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Human Resource Management

Project

“How Can HRM Practices Assist In Developing High


Performance?”

Submitted to: Ajmal Waheed

Submitted By: Kanwal Naeem

Zonish Inayat

MBA-III-A

Submission Date: 10th May, 08.

Department of Administrative Sciences

Quaid-I-Azam University

Islamabad.

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Acknowledgements

We truly express our gratitude towards our respected teacher, Mr. Ajmal Waheed who
helped us a lot in carrying out this project. We would like to express our gratitude to all
those who gave us the possibility to complete this project. We want to thank the Human
Resource Management Department of Mobilink® Pakistan for giving us permission to
use departmental data. We want to thank Mr. Hasan Arshad, human resource specialist of
Mobilink who gave us his valuable time and provide us with the information on the
practices of human resource department. We would like to thank our parents and siblings
who helped us in difficult times. Thus with great love and appreciation, we dedicate this
report to all the above-mentioned people and to all the readers of this report.

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Table of Contents

o Executive summary V

1. Company’s Profile 1

1. Staffing and Compensation Department 1


2. Organizational Development Department 1
3. Human Resource Operations Department 1
4. Human Resource Project Management 1

2. HRM Practices and High Performance Work System 1

2.1. HRM Practice 1

2.1.1 Employee Recruitment Planning 1


2.1.2 Selection of Employees 2
2.1.3 Workforce Alignment 2
2.1.4 Orientation 2
2.1.5 Creating Supportive Cultures 2
2.1.6 Reducing Status Differences 2
2.1.7 Employee Motivation and Retention Practices 2
2.1.8 Empowerment Practices 2
2.1.9 Providing Extensive Training and Development 3
2.1.10 Feedback / Performance Appraisal 3
2.1.11 Linking Compensation Directly to Performance 3
2.1.12 Promotion and Career Development 3
2.2 Human Resource Management (HRM) Practices and High Performance Work
System (HPWS) / High Involvement Organizations / High Commitment
Organizations 3

3 Mobilink GSM in the Context of HRM 4


3.1 HRM Practices and High Performance Work System of Mobilink 5

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3.1.1 Recruitment 5
3.1.2 Orientation of New Employees in Mobilink GSM 5

3.1.3Workforce Alignment
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3.1.4 Selective in Hiring 6
3.1.5 Motivation 6
3.1.6 Disclose Full Information 7
3.1.7 Team Work and Empowerment 7
3.1.8 Training and Development 8
3.1.9 Performance Appraisal 9
3.1.10 Compensation 10
3.1.11 Career Development 10
3.1.12 Grievance procedures 10
3.1.13 Exit Interviews 11
4 Recommendations 12
4.1 Change in performance appraisal method 12

4.2 Growth opportunities/career planning 12

4.3 External recruitment 13

Conclusion 13

References 14

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Executive summary

The report on the project “how HRM practices assist in developing a high performance
work system” starts with the introduction of the company Mobilink GSM whose human
resource management practices are studied to analyze the impact of HRM practices to
develop high performance work system. After introduction of the Mobilink, HRM
practices are described in relation with their function to improve performance. After the
theory describing the HRM practices, the HRM policies of Mobilink like recruitment,
selection, orientation, exit interviews, training and development, performance appraisal,
empowerment, grievance handling etc. are described in detail with live examples of these
practices to describe how they assist in developing a high performance work system.
After the detailed description of Mobilink’s HRM practices some recommendations are
given to remove flaws and for further improvement of Mobilink. In the end conclusion is
drawn.

