Details

Case

Saba Ahmad

Ehsan ul Haque, Shehla Arifeen

INDUSTRY :

AREA : Gender

ORGANIZATION : Siffat Tutorial Systems

LENGTH : 9

LUMS No : 17-009-2007-1

PUBLICATION YEAR : 2007

KEYWORDS:

Saba Ahmad,Single Parent,Corporate Head,Turnover,Loyal Employees,Organizational Culture,Gender,Women Empowerement,Strategy

DESCRIPTION:

Saba Ahmad, a 28 year old, single parent of a six year old school going girl, was recruited by Mr. Zahid Khan, Corporate Head, First Multinational Bank (FMB) for his Karachi branch. Mr. Khan was unhappy at the excessive turnover at his branch on account of opening of many new banks in Pakistan. As a defensive strategy he had recruited Saba as he believed female employees were more `loyal¿ than their male counterparts. Saba had been with the branch for a couple of years and progressed satisfactorily despite facing typical hurdles faced by females in male dominated organizations. However, in 2003 she got engaged to be married to a person living in Islamabad. Consequently, Saba is now requesting for a transfer to Islamabad. Mr. Khan is in a quandary as on the one hand his strategy of reducing turnover is being undermined, and on the other he seriously feels that Saba might not be ready for Islamabad. He fears that if he does not transfer her she might resign.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

To expose and sensitize students to the implicit and explicit biases against females managers in Pakistan in otherwise sophisticated and modern organizations. 2) To illustrate the strategies of successful female managers in overcoming various barriers to their growth and development. 3) To provide an opportunity to students to grapple with the complexities of making real decisions within the context of their societal and personal biases on the one hand, and professional requirements on the other.

SUBJECTS COVERED:

Gender