Activities Carried Out By HR Practitioner Commerce Essay Example

solutions that surpass stakeholder value and employee expectations (Source: www.scribd.com).

Regarding service provision at Ufone, employee evaluations are conducted once a year by senior management and department assistant managers. Occasionally, Ufone utilizes their Human Resource Information System (HRIS) to evaluate employees based on personal and organizational information such as achievements and past performance. After this evaluation process concludes, management determines whether or not an employee should be promoted (www.docstoc.com). Ultimately, it is up to the management of Ufone to decide each employee's future within the company.Ufone, a telecommunications company in Pakistan, takes a proactive approach to improving employee performance. If an employee is not meeting the required standards, they are provided with training. Ufone prefers to provide on-the-job training, especially for employees who agree not to leave the company for a specific period of time. This unique training approach has had a positive impact on the organization (www.docstoc.com).

In terms of objectives, Ufone aims to deliver excellent customer service and establish themselves as a leading brand in the telecommunications industry. Their mission and vision statements clearly reflect their commitment to providing exceptional customer service.

Initially, Ufone faced tough competition from Mobilink, which was the dominant service provider at that time with good network coverage and customer service. However, through their dedication and focus on quality customer service and network coverage, Ufone successfully became the second largest cellular company in Pakistan, capturing 30% market share. To achieve this feat, they invested ?550 million in enhancing their network infrastructure and increasing their subscriber base.

Notably, Ufone has been granted a license in Azad Kashmir and is proud of this accomplishment. They have established 21 company-owned customer service centers along with approximately

250 franchises throughout the state. These centers and franchises are equipped with advanced solutions such as web-based franchise management systems to effectively address any customer issues that may arise.

To further ensure high levels of customer satisfaction, Ufone offers 24-hour call center support. This round-the-clock availability demonstrates their commitment to serving customers promptly and efficiently.Ufone, an industry trendsetter, has launched a prepaid brand targeting the youth market. This brand is popular among young people due to its attractive and affordable bundles without any hidden charges. Ufone also offers international roaming services to Europe and the Middle East. The HR department plays a crucial role in maintaining and enhancing organizational standards (Source: www.scribd.com).

The Harvard Framework Model of HRM, presented by Beer et al (1984) at Harvard University, outlines two key features. Firstly, line managers ensure alignment between competitive strategies and personnel policies. Secondly, the HR department sets goals for developing and implementing personnel policies (Armstrong, p.24). General Managers play a crucial role in implementing these policies to achieve strategic goals while considering employee involvement and development to reach those goals.

In today's globalized world with intense competition, the demand for human resources has expanded. Therefore, HRM needs to involve employees in decision-making processes for a strong relationship between the organization and employee engagement (Armstrong, p.6). The Harvard model also emphasizes human resource outcomes like commitment, competency, congruity, and cost-effectiveness.The text highlights the significance of establishing a connection between internal policies and external forces to impact organizational goals. The Harvard model of HRM focuses on people outcomes rather than just organizational outcomes and business performance. It considers various stakeholder interests, including stockholders, management, employees, government, and unions. This model

also expands the understanding of employee influence on HRM and acknowledges contextual influences on management's strategy choices. HR outcomes encompass commitment, congruity, and cost-effectiveness while long-term consequences include individual wellbeing, organizational effectiveness, and social wellbeing. Situational factors encompass workforce characteristics, business strategy and conditions, management philosophy, labor market, unions, task engineering, laws, and social values. HRM policy choices involve employee influence, HR flow reward systems ,and work systems. The Harvard model is compared to the Matching Model of HRM developed by academics at the Michigan business school that introduced the concept of strategic human resource management linking HRM policies to strategic business objectives (Armstrong 2006: P8), Beer et Al (1984), B.C. et al (2007).According to B.G. et al (1999), the internal schemes should be well-suited to tackle challenges posed by external factors such as political and economic forces. To effectively address these issues, the administration must have a strong structure, motivated employees, and effective management.

The development of potential HR policies and systems should focus on key areas such as selecting potential employees to meet upcoming challenges, performance in pursuit of business objectives, evaluation and feedback for both the administration and employees, rewards to motivate employees, and skills and knowledge development to meet business objectives.

As per the HRM Matching Model (B.G. et al 1999), political, economic, cultural, and other forces are important considerations in the mission, strategy, organization, human resource structure, and management of the firm.