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Mobilink Global System of Mobile GSM

2. Company’s Profile

Mobilink a, pioneer of Global System of mobile (GSM) technology, was originated in


1994 and is providing the best cellular services in Pakistan. Mobilink in Pakistan is
market leader in mobile communication. Mobilink has got huge market share of 42%. It
has 2.4 million users. Mobilink has 5000 skilled, energetic and educated professionals
with vast experience consisting of 4500 permanent and 500 temporary employees. It has
more than 5,000,000 connections and six codes 300, 301, 302, 306, 307, and 308. Its
network consists of more than 200 franchises and more than 700 retail outlets with the
coverage of more than 315 cities and towns. In Mobilink, employees are given necessary
and comprehensive orientation before starting a job. Moreover other training programs
including on-the-job and off-the-job are also arranged to keep the skills of employees up-
to-date. Competitors of Mobilink are (a) Telenor, (b) Warid, (c) Paktel, (d) Ufone, (e)
Instaphone and (f) PTCL. The Human Resource Department of Mobilink is sub-divided
into four departments as under:

1. Staffing and Compensation Department


2. Organizational Development Department
3. Human Resource Operations Department
4. Human Resource Project Management

3. HRM Practices and High Performance Work System

3.1. HRM Practices


3.1.1.Employee Recruitment Planning

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To recruit, organizations adopt methods such as (a) job postings within the organization,
(b) advertising to attract external applicants (c) employee referrals, (d) Databank, (e)
walk in candidates and (f) colleges and universities
(wikipedia, n.d).
.

3.1.2.Selection of Employees

Three human resource practices that are used in selection are (a) emphasizing person-job
fit, (b) favor person-organization fit and (c) emphasize person-future fit.

3.1.3.Workforce Alignment

Company with aligned workforce has (a) the right types of people, (b) in the right places
at the right times and (c) doing the right things right.

3.1.4.Orientation

Orientation consists of: (a) Department level orientation and (b) Generic or organizational
level orientation.

3.1.5.Creating Supportive Cultures

Organizations create supportive cultures by effective communication.

3.1.6.Reducing Status Differences

To reduce status differences organizations provide employees with same uniform, lunch
and equal parking facilities.

3.1.7.Employee Motivation and Retention Practices

Three human resource strategies to motivate and retain employees are (a) create a family-
like community, (b) favor interesting and rewarding jobs and (c) rely on fair
compensation (wikipedia, n.d).

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3.1.8.Empowerment Practices

A number of different human resource management programs to empower employees are


(a) informal participative decision-making programs
(b) job enrichment (c) continuous improvement (d)
self-managed work teams and (e) disclosing
essential information (wikipedia, n.d).

3.1.9.Providing Extensive Training and Development

Types of employees training are (a) Induction Training, (b) On-the-job training / In-
House Training and (c) Off-the-job training / External Training (wikipedia, n.d).

3.1.10.Feedback / Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal methods are: (a) assessment centres, (b) behaviorally Anchored
Rating Scales (BARS), (c) human resource accounting method (d) the Critical Incidents
File, (e) the Rating Scale, (f) ranking, (g) management by Objectives (MBO), (h) the
Narrative Method and (j) 360 degree performance appraisal (wikipedia, n.d).

3.1.11.Linking Compensation Directly to Performance

The amount of pay is less important than its perceived fairness or equity. People may
compare themselves to others (a) doing the same job within the same organization, (b)
working in the same organization, but performing different jobs and (c) doing the same
job in other organizations (wikipedia, n.d).

3.1.12.Promotion and Career Development

In Organizations, career development means (a) how individuals manage their careers
within the organization and between organizations and (b) how organizations structure
the career progress of their members. Businesses used to partner with employees to carry
out employees' career planning and development. Now, businesses view career
development primarily as the employee’s responsibility (Managementhelp, n.d).

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2.2 Human Resource Management (HRM) Practices and High

Performance Work System (HPWS) / High Involvement


Organizations / High Commitment Organizations

Effective use of HRM practices such as: comprehensive


recruitment and selection procedures, job design,
training and participation programs and those that
address employee motivation such as performance appraisal systems closely linked to
compensation, improve employees' knowledge, skills and abilities, and development of
High Performance Work System and ultimately improves firm’s performance.

