Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................................2
EFU Life Insurance Ltd.................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
Vision, Mission and Values..................................................................................................................3
Code of Conduct..................................................................................................................................4
Success Story.......................................................................................................................................5
History.................................................................................................................................................6
Corporate Profile.................................................................................................................................7
Company Information..........................................................................................................................8
Board of Directors...............................................................................................................................9
ANSWER TO MAIN IDEA........................................................................................................................11
Cross-cultural communication...........................................................................................................11
Cross-cultural communication and organizational effectiveness.......................................................11
Factors effecting cross-cultural communication................................................................................12
EFU Life Insurance Company and cross-cultural communication......................................................13
Issues Regarding Cross Cultural Communication in Context to EFU Life Insurance Ltd.....................17
CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................................19
RECOMMENDATIONS AND STRATEGIES................................................................................................19
APPENDIX A...........................................................................................................................................20
APPENDIX B...........................................................................................................................................23
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................25

1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The recommendation of this study is that EFU is the best to approach for insurances, as well as
to work in as they have good cross communication environment.

The report is being submitted on (submission date here). The study performed in this report
provides an awareness of the cultural diversity within the company as well the lack of anti-
harassment policy for the female workers. The reason for this report is to take a good look at the
company’s working environment and how it covers the problems and solutions the company is
facing.

The company succeeds in having people of different cultures and ethnicities, which gives rise to
great innovative ideas in the form of cross functional teams. The internal environment of the
company supports a friendly workplace.

The company provides values to its customers in the form of pride, character, service, and
commitment. As EFU is one of the oldest and trustworthy insurance companies, it does not fail
to support its customers with the best services. Employees from different backgrounds and
ethnicities are working together in a very friendly environment.

EFU is IFO certified; first in the insurance sector. First life insurance company to have an IFS
rating of an A+. Their futures goals include working together a good team to provide the best
services to their customers so to create a powerful and fulfilling culture with creating products
from the ever-advancing technology.

Despite EFU having a friendly approach to its customers and the employees; however, the
company fails to take control some of the external problems. Especially when it comes to the
female employees who are constantly under the threat of verbal, physical, and even sexual
harassment when it comes to meeting up with the company’s clients.

Where EFU is superior from other insurance companies when it comes to the subject of being a
successful and reliable company for its clients and as well as its own staffs, the company fails in
its external strategies when the topic of the female workers is touched.

2
EFU Life Insurance Ltd.
INTRODUCTION
Vision, Mission and Values

Vision
Our Vision is to make EFU Life one of the most respected and successful financial services
organization in the world. Our strategy to achieve our vision is: build our core capabilities, serve
our clients beyond their expectations, adhere to our core values and be a good corporate citizen.

Mission
We shall together build EFU Life into a dynamic and financially sound institution by:

 Working together as a team.

 Continually improving our client service.
 Creating an empowered and self-fulfilling culture.
 Developing innovative products.
 Adopting leading technology.

Value
Character: Our Business principles for achieving exceptional success are a belief that our
corporate conduct should base on uncompromising integrity, ethics and honesty.

Pride: We believe that people want to excel and that extraordinary result can be achieved, if
given the right support and work climate.

Service: Our clients are the reasons for being in business. We shall deliver to them the highest
quality of flawless service to win and keep their loyalty.

Commitment: We nurture and develop our people to be good human beings, work together as a
team to achieve our organizational objectives and obligations, while at the same time fulfill their
aspirations.

Culture: Embed a high performance culture that points the organization towards the common
good and creates an intense passion for achievement at all levels.

Social Responsibility: Our social responsibility is to contribute to the development of the civilized
and prosperous and respected Pakistan in which all the people live in harmony. To fulfill our
obligations, we shall act responsibly to make a difference by contributing to these activities that
have the greatest visible impact on the betterment of the society with emphasis on education and
health.

3
Code of Conduct

Statement of Ethics and Business Practices

Statement of Ethics
All directors and staff are required to:

 Act with integrity, dignity and in an ethical manner when dealing with the public, clients
and peers.
 Protect the confidentiality of client information at all times except where required by law
to disclose it.
 Protect the confidentiality of information relating to the Company both during the course
of Directorship or employment (as the case may be) and after its termination (regardless
of reason).
 Obtain written permission from the Company’s Compliance Officer (or the Chief
Executive Officer in the event that the Compliance Officer is unavailable) to hold any
position (paid or unpaid) with any outside party, firm or organization. For clarity,
positions covered include but are not limited to consultant, employee, Director,
representative and agent. Furthermore, all staff must disclose in writing to the Company,
any such positions they currently hold at the time of signing this statement. Directors are
exempt from this requirement.
 Maintain accurate records of business transactions related to the Company or its clients.
 Report any business or professional activities or any beneficial interests that may result in
a conflict with or be competitive with the interests of the Company.
 Report any person or activity to the Compliance Officer or CEO that in their opinion is in
violation of this statement.
 Disclose their shareholding in the Company’s Securities upon signing this agreement and
any changes in shareholding within 24 hours of any such change.

