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A framework for analysis: Hofstedes four dimensions of culture

Hofstede is known as a legendary cross-cultural researcher and one who, by far, has been the most influential scholar in the development of a theory of national culture.7 The sheer scale of his study the size of the sample and geographical coverage was very impressive. He carried out a survey of IBM employees in over 40 countries and generated data from 116,000 questionnaires. Since the respondents were doing similar work in the same company, many intervening variables could be controlled. The only significant difference was their nationality. Therefore, the study could claim the differences in attitudes and values were due to cultural differences.8 Hofstedes work has been widely used and criticized by researchers.9 Here it is being employed as a framework for organizing information and data. The four dimensions of national culture or value categories provide a convenient typology to describe the Pakistani governments administrative culture. Pakistan was included in the original survey. Hofstede posits the following four dimensions of culture on the basis of his original study of the IBM employees. A fifth dimension was added later, on the basis of a study undertaken by Bond using the Chinese Values Survey.10 This dimension focused on time perspective, i.e. national culture with long- or short-term perspectives. Cultures with a long-term perspective emphasized saving face, steadiness, respect for tradition and exchanging gifts to maintain relationships. Short-term cultures are focused on the present rather than the future. Pakistan is included in the category of short-term perspective countries. Foreign observers note that it is uncommon to prepare or plan for distant future events in Pakistan. People often are late for meetings or appointments. Meetings may be called or cancelled on the spur of the moment.11 Short-term cultures value persistence, ordering relationships by status, thrift and shame. In the Pakistani context, status-based relationships and the concept of shame are perhaps significant values but the other two elements do not appear to be relevant. The results of the Chinese Value Survey are not readily applicable to the Pakistani case. This article limits itself to the original four dimensions of national culture as follows:

Power distance is the degree of inequality among people which the population of a country considers normal or to the extent a society accepts the unequal distribution of power. Individualism is the degree to which people in a country have learned to act as individuals rather than as members of cohesive groups, a continuum ranging from collectivist to individualist. It shows the degree to which a culture emphasizes personal initiative and achievement rather than collective concerns. It also reveals the extent to which people consider themselves independent or integrated into a group. Hofstedes collectivism does not have any political connotation. Islam Sifarish, sycophants, power and collectivism

Masculinity is the degree to which masculine values such as assertiveness, performance, success and competition prevail over feminine values such as the quality of life, maintaining warm personal relationships, service, caring and solidarity, i.e. ranging from tender to tough.

Uncertainty avoidance is the degree to which people in a country prefer structured over unstructured situations, ranging from relatively flexible to extremely rigid. It indicates the extent to which the members of a culture tolerate uncertainty or ambiguity.12 In the pages that follow, this article will elaborate on Hofstedes cultural dimensions as previously posited and use them to frame the information and data on Pakistans administrative culture. The article will use Hofstedes findings and conclusions about the national culture of Pakistan as the departure point for more reflective and in-depth analysis of the administrative culture. The article assumes that despite a good deal of diversity in regional /provincial cultures Hofstedes conclusions generally hold good for three of his four dimensions for all regions of Pakistan. There may be some differences in the masculinity-femininity dimension between the tribal regions of Balochistan and NWFP, on one hand, and the Punjab and Sindh, on the other hand. We also assume that the national and the administrative cultures are mediated by history, traditions and leadership. Therefore, before analysing the administrative culture, the article will present a brief history of the public service traditions and their colonial and post-colonial antecedents. Since corruption has become a way of life in Pakistan, it is appropriate to discuss its place in Pakistans administrative culture.

