Degree

Master of Business Administration Executive

Faculty / School

School of Business Studies (SBS)

Year of Award

2024

Advisor/Supervisor

Dr. Yasir Mansoor Kundi, Assistant Professor, Department of Management

Project Type

MBA Executive Research Project

Access Type

Restricted Access

Executive Summary

This report presents the findings of a study which was conducted to examine the implications of flexible work arrangements (FWA) on non-work-related outcomes, like home and leisure crafting. This report sheds light on how social, psychological, and physical wellbeing contribute towards employee wellbeing and how FWA impacts the employee wellbeing discretely. The study involved a survey conducted with 172 respondents to gather primary data to gain insight into these relationships in Pakistani business environment.

The available literature on FWA and employee wellbeing depicts a strong positive significant correlation between these two. It suggests that when an employee has the freedom to choose ‘when they get to start their workday’ and also ‘allowed to work longer hours per day but fewer days per week’, their quotient of employee wellbeing increases which translates into not only work-related-outcomes, like higher morale and better job performance, but also leads to higher participation in non-work-related outcomes like home and leisure crafting. However, it must be borne in mind that the trends observed in the literature are from western cultures, whereas the social system in Pakistani culture is totally different and exhibits a set of social and work practices which is peculiar to subcontinent traditions. The flavour of this work culture is clearly visible in the business community of Karachi where the impact of stressful work environments has squeezed out tolerance and patience from the everyday lives of residents of the city. Whereas the social customs of communities, neighborhoods, and ethnicities are warmly embracing. In addition, the trend of non-work-related activities in Pakistani culture is not as prevalent as it is in western culture. Culture of Pakistan, which is more inclined towards social interactions within family and within neighborhood friends, spares very little time for non-work-related activities. At best, people get involved in hobbies which do not contribute towards their personal development or toward the benefit of society at large. The picture which emerged out of the empirical data suggests a minimal ingress of FWA in Pakistani organizations or even in international ones operating in Pakistan, with a few exception. Not only that, even where FWA has found some inroads into organization cultures, it appears to be restricted to remote working, whereby flextime, both in terms of when to start and end workday as well as for compressed workweek, are nonexistent.

The research generated a few crucial insights, the most important of which was that FWA has no direct impact on non-work-related outcomes. Instead, it essentially depends upon mediatory role and facilitation from employee wellbeing to make a significant positive impact on non-work-related outcomes. Surprisingly though, despite stark differences between ours and the western culture and work practices, the pattern and path of correlation between FWA, employee wellbeing and non-work-related outcomes is exactly similar. The literature review therefore comes in support of the finding, though in contradiction to our research question.

Nevertheless, it is important to acknowledge the limitations of the study. A sample size of 172 respondents does not represent a population of almost 250 million inhabitants. Due to paucity of time, we performed the empirical analysis only in the software “SmartPLS” for SEM and Bootstrapping algorithms, whereas there are several available mathematical techniques and analysis softwares. It was assumed that use of different analysis tools might provide a different perspective, and hence, different insights through data analysis. Further, this study also does not incorporate the role of age, gender, and marital status on FWA, employee wellbeing and non-work-related outcomes due to time limitations.

Based on above findings, we recommended some actions by the government administration, and public or private sector commerce regulation bodies to indigenously develop or adopt and modify western policies in instituting FWAs in Pakistani work culture to reap the benefits of this regime which impact laterally at several tiers of our daily lives. Developing workable legal frameworks and promoting educational awareness thus becomes paramount to implementation of FWA.

Pages

viii, 57

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