Statement of Business Practices

 Uncompromising integrity. Our business is founded on trust and we manage it ethically,
lawfully and fairly.
 Clients first. Nothing we do is more important than protecting and preserving our clients’
interests. We hold responsibilities towards our clients in the highest regard.
 Entrepreneurship. We work hard every day to hire the best people, motivate them, reward
them and encourage them to innovate. We are a meritocracy and an equal opportunity
employer.
 Passion for performance. We contribute towards our Company’s financial goals and
concentrate on achieving superior results.
 A culture of excellence. We measure our performance on every task we undertake not
just by the results but also by the quality of our work.

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  A tradition of success. While we are fair and ethical at all times, we compete aggressively
by providing excellent service to our clients.

Success Story
1. In 1992: The Life industry was opened to the private sector and EFU Life was born in
1992. Mr. Roshen Ali Bhimjee became the Chief Executive Officer and under his
leadership EFU Life became the largest private sector life insurance company in
Pakistan.
2. In 1994: They launch of Individual Life business. Launch of Individual Life business unit
linked products for first time in Pakistan.
3. In 1995 to 1999: Continuous growth and cementing position as market leader.
4. In 1998: ISO Certified. EFU Life was the first life insurance company in Pakistan to be
awarded the ISO 9001-2008 certification, and received the “Insurer Financial Strength”
rating of AA.
5. In 2000: Insurance on credit cards. Introduction of insurance on credit cards eventually
leading to a monopoly in this segment.
6. In 2002: Billion rupee premiums Company, First private life insurance company to
distribute profits to shareholders; completed 10 years of successful operations.
7. In 2004: Bancassurance started as an alternative distribution channel.
8. In 2006: Call Center. Client servicing Call Center launched; Managed Growth Fund’s
NAV crosses Rs. 5 billion.
9. In 2007-2008: IFS rating:
 First life insurance company to have an IFS rating: A+ (Outlook stable)
 IFS rating upgraded to AA
10. In 2010: Paid up capital increased to Rs. 850 million; highest in the private life insurance
sector.
11. In 2011 – Company Milestones:
 Achieved milestone of Rs. 10 billion gross premium.
 Launch of ‘PRIMUS’.
 Launch of Enterprise Content Management System
12. In 2012: Point of Sales system launched Point of Sales system launched; Managed
Growth Fund’s NAV crosses Rs. 30 billion.
13. In 2013:
 IFS rating upgraded to AA by JCR- VIS.
 Paid up capital increased to Rs.1 billion.
 Launch of 9898.
14. In 2014: Fund Value crosses Rs.60 billion.
15. In 2015: Strengthening a history of First’s:
 Launch of ‘Hemayah’ – Window Family Takaful Operations.
 Launch of Mobile app for clients & sales agents.

5
  Initiated ‘Choti Rakam Bara Kamal’ – Rural Awareness Drive.
 NAV of all funds under management cross Rs.81.5 bl.
16. In 2016: Inaugurated EFU LIFE Head office:
 IFS rating upgraded to AA+ by JCR- VIS rating.
 Strongest Asset Base of Rs. 106.30 Billion.
 EFU Life launches “Meri Shaan, Mera Pakistan” – Beautification
through Wall Art.
17. In 2017: EFU Life Net Asset Value of all Unit Linked funds crosses Rs.100 Billion. EFU
Life becomes member of MEFIN (mutual exchange forum on inclusive insurance).
18. In 2018: EFU Life spearheading the Digital innovations:
 Launch of ‘Buy Now’ to get instant access to life insurance products online.
 Wins ‘Best Digital Innovation 2018.
19. In 2019: Innovations driving Customer Experience:
 Pakistan’s 1st Insurance Chatbot on Facebook.
 1st IBM RPA enabled insurance company in Pakistan.
 ‘Dragons of Asia’ award for digital web series.
 1st Life Insurer in the world to launch ‘BLISS’.
20. In 2020: Setting New Benchmarks:
 New Corporate Identity.
 ‘MAA Globes’ award for digital web series.
 Launch of PRIMUS Loyalty Program.

History
In the early 1930s, under the motivation of the Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Insurance
companies along with shipping and airline industries made their introduction.

In 1932 in Calcutta, Mr. Ghulam Mohammed, who later became the Governor General of
Pakistan, established an insurance company with H.H. Aga Khan and H.H. Nawab of Bhopal.
The company was called as Eastern Federal Union Insurance Company Ltd. It was listed in
Calcutta and functioned in undivided India and Burma. Its business was both General and Life
Insurance.

In 1947, the year of independence, EFU, found a new country and swiftly established itself as a
liberal and ground-breaking insurance company. It provided the developing insurance industry
the leadership, the manpower and the determination needed to grow in a situation where at that
time three-fourths of insurance business was held by foreign companies.

Till 1961, Eastern Federal Union Insurance had become the flag bearer of Pakistan’s insurance
industry on the world stage, and the largest life company in Afro-Asian countries (apart from
Japan) under the leadership of our late chairman Mr. Roshen Ali Bhimjee. It remained so until
1972 when Life Insurance industry in Pakistan was nationalized. From that time onwards,

6
Eastern Federal Union operated solely as a general insurance company and was subsequently
renamed Eastern Federal Union General Insurance Company Limited.