High performance work system is a specific combination of human resource (HR)


practices, work structures, and processes that maximizes employee’s decision making
ability, knowledge, skill, commitment, and leads to flexibility, innovation, information
sharing and improvement.

In an increasingly competitive business environment, where sources of competitive


advantage are scarce, strategic HR management can provide such an edge. A high
quality, highly motivated workforce is a difficult advantage for competitors to replicate.
HRM practices develop High Performance Work System as they (a) select employees
with required competencies (b) provide an interface between an owner and the firm's
current employees, (c) produce a climate of trust and confidence that contributes to long-
run firm effectiveness and efficiency, (d) motivate and empower employees and (e)
create sense of responsibility.

Use of systems of high performance work practices (i) Diminishes their employee
turnover; and, (ii) Increases their productivity (sales per employee) and corporate
financial performance (stock market value to book value) (Google-analytics, August 28,
2006).

3. Mobilink GSM in the Context of HRM

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We will be explaining the Human resource management of Mobilink GSM. Mobilink has
a very well defined and well-structured HR department and its various policies of
keeping each employee a productive part of the organization are intoned with the
corporate world’s requirement. Employees in the company are largely committed to their
organization and have shown progress in the company. The people at HR department of
Mobilink say that “we are not the admin assistants
but business partners”. At Mobilink, HR
department’s belief is that "Our people are our
greatest asset”. They take great pride in
acknowledging the contribution each one of them makes.

3.1 HRM Practices and High Performance Work System of Mobilink

3.1.1Recruitment

To recruit, Mobilink prefers its own employees and goes outside only when fully
qualified person is not available. Channels which Mobilink uses to recruit are (a) current
employees, (b) employees referrals (c) advertise internally as well as externally, (d) Head
hunters/executive search organizations, (e) walk in candidates, (f) job fairs (g) and
colleges and universities. Application forms are available online also. At customer service
Department, panel interviews are conducted. In all other departments of Mobilink,
individual interviews are conducted.

As Mobilink prefers its own employees, it provides career opportunities and job security
to its employees. This preference motivates and helps to retain current employees and
increases employees’ commitment. But as the company does not search for workforce in
external market it might not get more talented, competitive and skilled workforce.

3.1.2 Selective in Hiring

The human resource department of Mobilink considers many factors while selecting an
employee for any available position. The objective is to find the most appropriate
employee to fill the position, who will in turn produce the most productive output for

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the organization. To hire they match applicant’s knowledge, skills and competencies with
their requirements. Mobilink emphasizes person-future fit that focuses on the potential
long-term contribution of applicants, often to the extent that they are willing to leave
positions open until they find the best and brightest new employees.

Because of the careful and long selection procedure, Mobilink hires the employees with
better knowledge and skills. They select competent
employees with decision making abilities,
knowledge, skill, commitment, flexibility,
innovation and information sharing competency,
which are characteristics of High Performance work System.

3.1.3 Workforce Alignment

Mobilink ensures that the right person will be selected and positioned at the right place
and will do right things right which leads to achievement of firms goals and high
performance. Mobilink aligns its workforce on the positions which match with their
skills, knowledge and competencies. These people in the right places at the right times
effectively utilize their skills and, thus, Mobilink gets the most out of its employees’
knowledge and skills. So the company with people doing the right things right has
employees that always act in ways that help the company succeed.

Right person  right productivity = profits.

3.1.4 Orientation of New Employees in Mobilink GSM

The objective of orientation is to acquaint all new employees with the basic structure and
rules of Mobilink. A new employee is provided with the Orientation CD which contains
Organizational charts and other information related to Mobilink. Email is also sent to
give general information to the new employees. Mobilink provides orientation at two
levels (a) Department level orientation within the first week of the employment, (b)
Generic or organizational level orientation within 30 days of employment.

