Khan, Sara (2006) An Inquiry into the Work Values Endorsed in Two Pakistani MBA Programmes. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.
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Abstract
This research explores the work values endorsed in the present day MBA programmes of two Pakistani business schools. By shedding light on some of the values MBA students exhibit with regard to their own selves, their careers, their colleagues, and the society at large, this research comments on the work values endorsed by these programmes and the extent to which they are in harmony with Islamic teachings. Thus a contribution of this piece of work lies in exploring the work values MBA students employ in their day-to-day lives and in raising questions about the potential social impact of the Pakistani MBA. Traditional MBA education is often considered to be influenced by technicist-managerialist thinking that pays only a little attention to ethical and emotional values. It is also seen as a Western, particularly an American dominated educational system which in the spirit of imperialism marginalizes views and values of other cultures. Seeing Pakistan as a Muslim country, with a colonial past and an MBA education that is influenced by the Western, particularly the American model, I have thus taken a postcolonial perspective to study whether the values endorsed in the Pakistani MBA programmes are reflective of these two discourses or do they also exhibit harmony with traditional Islamic values. Using in-depth interviews of various stakeholders in the MBA education (students, teachers, school administrators, as well as managers in industry), supported by observations around school campuses and reading of official publications sent out by my case study schools, I have revealed that technicist-managerialism and American colonialism are indeed evident in the MBA programmes of my chosen schools. At the same time, Islamic influence in these schools does not seem significant. Since both the discourses of technicist-managerialism and Western colonialism have roots in secularism and since the values do not exhibit a significant Islamic influence, I conclude that the current MBA education in the two business schools is more in harmony with secular rather than Islamic ideals.