Behavior. (8 th Ed). Prentice- 

Hall. New Jersey, USA. 210 – 212. 

Schultheiss, D. E.P. (2006). The Interference of Work and Family 

Life. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 37 (4), 

334-341. 

Shyam, R. & Yadev. S. (2006). Indices of Well-being In Older 

Adults: A Study Amongst Institutionalized and Noninstitutionalized 

Elderly. Pakistan Journal of Psychological 

Research, 21 (3-4), 79-94. 

Spector, P. E. (1996). Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 

Research and Practice. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York, 

USA. 235-236. 

Mcloed, J & Henderson. M. (2003). Does workplace counseling 

work? Retrieved from, http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/full/ 

182/2/103 Eisenberg and Delaney. Retrived from, http:// 

www.citehr.com/26074-employee-counselling overview.html 


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Research 


ROLE OF POPULARITY IN 

BEING BULLIED AT THE 

WORK PLACE 

Abstract 

Qudsia Tariq 

Saima Masoom Ali 

Department of Psychology 

University of Karachi, Karachii 

The present study is designed to study “The Role of workplace 

popularity in being bullied at the work place”. The sample 

comprised of two hundred participants selected from different 

tall and flat organization of Karachi city. In this study a workplace 

bullying questionnaire based on DIAS (Direct Indirect 

Aggression Scale )by K.Bjorkquist and K.Osterman, Abou 

Akademi University Finland (1992); was used. The popularity of 

the individual was rated on a ten point rating scale accompanying 

the demographic sheet, on which the participant was asked to 

rate him/herself in order to screen the level of popularity in the 

organization. It was hypothesized that people who are popular 

among their colleagues are more likely to be bullied as compared 

to unpopular people. The second hypothesis stated that women 

are more likely to be bullied as compare to men. Pearson 

correlation along with means was applied for statistical analysis. 

The results showed a significant relationship between bullying 

and popularity calculated value was + 0.8 which verified the first 

hypothesis and correlation of bullying scores of men and women 

was as + 0.2 which revealed no significant gender differences. 

Further, interesting findings indicated that men are more bullied 

by men bosses and women are more bullied by women bosses. 

JEL Classification: M14, M59, J81 




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Research 

Introduction 

The purpose of this research was to identify the 

relationship between popularity at the work place in being 

bullied. It is needless to say that workplace bullying presents 

serious challenges to organizations, yet it remains one of the 

most neglected problems in the realm of employment relations. 

According to Tracy, Lutgen-Sandvik, and Alberts 

(2006), researchers associated with the Project for Wellness and 

Work-Life, workplace bullying is most often “a combination of 

tactics in which numerous types of hostile communication and 

behaviour are used”. 

Gary and Namie, define workplace bullying as “repeated, 

health-harming mistreatment, verbal abuse, or conduct which 

is threatening, humiliating, intimidating, or sabotage that 

interferes with work or some combination of the three.” 

Pamela Lutgen-Sandvik (2003) expands this definition, 

stating that workplace bullying is “persistent verbal and 

nonverbal aggression at work that includes personal attacks, 

social ostracism, and a multitude of other painful messages 

and hostile interactions.” 

Workplace bullying comes in many forms, obvious and 

concealed, direct and indirect. It is deliberately spiteful, typically 

repeated, and often malicious in nature. Surrounded by the most 

commonly reported behaviors are yelling, shouting, and 

screaming; false accusations of mistakes and errors; hostile glares 

and other intimidating non-verbal behaviors; covert criticism, 

sabotage, and undermining of one’s reputation; social exclusion 

and the “silent treatment”; use of put-downs, insults, and 

excessively harsh criticism; and irrationally 

heavy work demands (As cited by David and Yamada, (2008). 


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Contrary to the impression generated by a growing 

number of news reports in the past several years, the occurrence 

of workplace violence extreme acts of aggression involving direct 

physical assault represent a relatively rare event in work settings. 

However, workplace aggression—efforts by individuals to harm 

others with whom they work or have worked—are much more 

common and may prove extremely damaging to 

individuals and organizations (Baron & Neuman 1998). 

If workplace bullying is to be taken more gravely, it may 

give details of as part of a deeper overall communal interest in 

human dignity. On this point, we may turn to Robert Fuller, a 

physicist and former college president who has attracted national 

attention for his examinations of dignity in the context of hierarchy 

and rank. According to Fuller, the primary obstacle to building 

what he calls a “dignitarian” society is the persistence of 

“rankism,” which may manifest itself as discrimination on the 

basis of constructs such as race, sex, or age, but also may generate 

from unnecessarily hierarchical relationships in our private, 

public, and civic institutions (As cited by Yamada, 2008). 

Bullying can occur at various places depending upon 

the level of vulnerability of an individual in a group. For example, 

people are mainly bullied at work by their manager or co-workers 

or subordinates, or by their clients (bullying, workplace bullying, 

mobbing, work abuse, harassment, discrimination) at home by 

their partner or parents or siblings or children (bullying, assault, 

domestic violence, abuse, verbal abuse), at school (bullying, 

harassment, assault) in the care of others, such as in hospitals, 

convalescent homes, care homes, residential homes (bullying, 

harassment, assault), in the armed forces (bullying, harassment, 

discrimination, assault) by those in authority (harassment, abuse 

of power) by neighbors and landlords (bullying, harassment) by 

strangers (harassment, stalking, assault, sexual assault, rape, 

grievous bodily harm, murder).Bullying differs from harassment 

and assault in that the latter can result from a single incident or 

small number of incidents - which everybody recognizes as 

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Research 

harassment or assault / whereas, bulling tends to be an 

accumulation of many small incidents over a long period of time. 

Each incident tends to be trivial, and on its own and out of context 

does not constitute an offence or grounds for 

disciplinary or grievance action. (Retrieved from 

http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/amibeing.htm). 

Bullying is behavior by choice, and, therefore, bullying 

is a choice. Many bullies are in positions of management or power 

and, therefore, do not require help - except in their specious 

attempts to deceive others and to evade accountability and 

sanction. Bullies rely on naivety, inexperience and people feeling 

sorry for them and will ruthlessly exploit decent people’s urge to 

“help” and “forgive” them. Such people unwittingly swell the 

bully’s army of supporters, enablers, apologists, appeasers, 

acolytes, protectors and deniers. This could be one of the reasons 

for bullying being so common at the work place since the person 

bullying disguises him/herself very well in public. 

h t t p://www. bullyon l i n e. org/wor kbully/ m yt h s. h t m . 

People who bully others are usually incompetent and 

unskilled and in order to conceal their uselessness they try to 

belittle others. They usually victimize popular people as a result 

of intense jealousy against them. Since people who are popular 

and are being liked by the majority it makes them vulnerable in a 

sense that these people become prominent and a threat for those 

who lack potential and likeness among their colleagues. Hence 

they are targeted by the bully to be as invisible 

as themselves by threatening and harassing them. 

Policy and procedures could be ineffective, and one 

should not underestimate the ability (conscious or otherwise) of 

senior managers to undermine the process! One of the most 

undermining systems we have observed is what is termed ‘vacuum 

management’(Rayner 2002). This is where decisions fail to be 

made. Senior managers may hope that by not giving an answer, 


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the situation will go away, and sometimes does. Of course, staff 

will know about their tactics. Unfortunately, this lack of action 

can lead to staff having no confidence in senior managers’ 

willingness or ability to combat bullying at work and 

unfortunately, in some cases this is very well founded (as cited 

by Dorightatwork). 

Objectives 

The aim of this study was to observe the relation of popularity 

with work place bullying. 

Observe gender differences in work place bullying. 

Research Assumptions 

1- It was hypothesized that people who are popular among 

their colleagues are more likely to be bullied as compared to 

unpopularpeople. 

2- The second hypothesis stated that women are more likely to 

be bullied as compared to men. 

Methodology 

Sample 

A sample of 200, 120 men and 80 women participants 

were selected through random stratified technique after screening 

them on a popularity scale from various tall and flat organizations. 

It included both private and government sectors based in 

Karachi. For all tall organizations, banks, multinational 

companies, fast chains and for flat organizations schools, NGOs 

and single unit companies were considered. Their average age 

was 26 years and the minimum qualification was graduation. 

Inclusion Criteria 

Participants who had a job experience of at least 3 years 

and also rated ‘seven or above’ on popularity scales were 

included in the sample. 

Exclusion Criteria 

Participants who had a job experience of less than 3 

years or on contract and those who rated themselves less than 

‘seven ’ on popularity scales were excluded. 