Corporate Profile
The company’s profile includes:

“Your life is a journey with many different stages and each stage brings with it new challenges.
As you take each step-in life your role and responsibilities change.”

 Leading Private Sector Life Insurance Company

 Strongest Financial base in the private sector
 Highest paid up capital of Rs. 1 Billion
 Diversified Portfolio offering Best Value Products
 One of the leading Asset Managers in Pakistan
 Largest sales force in the private life insurance industry
 State of the art customer services
 Prompt claim settlement

In the year of 1990, the Government of Pakistan revived the life insurance business to the private
sector organizations and EFU Life Assurance Ltd started operations in November 1992 as the
first private sector life insurance company. In early 1993, EFU Life began writing group life
insurance business and by March 1994, the company began writing its individual life business.

Considered as innovators in the life insurance business, Eastern Federal Union Life has always
spearheaded unique ideas in the industry. The Concept of unit linking was first presented in 1994
by them. Today, the life business is primarily unit linked.

EFU Life has introduced life benefits for the first time in Pakistan and launched products such as

 Critical Illness Products

 Education Planning Products
 Pension Plans

EFU Life’s product range is the most competitive in the market in terms of value for money. The
Company continuously reviews its product range to ensure that it remains at the leading edge.
EFU Life was the first life insurance company in Pakistan to be ISO (International Organization
for Standardization) certified. Currently, the Company is ISO 9001:2015 certified and has the
“Insurer Financial Strength” rating of AA+, Outlook: Stable, by JCR-VIS, an affiliate of Japan
Credit Rating agency.

7
Company Information

Chairman: Rafique R. Bhimjee

Managing Director & Chief Executive: Taher G. Sachak
Directors: Taher G. Sachak, Rafique R. Bhimjee, Saifuddin N. Zoomkawala, Muneer R.
Bhimjee, Hasan Ali Abdullah, Heinz Walter Dollberg, Syed Salman Rashid, Ali Raza Siddiqui,
Rukhsana Shah.
Corporate Secretary: Abbas Hussain
Appointed Actuary: Omer Morshed, F.C.A., F.P.S.A., F.I.A.
Legal Advisor: Mohammad Ali Sayeed, M.A.B.L.
Auditors: KPMG Taseer Hadi & Co. Chartered Accountants, Karachi.
Shariah Advisor: Mufti Muhammad Ibrahim Essa
Rating Agency: JCR-VIS, Insurer Financial Strength Rating AA+ Outlook: Stable
Share Registrar: CDC Share Registrar Services Limited, CDC House, 99-B, Block “B”
S.M.C.H.S. Main Shahrah-e-Faisal Karachi-74400.
Customer Support Services (Toll Free): 0800-23275
Fax: (92 21) 34326053
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.cdcsrsl.com
Website: www.efulife.com

Registered Office
Al-Malik Centre
70 W, F-7/G-7 Jinnah Avenue
(Blue Area), Islamabad
Ph.: +92 51 2820989

Main Office
EFU Life House, Plot No.112, 8th East Street, Phase 1, DHA, Karachi, Pakistan.

Associated Company and Website Link

EFU General Insurance Ltd, https://www.efuinsurance.com
Company Registration No: I-00973
National Tax No: 0944894-2

Shareholding Pattern
Pdf file is attached in the appendix.

Board of Directors
 Rafiq R. Bhimjee

8
 Mr. Rafique Bhimjee was the Chairman of EFU General Insurance Ltd. from February
1999 to July 2011 and became Chairman of EFU Life Assurance Ltd in July 2011. He is
also a Director of Allianz EFU Health Insurance Ltd. and EFU Services (Pvt.) Ltd.
 Saifuddin N. Zoomkawala
Mr. Saifuddin N. Zoomkawala has been associated with EFU Group since 1964. He
served as Managing Director of EFU General Insurance Ltd from 1990 till 2011. He is
also the Chairman of Allianz EFU Health Insurance Ltd. EFU Life Assurance Ltd. from
1999 to 2011.
 Taher G. Sachak
He is also a Director of EFU General Insurance and Vice Chairman of Allianz EFU
Health and on the Executive Committee of Pakistan Insurance Institute and a “Certified
Director” from Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance.
 Muneer R. Bhimjee
Mr. Muneer R. Bhimjee, has been associated with EFU since July 1993. He is also a
Director of International Foundation Garments (Pak) Pvt. Ltd. and on the board of
Allianz EFU Health.
 Hasanali Abdullah
Mr. Hasanali Abdullah is Chartered Accountant and “Certified Director” from Pakistan
Institute of Corporate Governance (PICG). He has been associated with EFU General
Insurance Ltd. since 1979 and is Managing Director & Chief Executive of the company
from 2011. He is Director of EFU Life Assurance Ltd., Allianz EFU Health Insurance
Ltd., EFU Services (Private) Ltd.
 Heinz Walter Dollberg
Mr. Heinz Dollberg, based in the Asia Pacific Division of Allianz SE in Munich since
1998, was responsible for managing operations in Asia, the Middle East and North
Africa.
 Syed Salman Rashid
Mr. Syed Salman Rashid has done B.Sc. (Hons) from Karachi University and is a
“Certified Director” from Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance. He started his
career with EFU General Insurance Limited and has been associated with the company
for over three decades and serves as Deputy Managing Director in the company
 Ali Raza Siddiqui
Mr. Ali Raza Siddiqui holds Bachelor of Arts Degree from Cornell University, USA with
Double majors in Economics and Government. He has also served on the Board of Bank
Islami Pakistan Ltd., Pakistan International Containers Terminal Ltd., UG Food
Company Pvt. Ltd., R&R Pvt Ltd., Jahangir Siddiqui & Co. Ltd. & JS Investments Ltd.
Presently he is on the Board of EFU General Insurance Ltd.

