Case Study-Redefining Norms in a Conservative Culture
Qualities Necessary for Achieving a Successful Career and Strategies for Women and Men to Achieve Outstanding Career Success
Achieving a successful career in a conservative culture requires a specific set of qualities to deal with the career progression barriers created by cultural beliefs and practices. One of the qualities is determination. Conservative cultures create a challenging environment for individuals seeking career progression, hence the need to remain determined to achieve what an individual wants (Robertson et al., 2021). The second quality is adaptability. Individuals seeking career success in a conservative culture need to adapt to changes in their career path that could arise from cultural beliefs and practices. For instance, women working in a conservative culture that does not support women’s career progression need to adapt to changes in their work schedules, which may be introduced to reduce women’s motivation and job satisfaction so that they may quit and create opportunities for men.
Achieving outstanding career success in a conservative culture also requires applying various tactics and strategies. One of the strategies is building a strong professional resume. According to Ginzberg et al. (2019), an outstanding professional resume’ makes an individual stand out in the job market, thus increasing the chances of being hired. Individuals should also identify their strengths and work on them to increase their competitive advantage in the job market. Identifying strengths may also enable individuals to select opportunities that they can take advantage of to advance their careers. Another tactic is networking. Lindenfield & Lindenfield (2010) argues that networking is one of the most important factors contributing to career success because it connects individuals with people who can help them realize new opportunities. It is crucial to network with people who have achieved career success to learn about their measures to be successful and access different opportunities.
Gender-related Pressures Affecting Men and Women’s Careers
Fauzia is under pressure to deliver outstanding performance in her workplace and manage the expectations of others in her work, including her boss. She is under pressure to meet her duty as a wife and a mother at home. Fauzia also feels pressure from her culture, which expects her to conform to the societal norms of staying at home to take care of her family and helping her husband become successful instead of focusing on her success. These pressures align with some of the common gender-related pressures affecting men’s and women’s careers. For instance, women are under pressure to maintain a work-life balance by creating enough time for their work and time to meet their household roles, such as cooking, doing laundry, and taking care of their husbands and children. On the other hand, men are under pressure to provide for their families by being the sole provider in the family even though their wives have an income.
Major Transitions in Fauzia’s Career: Their Motivations and Results
The major transitions in Fauzia’s career were starting in a field unrelated to her current career and slowly progressing to where she is currently. She started as a freelance journalist, then became an assistant legal advisor at ICI Pakistan, a senior associate at Haidermota, legal counsel at Citibank, and finally, the head of the legal team in Citibank’s London branch (Birbrager, 2018). The main thing that motivated these transitions was how those around her treated her. The constant discrimination from her colleagues motivated her to work harder and stay focused on her goal of becoming a successful woman in a male-dominated culture. Each transition yielded results contributing to her career success. For instance, working as a freelance journalist prepared her for the more challenging work environment in the legal field by helping her learn how to be composed when receiving criticism and feedback. Working as an assistant legal advisor at ICI Pakistan boosted her confidence and pushed her to look for additional work and learn about the different businesses in the legal field. Her boss at ICI Pakistan also created a challenging work environment that pushed her to advance her career by looking for another job, leading to her transition to a senior associate at Haidermota, where she developed her leadership skills. Her hard work at Haidermota facilitated her transition to Citibank because Citibank successfully poached her from Haidermota to fill a vacant position. Working as a legal counsel at Citibank’s Dubai branch equipped her with additional leadership skills that led to her promotion to head of the Legal team in Citibank’s Lindon branch.
Factors That Helped Fauzia Achieve A Highly Successful Career In Pakistan
One of the factors that helped Fauzia achieve a highly successful career in Pakistan despite its male domination is ambition. Fauzia focused on becoming a successful woman and proving that women could also have successful careers in a male-dominated culture. Her ambitious attitude enabled her to ignore the obstacles she faced and remain determined to achieve her goals despite the gender-based pressures she faced from her in-laws and male colleagues. Another factor was good interpersonal skills. Fauzia learned how to work with other people, including male colleagues who discriminated against her. She handled negative feedback and criticism and focused on the most important things in her workplace.
Career Strategies Learned From The Case Study
One of the career strategies I have learned from Fauzia’s case is starting at the bottom and gradually moving to the top. I have learned that transitioning from top to bottom contributes to personal development to prepare individuals for the next level in their careers, thus promoting career success. I have also learned that setting goals is essential in career progression and prevents staying in one career for too long. Another career strategy that I have learned from the case study is accepting the right job based on personal and career ambitions. I have learned that it is essential to ensure that the job accepted contributes to career progression instead of accepting the same job consistently. For instance, throughout Fauzia’s career progression, she never did the same job for a different company. Instead, she took a different position every time she transitioned to a new working environment.
References
Birbrager, L. (2018). Fauzia Kehar: Redefining Norms in a Conservative Culture. Ivey Business School Foundation.
Ginzberg, E., Williams, T., Dutka, A., & Lacey, D. (2019). Labor market and other barriers. Does Job Training Work? 76-87. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429033322-5
Lindenfield, G., & Lindenfield, S. (2010). Confident networking for career success. Piatkus Books.
Robertson, P. J., Hooley, T., & McCash, P. (2021). The Oxford handbook of career development. Oxford University Press.
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Question 
The evolving role of HR is quite broad. Not only are HR professionals conducting transactional activities (compensation and benefits administration, record keeping, employee services), but they are also performing transformational roles such as strategy and organizational design as well as coaching and mentoring roles for all employees. For this assignment, suppose you are an HR manager who has been asked to coach Fauzia Kehar, a woman working in the male-dominated legal profession in Pakistan on her future career plans. She has an impressive educational background and has been working for more than 20 years as a lawyer, most recently as the head of Legal, Gulf Cluster, at Citibank NA in Dubai. Using the information from the Konrad & Birbrager article, “Fauzia Kehar: Redefining Norms in a Conservative Culture Case Study”, you will consider career development and leadership in a developing country with a conservative culture.
Case Study-Redefining Norms in a Conservative Culture
Conduct research to identify a minimum of 3 references which directly relate to: career choices, conservative corporate and national culture, and how HR can assist with employee development. Respond to the following questions, providing details and references to support your answers, in a 3- to 4-page paper, excluding the title page and references:
**What are the qualities necessary for achieving a successful career? Analyze the possible strategies and tactics for both women and men to achieve outstanding career success.
**What pressures does Fauzia feel from her job? Home life? Country culture? Analyze gender-related pressures affecting both men’s and women’s careers.
**What were the major transitions in Fauzia’s career? What motivated each of those transitions? What were the results of each of those transitions? Could Fauzia have done anything different?
**What factors helped Fauzia achieve a highly successful career in Pakistan, a male-dominated conservative culture?
**What career strategies have you learned that can apply not only in this culture but across all global cultures?