HR Strategies Adopted by Etisalat in UAE - Case Study Example

Human Resource Management Introduction This study will encompass an evaluation on HR strategies adopted by Etisalat in UAE. Emirates Telecommunications Corporation which trades under brand name Etisalat is a telecommunication service provider based in UAE. The company has its operations spread across 15 countries comprising of Africa, Asia and Middle East. It is the 12th largest operator of mobile network across the globe. Etisalat has a customer base of 150 million and aims at acquiring more market share. As per Forbes Middle East, Etisalat was considered as the most powerful company in 2012. In this study HR strategies of this company will be evaluated in terms of recruitment and selection methods, training and development programs, and performance appraisal strategies. It will even encompass a well structured HR plan for training and development session 2015 in Etisalat. Discussion Answer 1 a) Recruitment and Selection Methods Recruitment and selection procedure is a vital component of human resource strategy formulation. This is because hiring right individual is essential to achieve organizational goals and objectives. Etisalat has been in the telecommunication sector from many years and it does possess competitive advantage. However the company has incorporated traditional approach of recruitment and selection. There are no such innovative changes made by the firm in recent years. It takes into consideration two different sources such as internal source and external source. Internal source majorly represents all forms of internal recruitment procedure. This comprise of promoting from within the organization on basis of performance, job bidding or posting, etc. On the contrary, external sources for recruitment indicates advertising, employee referrals, employment agencies, employment leasing, walk-ins, temporary agencies, internet recruiting and campus recruiting. Most of the companies in recent scenario are more aligned towards external sources in order to create a pool of talented employees. Etisalat utilizes both the sources for recruitment but focuses more on hiring through external sources. This has resulted into a drawback for the company since employee turnover rate in present scenario has drastically increased as right job is not been allocated to right person (Etisalat, 2014). There is even increase in costs as Etisalat needs to invest frequently in advertisements and training programs. The company have not implemented a well planned selection procedure through which competencies of an individual can be analyzed. Certain psychometric tests should be present to analyze the presence of mind of an applicant in particular scenario. It is a large organization comprising of many departments, but during recruitment only HR managers are held responsible and there is no such involvement noticed from other departmental managers. This is not a right approach as managers of respective department will be more knowledgeable in terms of matching competencies of an applicant with job requirements. b) Training and development strategy Training and development program is implemented by all large organizations so as to ensure that new applicants have clarity regarding their job responsibilities and duties. Etisalat has training and development session for all new recruits. This strategy encompasses two basic factors – educating new recruits about business operations and organizational vision, and providing training to existing employees so that they are able to enhance their skills or areas of expertise. At Etisalat, organizational as well as departmental orientation is given to new recruits. This is because organizational orientation gives clarity in the form of company policies and procedures, compensation, benefits, health and safety precautions, etc. Whereas, departmental orientation provides required information about job duties, department tour, department functions, etc. The company prepares training objectives firstly and then design the entire session on basis of those objectives. However these sessions are not conducted on a regular time interval. This negatively affects the organization as team members are not aware about recent developments of the firm and neither do they get an opportunity to adopt practices which can improve upon their skill set (Rao, 2004, pp. 113-116). Top management of Etisalat believes that training can be provided effectively by departmental managers. The reason behind this training and development program adds on to company’s overall cost and hence often avoided by the top authority. Apart from incorporating this kind of program within organizational culture, Etisalat also needs to focus on assessment mechanism. This would help the management to analyze whether the training program organized for employees is being productive or not. There are various tools for evaluating training outcomes such as questionnaire survey, focus group study, observations, interviews and document examination. Etisalat has implemented on-job training program which enable employees to learn while they are performing their respective jobs. c) Performance appraisal strategies Performance appraisal is a procedure of communicating and evaluating an employee’s performance and designing plan for further improvement. There are different performance appraisal strategies implemented by organizations. However the most productive strategy is aligned towards motivating employees so that they successfully achieve organizational goals. Etisalat has a well-defined performance appraisal strategy for encouraging employees to come forward with innovative ideas. The top management of this firm appreciate those employees more who does not only perform assigned tasks but even contribute their innovative ideas or opinion for overall success of the firm. This factor is greatly reflected in its appraisal scheme. Administrative decisions are generally taken during performance management such as firings, merit pay, layoffs and promotions (Boxall and Purcell, 2006, pp. 203-206). Promotions are given to those employees who are able to maintain consistency in their performance and even work collaboratively as a team. On the other hand, there are incentive structures for individual as well as team performance. However eligibility criteria for getting incentives encompass meeting required target. There are different methods of evaluating one’s performance; work’s standard approach has been implemented by Etisalat to measure employee’s performance. In this method, an expected output level or standard is set and then it is compared with employee’s performance level. Though this method delivers required outcome in the form of best performers it is not an effective approach for long term (Harrison, 2005, pp. 78-81). This is simply because performance cannot be judged on the basis of single factor or work standard as it requires a 360 degree analysis. There is scope for further improvement in the performance appraisal strategy adopted by the company. Etisalat shall inform its employees regarding job areas which needs further improvement and even motivate them by elaborating more on tasks they outperformed. The company mainly focus on promoting those individuals who meet set performance standards in consistent manner