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Research 

Material 

1- Consent Form: It communicates the purpose of research, 

ensures confidentiality and right to withdraw and was 

signed by each participant. 

2-Demographic: name (optional), age, gender, marital status, 

qualification, date of administration, subject’s designation 

and to which category of organization he/she belonged i.e., 

flat organization or tall organization, work experience, job 

shifts in the last 3 years. 

3- A popularity questionnaire based on 10 point rating scale for 

screening purposes was used. 

4- Workplace bullying questionnaire was based on DIAS (Direct 

Indirect Aggression Scale). It is a 4 point rating scale ranging 

from 0 to 4, never to very often design by K.Bjorkquist and 

K. Osterman, Abou Akademi University Finland (1992).It has 

three domains 1-Physical aggression(7 items )2-Verbal 

Aggression(5 items) & 3-Indirect aggression(12 items). 

Procedure 

The first step of the methodology was to screen the 

employees on the popularity scale after getting the consent form 

signed by the participants. Then participants were asked to fill 

the demographic sheet in which they had to rate themselves on 

the bullying scale. Those who rated 7 or above on the popularity 

scale. On selected participants bullying scale (4 point likert scale) 

was administered. After they had filled the questionnaire, their 

scores were calculated. For statistical analysis Mean and Pearson 

correlation was applied. 

Results 

There is a 0.8 relation between bullying and popularity 

which is indicative of strong positive relation. Bullying scores of 

men and women is 0.2 which shows very weak correlation. Results 

indicated interesting findings men are more bullied by men bosses 

and women are more bullied by women bosses. Men are bullied 

for their work performance while women for personal and moral 

values. 


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Table 1: Correlation between Bullying and Popularity at 

Work Place 

N df r Level of 

Significanc 

e 

200 198 0.8 p>0.5 

Table 2: Correlation of Bullying Scores between Men and 

Women 

N df r Level of 

Significanc 

e 

200 198 0.21 P>0.5 

Table 3 Bullying scores of Males and Female Employees By 

Male 

7 0 

6 0 

5 0 

4 0 

3 0 

2 0 

1 0 

0 

b u llie d 

b y 

m e n 

b u llie d 

b y 

m e n 

M e n 

W o m e n 

Table 4 Bullying scores of Males and Female Employees By 

Female Bullies 

7 0 

6 0 

5 0 

4 0 

3 0 

2 0 

1 0 

0 

b u l l i e d 

b y 

f e m a l e s 

b u l l i e d 

b y 

f e m a l e s 

M e n 

w o m e n 

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Research 

Table 5 Gender Differences in Types of Bullying Attacks 

Men are bullied for their work performance, while women for 

personal and moral values 

80 

70 

60 

50 

40 

30 

20 

10 

0 

work related 

Discussion 

Character 

assassination 

Males 

Females 

Workplace bullying has been a concern for 

organizational heads not in the recent era only but ever since the 

industries were built. Hanley & Gilbraith (2008) suggest that 

abusive and bullying supervisors have at least some degree of 

intent to inflict their behavior on subordinates, whereas poor 

supervisors are often simply “clueless” and lack any sense of 

specifically trying to inflict stress on others in the workplace. 

Although the importance of this grave issue is of great concern 

for the mental health and good performance of the employees 

unfortunately, not much has been done to handle the issue. 

The first hypothesis was ‘Individuals who are popular 

would be bullied more than those who are not popular’. Relating 

the factor of popularity to bullying, the results depicted that there 

exist a strong correlation between popularity and bullying 

i.e.,+80. This factor leaves no room for doubt of popularity being 

a desirable attribute by bullies (Refer to Table 1). Since popular 

people are liked and appreciated by their bosses and colleagues 


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they get maximum benefit at the workplace. This creates an air of 

jealousy for the bully who is less appreciated and mostly criticized 

by his/her colleagues. 

Organizations often find it difficult to identify just where 

the work place bullying is taking place, because the distinction 

between bullying and bossiness is hard to draw, and because 

efficient bosses are usually of economic value to the company 

by achieving results. Workplace bullying is an alarming future 

risk exposure for employers. Perhaps the difficulty in defining 

precisely what constitutes workplace bullying has contributed 

to the lack of attention given to this issue by many employers. 

(Query and Hanley 2010). 

The second hypothesis states that ‘popular females 

are more likely to be bullied as compared to popular males’. 

The correlation applied on these factors gave us the figure of 

.215 which cannot be deemed as worth interpreting but the results 

revealed interesting findings that men are more bullied by men 

bosses and women are more bullied by women bosses. Refer to 

Tables 3 and 4 .This reveals the gender biases against females 

that even their counterparts do not spare them and harass them 

on equal grounds like men. Men on the other hand, are less 

negative towards their own gender. One reason could be that it 

is much easier to pick on the weaker sex than their counterparts 

who are on equal grounds with them. According to Braithwaite, 

et al 2008 impulsivity, emotional reactivity, sarcasm, a low 

tolerance for ambiguity and aggressiveness are qualities that 

predispose some to bullying others. In comparison, targets appear 

likely to have low self-esteem, poor social competence and exhibit 

negative affectivity more commonly than other employees; this 

could be another reason for women victimization at the work 

place. Men are bullied for their work performance while women 

for personal and moral values.(refer Table 5) It has been observed 

at the work place that men are usually targeted on their work 

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efficiency and skill proficiency, on the other hand, women are 

judged by their attitudes towards their colleagues and their body 

language and dress code. Their personal traits and moral conduct 

determines their vulnerability of being a victim of bullying. The 

constant harassment in the form of bullying can be very 

devastating for health.According to Yamada, Workplace bullying 

is an often unseen, dangerous practice encountered by countless 

workers today. Such harassment has taken a charge, not just on 

the physical and mental well-being of the individual directly 

affected, but on his or her family and social relations, job output, 

and overall workforce morale. As with more slight forms of sexual 

harassment, incidences of bullying are often unreported if 

investigated, brought to a quick and usually unsuccessful 

conclusion. 

“Problems at work are more strongly associated with 

health complaints than are any other life stressor – more so than 

even financial problems or family problems.” (As cited by Yamada, 

2008). 

According to Ronald Lindah (2006) it is indispensable 

to distinguish that large-scale organizational enhancement does 

not occur in a vacuum or sterile environment. It occurs in human 

systems, organizations, which already have beliefs, assumptions, 

expectations, norms, and values, both idiosyncratic to individual 

members of those organizations and communal. 

Conclusion 

Bulling in an organization can reduce staff turnover and 

increase de-motivation and absences among employees, hence 

affecting morale and productivity negatively. Since bullying 

affects likeable and popular people more it could cause a 

breakdown of trust, hence refraining an efficient and effective 

employee from contributing his/her best work, not giving extra 

ideas for improvement, not providing feedback on failures and 

may be less honest about performance. Women being among the 

more vulnerable group will be affected more. 


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References 

Baron, Robert A. & Neuman, Joel H. (1998). Workplace 

Aggression — The Iceberg Beneath the Tip of Workplace 

Violence. Public Administration Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 4 

Retrieved December 24, 2010 from 

http://jom.sagepub.com/content/24/3/391.abstract. 

Braithwaite, V., Ahmed, E., & Braithwaite, J. (2008) Workplace 

Bullying and Victimization: The Influence of Organizational 

Context, Shame and Pride. International Journal of 

Organizational Behavior, Volume 13 [2] 71-94. 

Dorightatwork. The Problem Internal with Investigations of 

Workplace Bully Bosses Retrieved January 12, 2011from http:// 

marilynveincentotzs.wordpress.com/2010/04/26/the-problemwith-internal-investigations-of-workplace-bully-bosses/ 

Half the population are bullied ... most people only realize it 

when they read this page What is bullying, how to recognize 

bullying. Retrieved December 24, 2010 from 

http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/amibeing.htm 

Hanley, G., & Bryant, M. (2008) .The use of conceptual metaphors 

as interpretive tools in qualitative research. Paper presented at 

the 6th Conference on Workplace Bullying: Sharing our 

Knowledge, Ecole des Sciences de la Gestion, Université du 

Québec à Montréal, Canada. June. 