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Orientation program of Mobilink motivates old as well as new employees; reduces
turnover rate, improves image in market and achieves commitment of employees. Old as
well as new employees get chances to understand Mobilink in a better way. Besides
senior and junior employees meet and share information. In short, orientation program of
Mobilink leads to High Performance Work System and ultimately Mobilink’s
performance. Employees of Mobilink confirmed that the company provides them with
effective orientation.

3.1.5 Disclose Full Information

To disclose essential information to employees, Mobilink has a publication policy.


According to which report on all Mobilink activities, booklets, news articles and
newsletters are published. Sound communication in Mobilink also allows each employee
to know exactly what is expected as far as her/his responsibilities and organizational
mission statement, and what is happening within each organizational area.
Communication between management and “shop floor employees”, who deal with
customers and organizational processes, is encouraged at Mobilink.
These reports and publications, communication between management and ‘shop floor’
employees, communication of grievances and understanding of responsibilities and
organizational mission achieve information sharing, better performance, committed and
motivated workforce and ultimately customers’ satisfaction. Employees of Mobilink
admit that mostly their supervisors and colleagues provide information and help.

3.1.6 Motivation

The human resource management department of Mobilink motivates its employees by (a)
creating a family-like community, (b) providing interesting and rewarding jobs, (c) giving
fair compensation and awards, (d) providing sports and recreational facilities like
membership at Islamabad Club and ladies club, (e) sponsors social events and outside
activities, (f) regular company-wide meetings with managers, (g) participating in
different community welfare programs, (h) providing feedback and (j) providing training.

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These motivating measures lead to better performance and productivity, commitment,
enhancement in employees’ skills, abilities and knowledge, reduction in turnover and
encouragement of information sharing that is High Performance Work System.
Employees of Mobilink acknowledge Mobilink’s efforts to provide friendly and creative
environment.

3.1.7 Team Work and Empowerment

Team work gives better results than that of individuals. At Mobilink teams are made to
work. Mobilink makes sure that employees should be inculcated with the habit of out of
the way thinking by assigning them motivational and recreational projects. Teams at
Mobilink (a) develop goals and plans, (b) enhance communication among members, (c)
develop and maintain positive relationships among members, (d) solve problems and
make decisions on a timely basis, (e) successfully manage conflict, (f) clarify roles for
team members, (g) operate in a productive manner, (h) exhibit effective team leadership
and (j) provide development opportunities for team members. To empower employees,
Mobilink uses self management work teams and disclosure of essential information.
Team building and empowerment at Mobilink strengthen sense of responsibility and
motivation by providing employees with the opportunity to attain intrinsic rewards from
their work, such as a greater sense of accomplishment and a feeling of importance. Team
building uses a diverse array of employee skills and capabilities more effectively,
improves performance, reduces turnover, increases employees’ involvement and
creativity and information sharing. In short, develops High Performance Work System.

3.1.8 Training and Development

The aim of training and development in Mobilink is to provide staff with the necessary
skills and knowledge to fulfill the organization’s corporate and business plan. All
training sessions are delivered in a highly participative style, introducing topics in a
challenging and thought-provoking way in which, exercises and case studies are used. At
Mobilink, training is provided at three levels that is (a) organizational, (b) operational and
(c) personal level. At the start of each year, a training calendar is issued by the HR

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department of the company. This year 2008, the theme for training is Customer
Excellence Culture. This training is mandatory for all the employees of Mobilink. At
Mobilink, training is need based and employees can fill a need analysis form and
highlight training needs and can give suggestions. Employees are trained technically or
non-technically and periodically either locally or abroad according to pre-planned
programs. The Human resource department conducts a meeting with department heads at
the end of the training program to focus on the
individual discipline and performance during the
training program.