9
  Rukhsana Shah
Rukhsana Shah retired as Federal Secretary, Ministry of Textile Industry after 35 years in
government service. In 2015, she set up the Autism Welfare Trust in Lahore, with an
office in Karachi, to create awareness about Autism, ADHD and Learning Disabilities in
Pakistan, and to train parents and teachers of special and mainstream schools in the
management of these disabilities. At present, she is an independent director of Suzuki
Motor Company in Pakistan She is a member of the Child Care Commission set up by the
Chief Justice of Lahore High Court. Rukhsana Shah also writes for Dawn on social and
human rights issues.

*the list of managers is given in the appendix A.

Committees:
 Audit Committee
Rukhsana Shah, Hasanali Abdullah, Saifuddin N. Zoomkawala, Muneer R. Bhimjee
Ali Raza Siddiqui
 Ethics, Human Resource & Remuneration Committee
Rukhsana Shah, Rafique R. Bhimjee, Saifuddin N. Zoomkawala, Taher G. Sachak
 Investment Committee
Rafique R. Bhimjee, Saifuddin N Zoomkawala, Taher G Sachak, Hasanali Abdullah
Omer Morshed, S. Shahid Abbas, Mohammed Ali Ahmed, S. Muhammad Owais
 Underwriting Committee
Taher G Sachak, Dr. Tajuddin Manji, Zain Ibrahim, Hasan Sheikh, Dr Asadul Hadi
Siddiqui
 Claim Settlement Committee
Taher G Sachak, Arshad Iqbal, Dr. Ammara, Sajjad Hussain
 Reinsurance Committee
Taher G Sachak, Mohammed Ali Ahmed, Zain Ibrahim, Raza Hassan, Ali Quresh
 IT Steering Committee
Zain Ibrahim, S. Shahid Abbas, Ashfaque Ahmed
 Risk Management & Compliance Committee
Taher G Sachak, Mohammed Ali Ahmed, S. Shahid Abbas, Zain Ibrahim, Ali Qureshi,
Abbas Hussain, S. Abdul Mujeeb.

EFU GROUP
There are three further groups of EFU:
1. EFU General Insurance Limited.
2. EFU Life Assurance Limited.
3. Allianz EFU Health Insurance Ltd.

10
ANSWER TO MAIN IDEA
Cross-cultural communication
It is important to define what cross cultural communication is, what it entails, and how we
communicate using verbal and nonverbal communication.

Inter-cultural communication refers to the communication between people, workers and clients
belonging to different cultural backgrounds. It also includes managing thought patterns and non-
verbal communication between people belonging to varied cultures.

According to Edward T. Hall: “the essence of cross-cultural communication has more to do with
releasing responses than with sending messages. It is important to release the right response than
to send the right message.”

Cross-cultural communication and organizational effectiveness

Cross cultural communication at a workplace is particularly important to be examined, as it is an
important dependent variable of organization’s effectiveness. This means having the need to
establish an organizational culture where employees are able to successfully operate in culturally
diverse teams and global workforce incorporating the strategies such as:

1. active listening
2. comprehension of nonverbal behaviors
3. use of language to the level of understanding between people not sharing the same
language
Organizational culture is defined as a structure “comprised of many intangible phenomena such
as values, beliefs, assumptions, perceptions, behavioral norms, artifacts, and patterns of
behavior” (Shafritz et al., 2011, p. 338). This definition explains ways employees approach their
work make decisions and deal with each other.

The argument is that employees, regardless of their role in the company or cultural background,
must be moral, ethical and possess values that can be aligned with the organization they work
for. Employees need to communicate what kind of values they hold, mirror them through
actions, and establish reward and management systems to reinforce those values because this
level of consistency establishes conditions for respect, trust and willingness to work harder
(Kerns, 2005).

Furthermore, researchers emphasize the need to enforce guiding principles of integrity,

truthfulness and fairness in an organization related to accurate communication, authenticity,
avoiding conflict of interest and situations that would discredit the organization they work for
(Hopkins and Sussane, 2016).

11
Factors effecting cross-cultural communication

Cultural identity
Culture is an abstraction, a set of ideas, norms, customs, traditions, symbols and assumptions
about life that a person brings with them from the particular place where they were brought up as
a child. These values and attitudes can have an impact on communication across cultures because
each person's norms and practices will often be different and may possibly clash with those of
co-workers brought up in different parts of the country or world.

Racial identity
Racial identity refers to how one's membership to a particular race affects how they interact with
co-workers of different races. It is important because when people communicate, they get to
know how they are viewed by the society and their fellow co-workers.