HR planning plays a crucial role in achieving strategic goals by determining human resource needs that satisfy both the administration and employees in terms of quality and quantity. There are two types of HR planning: hard form which involves quantitative analysis

to ensure availability of individuals when needed; soft form which focuses on aligning organizational culture with corporate goals and employee beliefs (Class Lecture).HR planning is essential for the success of Ufone, as it is for any organization. The HR department must forecast and meet future human resource needs. Due to intense competition in the telecom industry, employees may be less focused on their jobs and have lower loyalty towards Ufone. The company acknowledges that employees can leave at any time, so they do not have a formal succession planning strategy in place but prefer internal hiring whenever possible. Career development opportunities are provided, but there is no formal succession planning process. To motivate employees and achieve strategic goals, Ufone offers incentives such as bonuses, paid leaves, medical facilities, and a friendly work environment. Promotion within the administration based on performance using their HRIS database is common to fill vacant positions. However, a drawback of their HR planning is the lack of succession planning leading to decreased job focus. Additionally, they do not have a solution for managing employee workload effectively. Recruitment involves finding and attracting qualified applicants through various processesThere are two types of recruitment in any organization: internal recruitment, which promotes healthy competition and motivation among employees to achieve strategic goals, and external recruitment. At Ufone, the HR department provides various incentives to current employees, including monetary and non-monetary rewards, to motivate them towards organizational goals. However, high workload results in frequent turnover as employees leave for better opportunities. The HR section uses various methods to overcome this issue and fill vacant positions.

Internal recruitment involves promoting employees based on their performance data, fostering competition

and responsibility fulfillment. External recruitment utilizes techniques and tools to hire candidates from the labor market. The HR section considers supervisors' and managers' input in creating job descriptions and specifications. They employ methods like referrals where current employees can inform relatives and friends about job openings, as well as advertisements through agencies like "interflow" or web designers (Source: www.docstoc.com).

Private employment bureaus collect information about employed and unemployed individuals' accomplishments and knowledge (Source: www.docstoc.com).The objective is to locate suitable candidates for job openings. However, the agencies face difficulties in finding appropriate candidates due to inadequate advertising and not following market wage schemes, resulting in a high turnover rate. Selection involves determining conditions for hiring an applicant. The HR department sets the length of the shortlist, often limited to five or six applicants at most. In case of time constraints, supervisors and managers from the relevant department are involved to expedite the process, considering different perspectives. Applications are evaluated based on meeting job requirements, explaining any employment gaps, and being a valuable asset to the organization. Presentation quality is also considered. Qualified applicants proceed to an online assessment test and then interviews if they pass. Interview dates and times are scheduled and communicated to candidates. Interviews are structured to assess personality and abilities, with a panel evaluating results afterward to minimize errors.Despite societal biases, it is important to have unbiased selection for evaluating online tests due to a lack of specialized personnel. With a population of 170 million people and a growing subscriber rate of 140%, the Pakistani mobile market has great potential and is considered a rising star in the Asian telecom market. The development of

an organization's administration, HR skills, abilities, and knowledge relies on the organization's goals, SWOT analysis, and competitor strengths and weaknesses. Ufone, as the second-largest telecom company in Pakistan, currently follows an "Internal growth policy" with a focus on market development by expanding their network to capture more market share. In September 2006, Ufone awarded Huawei with a $550 million contract for supplying a next-generation Gnerg GSM solution that included new GSM BTSs and an intelligent web system. This solution was part of a web enlargement project covering over 1,500 cities, towns, villages, and major highways across the country. Apart from providing high-speed radio data services to subscribers through this new network infrastructure improvement plan also prioritized human resource development activities such as training, organizational development planning aligned with strategic goals set by management. The HR department continuously strives to enhance employees' skills, abilities, and knowledge in order to improve their work performance.They achieve this through both on-the-job and off-the-job training. On-the-job training is conducted in two ways: first, when new employees are hired with the condition that they will stay with the administration for a specific period of time, which has shown positive results according to them; second, after employees have been developed, training is provided based on their individual needs.

Off occupation preparation:

Basically, off occupation preparation is conducted for the senior administration. This may include workshops, seminars, etc. Recently, a workshop was held in Islamabad with a focus on providing the latest knowledge in "MS OFFICE".(www.docstoc.com)

Critical evaluation.

Instead of investing in future product development themselves, they are currently outsourcing technological development at a significant cost. Additionally, there should be no training requirement when hiring new employees.

Suggestions

from the HR team.

To promote the right employee for challenging roles within the organization, the HR team should adopt new "ERP" software. Implementing an overtime system can help reduce turnover within the organization. It is also important to have a formal succession policy in place. The HR department should improve their ability to forecast future labor shortages or surpluses, particularly within customer service.Instead of outsourcing,the HR department should focus on recruiting externallyThe text suggests several actions to be taken by the department. It is important for them to prioritize on-the-job training, regardless of any conditions. Additionally, increasing facilities and incentives can contribute to keeping employees motivated. Furthermore, it is crucial for the department to have a comprehensive understanding of labor market limitations. To ensure fair selection of employees, the interviewing panel should consist of experienced and unbiased individuals. Moreover, they should enhance their advertising methods in order to attract potential applicants.