Formal and Multiple Autonomies in State-Owned Enterprises in Pakistan: An Analysis of Formal and Actual Status

Abstract

This paper studies the formal and actual human resource management (HRM) autonomy, financial and policy autonomy of the state owned enterprises (SOEs) of Pakistan and points out the differences that exist between them. It identifies the reasons behind the lack of autonomy of SOEs and proposes multiple recommendations though which this gap can be bridged. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected to carry out this study. Quantitative data was collected from 40 randomly selected SOEs using a close-ended questionnaire while 20 semistructured interviews were carried out to collect qualitative data. Descriptive statistics was used to see the number of SOEs having different levels of HRM, financial and policy autonomy. It was found that a very less number of SOEs were completely autonomous in different aspects of HRM, financial management, policy formulation and its implementation. Excessive political intervention, dependence on government for resources and poor performance of SOEs along with numerous other reasons were identified as causes behind this lack of autonomy. Multiple recommendations have also been proposed to overcome this issue.