Ethnic identity
Ethnic identity highlights the role ethnicity plays in how two co-workers from different cultures
interact with one another.

What is the difference between race and ethnicity? According to experts from PBS, "While race
and ethnicity share an ideology of common ancestry, they differ in several ways. First of
all, race is primarily unitary. You can only have one race, while you can claim
multiple ethnic affiliations. You can identify ethnically as Irish and Polish, but you have to be
essentially either black or white."

Language
Among the most often cited barriers to cross-cultural business communication is the use of
different languages. Difficulties with language fall basically into three categories:

1. Gross translation problems

2. the problems in conveying subtle distinctions from language to language
3. culturally-based variations among speakers of the same language
In English, for example, a little difference between the words, "affect" and “effect" can prove
significant in a sensitive situation because both the words carry different meaning and should be
used appropriately. This is an example of gross translational problems.

A meaning of a word in Punjabi can have a very different meaning in Sindhi language, this is
dialect difference.

Finally, national prejudices and class distinctions are often reinforced through sociolinguistics—
the social patterning of language. For example, due to regional prejudice and racism certain
accents in Pakistan are associated with urban areas (e.g., Karachi Urdu-speaking accent), and
with rural regions (e.g., south-Punjab Hindko accent). Similarly, some cultures use
sociolinguistics to differentiate one economic class from another.

12
Environment and technology
The ways in which people use their resources often shifts drastically from culture to culture.
Most people have their own ways of looking at the environment and they use technology
according to their own culture. This, in turn, may make it difficult to accept or even to
understand those views held by other cultures.

Gender roles
Another factor that impacts intercultural communication is gender. This means that
communication between members of different cultures is affected by how different societies
view the roles of men and women.

Individual identity
The individual identity factor is another factor that impacts cross-cultural communication. This
means that how a person communicates with people from other cultures depends on their own
unique personality traits and how they identify themselves. Just as a culture can be described in
broad terms as "open" or "traditional," an individual from a culture can also be observed to be
"open-minded" or "conservative." These differences will have an effect on the way that multiple
individuals from the same culture communicate with other individuals.

Age
The age identity factor refers to how members of different age groups interact with one another.
This might be thought of in terms of the "generation gap". More traditional cultures like
Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh give respect to their elders and take their elders' opinions into
account when making life-changing decisions. Cultures like the United States are less mindful of
their elders and less likely to take their advice into account when making important decisions.
Such attitudes towards age cause the age identity factor to impact intercultural communication in
the workplace.

The roles identity factor

The roles identity factor refers to the different roles a person plays in his or her life including
their roles as a husband or wife, father, mother or child, employer or employee, and so forth.
How two members of a workforce from two different cultures view these various roles
influences how they will interact with their fellow colleague or counterpart.

EFU Life Insurance Company and cross-cultural communication

Mission of the organization

We shall together build EFU Life into a dynamic and financially sound institution by:

1. Working together as a team

2. Continually improving our client service
3. Creating an empowered and self-fulfilling culture
4. Developing innovative products

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 5. Adopting leading technology

Values
1. Character: Our Business principles for achieving exceptional success are a belief that our
corporate conduct should be based on uncompromising integrity, ethics and honesty.
2. Pride: We believe that people want to excel and that extraordinary result can be
achieved, if given the right support and work climate.
3. Service: Our clients are the reasons for being in business. We shall deliver to them the
highest quality of flawless service to win and keep their loyalty.
4. Commitment: We nurture and develop our people to be good human beings, work
together as a team to achieve our organizational objectives and obligations, while at the
same time fulfill their aspirations.
5. Our people: In EFU we work like a family. Everyone is treated with respect and without
any discrimination.
According to the mission and values of EFU, it can be seen that the organization places immense
importance on teamwork, diverse workgroups and common organizational goals. All these
elements require employees to engage in cross-cultural business communication, overcome the
barriers and work towards achieving common organizational landmark.

In order to avoid inter-cultural animosity, the organization has laid down principles of
uncompromising integrity, ethics and honesty, all these need to be observed by the entire
workforce. Everyone is treated with respect and without any discrimination.

EFU’s culture
EFU promotes and encourages honest and ethical behavior in their business activities and
strongly condemn the human rights abuses. Their motto is that all employees are members of
EFU Family. There is no discrimination amongst employees on the basis of religion, race,
ethnicity and gender. They expect employees to observe every individual's personal dignity,
privacy and personal rights. They do not tolerate any discrimination, personal harassment or
insulting behavior. Supervisory cultural leadership and their duty as role models are an essential
part of their culture. They expect managers to show maturity and take responsibility for their
staff members, for achieving business results with integrity. At EFU individual care and
guidance in a friendly family community is at the heart of their philosophy. They aim to help
each employee realize his/her full potential.

Management/employee composition
EFU is headed by Taher G. Sachak, who is the managing director as well as CEO of the
company. Taher belongs from West Bengal as is obvious by his surname, “Sachak”. Therefore,
the difference in the cultures of employees at EFU starts from the very top-level of hierarchy.

EFU consists of employees and managers from different provinces of Pakistan, due to its
widespread branches around the nation. This provides rich diversity in workforce and often is the

14
reason for cross-cultural communication barriers in the organization. The main headquarters are
located in DHA Karachi.

