Introduction:
The Telenor Group is an international provider of high quality telecommunications,
data and media communications services. Telenor ranks as one of the biggest GSM
service providers in the world with over 133 million subscribers. Telenor Pakistan is
100% owned by Telenor ASA and adds on to its operations in Asia together with
Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh.
Human resource practice in
Telenor Pakistan
We have seen Telenor Pakistan’s innovation and creativity for their products, services
and advertising campaigns, but it would be interesting for you to know that the company
has exercised the same level of creativity in developing their way of work. Telenor
Pakistan has successfully invented a unique, new and a workable way to carry forward
their operations with a key focus on quality and simplicity, coupled with productivity and
output.
I had a chance to visit Telenor Pakistan’s head office as a guest, where I noted following
things in specific.
1. Telenor Pakistan seeks performance from its employees by implementing work
structures that go beyond the usual forms of bureaucracy and multi-layered channels of
communication
2. You feel a true sense of equality at the organization, where the CEO, VPs, Directors,
Managers, Executives and Officers all share the same work space, the same privileges
and an open level of communication that is applicable at all levels
3. You don’t need to dress formally (as long as you don’t communicate externally), hence
the focus is more on getting work done by breeding a casual environment, where comfort
is a prime driver for achieving difficult targets. I would say its more of a human approach
to managing resources, where their comfort levels are considered as key contributors to
their levels of productivity
Besides these findings, let’s have a look at techniques adopted in human resource
management functions, or Human Capital management functions, as it is known at
Telenor Pakistan:
1. Unique and very well structured Recruitment and Selection methods, driven by
competency-based screening
2. Separate Organizational Development (OD) function
3. Revamping the human resource management division name with Human Capital
Division (HCD)
Unique Selection & Recruitment Methods
Telenor Pakistan has adopted world class recruitment and selection techniques like the
Thomas Personal Profile Analysis to pinpoint the exact personality fit that would work
best with the organization. At Telenor Pakistan, recruitment is done at 3 levels, i.e. the
Foundation, Development and Growth levels, where each level comes with a desired set
of behaviors, some of which are common across all areas, while some are more specific
to the required behaviors associated with particular job roles.
In a sense, Recruitment has now become further stringent by spending more time and
focus to find the best possible candidates for vacant posts. As Telenor says, we hire for
talent, and train for skill… prestigious schools or high CGPAs are no longer the
preconceived benchmarks for talent… rather it is now about finding the right person who
would be able to contribute better than the next.
I was told that for its talent hunting initiatives, the Recruitment Team at Telenor Pakistan
initiated its University Visits 2008 program in January. Banking on its Graduate
Employer of Choice status, the activity was foreseen to also potentially provide fuel for
fresh graduate requirements as per the 2008 head count. The universities visited included
LUMS, FAST, NUST, GIKI, NIMS, IBA, UET Lahore, NED, SZABIST, Bahria and
CBM.
Separate Organizational Development Department
Working in a world where change is the only constant phenomenon, most organizations
lack a dedicated Organizational Development function. The working of the OD unit as a
separate and dedicated function at Telenor Pakistan shows their consideration for
achieving a balance between the employees’ and the organization’s goals, bearing in
mind the coupling of people development with overall organizational development. The
company has been instrumental in being the first player in the Telecom industry to
initiate the workings of OD as a separate function of human resource.
While realizing the value and contribution of the human mind, Telenor Pakistan has
psychologists available to study human dynamics technically, and to develop an
individual’s emotional intelligence. These have been seen to contribute greatly towards
overall productivity and growth.
Revamping the Human Resource Management name to “Human Capital Division”
Adapting Adam Smith’s philosophy, Telenor Pakistan has rebranded its human resource
department as the Human Capital Division (HCD). As defined, human capital refers to
the stock of skills and knowledge embodied in the ability to perform labor so as to
produce economic value. Consequently, Telenor’s ideology and realization of the
importance of human resources is reflected in the name chosen for its human resource
department.