Lutgen-Sandvik, Pamela (2003) Take This Job and : Quitting and 

Other Forms of Resistance to Workplace Bullying 


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workplace_bullying Myths and 

misperceptions about workplace bullying Overcoming 

stereotypes and false perceptions of adult bullying and 

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Research 

workplace bullying Retrieved December 24, 2010 from http:// 

www.bullyonline.org/workbully/myths.htm 

Namie, Gary and Ruth Workplace Bullying Institute Definition 


h t t p: / / e n . wi k i pedia . or g/wi ki / Wor kp l a ce_ bul l yi n g 

Query. T & Hanley M.G, (2010) Recognizing and Managing Risks 

Associated with Workplace Bullying, CPCU e Journal Retrieved 

December18/1/20 from http://business.nmsu.edu/~tquery/ 

r e s e a r c h / C P C U _ e J o u r n a l _ B u l l yi n g _ P a p e r . p d f 

Ronald Lindah (2006). The Role of Organizational Climate and 

Culture in the School Improvement Process: A Review of the 

Knowledge Base Retrieved January 12, 2011 

h t t p : / / c n x . o r g / c o n t e n t / m 1 3 4 6 5 / l a t e s t / 

Tracy, Lutgen-Sandvik, and Alberts (2006). Nightmares, Demons 

and Slaves, Exploring the Painful Metaphors of Workplace 

Bullying, Retrieved December 24, 2010 from 

h t t p: / / e n . wi k i pedia . or g/wi ki / Wor kp l a ce_ bul l yi n g 

Yamada, D. (2007) Imagining the Good Workplace: It Starts with 

Individual Dignity Retrieved December 24, 2010 from http:// 

w w w . h u i l m i a t i o n s t u d i e s . o r g / d o c u m e n t s / 

Y a m a d a I m a g i n i n g t h e G o o d W o r k p l a c e . p d f 

Yamada, David C. (2008). Work Place Bullying and Ethical 

Leadership. The Journal of JVBL Values Based Leadership.1, 

2, Retrieved December 24, 2010 from http:// 

www.valuesbasedleadershipjournal.com/issues/vol1issue2/ 

yamada.php 

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31645104/Summary-of-Workplace-Bullying 


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PERSONALITY JOB-FIT 

Khalida Rauf 

Department of Psychology 

Federal Urdu University, Karachi 

Abstract 

The present study was conducted to investigate the 

relationship between traits of ascendancy and job satisfaction 

in three groups belonging to different professions. The trait 

of ascendancy of 75 personnel was measured with the help of 

Gordon personal Profile (Gordon,1963) and the job satisfaction 

level of the same was measured with the help of the Ganguli 

scale of job satisfaction (Ganguli, 1954). The personnel 

included 25 faculty members,25 insurance agents and 25 

medical representatives. In order to assess the relationship 

of both the variables product moment correlation was 

calculated. In order to assess the level of difference in the 

level of ascendancy and job satisfaction of these three 

groups, one way analysis of variance was calculated for each 

variable. Results indicated that there was very weak inverse 

correlation between the two variables, r=-.006. F value for the 

variable of ascendancy is .196 p>.05 and the F value for the 

variable of job satisfaction is .077 p>.05. 

JEL Classification: J28, M50, 044 




379 



Research 

Introduction and Literature Review 

Personality is reflection of behavior, whatever human 

beings do in a persistent fashion that is known as personality. 

Though behavior differs from situation to situation i.e., behavior 

at the workplace may differ from behavior at home, yet people do 

not differ in their dominating style. This means that people who 

tend to relate well with their families prefer to be in jobs which 

require them to have interaction with others, people who are less 

talkative prefer to be in jobs which require individual concentration 

on work. Different traits have been identified as conducive to 

success in different professions. 

Researchers generally describe personality in terms of 

trait. A trait is a learned tendency of an individual to react as he 

has more or less successfully done in the past in similar situations, 

when similarly motivated. Motivation prompts all behavior in order 

to satisfy various needs (Shartle, 1953). 

Researchers over different timeframes (Jenkins and 

Maslach 1994;Veroff and Feld 1971) have concluded that people 

with high power need reported more satisfaction in power related 

jobs. 

Landy(1978) discovered that people with high power 

needs are likely to be found in managerial jobs and leadership 

positions, that require them to exert influence over others. 

Similar results have been reported by McClelland (1961). 

According to him graduate students who showed a high need for 

achievement, after ten years of graduation, were more likely to be 

found in entrepreneurial occupations than those who had shown 

a low need for achievement. 

Similarly, later researchers like Condly and Viswesvaran 

(2000) and Watson et al. (2002) concluded that people with the 

trait of conscientiousness, extraversion or emotional stability are 

happier at work. However, Maslach et al (2001) reported that 


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Research 


turnover was common among those who report more stress and 

burnout on their jobs. 

Personality has been shown to influence career choices, 

job satisfaction, stress, leadership and some aspects of job 

performance. Individual differences seem to affect job 

satisfaction. When the specific job factors are related to one’s 

makeup job satisfaction is possible. This conjecture is supported 

by the results of Hoppock (1963). The sample of this research 

was 500 teachers, those who reported more satisfaction were 

those who reported more emotional adjustment, more religiosity, 

and better human relations, felt more successful, selected their 

vocations and were on average 7.5 years older. One interesting 

finding in this research was that the difference in average salaries 

between the two groups was not statistically significant as 

determinant of job satisfaction. 

Personality can be considered a determinant of job 

satisfaction. When selection procedures are based on 

personality in addition to ability, people may find job content 

more interesting. When people are dissatisfied with their working 

conditions, they are likely to move to a new job but with similar 

content which matches their needs (www.aabri.com). 

Hulin (1991) argued that personality affects job 

satisfaction but through the mediation of working conditions. 

Job satisfaction is basically a reaction to working conditions. 

Working conditions could be improved to increase job 

satisfaction without manipulating the personality variables (Cook 

et al., 1995). 

The results of metaanalysis of stabilities in job 

satisfaction done by Dormann and Zapf (2001) concluded that 

personality factors play an important role leading to job 

satisfaction. 

Judge et al. (2002) maintained that job satisfaction is 

largely determined by personality traits. On the basis of 

disposition, people view their job characteristics differently, a 

381 



Research 

positively disposed person views his job as enriching and 

interesting and is more satisfied with his jobs, whereas, negatively 

disposed individuals generally focus on the negative aspects of 

the job and are less satisfied. This is supported by Weiss and 

Cropanzano, 1996). 

Most of the recent researchers focus on matching 

individuals to organizations. For example, people high on 

openness to experience fit best in organizations with high 

emphasis on innovation, agreeable people work better in 

supportive environment (LePine et al, 2001). This congruence 

between personality and organization results in increased levels 

of well being and decreased levels of stress and turnover (Lovelace 

and Rosen, 1996). 

The trait of self monitoring among sales people have 

been studied by Vilela & Vilela and Gonzalez (2010), in addition to 

high self monitors, they reported that sales people have enhanced 

interpersonal skills and communication skills. Moreover, Blakely, 

Andrews and Fuller(2003) also reported positive relationship 

between self monitoring and interpersonal skills. 

Maslach et al (2001) found that people have a problem 

focused approach if they report more well being at the workplace. 

Similar results have been obtained by Houtman et al. (1999); 

Hallberg et al. (2007) and Shimizutani et al. (2008). They obtained 

the above mentioned results testing the statement that one’s 

personal approach to work plays a decisive role in developing 

work stress. 

Methodology: 

Based on the literature review the present study aims to 

identify the relationship between ascendancy trait and job 

satisfaction. 

The hypotheses tested are 

1. There will be a positive correlation between the trait of 

ascendancy and job satisfaction. 

2. There will be no difference in the level of job satisfaction 

of the three groups. 


382

Research 


3. There will be no difference in the level of ascendancy 

of the three groups. 

The sample comprised of 25 faculty members of private 

universities,25 medical representatives and 25 insurance agents. 

Their ages ranged from 25 to 50 years, the sample comprised of 

married and unmarried people living in joint and nuclear family 

systems. Their educational level range from graduation to PhD. 

The Ascendancy scale of Gordon Personal Profile (1963) 

was administered to gauge scores on Ascendancy whereas; job 

satisfaction was measured through Ganguli scale of job 

satisfaction (1954).Demographic information was collected 

through the standard Demographic Information Form. 

In order to assess the relationship between ascendancy 

and job satisfaction Pearson Product Moment Correlation was 

calculated. In order to find the difference among the three groups 

in terms of their ascendancy level and job satisfaction level one 

way analysis of variance was calculated for each variable. 