The branches of EFU are located in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Peshawar, Multan,
Abbottabad, Gujranwala, Arifwala, Bahawalpur, Attock, etc. these branches are located in
different regions as well as provinces of Pakistan, and consists of a diverse workforce, coming
from different cultures, races and having different languages. All these can prove to be a barrier
in effective business communication between work colleagues.

Cross-cultural communication between headquarters and country offices

Now, problem arises when the headquarters of EFU and its country offices do not share the same
views which derive from the influence of different national culture where the firm operates in, as
a result problems and barriers occur. Sometimes the headquarters would hold the opinion that the
country offices lack initiative on work, at the same time, the country offices would think that the
headquarters would not treat their suggestions seriously and afraid to express the frustration to
the headquarters.

Due to differences in cultures, the emotional distance towards superior-subordinate relationship

is varying. Sometimes the employees who usually hold senior position in the organization try to
evoke the passion of junior-level employees by asking for their initiative at work. While,
managers hold the belief that it is better when the power is centralized and subordinates just
follow the instructions of the superiors. Therefore, managers are expected to have comprehensive
knowledge of the organizations to make “good” decisions for the subordinates. However, top
managers think that it is impossible for one to know all and they are depending on the wisdoms
of the group.

Besides, the language and geography distances always bring barriers in communicating and
understanding each other. Even when they are using the same language (English), they might
have different understanding on the same message because of the influence of the “hidden rules”
in their mother tongue.
Gender diversity in EFU
The EFU insurance company is not a particularly a gender diverse company since it has only a
handful of female employees most of which work in the operations, with very few in decision
making roles.
Company’s policies
Even though the company’s culture does not allow any form discrimination, there is a lack of
any specific harassment policy on the basis of gender, race, caste or creed. There is a human
resource department that deals with employee queries and problems. However, lack of any
formal policy creates a communication hurdle, sometimes forcing the victim to remain silent.

15
Management style
Because of high power distance and high hierarchy level practiced in developing countries, such
as Pakistan, subordinates are afraid of saying “NO” to their superiors. this is sometimes also
observed in EFU due to a vast hierarchal system.

Company’s financial performance

In 2019, the profit after tax for the company was 2609 million rupees. This shows that despite
having a diverse workforce that can lead to barriers in communication within the internal
company environment, the workforce is committed and motivated in achieving the
organizational goal, that is, profit maximization.

Swot analysis of EFU

The Company's brief SWOT analysis is as follows:

Strengths
1. Over 85 years in the business
2. Market leader
3. Strong capital base
4. Highest credit ratings (AA+) with Positive outlook in Pakistani rating agencies.
5. Highest credit rating amongst insurance companies in the country from A.M. Best, Inc.,
special rating agency for insurance ratings.
6. Largest branch network across the country
7. Diversified product mix
8. Diversified and experienced Board of Directors
9. Competent and loyal team
10. Excellent customer care

Weaknesses
1. Geographical restrictions on investment

Opportunities
1. Ability to write more business in conventional and takaful business
2. New product expansion in light of:
3. Technological changes
4. Environmental changes
5. More space in the market for penetration
6. CPEC projects

Threats
1. Political and economic instability
2. Changing climate
3. Technological innovations and changes
4. Competitive Market
5. Regulatory changes including tax reforms

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Issues Regarding Cross Cultural Communication in Context to EFU Life Insurance Ltd
After a detailed conversation with an employee and précised study of EFU company’s website
and annual report we came to know that they already have some strategies to fix the issues
related to cross cultural communication within the workplace but when it comes to external
environment, in which the interaction of sales person and the customer takes place, they don‘t
really have any strategy to deal with such issues. All the major cross cultural factors have been
studied before in the report. Now we will study their impacts on communication within and
outside the organization. Following are the factors with their impacts on the organization.

Cultural Identity and Individual Identity

It is an unavoidable factor, although it may have some negative factors but it leads to creativity
and innovation in the workplace. The company has a prominent policy to deal with issues
regarding this factor. They treat each employee fairly regardless of it cultural background and
have set standards according to which they have to act in the workplace. Moreover they ensure
positive contribution from each worker.

Racial Identity
It doesn’t affect the communication in the organization because in Pakistan we don’t have
concept of black and white.

Language
It is a major factor as it is a foundation of transferring knowledge, communication and
interaction. The company has a system of presentations for selling an insurance plan. They have
rule of making the presentation in the language that is suitable for the client so that they can
avoid any negative response from the client and any misconception. Moreover they train their
employee for the effective accent as people from different provinces face difficulty in properly
doing with Urdu or English They work for strong communication by making attractive
presentations and by using strong mediums.

Environment and Technology

According to their employees, their work doesn’t require too much use of technology. However
they have introduced a new technique of approaching there customers through database (as in
NADRA). They get the information about their customers from the database and then prepare
themselves accordingly in context of communication. However, technology have added up to
their efficient communication and targeting.