Training Methods and Employee Development
The principles relating to the development of the working environment are made
available on the learning portal Learn at Telenor in the form of separate e-learning
programmes for both employees and managers.
Telenor believes that each individual is attributed with potentials, which can be
maximized by enabling conditions favorable to their growth.
It is recommended that staff gets an opportunity to engage and learn through active
involvement in HRD interventions, which could include trainings, workshops, learning
exposures, conferences, exchange visits etc. The staff training needs will be identified
through performance development program plans in consultation with respective line
managers and individual staff.
Line managers will be fully responsible for ensuring their staff receives access to training
and development events in areas that have been identified for them. The national HRD
budget will be located. The employee upon return form local HRD event will submit
detail report outlining key learning’s and use of training received in the organizational
work set
Telenor Pakistan is providing the training to its employees at level where the
organization feels about the performance gaps especially in engineering department and
IT division and level of technology does matter too. Telenor at present providing the
training to its employees when they introduce any kind of new technology and further
more they also provide training to their employees in the call center division.
Most important thing to note that Telenor Pakistan is still employing the experienced
people for jobs and at start they don’t have any kind of formal training.
Planned process for training & development
Method of training
1. On job training:
Telenor provide the on job training during the duty hours, which is totally about the job
instructions.
2. Coaching
:
Telenor provide the coaching facility to its employees for their training like training in
the call center and in other official matters
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
Human Resource Department engage to perform a set of systematic and planned
activities designed by an organization to provide its members with the opportunities to
learn necessary skills to meet current and future job demands. HRD department in
Telenor plays very active role. The head office of HRD department is situated in
Islamabad however it has its four zonal offices, these are
South Working of HRD department is cross functional, there is great coordination is
among the departments of the company. And HRD department play an important role in
providing strategic support.
HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT FUNCTIONS
The functions of HRD in Telenor is to developing the required skills in employees as by
perceiving the future needs and demands of the company as well as the requirement of
the competitive environment. The major functions which they have to perform are
Training and development (T&D)
Organization development
Career development
The “new learning and performance wheel”
Strategic management and HRD
The supervisor’s role in HRD
Organizational structure of the HRD function As Telenor is one of the growing
company of the country so, it is also facing a lot of challenges in order to make its human
resource as its competitive advantages, the major challenges which are being faced by the
Human Resource Development department in Telenor are
1.Increasing workforce diversity
2.Competing in a global economy
3.Eliminating the skills gap
4.The need for lifelong learning
5.Facilitating organizational learning
TYPES OF TRAINING
There are varieties of training types are available at Telenor which varies from need of
the employees as well as the company. Broadly speaking there are two main sources of
Training.
Outsource Training
In House Training
In house training the company offers the training in its different zones by means of
seminars, conferences and workshops. In house training which are given on the job is
System related training
Product related training
Technical Training
Front End Desk Training
Operational wise training
These are the most common types of training which company gives to its employees.
Outsource Training
Telenor go for the outsourcing when the in house training is not available. The topic
cover under outsource training are those which are more general in nature so company by
evaluating cost and benefit go for outsourcing. While go for outsourcing, Telenor is
using the services of Novatious Institute which holds a good name regarding the training.
The common types of training are
Moral Building
Attitude Building
Executives Training
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND ITS SUPPORTIVENESS FOR
TRAINING
As far as Telenor internal culture is considered the employees are really very satisfied
with the Telenor’s norms and values. It is one of the major reasons that the turn over
rate of this organization is very low. By conducting the survey of the sales employees in
Telenor, we come to know that 90% of the employees of Telenor took the Training
most effective. The major aspects of Telenor’s culture which supports the its
objectives are
It owned a flat structure so the communication among employees is very good.
Hierarchy of the organization is well managed and there exist no fear between
subordinate and boss which give rise to the confidence in employees.
There is a vertical communication as well as horizontal communication exist among the
employees of Telenor which supports its objectives of being EEO organization.