Ascendancy was defined as follows: 

Those individuals who are verbally ascendant, who 

adopt an active role in the group who are self assured and 

assertive in their relationships with others, and who tend to 

make independent decisions, score high on this scale. Those 

who playa low role in the group who listen rather than talk, who 

lack self confidence, who let others take the lead and who tend 

to be overly dependent on others for advice, normally make low 

scores(Gordon 1963). 

Job Satisfaction was defined as follows: 

Job satisfaction is the collection of feelings and beliefs 

that people have about their current jobs (Ganguli, 1954). 

383 



Research 

Results and Analyses 

Table No 1 shows correlation of Ascendancy and Job 

Satisfaction 

Variables 

Job Satisfaction 

& Ascendancy 

r -0.006 

Sig 0.958 

N 72 

Job Satisfaction & Ascendancy have weak 

negative correlation, r=-.006, significant at .958 

level, N= number of cases are 72. 

Graph No 1 shows correlation of ascendancy and job 

satisfaction 

1 3 0 

SCORES ON JOB SATISFACTION 

1 2 0 

1 1 0 

1 0 0 

9 0 

8 0 

7 0 

6 0 

0 

1 0 

2 0 

3 0 

4 0 

SCO RE S O N AS CENDANC Y 

Figure 3 showing dispersion of cases as very weak 

correlation between ascendency and job satisfaction. 

In order to see, whether personality traits and job 

satisfaction correlate with each other, Pearson Product Moment 

Correlation was calculated and results revealed that there is 

very weak inverse correlation -.006 between the two variables 

p>.05, showing that these two variables are inversely but also 

weakly related to each other (Table No.13 & Graph No. 1). 


384

Research 


Table no 2 shows differences of the three groups on job satisfaction 

Source of Variance 


squares 

Degree 

of 

freedom 

Mean 

Square 

Between groups 28.311 2 14.156 .077 .926 

Within groups 12629.63 69 183.038 

Total 12657.94 71 

F=.077, df between group =2, df within group=69, significant at=.926 level 

F 

Sig 

Graph No 2 shows differences of the three groups on job 

satisfaction 

1 2 0 

1 1 0 

JOB SATISFACTION 

1 0 0 

9 0 

8 0 

7 0 

2 0 

6 0 

1 5 

5 0 

N = 

2 3 

2 4 

2 5 

fa c ul ty 

lif e i n su r a n ce 

m ed ica l r e p r e se n t a ti 

G R O U PS 

Figure 4 showing mean scores of faculty members, 

life insurance agents and medical representatives 

on the variable of job satisfaction. 

In order to have a clearer picture of the results, one way 

analysis of variance was calculated to test the difference among 

these three groups in their level of job satisfaction. Again the 

results show no significant difference among these three groups 

as F value is .077, p >.05 (Table No.2 & Graph No. 2). However, 

the spread of scores on job satisfaction are different for all the 

groups. There is wide dispersion in the scores of medical 

representatives followed by insurance agents and faculty 

members. However, work of Furnham et al (2002) concluded 

that personality does not have a consistent influence on what 

385 



Research 

individuals perceive as important in the workplace, nor does it 

influence their levels of job satisfaction. 

Table No 3 shows differences of the three groups on Ascendancy 

Source of Sum of Degree of Mean F Sig 

variance Square freedom Square 

Between 

7.503 2 3.75 0.196 0.822 

groups 

Within groups 1320.497 69 19.13 

Total 1328 71 

F=.196, df between group =2, df within group=69, significant at=.822 level. 

Graph No 3 shows differences of the three groups on 

Ascendancy 

40 

SCORE ONASCENDANCY 

30 

20 

10 

7 

27 

0 

N = 

23 

24 

25 

Teachers 

iInsurance agents 

medical Rep 

GROUPS 

Figure 4 showing mean scores of faculty members, life insurance 

agents and medical representatives on the variable of job 

satisfaction 


386

Research 


In order to find the difference in the level of ascendancy 

of the three groups, one way analysis of variance was calculated 

on the scores of ascendancy, again the results showed no 

significant difference among the means of these groups, F 

.196,p>.05. However, there are two outliers in the graph O 7 in 

faculty members falling outside the range of scores of all the 

members and O27 within the insurance agents groups, whose 

score is falling much lower than the range of scores of all the 

members. 

The reason for the uniformity of job satisfaction level 

seems to lie in the fact that although these professions require 

their persons to be ascendant the competence of job 

performance is equally important. The facilitation of the 

workplace and the management may also play an important 

role in person’s job satisfaction level. 

Table No. 4 showing Regression Analysis: Dependent 

Variable Job Satisfaction 

Model R R.Square Adjusted R 

Square 

Std error of 

estimate 

1 0.189 0.036 -0.022 13.496 

a Predictors: (Constant), ASCENDANCY, SOCIABILITY, 

RESPONSIBILITY, EMOTIONAL STABILITY 


coefficient 

Standardized 

coefficient 

t 

Sig 

Model B Std Error Beta 

1 (Constant) 95.98 13.06 7.35 0 

Sociability 8.97E-02 0.067 0.163 1.348 0.182 

Responsib 

ility 

Emotional 

Stability 

Ascendan 

cy 

-0.248 0.38 -0.079 -0.652 0.517 

7.78E-02 0.326 0.003 0.024 

0.981 

8.06E-04 0.376 0 0.002 0.998 

387 



Research 

In order to further ascertain the determinants of job 

satisfaction, some other traits of personality were rated by the 

same respondents namely, responsibility, emotional stability 

and sociability, the other three traits were measured by Gordon 

Personal Profile. In order to find out which of these variables is 

a determinant of job satisfaction, Regression analysis was 

undertaken. Results reveal that none of the factors are 

significant determinants of job satisfaction. 

Results of exploratory factors reveal that mean scores 

on responsibility were highest followed by emotional stability 

and sociability.(Table No. 4 ). 

People may report job satisfaction because they perform 

their job with responsibility, as has been reported by Kujawski 

(1963). While measuring predictive validity, he administered 

Gordon Personal Profile to 97 personnel in the sales department 

over the period of one year, and they were rated by their dealer 

salesmen. Scores reveal high correlation for responsibility and 

emotional stability i.e,.43** and.33** respectively. 

Though a group of researchers support personality and 

satisfaction relationship at work, another body of researches 

dispute this. Filan, et al (1986) related job satisfaction to 

psychological variables such as perception, responsibility and 

locus of control, whereas, Harnish and Creamer (1985, 1986) 

disregarded these variables. However, Eric digest (1988) reported 

that job satisfaction is related to both individual and work 

conditions. Different scales use different approaches to 

satisfaction. 

With regard to the present research, it is suggested that 

if the obtained results are supplemented with some kind of 

performance rating, the conclusions would be different. The 

exploration of working conditions or hygienic factors should 

be looked into as a correlate of job satisfaction. 

** highly significant correlation 

Moreover, high scores on emotional stability also enable 

people to stick to their jobs despite difficulties their higher 


388

Research 


emotional stability allows them to face problems at the 

workplace effectively. 

In addition to having attitudes about their jobs as a whole, 

people can have attitudes about various aspects of their jobs 

such as their performance, however, the direction of influence 

between the personaliy and job satisfaction could be reversed: 

job performance may lead to job satisfaction. 

Furthermore, other than these personal factors certain 

environmental factors like the unstable economy and extreme 

competitiveness in the market require workers to be more 

responsible. 

Conclusion: 

The study was conducted to assess the relationship 

between job satisfaction and personality traits. It was 

hypothesized that individuals scoring high on ascendancy 

would score high on job satisfaction as they belong to jobs 

which require them to be ascendant, like faculty members, 

insurance agents and medical representatives. Results revealed 

insignificant very weak and inverse correlation between the 

variables of ascendancy and job satisfaction (p>.05). Analysis 

of variance among all three groups for the variables of 

ascendancy and job satisfaction also appear insignificant 

(p>.05). In order to make the results conclusive, other variables, 

like working conditions or perception of work are to be 

incorporated into the future research. 

Limitations: 

1.The limitations of present research are that the study was 

conducted on a limited sample, since medical representatives 

and insurance agents are in the field; it was not possible to 

access them easily. 

2. The study included only personality variables as a correlate 

of job satisfaction. If some other variables like working 

conditions, intrinsic factors and some positive psychological 

attributes had been studied, the resultant picture would have 

been clearer. 

389 



Research 

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393 



Market Report 

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE: 

A NEW DIMENSION TO 

BUSINESS 

Abstract 

Azimuddin Khan 

Karunesh Saxena 

Faculty of Management Studies 

M L Sukhadia University, Udaipur (India). 