Gender Roles
When it comes to gender, they have a very bold environment. Their dressings are very modern
and they have very open attitudes. They don’t care for maintaining an appropriate distance
between the opposite gender and ladies also don’t take care of this. However this open
environment had make women vulnerable to harassment, which makes them conscious and

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makes them reluctant to communicate with men. The main figure in harassment cases are bosses
and company don’t have any policy to fix this issue out.

Age
According to their employee, higher positions of the company are offered to old people with
more experience despite their low qualification. Old people had different values and different
managing styles when compared to youth. They have more formal communication styles while
the young staff prefers informal styles. The company has a policy to bring the two inline.

Education and Awareness

The above mentioned factors are highly correlated especially when the sales person goes out to
sell the plan. When they elaborate their plan in front of well educated person they may have
highly effective communication but the response in this case depends on the cultural identity of
the respective person and the awareness for the insurance policy. Sometimes more awareness and
sometimes less awareness is good for effective communication.

Geographic Location
EFU Life Insurance Ltd. Company has a wide spread network throughout the Pakistan. Regional
differences surely have a great impact on the cross cultural communication. When two branches
located in different cities communicate, they prefer official language such as Urdu or English to
avoid any error.

A branch for e.g. in Islamabad has more parties and celebration nights while the branches in
backward areas don’t have such things. This is good in one and is bad in another way. The
branch having more parties exposes their workers to more interaction which improves
communication and gives rise to other issue on the other hand for e.g. harassment and other
illegal acts.

Power Structure
They have a friendly as well as authoritative environment because they have small functional
teams led by a manger that has a clear leading power. This structure doesn’t negatively affect the
communication at the small level as the managers are easily approachable. But at higher level
there is great communication gap between headquarters and branch officers.

Ethnocentrism
The organization faces problems related to this issue as people from different cultures thinks that
their culture is superior to others and avoids communicating with minorities.

Conflicting Values
All of the above-mentioned factors support the idea of conflicting values and that these have
negative impact on the communication but fortunately the company tackles them accordingly
through their policies.

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*questionnaire regarding the impact of cross-cultural communication in EFU is attached in
appendix B.

CONCLUSION
We have seen that communication is really important for the smooth functioning of an
organization but an organization is made up of different individuals giving rise to diversity in
every aspect. Culture gets prominent especially when the company has a wide spread network
throughout the country and cross culture communication and its related issues becomes equally
important.

The detailed study of the company revealed that they are fixing the issues in communication for
which they have policies but they are basically lacking in issues related to the gender i.e.
informal and non-serious attitudes of the clients when a woman calls them for the meeting
herself. This has a really bad impact on the objective of the communication as she cannot focus
on the selling rather gets disturbed. This puts a high risk for the job security of the women and
exposes them to the harsh attitudes. They need to deal in this line properly as ignoring this is
affecting the repute and their main product line.

Secondly power structure and distance is affecting their communication adversely, and they
don’t have any policy to deal with it.

The following section will suggest the remedies, strategies and solutions for the company.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND STRATEGIES

In order to deal with workplace harassment

1. The company should create a clear anti-harassment policy that all employees must
adhere to. The policy should define sexual harassment and outline a specific process for
making complaints and claims. The employee should know what it is and what he/she
should do if someone crosses the line. the company’s sexual harassment policy should also
state that all claims of sexual harassment will be investigated, and that harassers will be
punished. It must outline the consequences of sexual harassment, so employees know exactly
what will happen to them if they found guilty of sexual harassment.
2. The company should create a respectful climate to reduce the likelihood of people using
their position or influence to intimidate or control others.
3. They should train there female workers against harassment.

In order to deal with issues related to power structure and distance

1. The company should not decrease the power distance rather they should pay heed to
what the junior is saying so that he doesn’t develops negative feelings towards the senior
officer.

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 2. The company should arrange several meet ups to reduce the communication gaps and to
promote intercultural mingling.

APPENDIX A
List of management used in the report, continued after board of directors’ page#10:

Managing Director & Chief Executive

1. Taher G. Sachak
Executive Directors
1. Mohammed Ali Ahmed
2. S. Shahid Abbas
3. Zain Ibrahim
Medical Director
1. Dr. Tajuddin A. Manji, F.R.C.P., M.R.C.P.
General Managers
1. Arshad Iqbal
2. Ashfaque Ahmed
3. Ali Nasar Qureshi
4. Mohammad Asim Khan
Deputy General Managers
1. Raza Hasan
Assistant General Managers
1. Aman Hussain
2. Jalal Habib Curmally
3. Mohammad Faisal
4. Nilofer Sohail
5. S. Mohammad Owais
6. Syed Muhammad Raza Rizvi
7. M. Hasan Shaikh
8. Sajjad Hussain Khan
9. Mohammad Abbas
10. M. Fawad Habib
11. M. Rehan Siddiqui
12. Naseeruddin Ahmed
13. S. Rizwan Ali Bukhari