Training is the necessary components for all the employees from CSR (customer services
representative) to CEO (chief Executive officer)
FRAMEWORK FOR THE HRD PROCESS
HRD department follow a frame work which consists of four major steps, HRD
department is primarily responsible for Learning and development of employees. The
whole activities of HRD department in Telenor revolve around these steps.
Phase 1.Training Need Assessment
Phase 2. Training Design
Phase 3.Implementation
phase 4.Evaluation phase
1-TRAINING NEED ASSESSMENT PHASE
Training needs analysis process is a series of activities conducted to identify problems or
other issues in the workplace, and to determine whether training is an appropriate
response. An analysis of training need is an essential requirement to the design of
effective training. The purpose of training need analysis is to determine whether there is a
gap between what is required for effective performance and present level of performance.
The needs analysis is usually the first step taken to cause a change. This is mainly
because a needs analysis specifically defines the gap between the current and the desired
individual and organizational performances. In Telenor, the TNA phase has given a
primarily importance, it is conducted to determine whether resources required are
available or not. It helps to plan the budget of the company, areas where training is
required, and also highlights the occasions where training might not be appropriate but
requires alternate action.
Training Need arises at three levels:
1. Organizational Level
2. Individual Level
3. Operational Level
Organizational Level
In Telenor, Training needs analysis at organizational level focuses on strategic planning,
business need, and goals. It starts with the assessment of internal environment of the
organization such as, procedures, structures, policies, strengths, and weaknesses and
external environment such as opportunities and threats. After doing the SWOT analysis,
weaknesses can be dealt with the training interventions, while strengths can further be
strengthened with continued training. Threats can be reduced by identifying the areas
where training is required. And, opportunities can be exploited by balancing it against
costs. For this approach to be successful, the HRD department of Telenor gets involved in
strategic planning. In this planning, HR develops strategies to be sure that the employees
in the organization have the required Knowledge, Skills, and Attributes (KSAs) based on
the future KSAs requirements at each level.
Individual Level
HRD department of Telenor focuses on each and every individual in the organization. At
this level, the HRD department checks whether an employee is performing at desired
level or the performance is below expectation. If the difference between the expected
performance and actual performance comes out to be positive, then certainly there is a
need of training. However, individual competence can also be linked to individual need.
The methods which are most commonly used by the HRD department of Telenor to
analyze the individual need are:
•
Appraisal and performance review
•
Competency assessments
•
Customer feedback
•
Self-assessment or self-appraisal
Operational Level
Operational level focuses on the work that is being assigned to the employees. The job
analyst at Telenor gathers the information on whether the job is clearly understood by an
employee or not. Training officers gathers this information through technical interview,
observation, psychological test; questionnaires asking the closed ended as well as open
ended questions, etc. Today, jobs are dynamic and keep changing over the time.
Employees need to prepare for these changes. The job analyst also gathers information on
the tasks needs to be done plus the tasks that will be required in the future.
WHO CONDUCTS NEEDS ANALYSIS &WHY?
In Telenor, an in-house trainer or a consultant performs a needs analysis to collect and
document information concerning any of the following three issues:
1.Performance problems
2.Anticipated introduction of new system, task or technology
3.A desire by the organization to benefit from a perceived opportunity.
In all three situations, the starting point is a desire to effect a change. Given this, one
must know how the people who will experience change perceive it. With out the proper
TNA, Trainer may be unable to transfer their newly acquired skills to their jobs because
of the organizational constraints. Process of conducting a training needs analysis is a
systematic one based on specific information-gathering techniques. Training need
analysis process proceeds in stages, with the findings of one stage affecting and helping
to shape the next one. There is no easy or short-cut formula for carrying out this process.
Each particular situation requires its own mix of observing, probing, analyzing and
deducting. In Telenor Pakistan, a needs analysis is not a one-time event. Telenor
administer needs analysis at regular intervals, usually biannually or every year or two.
WHO IS THE TRAINEE?