Due to numerous factors such as global competition, 

technological breakthroughs, changing regulatory requirements, 

customer expectation, structural changes, environmental 

concerns and also the impact of economic recession, business 

organizations are compelled to reshape and restructure their 

business processes. 

Due to the fiercely competitive environment and also high stakes 

of making wrong decision, it has become inevitable to design 

and implement Business Intelligence solutions which proved to 

be immensely beneficial in decision making. 

An attempt has been made in this paper to develop the conceptual 

framework pertaining to Business Intelligence and also to discuss 

its application, decision making as well as to analyze its 

significance in creating business value. 

Keywords: Business Intelligence, Data Warehouse, ETL, 

Dashboard, Reporting and Querying. 

JEL Classification: A19, D78, D79, O29 


394

Market Report 


1. Introduction 

Today, organizations have lots of data and available 

systems but they are not effective at turning all that data into 

useful strategic information. Over the past two decades, 

companies have gathered tons and tons of data about their 

operation. Information is said to double every 18 months. Most 

organizations are faced with information crises because the 

available data is not readily usable for strategic decision making. 

These large quantities of data are very useful and good for 

running the business operations, but hardly acquiescent for use 

in making decisions about business strategies and objectives. 

This happens due to spread of data across many types of 

incompatible structures and systems. Sales and marketing data 

is lying with newly developed systems whereas financial and 

accounting data be kept with old legacy systems, while material 

and inventory data is collected through client server application. 

Another problem which exists with data is that available 

operational data cannot be readily used to spot trends. 

Operational data is event driven. The data in organizations resides 

in various disparate systems, multiple platforms, and diverse 

structures. For proper decision making on overall corporate 

strategies and objectives, the organization has to integrate 

information from all the systems. Managers should be in a 

position to review the sales by product, sales person, district, 

region, and customer group. 

2. Concept of Business Intelligence (BI) 

Business Intelligence is the process of getting 

information about the business from available data sources. These 

systems are essential for organizations to keep track of their 

affairs. Data becomes information when you can use it to answer 

business questions, so you can understand business better. 

Business Intelligence allows you to answer the questions, so 

that executives and managers at all levels can respond quickly 

to changes in the business. 

395 



Market Report 

Business Intelligence can provide answers to the 

following questions: 

• What happened? 

o What are my five top selling products? 

• What is happening? 

o How do my sales this year compare to last 

year? 

• Why did it happen? 

o Why are sales down in this region? 

• What will happen? 

o What can we predict the sales of the next 

quarter to be? 

• What do I want to happen? 

o How will our margins improve if we run this 

promotion? 

Business intelligence starts with day to day information 

that organizations need to run the business and assist to take 

correct decisions based on facts at the right time and at the right 

place through out the life of the business by doing business 

analytics. 

According to Devenport and Harris (2007), Business 

Intelligence (BI) is required to encompass analytics as well as the 

processes and technologies used for collecting, managing, and 

reporting decision-oriented data and information. The Business 

Intelligence architecture (a subset of overall IT architecture) is an 

umbrella term for an enterprise-wide set of systems, applications, 

and governance processes that enable sophisticated analytics, 

by allowing data, content, and analysis to flow to those who 

need them, when they need them. Top management, unit heads, 

functional heads, knowledge workers, and business analysts all 

need such information in various forms at various times to take 

decisions. 

Mike Steadman (2003) defined Business Intelligence as 

the act of capturing raw data, then transforming and combining 

that data into information that can be proactively used to improve 


396

Market Report 


business. The goal of BI is to empower decision makers, allowing 

them to make better and faster decisions. 

As per Wikipedia, Business Analytics (BA) to the set 

of skills, technologies, applications and practices for continuous 

iterative exploration and investigation of past business 

performance to gain insight into and drive business planning. 

Analytics are a subset of business intelligence, a set of 

technologies and processes that use data to understand and 

analyze business performance. Analytics is a critical component 

of business intelligence, one that delivers the ability to derive 

more value from data and answer the more challenging questions. 

Analytics enables us to make smart business decisions 

which provide a competitive advantage to leading organizations 

across the industry. Analytics such as statistical analysis, 

forecasting, predictive modeling and optimization, provides 

actionable intelligence and insight to support the changing need 

of the organization. It provide confidence to the business with 

maximum efficiency and effectiveness, supporting continuous 

learning and improvement for developing a sustainable 

competitive edge. 

Strategic BI is to align multiple business processes with 

key business objectives through integrated performance 

management and analysis. The emphasis is on achieving long 

term, strategic goals like increasing revenues, cost controls, 

increasing market share and profitability with the improvement 

of customer satisfaction. Top level management uses Business 

Intelligence to asses the company’s key performance indicators 

(KPI) in terms of targets. It also provides in depth analytics to 

take corrective action if it is not achieved. This type of analysis 

is based on time series data. Strategic business intelligence, is 

also called performance management (PM) with other prefixes 

like corporate performance management (CPM), enterprise 

performance management (EPM) or business performance 

management (BPM). 

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Market Report 

Tactical BI is to optimize business processes by 

identifying trends, anomalies, and behaviors for initiating 

appropriate management action at the right time. Tactical use of 

Business Intelligence addresses short term goals such as 

marketing campaigns, introduction of new products, pricing, 

buying of raw material, production scheduling and management 

of funds. The analysis is based on weekly or monthly data. It is 

used to predict business trends, provide periodic comparative 

study of sales and expenses, need for inventory to meet expected 

demands, advertisement schedules etc. 

Operational BI is a means for helping businesses to make 

more informed decisions and take more effective action in their 

daily business operations. Operational Business Intelligence 

provides analytics based on real time, low latency and historical 

data to the operation managers. It can be used in reducing fraud, 

decreasing loan processing times, optimizing pricing, monitoring 

current campaign, checking order status etc. It helps employees 

to make knowledgeable decisions before their daily problems 

become corporate disasters. Colin White (2009) noted that 

“Competitive pressures … are forcing companies to react faster 

to changing business conditions and customer requirements. As 

a result, there is now a need to use Business Intelligence to help 

drive and optimize business operations on a daily basis and, in 

some cases, even for intra-day decision making. This type of BI is 

usually called operational business intelligence. The objective of 

operational BI is to make more timely business decisions. 

3. Applications of Business Intelligence 

Companies like Netflix, Google, CEMEX, Proctor and 

Gamble, Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, Fed ex, Capital One have shown 

their presence as the best and fast growing companies. There to 

take decisions are based on analytics by extensive use of data, 

statistical and quantitative analysis, predictive modeling, 

forecasting, optimization and simulation techniques. In India, 

Business Intelligence Implementation is at its initial stage but a 

lead has been taken by banking, financial services and insurance 

(BFSI) sector companies. ICICI, IDBI, Standard Chartered Bank 

(SCB) and Max New York Life are the companies which have 

taken the lead in implementing Business Intelligence. Industries 


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such as airlines, telecom, retail, hospitality, and healthcare are 

also realizing the need of business intelligence. Borojardi, 

Ayatullah Tabatabai, Ayatullah Hakim, Imam Shariat Madar – 

none of whom was a sectarian and all of whom stood unflinchingly 

for Shia-Sunni unity and for Islam’s universal dominance. The 

Shia segment of the contemporary Islamic revolutionary 

movement has developed this line of thought and gone from 

strength to strength – specially in Iran, Labnan and Iraq 4 – in the 

twentieth century. 