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Chief Managers
1. Evelyn D. Abrogena
2. S. Muhammad Athar
3. Dr. Asadul Hadi Siddiqui
4. Zia -ur-Rehman Khan
5. Irfan Junejo
6. Syed. Abdul Mujeeb
Senior Managers
1. Abbas Hussain
2. Ali Asghar
3. Ammar Qamar
4. Asim Maqbool
5. Burhan Zahid Chughtai
6. Dr. Ammara Moazzum
7. S. Ahmar Hasan Jafri
8. Farrukh Hasan
9. Mohammad Zubair
10. S. Mohammad Amer
11. Marium Ahmed
12. Farah Mushtaq
13. Nasir Feroz Khan
14. Jibran Masood Khan
Managers
1. Adnan Ali Gul
2. Adnan Wali
3. Akbar Husain Qazilbash
4. Ambreen Azmat
5. Ameer Abbas Mir Muhammadi
6. Anila Hasan
7. Asif Abdul Ali
8. Asif Akhtar
9. Azfar Hammad Khan
10. Danyal Ansari
11. Dr. Haya-ul-Batool Abbasi
12. Dr. Mohammad Hassan
13. Faisal Zaheer
14. Farhan Baksh Qadri
15. Furqan Ahmed
16. Hassan Jivani
17. Imran Mehdi
18. Irfan Abbas Hameer
19. Irfan Bashir
20. Irfan Qadir Malik

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 21. Jamal Haider Zaidi
22. Javed Ameen
23. M. Adnan Qadeer
24. M. Ammar Zaheer
25. M. Jawaid Mughal
26. M. Masood Sheraz Khan
27. M. Naveed Hasan
28. Majid Aziz
29. Malik Muhammad Rafi Awan
30. Mohammad Abbas Zaidi
31. Mohammad Faisal
32. Moiz Ahmed Khan
33. Mubashar Ahmed
34. Naveed ul Haque Bhatti
35. Nazia Shakeel
36. Nazish Hasan
37. Ramesh Kumar
38. Riaz Ahmed
39. S. Muneer Ali
40. Saeed-ul- Haq
41. Sajid Mahmood Butt
42. Shahzad Ahmed
43. Shahzad Ghous
44. Shakir Sher Ali
45. Shayan Rizwan
46. Sheikh Irfan Zafar
47. Syed Afsar Raza
48. Syed Amir Iqbal
49. Tasleem Iqbal
50. Tassawur Zubair
51. Waleed Jawaid
52. Yousuf Hussain Ali
53. Zohaibullah Ansari
Distribution Channels
Sales Force:
1. Mustafa Hussain Ali
2. National Sales Director
Group Benefits:
1. S. Ali Raza Zaidi
2. Executive Director

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Bancassurance:
1. Husein Sachak
2. Head of Bancassurance
Takaful Operations:
1. Rehman Fayyaz Khan: Head of Window Takaful Operations
2. Mohammad Ali Ameen: Assistant Sales Director
Shariah Advisor:
1. Mufti Muhammad Ibrahim Essa
Shariah Compliance Officer:
1. Nasir Feroz Khan
Corporate Secretarial & Compliance Officer:
1. Abbas Hussain

APPENDIX B
Consists of questionnaire sent to the company for obtaining results regarding the impact of
cross-cultural communication in EFU:

Questions
1. How language acts as a barrier between two people belonging to two different cultures
(provincial or international) and how do the speaker of each language behaves
differently. (Verbal or nonverbal).
2. How accents and dialects affect organization and how are negotiations or agreements
affected?
3. How two branches of this organization located in different regions were different
according to your view point?
4. How people had different views toward technology in cultural perspective?
5. People belonging to two different culture have different views regarding the insurance
policy, what kind of views did you face while approaching your customers?
6. Is power authority structure followed here more partial toward proper distribution of the
authority or was it more into a friendly environment and what were the views of the
employees over there regarding the authority structure?
7. Is there any kind of cultural diversity among the employees and how is it affecting the
non-verbal communication?
8. Was there any kind of international interruption?
9. Do you think following factors existed in your organization:
 Ethnocentrism
 Stereotyping

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 Prejudices
 Formality or informality
 Conflicting values
10. Is there any foreigner working in your organization?
11. Any Sindhi, Pakhtoon, Punjabi or Balochi working there who thinks his culture is
superior to others?
12. How is age affecting communication?
13. How is gender affecting communication?
14. How is race affecting communication?

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REFERENCES
1. Introduction- From their website https://www.efulife.com/aboutus/
2. EFU group: EFU General Insurance Limited http://www.efuinsurance.com
3. EFU Life Assurance Limited https://www.efulife.com/
4. Allianz EFU Health Insurance Ltd http://www.allianzefu.com
5. Share holder patterns (under company information handing)
https://www.efulife.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Pattern-of-shareholding-As-On-
31st-December2019.pdf
6. https://www.coursehero.com/file/p1vs3qu/The-Factors-Affecting-Cross-Cultural-
Communication-Culture-directly-affects-the/
7. https://toughnickel.com/business/Factors-that-Impact-Cross-Cultural-Communication
8. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2416&context=theses
9. https://www.efulife.com/aboutus/company-information/
10. EFU annual report 2019

Company reference contact information:

1. Asma Saleem Qureshi: sales consultant (Islamabad civic branch)

Contact info: [email protected]

Mobile/telephone# (051) 8023250, 0336-5770681

2. Khuram Shehzad: senior unit manager (Islamabad civic branch)

Contact info: [email protected]

Mobile/telephone# (051) 8023250, 0334-8732984, 0313-5728814

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