Training needs will differ with the backgrounds of the employees to be trained, and their
present status in the organization. Basically, a candidate for training may come from any
one of three groups:
1.New hires
2.Veteran employees
3.Trainees currently in the training pipeline (currently in the training program)
Consideration of the varying needs of these groups provides a frame of reference for
discussing and suggesting the methods of identifying training needs:
1-TECHNIQUES FOR DETERMINING SPECIFIC
TRAINING NEEDS
There are a number of methods which Telenor Pakistan is using to gather data about
employees’ performance. Each works well in given circumstances; therefore,
Telenor adopted the most suitable method for determine specific needs. Management of
Telenor believes that none of these methods can stand alone; they always use at least two,
if for no other reason to validate their findings. These Methods are
1.Observation
2.Interviews
3.Questionnaires
4.Job description
5.Performance Appraisal
6.Analysis of Organizational Policies
2-DESIGN PHASE
As the information provided by the Telenor was insufficient so, we have just draw a
model of our own. The design of the training program can be undertaken only when a
clear training objective has been produced. The training objective clears what goal has to
be achieved by the end of training program i.e. what the trainees are expected to be able
to do at the end of their training. Training objectives assist trainers to design the training
program.
TRAINING DESIGN MODEL
In context with the Appendix-c, we have developed a training design model which can
be an effective one for the Telenor to train its employees. The necessary components of
Training design are
The Trainer
Before starting a training program, a trainer analyzes his technical, interpersonal,
judgmental skills in order to deliver quality content to trainers.
The Trainees
In training design there should be a close scrutiny of the trainees and their profiles. Age,
experience, needs and expectations of the trainees are some of the important factors that
affect training design.
Training Climate
There should be a good training climate, a good training climate comprises of ambience,
tone, feelings, and positive perception for training program, etc is one of the necessary
conditions of training design. Therefore, when the climate is favorable nothing goes
wrong but when the climate is unfavorable, almost everything goes wrong.
Trainees’ Learning Style
The learning style, age, experience, educational background of trainees must be kept in
mind in order to get the right pitch to the design of the program.
Training Strategies
Once the training objective has been identified, the trainer translates it into specific
training areas and modules. The trainer prepares the priority list of about what must be
included, what could be included.
Training Topics
After formulating a strategy, trainer decides upon the content to be delivered. Trainers
break the content into headings, topics, ad modules. These topics and modules are then
classified into information, knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Sequence the contents
–
Contents are then sequenced in a following manner:
From simple to complex
Topics are arranged in terms of their relative importance
From known to unknown
From specific to general
Dependent relationship
Training Tactics
Once the objectives and the strategy of the training program becomes clear, trainer
comes in the position to select most appropriate tactics or methods or techniques. The
method selection depends on the following factors:
•
Trainees’ background
•
Time allocated
•
Style preference of trainer
•
Level of competence of trainer
•
Availability of facilities and resources, etc
Support Facilities
It can be segregated into printed and audio visual. The various requirements in a training
program are white boards, flip charts, markers, etc.
Constraints
The various constraints that lay in the trainers mind are:
•
Time
•
Accommodation, facilities and their availability
•
Furnishings and equipments
•
Budget
•
Design of the training, etc
3-TRAINING IMPLEMENTATION
To put training program into effect according to definite plan or procedure is called
training implementation. Training implementation is the hardest part of the system
because one wrong step can lead to the failure of whole training program. Even the best
training program will fail due to one wrong action. Training implementation can be
segregated into:
Carrying out of the training
Implementing Training
Once the staff, course, content, equipments, topics are ready, the training is
implemented. Completing training design does not mean that the work is done because
implementation phase requires continual adjusting, redesigning, and refining. Preparation
is the most important factor to taste the success. Therefore, following are the factors that
are kept in mind while implementing training program:
The trainer
The trainer needs to be prepared mentally before the delivery of content. Trainer prepares
materials and activities well in advance. The trainer also set grounds before meeting with
participants by making sure that he is comfortable with course content and is flexible in
his approach.