so as to retain talented employees in the system. Answer 2 Training and development program 2015 for Etisalat will be divided into two major parts – firstly there will be a training session organized for new recruits and secondly a T&D program will be held for older employees. For new recruits the training session will be of five days followed by an assessment. On the contrary, for existing employees training and development program will be held for next two days. The major objective of the training session will be to enlighten new recruits on certain topics related to business operations. This will help trainees to gain sufficient knowledge regarding competitive position of the company, its vision and mission and even growth potential being offered by the firm. The major objective behind organizing such program for existing employees is to incorporate necessary skills within them and discuss on areas where they are lacking. In this training program two factors will be taken into consideration that is proper job analysis and needs assessment. For instance each of the hired individuals possesses certain needs in the form of compensation, benefits, career succession plan, etc. These needs will even be addressed during training session. The audience of Etisalat’s training program is majorly the new recruits. This group would comprise of individuals selected for different department. The entire training program will last for five days, out of which first two days will be organizational training and next three days will be departmental training. Training mode for this session will be classroom training as it is the best tool for communicating to a large base of audience (Mueller, 2006, pp. 90-95). However during the departmental training the mode will be shifted to on-job training framework where theoretical as well as practical aspects will be taught. The training schedule will encompass three major parts – organizational description, departmental description and evaluation of training session. Etisalat’s training program 2015 will be held on 10th April, 2015 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Venue for this program is Etisalat headquarters located at Abu Dhabi, UAE. All the new recruits will be provided with required information about industry and the firm before they start performing assigned duties and responsibilities. In the initial two days of organizational training there will be certain aspects covered by highly expert trainers. The topics going to be covered are company overview, review of policies or procedures followed by the organization, benefits, compensation, union and employee relations, physical facilities, safety and accident prevention, and economic factors. Each of these topics will be elaborated such as benefits will be thoroughly described as monetary or non-monetary benefits. This will give more clarity to individuals in terms of extra benefits that they will receive apart from their compensation. Policies or procedures will highlight the norms or regulations need to be followed by employees. The detailed policy structure shall be provided to new recruits in the form of an orientation kit. During the first day of training session new recruits will be introduced to board members, senior management and experienced employees in managerial positions. They shall state success story of the company along with a brief description about career growth in Etisalat. These experienced individuals will even elaborate on their journey in this company and ways in which they improved in their career path. Health and safety measures would be highlighted by the trainer and after that a small session shall be conducted where new recruits can ask questions regarding topics been discussed (Mayo, 2005, pp. 109-115). A two-way communication platform is often avoided in many training programs but in this case it will facilitate transparency in terms of organizational goals and individual interest. In the next day of organizational orientation, new recruits shall be introduced to various constraints in business operations of Etisalat, strategies adopted by the company, thorough industry analysis, and competitive position of the firm. By the end of this session all the trainees will posses sufficient knowledge about organizational operations, structure, key members of the system, future growth prospect, etc. During the next three days, departmental training will be organized under respective departmental managers. All the new recruits will be categorized in the form of batches. Firstly, those selected for accounts department shall be attended by accounts head and later shall be introduced to chief financial officer. This form of training will be inclined towards both aspects such as theoretical framework as well as practical framework. In theoretical framework, various terminologies, working procedure, rules and regulations, etc., shall be taught to trainees. While in practical framework, new recruits will be given assignments or exercises, related to real time industrial scenario. Working along with existing employees shall make new recruits gain expertise in that particular field. The major objective behind giving such exercises during training program is to enhance team work and measure individual’s performance. This kind of assignments and operational techniques will be taught within two days and in the last day of this session individuals will be evaluated on the basis of knowledge acquired during training program. There will be two evaluation methods for this procedure, they are interviews and observations. Through these approaches trainer can effectively identify actual knowledge gained by trainee and areas that need further improvement. Evaluation techniques will even help to determine success or failure of a training program. At the end of the session on 15th April 2015, all trainees will be provided with an orientation kit. This kit shall consist of all possible information regarding organization as a whole and their respective job duties and responsibilities. Conclusion As per the study, Etisalat has adopted certain best HRM practices in its system. The major aim of these practices is to effectively manage workforce and align their interests with organizational goals and objectives. On basis of this study it is clearly evident that recruitment, training and development, and performance appraisal are critical factors in human resource planning. Employees can only be retained when proper strategies are adopted by a company towards human resource development. References Boxall, P. and Purcell, J. (2006). Strategy and Human Resource Management. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Etisalat. (2014). Etisalat UAE. Retrieved from: http://www.etisalat.ae/en/index.jsp . Harrison, R. (2005). Learning and Development. London: CIPD. Mayo, A. (2005). The Human Value of the Enterprise: Valuing people as assets. London: Nicholas Brealey. Mueller, F. (2006). Human resources as strategic assets: an evolutionary resource-based theory. Journal of Management Studies, 35(6), pp. 757–85. Rao, T.V. (2004). Performance Management and Appraisal Systems—HR Tools for Global Competitiveness. London: Sage Publications. Etisalat Employees contacts: Customer service: care@etisalat.ae Officer Consumer Sales and Support: ocs@etisalat.ae Read More