Effective training and development of Mobilink promotes organizational understanding,


improves staff communication and self understanding, enhances self esteem, provides
employees with greater opportunity to grow and succeed within the company, upgrades
capabilities of employees, provides guidance and individual counseling, motivates
employees, improves performance, reduces turnover and encourages information sharing.
In short, develops High Performance Work System. Employees of Mobilink said that the
company provides training programs that are relevant and helpful in their career
development.
3.1.9 Performance Appraisal

At Mobilink, managers follow a regular schedule in providing feedback to employees;


they provide a formal review program to evaluate work performance and to promote
communication and discussion of job performance with respect to past performance.
Performance appraisal is done on an annual basis (from January 1st to December 31st)
for which online performance appraisal system is used. A printed form containing list of
the competencies is mailed to the managers on which, managers rate employees by using
point scale. The performance appraisal is up to second line that is employee, his
immediate supervisor and his supervisor’s boss. Managers empower employees to
monitor their own work and performance. There is a separate section in the performance
evaluation form for employees. Employees are free to give feedback about their
evaluation and to identify their problems, needs and suggestions and then at the end of

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the process, human resource department asks supervisors and employees about the
problems and their solutions.

At Mobilink, to evaluate customer relation officers’ performance “mystery shopping” is


also used in which a well trained person is sent to
check whether the officers are behaving well with the
customers or not. The officers don’t know who the
mystery shopper in the customers is.

Performance appraisal system of Mobilink links compensation to performance due to


which employees are motivated and committed. It also allows management to assess the
performance of the Mobilink as a whole. It also identifies training needs and promotions
and as a result employees’ skills and knowledge is improved. It identifies employees’
weaknesses and strengths due to which employees discover areas to improve and grow
and ultimately improves productivity and Mobilink’s performance. But the system lacks
opinions of employees regarding their supervisors. This is the reason that the employees
at Mobilink are not entirely satisfied with the performance appraisal system.

3.1.10 Compensation
Mobilink provides its employees with market competitive salaries, both through financial
and non-financial means such as intrinsic and extrinsic rewards and incentives to attract,
reward, and retain employees, which are reviewed at frequent intervals.
This compensation system of Mobilink ensures that salaries are competitive and equitable
which attract and retain the services of competent qualified employees, provides fair and
equitable compensation, motivates employees, improves employees’ commitment and
increase labour productivity and performance. Employees of the Mobilink said that
Mobilink pays market competitive salaries and according to their expectations.

3.1.11 Career Development

Mobilink supports the development of its employee’s skills and abilities with an aim to
increase their potential. According to Mobilink’s managers, employees are responsible for
their career development. Mobilink prefers to promote its own employees. Mobilink

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prefers long term commitment of its employees due to which employees get career
improvement opportunities.

These career improvement opportunities motivate employees; reduce turnover, increase


employees’ commitment and performance and ultimately develop High Performance
Work System and improve Mobilink’s performance. But proper career development and
counseling of employees is still missing.

3.1.12 Grievance procedures

At Mobilink, the human resource department provides


all employees with a voice within the organization. If
there are any grievances, the employee is able to freely communicate these with the
appropriate people. There is a formal set of procedures that are used to ensure that all
matters are dealt with fairly, equally and by ‘the book’, i.e. staff can be assured that a
reliable process is available to resolve issues.

By handling grievances, Mobilink retains and motivates employees, improves


productivity and performance, enhances and creates commitment within the employees
and achieves employees’ satisfaction and better performance.

3.1.13 Exit Interviews

At Mobilink, exit interviews are conducted to ask whether there was any problem which
compelled the employee to leave. These interviews provide the basis for analysis to find
out reasons of exit. The main reason is that the telecom sector is highly competitive.
Talented and skilled workers can easily get job. For better pay and benefits, employees
leave the organization. But this problem is a generic problem of whole telecom sector.

To reduce turnover and to retain employees, Mobilink pays market competitive salaries
and employees of Mobilink admit it. Besides, Mobilink prefers its own employees and
provides lifetime employment. Problem has been resolved to some extent.