Table1: Examples of BI Applications 

Retails 

- Sales patterns 

- Integrated customer view 

- Campaign management 

- Customer valuation 

- Analytical CRM 

- Space planning 

- Mark down optimization 

Telecom 

- Call behavior analysis 

- Fraud detection 

- Service usage analysis 

- Number portability 

- Promotion effectiveness 

- Unbilled sales analysis 

- Price plan optimization 

Financial 

- Credit Risk 

- Monetary risk 

- Asset management 

- Liability management 


- Compensation analysis 

- Regulatory compliance 

- Aging analysis 

Airline 

- Revenue management and accounting 

- Customer relationship management 

- Crew operations 

- Security and fraud 

- Flight operations 

- Peak performance analysis 

Manufacturing 

- Order life cycle 

- Inventory analysis 

- Quality assurance 

- Supplier compliance 

- Distribution analysis 

- Defect analysis 

- Preventive maintenance analysis 

- Schedule analysis 

Healthcare & Pharmaceutical 

- Patient flow analysis 

- Health plan analysis 

- Equipment utilization 

- Pharmaceutical analysis 

- Testing and clinical trial analysis 

- Sales force analysis 

- Back order and lost sales analysis 

Government 

- Policy formulation 

- Logistics 

- Disaster management 

- Citizen relationship management 

- Education management 

- National security 

- Crime analysis 

- Health & welfare analysis 


All industries 

- Profitability 

- Performance analysis 

- Value chain analysis 

- Profiling 

- Operation management 

- Attrition analysis 

- Customer service analysis 

- Customer complaint analysis 

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4. Business Intelligence Solutions 

With the consolidation of Business Intelligence use over 

the last few years, Business Intelligence market will be driven by 

some big companies. There are seven major players in the 

Business Intelligence solution provider industry, namely SAP 

(Business Objects), IBM (Cognos), Oracle (Hyperion), Microsoft, 

Information Builders (IBI), MicroStrategy, and SAS. 

MicroStrategy, SAS and IBI are independent and mainly focused 

on BI only. 75% of the market share has been acquired by five 

major vendors only. 

In the current climate with economic downturn, proactive 

business people will focus on improving business processes to 

gain efficiencies with the same or lower budget, improving 

customer service to reach new and existing customers, complying 

with regulation; and addressing risk associated with business. 

Business Intelligence solution can be implemented based on its 

architecture. Following Conceptual framework of BI, helps in 

implementing the successful BI. 

o Existing IT Setup for data collection 

o Data transformation tools 

o Data warehousing and Data Mart 

o Tools for Analytics 

Figure 1: Framework of Business Intelligence (Source: Khan & Saxena, 2010) 


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Market Report 


We must begin by defining and designing data 

management strategy to ensure that the organization has the 

right information and uses it properly. The challenge is to collect 

clean data, from various sources so that BI solutions deliver the 

correct actionable information to management at different levels. 

The organization should concentrate on quality of data, and 

investment must be made to ensure high levels of data quality. 

The duplicate data should be unified as it comes from various 

sources. The data coming from the transaction system is atomic 

level data and should be recorded in detailed form. 

The integration of data is important as it is generated 

by various operational systems with different naming 

conventions, attributes, codes, business rules and measurement. 

Inconsistencies have to be removed by standardized various 

data elements. The data should be distributable among various 

users at various levels located at different locations. 

Most companies don’t have a precise view about their 

customers, products, suppliers, inventory or even employees. 

Whenever organizations add new enterprise applications to 

“manage” data, they unwittingly contribute to an overall 

confusion about an organization’s overall view of the enterprise. 

As a result, the concept of master data management (MDM), 

creating a single, unified view of an organization is growing in 

importance now a days. 

Data transformation is one of the most important stages, 

where the data coming from various sources gets into the data 

warehouse after going through the various stages of data 

cleansing. It is necessary to first clean and validate data using 

business rules through data cleansing tools. Transformation 

procedure defines business logics which maps data from its 

source to destination. ETL (Extract, Transfer and Load) tools are 

very mature and helpful for reducing the development time, 

managing the flow of data from source to destination and 

uploading data to the tables of data warehouse. ETL tools can 

assist in ensuring that data is cleansed and conforms to 

standards before entering into the data warehouse. The ETL 

processes consist of the following steps: 

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Market Report 

Initiation - Building reference data – Extract from sources 

– Validate – Transform – Load into stages tables – Audit reports 

– Publish – Achieve - Cleanup 

Effective data ETL processes represent the number one 

success factor for data warehouse projects and consume 70% of 

the total time spent on the project. Data extraction also takes time 

depending on the complexity of source systems. The data 

extraction strategy can be defined by considering sources 

identification, extraction method (manual or tool based), extraction 

frequency (daily, weekly, quarterly etc.), time window for extraction 

process, and job sequencing and exception handling for input 

records that cannot be extracted. 

Inmon (1995) defined a data warehouse as a centralized 

repository (collection of resources that can be accessed to retrieve 

information) of an organization’s electronically stored data, 

designed to facilitate reporting and analysis. Inmon (1995) is one 

of the leading proponents of the top-down approach to data 

warehouse design, in which the data warehouse is designed using 

a normalized enterprise data model. A data warehouse is a subjectoriented, 

integrated, time-variant and non-volatile collection of 

data in support of management’s decision making process. The 

top-down design methodology generates highly consistent 

dimensional views of data across data marts since all data marts 

are loaded from the centralized repository and also proven to be 

robust against business changes. Generating new dimensional 

data marts against the data stored in the data warehouse is a 

relatively simple task. The main disadvantage to the top-down 

methodology is that it represents a very large project with a very 

broad scope. 

Kimball (2002) has given the bottom-up approach where 

data marts are first created to provide reporting and analytical 

capabilities for specific business processes. Data marts contain, 

primarily, dimensions and facts. Facts can contain either atomic 

data and, if necessary, summarized data. The single data mart 

often models a specific business area such as sales or production. 

These data marts can eventually be integrated to create a 

comprehensive data warehouse. 


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Market Report 


Data Mart: To improve the query performance, a 

partitioned sector of the overall data warehouse is known as 

Data Mart. The emphasis of a data mart is on meeting the specific 

demands of a particular group of knowledge users in terms of 

analysis, content, presentation, and ease-of-use. Data marts are 

designed to support business function like sales, marketing, 

finance, inventory, HR, production etc. In general, a data 

warehouse tends to be a strategic but somewhat unfinished 

concept; a data mart tends to be tactical and aimed at meeting an 

immediate need. 

Meta Data: Meta Data is the data about data. It is 

basically a data dictionary which acts as the glue that connects 

all the part of the data warehouse. Metadata can be stored and 

managed in a database, often called a registry or repository. It 

provides information about the contents and structures of data, 

such as means of creation, purpose of the data, time and date of 

creation, creator or author of data, placement on a network 

(electronic form) where the data was created, what standards 

used etc. 

Organizations are increasingly using of business 

intelligence to identify cost saving opportunities and to improve 

quality of products and services as a way to beating the 

competition. There are many categories of tools available in the 

Business Intelligence market from simple query and reporting to 

complex performance management and advanced visualization 

systems. Business Intelligence vendors are now also 

consolidating tools in every category to provide complete 

business intelligence solutions to companies. 

However, some organizations still prefer to have a ‘best 

of bread’ strategy in which they select Business Intelligence 

tools in each category from different vendors. 

i. Query & Reporting: 

It is the process of putting a query to database, then 

formatting it to create a report. There are two types of reporting, 

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Market Report 

one is “Production Reporting” and the other is “Business Query 

and Reporting”. 

ii. Online Analytical Processing: 

The objective of Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) 

is to promote information based insight and understanding by 

providing decision makers with information they need quickly, 

and in the form they want it. An OLAP allows manager to tailor 

their information and knowledge requirements by discriminating 

according to user defined criteria by making comparisons, 

analyzing trends based on past and current data. Online Analytical 

Processing is a category of software tools that provides analysis 

of data stored in a database. The OLAP cube consists of numeric 

facts called measures which are categorized by dimensions. 

Measures are derived from the records in the fact table and 

dimensions are derived from the dimension tables. 

According to industry visualization expert Stephen Few 

(2006), a dashboard is a visual display of the most 

important information needed to achieve one or more 

objectives; consolidated and arranged on single screen 

so the information can be monitored at a glance. These 

tools can display multiple objects by connecting from 

multiple data sources. These tools provide the user 

specific dashboard at all the three hierarchical levels of 

the organization by combining ease of use with 

meaningful information. 

Scorecards are a management system that enables 

organization to set, track, and achieve key business 

strategies and objectives. It has four business 

perspectives Customer (e.g. Customer satisfaction), 

Financial (Operating income and cash flow), Internal 

business process (Productivity) and Learning & Growth 

(No of training Hours). It focuses on metrics and 

compares it with targets. It also generates alerts when 

potential problems arise, analyzes the root cause of 

problems by exploring relevant information in detail and 

allows the user to take corrective action. The scorecard 

allows a user to answer the question: “How does my 


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Market Report 


goal support the corporate strategy?” Scorecards 

enable an organization to improve processes and reduce 

cost by aligning strategy, plans, targets, and forecasts 

by creating a consolidated, strategic view of existing 

data. 