Vice-regal tradition and its post-colonial successors

The administrative system that Pakistan inherited from the colonial state remained intact at least until 1973. The system consisted of three crucial elements: an litist public service structure, the secretariat and the district administration. From 1948 to 1973, five major reform commissions and committees examined this system, making recommendations to bring about some fundamental changes in this troika. All the reports, except one, were classified and never made public. The legacy of the viceregal system of administration remained intact for 25 years. The public service structure inherited from the colonial period was based on rank classification, grouping all government positions into four broad classes: Class I, II, III and IV. The fourfold Hindu caste system Brahmins, Kshatriya, Vaishyas and Sudras has often been used as a metaphor for this litist structure. Vertical movement between these classes was rather rare. Class I consisted of the two All Pakistan Services called the Civil Service of Pakistan (CSP) and the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP). It also included some dozen uni-functional cadres called the Central Superior Services, including the Pakistan Audit and Accounts Service, the Pakistan Income Tax Service, the Pakistan Customs and Excise Service and the Pakistan Military Accounts Service. The CSP was the direct descendent of the legendary ICS (Indian Civil Service), the steel frame of the Raj, and was comprised of the 83 Muslim and 53 British members of the colonial cadre who opted to serve in Pakistan at the time of the partition. Like its predecessor, the CSP provided a hierarchical chain of command linking the district 314 International Review of Administrative Sciences 70(2) administration to the provincial secretariat and the central government. In a federal system, this was an innovation or perhaps an anomaly. Being an all Pakistan cadre, the members of the CSP could be posted to all levels of governments local, provincial or federal. They could also be posted to head state enterprises.13 A system that reserved most policy-level posts for the cadre provided the members with the opportunity to gain quick promotions. The only point of entry to the CSP as well as to the other Central Superior Services (CSS) was through a competitive examination at the lowest level. Young university graduates before the age of 24 were eligible to take the examination. Eighty per cent of the positions were filled on the basis of a provincial quota based on the population. The remaining 20 per cent were open to all candidates on the basis of merit the rank in the competition. There was no lateral entry into any of these cadres. Nor was there a lateral movement between the cadres. Assignment to the cadres was based on the candidates initial standing in the examination. It was like being born into a caste. The CSP, like its predecessor, the ICS, was steeped in classical generalism and its exclusivity and training created an amazing esprit de corps. In Pakistan, the CSP enjoyed enormous prestige and power. In 1973, under Prime Minister Bhutto, the civil service structure was finally reformed. The caste-like classes were abolished. All positions in the public service were grouped into 22 Basic Pay Scales (BPS 122), thus abolishing some 600 different pay scales. The reform abolished the CSP and by merging the provincial generalist services with the former CSP a District Management Group (DMG) was created. Similarly, the Police Group replaced the PSP. Other services were transformed into such groups. For a short while, even lateral entry was allowed into the lite groups but this was later discontinued. The reform also led to the creation of a Secretariat Group to staff the policy-making positions at the secretariat level. This diluted the power of the CSP who formerly enjoyed a monopoly over these positions. Charles Kennedy believes that these reforms attained their main objectives. They diluted the lite character of the civil service structure, eliminated the reservation of posts for the CSP and reduced the salary differentials between various cadres.14 After the fall of Bhutto and the reinstallation of another military regime, the reform agenda of the Bhutto period was abandoned. Bureaucracy re-emerged as a powerful influence on the policy process. The CSP was not revived but the DMG acquired some of the underpinnings and lite character of its predecessor. The former CSP members of the generalist cadre were able to stall the recommendations of the Anwar-ul-Haq Commission which might have further eroded their prestige. The Central and Provincial Secretariats constitute the ministries and divisions and these were created on a functional basis. A Secretary to the Government heads a Division. A Federal Secretary is a BPS 22 grade official. Additional, Joint, Deputy Secretaries and Section Officers support them. The Cabinet Secretary is in charge of the Cabinet Secretariat and occupies the apex position in the public service. Despite the creation of the Secretariat Group, DMG members have come to dominate the senior positions. Policies are formulated in the secretariat divisions and implemented by directorates known as attached departments. Experts and functional specialists staff these. This creates a net dichotomy between policy and implementation and often leads to conflict between senior specialists in the attached departments and Islam Sifarish, sycophants, power and collectivism 315 relatively young section officers and deputy secretaries. Many reform committees and commissions have recommended the abolition of this artificial distinction and that the secretariat should be transformed into the personal staff of the minister. The powerful generalist lobby has been successful in blocking such proposals. The District Administration, until recently headed by a DMG officer, is the third element in the administrative troika that runs the country. The district has been the focus or hub of the territorial management maintaining law and order, dispensing justice, collecting revenues and coordinating the development programs of the functional department. The DMG officer heading the district was called the DC (District Commissioner). The office of DC has been romanticized in the administrative folklore of the Indo-Pak subcontinent, telling tales about the legendary young men out of Cambridge and Oxford who formed the steel frame of the Raj in India. They spent 14 days a month on horseback touring their districts. They learned the local languages and became amateur anthropologists. Above all, they dispensed even-handed justice to the oppressed people of rural India and kept a balance between the Hindus and Muslims. They also exercised absolute authority and were responsible only to the Chief Secretaries and Governors for the Raj. They were paternalistic, authoritarian and litists. They did not take orders from the native politicians. The ICS reigned supreme in India. In their view, politics was confined to Westminster.15 The litist traditions of the ICS/CSP, the policyadministration dichotomy between the secretariat and district administration are, thus, the set of institutions that constitute the key elements of the British colonial heritage in Pakistan. The CSP and, to a lesser extent, the DMG (and other senior levels) have been the carriers of this tradition and ethos. This is a tradition of disciplined, rationally disposed but authoritative individuals. It emphasized the comprehension of order, intellectuality, law, objectivity and rational analysis. Below this group is perhaps a larger group of Grade 1619 officers. They are conversant with rules and procedures but the other qualities have not perhaps permeated evenly in this group. Then there is the third and much larger group of the remaining public servants the plebs of the bicycle bureaucracy. Among them, the values of an impersonal and rational bureaucracy have only marginally permeated.16 More recently, the office of the DC has been abolished. Its latest incarnation is the District Coordination Officer (DCO). The DCO is responsible for the day-to-day administration to an elected district administrator, called the Nazim. For technical issues, the DCO is responsible to the Chief Secretary of the province. Many functions of the former DC have been given to the Nazim. This latest reform has been carried out in the context of the governments devolutionary program. It is a serious blow to the litist character of the DMG. It is too early to determine the real impact of this reform on the litist DMG and the provincial bureaucracy.