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Thus, in a nutshell, bundle of HRM Practices of Mobilink are contributing much to its
performance jointly. These practices are interrelated; single practice cannot lead to
performance development. Mixture of all can lead to high Work Performance System. As
a result of these effective practices, employees are more talented, skilled, competent,
empowered, committed, motivated and productive. Due to its effective and productive
workforce, Mobilink is a High Performance Work System. Its performance is shown by
its market share as compared to that of its competitors. Market share of Mobilink and its
competitors in 2007 was (a) Mobilink: 42.2%, (b) Ufone: 21.9%, (c) Telenor: 16.6%, (d)
Warid:16.6%, (e) Paktel: 1.9% (f) and Instaphone:
0.5%. High profits of Rs. 2 billion in 2007 are a proof
that the company is satisfying its customers.

Mobilink’s HRM practices and employee perceptions have the potential to impact on
customer satisfaction. Through HRM practices, employees of Mobilink obtain valuable
information about the organization and the way it is managed. When these employees
deal with customers they bring in the interaction, their perceptions of HRM practices of
Mobilink. When customers meet a satisfied and enthusiastic employee, their perceptions
of the service are likely to reflect the positive encounter. In a nutshell, Mobilink is using
its effective HRM Practices to develop High Performance Work System in order to
achieve High Performance.

4 Recommendations

4.1 Change in performance appraisal method

Mobilink should use the 360 degrees feedback in performance appraisal. This feedback
would come from subordinates, peers, and managers in the organizational hierarchy, as
well as self-assessment, and in some cases external sources such as customers and
suppliers or other interested stakeholders. The human resource management department
should ensure that the ratings come from only those individuals who know the person
receiving the feedback long enough to get past first impressions, but not so long as to

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begin to generalize favorably. The 360 degrees feedback will not cause any financial or
economic burden on Mobilink as only the method of performance appraisal will change.
The 360 degree feedback will provide two way evaluations. As Mobilink have a
supportive and cooperative culture so the supervisors and managers will be ready to
receive a feedback from their subordinates.

4.2 Growth opportunities/career planning

The human resource department of Mobilink should provide growth opportunities to its
employees. This can be done by career planning which would enable both the employees
and managers to be cognizant of their individual and organizational needs and to consider
the changing business world and any personal life cycle changes when formulating their
goals. The human resource department of Mobilink
should appoint a career counseling resource person
who can help employees plan their careers and
inform them of possible avenues for training and development. Appointment of this
resource person will be feasible for Mobilink because it is a sort of long term investment.
And its benefits are more than its costs because employees with clear goals and aims are
more productive.

4.3 External recruitment

Mobilink prefers to recruit internally. This is a business which is in hyper growth. They
need more number of employees to capture the arising opportunities. Internal
recruitment will cause the managerial job openings to be filled by promoting the lower
staff and the existing staff may feel they have the automatic right to be promoted,
whether or not they are competent. So, with business expansion and growth they need to
focus on external recruitment as well.
Conclusion

Human resource is one of the most exciting and challenging departments of the
organizations. People are very important in any organization. Because it is the people
who start the business activity, run systems, make all business decisions. Human resource
is such a resource which manages all the other resources of organization. Keeping this
fact in mind all the organizations who want to survive in the coming era have to pay

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special attention to their human resource departments. The best practices of human
resource management are used to develop and improve organizational employees, who, in
turn are able to enhance performance of the organization and develops high performance
work systems. Any HRM practice alone cannot enhance the performance of the company
unless it is combined with other practices of human resource management. So a proper
linkage must exist among all the practices to achieve high performance work system.

References

Google-analytics (August 28, 2006), Implementing a High Performance Work System,


retrieved April 23rd 08, from http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js.

Managementhelp (n.d), Career development, retrieved April 23rd 08, from


http://www.managementhelp.org/js/breadcrumbs.js.

Wikipedia (n.d), human resources, retrieved April 23rd 08, from


http://en.wikipedia.org/skins.

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