Physical set-up
Good physical set up is pre-requisite for effective and successful training program
because it makes the first impression on participants. Classrooms should not be very
small or big but as nearly square as possible. This will bring people together both
physically and psychologically. Also, right amount of space should be allocated to every
participant.
Establishing rapport with participants. There are various ways by which a trainer can
establish good rapport with trainees by:
• Greeting participants
simple way to ease those initial tense moments
• Encouraging informal conversation
Remembering their first name
• Pairing up the learners and have them familiarized with one another
Listening carefully to trainees’ comments and opinions
• Getting to class before the arrival of learners
Starting the class promptly at the scheduled time
Reviewing the agenda
At the beginning of the training program it is very important to review the program
objective. The trainer tells the participants the goal of the program, what is expected out
of trainers to do at the end of the program, and how the program will run. The following
information needs to be included:
Kinds of training activities
•
•
•
•
Schedule
Setting group norms
Housekeeping arrangements
Handling problematic situations
4-EVALUATION PHASE
The process of examining a training program is called training evaluation. Training
evaluation checks whether training has had the desired effect. Training evaluation ensures
that whether candidates are able to implement their learning in their respective
workplaces, or to the regular work routines.
PURPOSES OF TRAINING EVALUATION
The five main purposes of training evaluation are
Feedback:
It helps in giving feedback to the candidates by defining the objectives and linking it to
learning outcomes.
Research:
It helps in ascertaining the relationship between acquired knowledge, transfer of
knowledge at the work place, and training.
Intervention:
It helps in introducing some interventions in the organization, through evaluation we
come to know where the gap exists, so we can cover the gap by interventions.
Power:
It also helps to reduce the power distance between the employees.
Control:
Control is shared between the employees by reducing the power distances.
PROCESS OF TRAINING EVALUATION
Before Training
In Telenor the learner’s skills and knowledge are assessed before the training
program. Generally in organizations, during the start of training, candidates generally
perceive it as a waste of resources because at most of the times candidates are unaware of
the objectives and learning outcomes of the program. Once aware, they are asked to give
their opinions on the methods used and whether those methods confirm to the candidates
preferences and learning style.
During Training
It is the phase at which instruction is started. This phase usually consist of short tests at
regular intervals.
After Training
It is the phase when learner’s skills and knowledge are assessed again to measure the
effectiveness of the training. This phase is designed to determine whether training has
had the desired effect at individual department and organizational levels. There are
various evaluation techniques for this phase.
TECHNIQUES OF EVALUATION
The various methods of training evaluation are being used by the Telenor which is
different for in house Training and outsource training.
In House Training
In house Training, the different methods being used for the purpose of evaluation are
• Observation
• Questionnaire
• Interview
• Quizzes
• Outsource Training
If the training is being provided by some outsource firm then the evaluation is being done
by them.
• Execution on the job after Training
During Execution at the job So, in this way, in different ways evaluation is being done
differently for in house and outsources training.
RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE EVALUATION OF TRAINING
Depending on the type of training, and the management level for which the training is
being prepared and delivered, a number of stake holders are involved in training and its
results which evaluate the training, these evaluators are
•
Senior Management
•
The Trainer
•
Line Management
•
The Training Manager
•
The Trainee
Awareness of the need and value of training to the organization.
The necessity of involving the Training Manager (or equivalent) in senior management
meetings where decisions are made about future changes when training will be essential.
•
Knowledge of and support of training plans.
•
Active participation in events.
•
Requirement for evaluation to be performed and require regular summary report.
Conclusion:
Telenor has not only initiated new concepts and world class human resource management
techniques, but also with its on-campus recruitment seminars and the Telenor Alumni and
Ambassador Programs, the company is always on the lookout to maximize its reach in
terms of its outward orientation There is also an important point raised that Telenor
provides 100% focus on talent… as they say “we hire for talent, and train for skill…