Performance Management is involved with monitoring 

and managing an organization’s performance, according 

to key performance indicators such as revenue, return 

on investment, overhead, and operational costs. These 

applications include budgeting, planning and financial 

consolidation. Performance Management may be related 

to workforce planning, supply chain optimization, 

capacity planning etc. other than finance. Craig Schiff 

(2007) stated that performance management is really 

about the business process that enables a business to 

set strategic goals and measure how successfully it is 

performing in terms of its objectives. The technology 

that supports these processes include BPM packaged 

applications such as budgeting, planning, and 

consolidation, as well as BI tools such as ETL, Query 

and Report, and OLAP cubes. 

Predictive Analytics and Data Mining provide highly 

specialized functionality for statisticians and skilled 

senior analyst to find the pattern in data and generate 

statistical models and rules. These tools are based on 

neural network, decision tree, artificial intelligence, 

Bayesian network theory, and statistics. 

Predictive analytics is an area of statistical analysis 

that deals with extracting information from data and 

using it to predict future trends and behavior patterns. 

The core of predictive analytics relies in capturing 

relationships between explanatory variables and 

predicted variables from past occurrences, and 

exploiting it to predict future outcomes. The accuracy 

and usability of results will depend greatly on the level 

of Business and Data Understanding of the user. 

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Market Report 

Data mining is the technology for the extraction of hidden 

predictive information from large databases, with great 

potential to help companies focus on the most important 

information in their data warehouses. Data mining is more 

popular in strong consumer focused organizations such 

as retail, financial, communication, and marketing firms. 

It enables these organizations to determine relationships 

among “internal” factors such as price, product 

positioning, or staff skills, and “external” factors such 

as economic indicators, competition, and customer 

demographics and enables them to determine the impact 

on sales, customer satisfaction, and corporate profits. 

Advanced visualization and discovery tools often use 

an in memory architecture to provide highly interactive 

dashboards. Advanced visualization and discovery, are 

interactive ways of working with the data. With 

advanced visualization, the visualization and query 

process is one and the same. It’s much more exploratory. 

The “in memory technologies” basically load data from 

sources into the memory of the computer they are 

running on, rather than landing or reading data to the 

disk as is done in other business intelligence tools. It 

provides nearly instantaneous response times to user 

queries. These tools provide the business user to see 

the data in graphical form including representation of 

data in heat maps, histograms, waterfall charts, 

decomposition trees, geographic maps, spark lines, and 

bullet graph etc. 

5. Business Value of Business Intelligence 

In the 1990s, most business reports were developed by 

IT departments, even though the implementation of ERP, SCM 

and CRM was started by the organization at get the benefits of 

transactional efficiency, process improvements and integration, 

process automation, better control over day to day operation, 

and information availability across the organization on reduced 

cost and time. These systems had generated huge volumes of 


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Market Report 


data which were stored in the newly developed concept of data 

warehousing. With the attainment of maturity Data Warehousing, 

organizations were able to collects good quality transactional 

data, which in turn, initiated the concept of business intelligence 

tools where business reports were developed by business users 

in place of IT. 

Business Intelligence can empower people to make their 

decisions effective and correct. It can deliver many tangible and 

intangible benefits to the organization. These include. 

- Alignment of an organization around a set of Key 

Performance Indicators (KPIs) & Metrics and generate 

graphical presentation 

- Better strategies and plans 

- Respond faster to new opportunities and changing 

demands 

- Timely and accurate data helps to identify and quickly 

address inefficiencies 

- Improve productivity by reducing the decision making 

cycle time 

- Reduce costs by minimizing the time required to collect 

data 

- Optimize customer relationships and increase customer 

loyalty 

- Allows organizations to monitor competitor 

information, giving extra edge needed to stay ahead 

- Supports interactive exploration across multiple 

dimensions of business 

- Helps to identify the issues that fall outside norms and 

signals potential problem 

- Supports what-if analysis to model the operational and 

financial impact of multiple scenarios on revenue, cost 

and cash flow 

- Provides the predictive analysis based on the current 

and past data 

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Market Report 

A structured approach should be used to capture the 

business value of BI investments by implementing business 

intelligence best practices, involvement of top level executive 

and IT department, support of finance, engagement of end users, 

strategic alignment and business process engineering, change 

management and encouraging the data through out the 

organization 

More and more organizations are now implementing 

business intelligence in their IT setup. With the increase in demand 

of BI, a lot of research is being done to provide ease of use with 

reduction of cost for its deployment. New initiatives such as 

Master Data Management, Customer Data Integration, Business 

Process Management and Service Oriented Architecture, Software 

as a Service, and Decision Services will enhance BI usage business 

intelligence market; 

Software as a Service (SaaS) BI is gaining momentum in 

small and mid size organization which reduces the cost, complexity, 

and economies on IT resources and time requirement to implement. 

Instead of purchasing and implementing BI solutions, 

organizations are taking services from vendors through secure 

internet connection. 

With the implementation of business intelligence 

solution, organization can generate actionable information by 

utilizing various analytics. Dashboard and Scorecard are the best 

tools to visualize the organizations performance. Business 

intelligence usage increases the business value in terms of 

efficiency, cost reduction, margins, profits and customer 

satisfaction. 


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References: 

Devenport Thomas H. and Harris Jeanne G, 2007, Competing on 

Analytics: The New Science of Winning, Harvard Business 

School Press, 2007, p. 155. 

Mike Steadman, 2003, Practical Business Intelligence for 

Associations & Non Profit Organizations, p. 1-6. 

Colin White, 2009, The Evolution of Real-Time Business 

Intelligence, Gravic Inc, p. 12. 

Gartner, 2010, RAS Core Research Note G00173700 by Joseph 

Feiman and Neil MacDonald. 

Khan Azimuddin and Saxena Karunesh, 2010, Business 

Intelligence: How to make Organisations Agile, 

Indian Management Journal, 49(10). 

Inmon, W.H., 1995, What is a Data Warehouse?, Prism Solutions, 

Volume 1. 

Kimball, Ralph and Ross, Margy, 2002, The Data Warehouse 

Toolkit, John Wiley and Sons Inc., Second Edition, p. 16. 

Few, Stephen, 2006, Information Dashboard Design: The Effective 

Visual Communication of Data, O’Reilly Media, p. 2-8. 

Schiff, Craig, 2007, Fact vs. Fiction in Performance Management, 

Business Intelligence Network, http://www.b-eye-network.com/ 

view/4452, May 16. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predictive_analytics accessed on 

August 10, 2010. 

Business Objects, 2008, Query as Web Service, A SAP Company, 

2008, p. 2. 

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WORKSHOP ON 

ENVIRONMENT AND 

ENERGY: 

AN OVERVIEW 

Shahid Amjad 

Department of Environmental Management 


An environment and energy workshop was held at 

Management Excellence Center (MEC) Institute of Business 

Management, Karachi on February 12, 2011. It highlighted the 

significance of environment and the energy sector management 

issues in Pakistan. The workshop discussed some of the essential 

tools needed by junior level executives, middle level managers 

and supervisors, to assist them in capacity building and updating 

their knowledge on conservation of energy as well as preservation 

of the environment in which they operate. More businesses are 

moving towards eco-friendly products and image development. 

This is imperative as the future investments in Pakistan will mainly 

be in the fields of energy, environment conservation and 

renewable energy sectors. The competitiveness of organizations 

and manufacturing units, that are leaders in conserving energy 

and operating in an environmentally friendly system, will improve 

in the global dynamics of the 21st century market place. The 

workshop was intended for graduates with a clear affinity for 

management and/or technology, as well as for decision-makers in 

companies, government and non-governmental organizations 

who wish to engage in environment and energy management. A 

number of presentations were made by environmental scientists 

and energy experts. 

Mr. Talib Karim, Rector IoBM, highlighted the role of 

IoBM in contributing its share to environmental management. 

The Institute has succeeded in the disposing off of industrial 

waste water from the nearby industrial area that passes near the 

IoBM campus and drains into the Korangi nala. Plantation of 

trees have been initiated in this area to make the IoBM 

microenvironment more pleasing. 


410



Dr. Akhlaq Ahmad presented a brief history of the 

Stockholm Conference 1972, establishment of UNEP, Tiblisi 

Conference 1977 and UNESCO 1980. The efforts of these 

organizations in the field of environment were highlighted and 

their role was discussed. Environmental codes, standards, 

legislation, training and monitoring in the field of environment 

were described. The role of Ministry of Housing and Works 

(Environment and Urban Affairs) and EPA (Federal and Provincial) 

were also presented. 

Dr. Shahid Amjad presented a paper on environment 

sector related job opportunities Pakistan spans a remarkable 

number of the world’s broad ecological regions, including more 

than five biomes in its land area of over 880,000 km 2 , these biomes 

are; the desert biome, temperate grassland biome, tropical forest 

biome, mountain biome, Coastal and Marine, Wetlands etc. 

Pakistan fauna (as per IUCN Red Book) includes 668 

birds species (25 threatened), 198 freshwater fish species (29 

endemic, 1 threatened), over a 1000 species of marine fish. 177 

reptiles (13 endemic, 6 threatened), and 174 mammals (6 endemic, 

20 threatened). About 5,700 species of flowering plants have also 

been identified. 

Environmental Issues faced by Pakistan include 

• Degradation of soil and issues related to solid waste 

disposal. 

• Pollution of freshwater, lakes and aquifers 

• Degraded coastal and marine life. 

• Air pollution and noise. 

• Overall negative Impact on the biosphere 

Both big industrial estates and small cottage industries 

generate hazardous and toxic chemicals. The fertilizer plants, textile 

industry, glass industry, steel plants etc are major sources of 

pollution. They emit SO 2, 

NO 2 

, smoke, volatile organic compounds, 

chlorine gas, ammonia, CO, CO 2 

, phenol, cyanide and particulate 

matter, into the atmosphere. Human health is adversely affected 

by different-sized airborne particulate matter. Larger particles PM 10 

411 




are trapped in the nose and throat, whereas smaller particles 

(PM 2.5 

) penetrate the lungs and are associated with a range of 

respiratory symptoms. In order to create an economy based on 

sustainable development, interactions of humans and ecosystems 

must be regulated. 

Job opportunities identified were: 

• After successful completion of environment and 

energy management program IoBM graduates will 

be able to develop, implement, monitor and evaluate 

environmental and energy management programs, 

policies and projects. 

• Successful graduates will be employed by, 

multinationals in the private sector. They may 

become consultants for large, small and medium 

sized enterprises, or work for governmental or non 

governmental organizations. 

• In the public sector, national public authorities, , 

larger municipalities’ sewage and water boards may 

employ them. 

Mr. Moin Uddin Ali Khan spoke on Environmental 

Impact Assessment (EIA). EIA is most effective and constructive 

for new projects when potential environmental impacts are 

assessed at the pre-feasibility and feasibility stages. The object 

of EIA is to provide for environmental matters to be taken into 

account in the making of decisions, by all interested parties. 

The EIA process involves screening scoping, baseline 

analysis , impact prediction, impact mitigation measures, 

documentation , public hearing, review and decision-making , 

and post project monitoring (PPM). 

In Pakistan EIA is an upcoming field and there is dearth 

of environment impact assessors. Also there is a great demand 

in this field in the Middle East. 


412



Syed Nadeem Arif: Director. Environment Management 

Consultants spoke on the Karachi Transportation Improvement 

Project. He highlighted current issues related to traffic congestion 

in Karachi. Mr. Arif is working on a JICA assisted program in 

association with Karachi Mass Transit Cell, CDGK, to identify, 

alleviate and facilitate movement of public through mass transport 

schemes. Novel ideas were presented to reduce the traffic 

congestion on the streets thereby creating space on roads by 

attracting greater number of commuters on to mass transit modes 

of transport. The Karachi Transportation improvement Project 

(KTIP) is an engineering solution envisaged to implement the 

Karachi Urban Transport Master Plan (KUTMP). In a preliminary 

social environment study significant issues were addressed that 

pertain to the demographic social, cultural and economic aspects 

of urban development. Currently more than 60% of air pollution 

is caused by the transport sector. 

Mr. Akthar Ali energy expert spoke on energy resources 

and the Pakistan Energy Development Plan. He highlighted issues 

related to Thar coal development, promotion of LNG, renewable, 

solar and winds energy, and use of nuclear fuels. 

Dr. Samiuz Zaman spoke on the management of solid 

waste disposal systems in Karachi. He highlighted the issues 

related to setting up of an incinerator in Karachi that he had 

designed in the 1990s. This incinerator continues to be used by 

the industrialists and others. He has his own lab facility that is 

able to test and measure key environmental parameters NEQS as 

stipulated by Environmental Agencies of Pakistan. The lab 

facilities are open for students of IoBM Environment and Energy 

Program for conducting experiments related to their courses. 

Dr. A. A. Baig former Director PCSIR concluded the 

workshop proceedings by highlighting the term social pollution. 

A non caring attitude of the people and the concerned 

environmental monitoring agencies has contributed to the growing 

menace of pollution in the city. Karachi has now become the most 

polluted metropolis in Asia according to a recent World Bank 

study. 

413 


July 2011 

Volume 13 Number 2 

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS 

(Research Section) 

1. Papers must be in English. 

2. Papers for publication should be sent in triplicate or by e-mail to: 

Managing Editor, Pakistan Business Review 

Institute of Business Management 

Korangi Creek, Karachi- 75190, Pakistan 

UAN: (9221) 111-002-004 Fax: (9221) 3509-0968, 3509-2658 

E-mails: sabina@iobm.edu.pk, mec@iobm.edu.pk 

Submission of a paper will be held to imply that it contains original unpublished work and is not 

being submitted for publication elsewhere. The Editors do not accept responsibility for damages or 

loss of papers submitted. 

3. PBR is a multi-disciplinary journal covering all subject areas of relevance to business in 

Pakistan. Research in the areas of Finance, Human Resources, Management, Informatics, 

Ethics, Marketing, Psychology, Economics and issues related to governance is specially 

encouraged. 

4. Manuscripts should be typewritten on one side of the page only, double spaced with wide 

margins. All pages should be numbered consecutively, titles and subtitles should be short. 

References, tables and legends for figures should be typed on separate pages. The legends and 

titles on tables and figures must be sufficiently descriptive such that they are understandable 

without reference to the text. The dimension of figure axes and the body of tables must be 

clearly labelled in English. 

5. The first page of the manuscript should contain the following information; (i) the title; (ii) 

the name(s) and institutional affiliation(s); (iii) an abstract of not more than 100 words. A 

footnote on the same sheet should give the name and present address of the author to whom 

reprints will be sent. 

6. Acknowledgements and information on grants received can be given before the references or 

in a first footnote, which should not be included in the consecutive numbering of footnotes. 

7. Important formulae (displayed) should be numbered consecutively throughout the manuscript 

as (1), (2), etc., on the right hand side of the page where the derivation of formula has been 

abbreviated, it is of great help to referees if the full derivation can be presented on a separate 

sheet (not to be published). 

8. Footnotes should be kept to a minimum and be numbered consecutively throughout the text 

with superscript arabic numerals. 

9. The references should include only the most relevant papers. In the text, references to 

publications should appear as follows: “Khan (1978) reported that….” Or “This problem has 

been a subject in literature before [e.g., Khan (1978) p. 102].” The author should make sure 

that there is a strict “one-to-one correspondence” between the names (years) in the text and 

those on the list. At the end of the manuscript (after any appendices) the complete references 

should be listed as: 

for monographs and books. 

Ahmad, Jaleel, 1978, Import substitution, trade and development, Amsterdam: North-Holland, 

For contributions to collective works 

Newbery, Daved M.G., 1975,. The use of rental contract in peasant agriculture, in: Reynods, 

ed., Agriculture in development theory, New Haven: Yale University Press p. 3-40. 

Continued next page 


Volume 13 Number 2 July 2011 

INSTRUCTIONS TO AUTHORS 

(Research Section) 

From previous page: 

For periodicals 

Baumol, W.J., 1982, Applied fairness theory and rational policy, American Economic 

Review, 72(4): 639561. 

Note that journal titles should not be abbreviated. 

10. Illustrations should be provided in triplicate (one original drawn in black ink on white 

paper and or with two photocopies). Care should be taken that lettering and symbols 

are of a comparable size. The drawings should not be inserted in the text and should 

be marked on the back with figure numbers, title of paper and name of author. All 

graphs and diagrams should be numbered consecutively in the text in arabic numerals. 

Graph paper should be ruled in blue and any grid lines to be shown should be inked 

black. Illustrations of insufficient quality which have to be redrawn by the publisher 

will be charged to the author. 

11. All unessential tables should be eliminated from the manuscript. Tables should be 

numbered consecutively in the text in arabic numerals and typed on separate sheets. 

Any manuscript which does not conform to the instructions may be returned for 

necessary revision before publication.

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